Review: The Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Series: No
Pages: 487
Copyright: 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo secretly dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly.

Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.

The more Jo uncovers about her father’s death, the more her suspicions grow. There are too many secrets. And they all seem to be buried in plain sight. Then she meets Eddie—a young, brash, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. Only now it might be too late to stop.

The past never stays buried forever. Life is dirtier than Jo Montfort could ever have imagined, and the truth is the dirtiest part of all.

Feelings:
The Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly is set in New York City at the turn-of-the-century when society is obsessed with the old rich, and daughters of the rich are expected to marry for wealth and advantage. Josephine Montfort knows she wants to be a journalist, but she knows it will be looked upon with disdain. When her father died, they tell her it was an accident cleaning his gun and she doesn't believe them. She set out to find the truth with Eddie, a young journalist looking for a big story, to find the truth.

Along the way Joe discovers that her life as one of society's most eligible young ladies is everything she isn't everything she thought it was. With Eddie she begins to discover herself in the city. I liked the story a lot more than I thought I would. Sometimes I find historical fiction to be doll, this wasn't. It didn't reflect the acetic of the time but Joe was not your typical girl. She had an opinion and she stood by it, even if it meant asking questions no one else does and taking risks.

"They teach you anything in finishing school besides embroidery, Miss Montfort?" Eddie asked. "Your uncle had a good reason for bribing the police--you. Suicide is a lot of things. It's ugly and sad, but most of all it's scandalous.  . . . The old New York families--your people--they're not too keen on scandals, are they?" p. 35

After Jo finds out that her father may have killed himself or worse been murdered, she can't let it drop even if it means risking her future as part of New York's elite.

There are many less reasons I recommend the story but the biggest is it's characters stand up for themselves and they aren't fun to read about. A nice stroll through his stork New York City with great people.

Review: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Young Adult
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #2
Pages: 416
Copyright: 2015
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Books
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

Feelings: 
I really enjoyed the first in the series, The Winner's Curse, and I wondered if The Winner's Crime would be as good. The Winner's Crime has espionage, betrayal, and hidden love. It was well written, and I enjoyed the political parts of the book. Yes, I like politics, but prefer the fictional kind.

One thing this book was missing for me was romance. Kestrel denies her feelings because she is scared of what will happen if she doesn't. Arin is still head strong and a little frustrating in the way he jumps to conclusions and doesn't listen. However, I really enjoyed both the narration from Kestrel and Arin's point of view. My favorite new character in this book was Mine, the puppy Prince Verex gives Kestrel. I'm I allowed to pick a puppy as a character? Maybe not. I did find Prince Verex an intriguing character, even though I didn't want to like him at first.

Did I mention how horribly unlikeable the emperor is? He is great to dislike. I enjoy disliking him. He is also a well developed character, which makes disliking him even better.

I'll defiantly be picking up the last book in the series.

Review: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Young Adult
Series: Yes, The Winner's Trilogy #1
Pages: 355
Copyright: 2014 
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Books
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love...

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

Feelings:
Have you ever been to an auction and gotten so excited that you bid higher than you intended to and won? That is the winner's curse. You regret your purchase because it is not something you intended, but it happens. Here you have the set up for this novel. The Winner's Curse is not set in our world, but a made-up world where an empire the Valorian is expanding and coercing enslaving those they conquer. That Herrani are such a people.

Kestrel, the daughter of a general, buys a slave at auction because she sees something of herself in his defiance. Arin is our second narrator and the slave Kestrel buys. He is haughty and doesn't act like a slave should. This attitude is what draws kestrel to him. I give nothing away, when I say, this is a story of forbidden romance. It is more than that deceit, lies, and betray, but they all playing important part in the story.

This wasn't quite fantasy but it is close. The world is not our world which pushes it towards fantasy. However, I would place this in the general fiction category. A made-up world, though, does that automatically make it fantasy? Should it be considered fantasy? I seen a lot of people considering it such, and I admit I'm tempted to agree. Tempted but I feel like the story doesn't have anything, besides the green storms, that I really make it being fantasy. I'm undecided. It might be, it might not be.

What I liked about this novel was a strong characters. This is adventure, nor is there as much romance as you might expect. It is an engaging story though. I liked the political side of the story. It wasn't what I expected, but when you think about slavery and the turmoil it causes having one group subjugated, the political side of the story rings true. While some people might have found it less then engaging, I found find fictional politics fascinating. Yes, it reflects our past, but it also shows possibilities.

Watching Arin in Kestrel in their game of intrigue was interesting. They know the other is smarter than they anticipated and that draws them to each other. There is a reveal and shadow that happens through out the story. It increased their understanding of the other, but does not reveal the other's secrets.

It was the complexity of the narrative and the strength of the characters that made this a story I can't wait to read more of. I highly recommending The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. It is a world that is bright yet full of darkness.

Review: The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Yes, The Wrath & The Dawn #2
Pages: 416
Copyright: 2016 
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Buy: Amazon

Review of first in series The Wrath & The Dawn

Summary: from Good Reads
The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.

Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.

The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.

Feelings: 
The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh included a little love and betrayal, intrigue and war, a curse, and magic. This was a strong novel and I thought it did an excellent job concluding the series. Shahrzad and Khalid were strong characters and they developed through out the story. My only complaint was the very very ending...not going to include spoilers in here but I felt like the epilogue was not needed. 

The characters in this book and the first are amazing and I loved reading about them. When I fist saw this series I didn't think it would be a retelling of The Arabian Nights, but it is so much more than just a retelling. It take the idea of telling stories to stay a live and gives the back story and so much more. 

I really enjoyed Renee Ahdieh's writing and I look forward to seeing what she writes next. I recommend you check out this series. It is a love story and a story of finding trust in yourself and those around you. 

Review: The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes, The Wrath & The Dawn #1
Pages: 388
Copyright: 2015 
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Buy: Amazon

Review of the second in the series: The Rose & The Dagger

Summary: from Good Reads
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.


Feelings: 
Shahrzad was looking for revenge for her grief not love.

The beginning of the story shares something with A Thousand and One Nights. However, I felt like this novel gave a bit more of a human side to both Shahrzad and the king. Truthfully, I don't even remember the king's (sultan's) name from A Thousand and One Nights. This story is less about the stories that are told by Shahrzad and more about the relationship between the characters. There is a lot of mistrust between characters; of course there is. You marry a king who has killed all of his past wives after one night, and that is bound to cause a little bit of suspicion.

What I really liked about this was that it went into more of the back story and more of the characters stories. I think I would have been bored with this novel if it had followed the same pattern as A Thousand and One Nights. The Wrath & The Dawn focused more on Khalid so that we begin to feel compassion for him. This compassion is not something that is easily given and as Shahrazad comes to have feelings for him the reader too begins to wonder about the boy-king and what made him the way he is.

At the very beginning of the book we get a hint that the killing is something that isn't a choice.

"It is done."
His father nodded, and the soldier left.
Again, the two men stared up at the sky.
Waiting
A drop of rain struck the arid surface beneath their feet, disappearing into the tan stone. .....Soon, rain was falling around them at a steady pace.
"There is your proof," the general said, his voice laden with quiet anguish. (p. 2)

We don't know why but this opening to the story gives the reader something to question. We realized with the first chapter that the opening happened a while ago and we are put into the middle of the conflict. I liked that. It gave me a reason to keep reading.

What I didn't like was switching between character's perspective. I didn't mind the perspective's of those around Khalid and Shahrzad but I didn't really like those outside of the castle. I know they had a purpose but I didn't enjoy reading those chapters as much. The author did a good job removing any compassion I had for Shahrzad's father and Tariq Imran al-Ziyad. I really didn't like their perspectives. While I didn't enjoy reading from their perspective, I do understand why it was in there and how it added to the story. I enjoy reading from characters perspectives I liked. I'm hoping that the characters I didn't like as much in this end up getting explained a little more so that I can relate to them better in future novels.

I'm looking forward to the next in the series. I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy young adult fantasy with kings, queens, romance, conflict, and a little magic.

Review: Lonely Planet China's Southwest by Damian Harper, Tienlon Ho, Tomas Huhti, Korina Miller, Ellis Quinn

Genre: Non-fiction
Series: Lonely Planet travel guide 
Pages: 536 
Copyright: 2007 
Publisher: lonely planet 
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from good reads
Discover China's Southwest

Follow your shadow floating over limestone peaks on a Guangxi ballooning voyage.
Hike Tiger Leaping Gorge to the snowcapped mountaintops of Haba Shan via the Jinsha River.
Savour the Yin and Yang of spicy, sizzling or soaked-in-soy Southwest delicacies.
Get caught up in the dancing at the vibrant Miao Lusheng Festival.

In This Guide

Five intrepid authors, 220 days of in-country research, 157 bus rides and one rotting yak's head.
Includes captivating new destinations not covered in any other English-language guidebook.
Chapters dedicated to gateway cities (Beijing, Honk Kong and Shanghai), minority cultures and adventure activities.

Feelings: 
This travel guide was very helpful when traveling in Yunnan Province in China. It was easy to use, and the tips were helpful. We spent most of our time in Kunming and the book helped us find many places to visit and eat. When we left Kunming and traveled to Guilin in Guangxi Provide, the book was again helpful. We ended our trip in Beijing and the book included a section for our time in Beijing.

If you are primarily visiting China's Southwest I highly recommend this book.

Review: This Census-Taker by China Mieville

Genre: Fantasy
Series: No
Pages: 210
Copyright: 2016 
Publisher: Del Rey
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads

For readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, and Karen Russell, This Census Taker is the poignant and uncanny new novella from award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville. After witnessing a profoundly traumatic event, a boy is left alone in a remote house on a hilltop with his increasingly deranged parent. When a stranger knocks on his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation are over—but by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? Is he the boy’s friend? His enemy? Or something altogether other?

Feelings:

The world in this novel is so close to our own but so different. This novella is startlingly simple, but there is also depth. I think the epigraph in this novel sets the tone for the book perfectly. The main character does not live " for but against." He struggles not only to understand simple things and we get to know him as a child, but from the adult perspective.

Like the other novel I read by China Meville this novel uses a sightly odd writing style. I think that adds to the story. It also adds a bit of distance between the narrator now and the narrator in the past.

A boy ran down a hill path screaming. The boy was I. He held his hands up and out in front of him as if he'd dipped them in paint and was coming to make a picture, to press them down to paper, but all there was on him was dirt. There was no blood on his palms. p.3

The third person style turns very quickly to first person. I liked this transition and the way we had distance from the narrator for the first two paragraph but "I" is interspersed so that when the third paragraph is fully in first person it does not come as a surprise.

People in the town saw that cloud long before I arrived, Samma would later tell me. p.3

The book gives lots of hints about what happens, but the adult narrator stays out of the child's story and we are allowed to come to our own conclusions about what happens in the story. I liked that the author gave the reader the opportunity to put together the hints. That made the novel a lot more satisfying for me.

While I loved this novel and will be adding it to my collection of kept books, which I try to keep relatively small, I was left wondering if I had missed something. There were many questions I felt weren't answered. That is why this book has a four bird rating instead of a 5 bird rating. I have read other books by China Mieville, and I also enjoyed them. I will be searching out more by this author. I highly recommend this novella to anyone who enjoys fiction with a slight alteration of the setting so that it almost feels like fantasy.

Review: Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy #2
Pages:768
Copyright: 2015
Publisher: Del Ray
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Acclaimed and bestselling author Robin Hobb continues her Fitz and the Fool trilogy with this second entry, following Fool’s Assassin, ramping up the tension and the intrigue as disaster continues to strike at Fitz’s life and heart.

After nearly killing his oldest friend, the Fool, and finding his daughter stolen away by those who were once targeting the Fool, FitzChivarly Farseer is out for blood. And who better to wreak havoc than a highly trained and deadly former royal assassin? Fitz might have let his skills go fallow over his years of peace, but such things, once learned, are not so easily forgotten. And nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing left to lose…

Feelings:
***Warning this review has spoilers for the previous novel***

FitzChilvalry and the Fool are at odds about how to deal with the Servants. This book picks up exactly were the last book left off and for a while Fitz is unaware of the fact that Bee has been taken. As a reader this added to the tension I felt watching him struggle to be a good father.

We again follow Bee and Fitz. Although, more chapters are dedicated to Fitz's point of view. I liked the alternation and seeing the world from two points of view.

When I write about series, I worry about giving something important about the first book away in my review. To say anything about this plot of this book is impossible without giving away crucial points from the first book. I already ruined the ending if you haven't read the first book. That being said, I recommend looking at the first book in the trilogy, Fool's Assassin, or the first set in this world, Assassin's Apprentice. At the time that I read the start of this trilogy I had not read the Farseer trilogy. I had read the Rain Wild Chronicles. It is beneficial to start at the beginning of the world Robin Hobb creates. The Rain Wild Chronicles stood by themselves, but I wonder how much I missed not having read from the beginning of this world. I intend to go back and start at the beginning. I realize I have drifted from my topic though, so let me get back to my thoughts about Fool's Quest.

The first book in the series covers about 14 years of time. This book covers less than six months. While I enjoyed the first book, this one was a much quicker read. After the first few chapters, the book read very quickly. The slow pace worked for the first novel, and this one benefited from the quicker pace and tension it created.


I liked that this novel developed Perseverance, Lent, and Shun. They served their purpose in the first novel, but now they are becoming people and I really liked seeing them develop.

This was a great second novel, and I highly recommend it. If you are looking for an introduction to Robin Hobb and the world she has created I recommend you start at the beginning. I feel like I missed a lot not starting at the beginning.

Review: Skip Beat! Volume 13 by Yoshiki Nakamura

Genre: Shoujo
Series: Volume 13
Pages: 208
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Kyoko Mogami followed her true love Sho to Tokyo to support him while he made it big as an idol. But he's casting her out now that he's famous! Kyoko won't suffer in silence--she's going to get her sweet revenge by beating Sho in show biz!

Ren's acting test is about to begin, with his entire future hanging in the balance, and he's managed to make his leading lady Itsumi mad at him. Rather than confront him directly, Itsumi decides to hit him where it hurts. Will she sabotage his test, or will Ren be able to get it together and use his legendary acting ability to lead her through the scene?

Feelings: 
The president of LME gives Ren an acting test to make sure he can portray the emotions of love that are required by the character. Kyoko didn't know about the test and is upset.

Ren is able to pass the test and Kyoko, watching him, realizes that maybe Ren doesn't hate her as much as she originally thought. Kyoko is confused by this and she is worried that like Ren's other costars she has fallen in love with him. After Sho, she is unwilling to let that happen. Although, she is still very kind to Ren.
A volume full of surprises and fun. The mangaka keeps saying how hard it is for her to draw Ren but he is one of my favorite characters. He is surprising where other characters aren't. I'm looking forward to learning his back story. 

Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Narrators: Susan Lyons, Anna Bentink, Steven Crossley, Alex Tregear, Andrew Wincott, and Owen Lindsy
Genre: Fiction
Series: Me Before You #1
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Feelings:
A few years ago, I saw this book was one of the books selected for the best fiction on the Good Reads Readers Choice Awards. At the time, I thought it looked interesting and put it on my list of books to read. Now, a few years later, I've listened to it. There were multiple points of view in the novel, and each point of view had its own narrator. I liked this but could see how the different voices could be confusing when you were used to the voice created by another narrator for the same character.

The story was touching, but not to sad. I wanted to listen to this audiobook even when I wasn't in my car. This was not always a good thing, but it tells you how much I enjoyed the story.

Will, a quadrapaligic, needs a caregiver, according to his mother, to help with his moral and Lou takes the job. At first she feels that it is rather pointless for her to be there and then she and Will begin talking.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It wasn't your typical romance but there was romance in a sweet gentle way. I recommend either the audiobook or the novel to those that enjoy fiction set in the present time.

They have recently turned the book into a movie, which I have not seen yet. The trailer makes it look interesting but I'm not sure if it would be as good as the book. If you have seen the movie, let me know what you think. I'm not sure if I should go.

Review: Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy # 1
Pages: 688
Copyright: 2014
Publisher: Del Rey
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house at Withywoods with his beloved wife Molly these many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.

But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more…

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe.

Feelings:
FitzChivalry farseer lives as Tom Badgerlock with his wife Molly. He is happy to be free of the politics of court. However, when a messenger disappears at his house at a Winter's Eve party and his wife faints, he sees the first glimpse of what is to come years in the future.

I really enjoyed the novel. Robin Hobb has, again, created characters and a world that is believable and fun to explore. I realized after reading this book that maybe I should have started with the Assassin's Apprentice, but I was able to follow and enjoy the story without having read previous novels from the same world.

Fitz was an assassin in a past life, but now he is doing his best to be a loving husband. He watches his wife Molly grow old as he stays young and she becomes disillusioned, believing that she is pregnant. When Bee is born, a very small girl after two years of Molly saying she is pregnant, I felt it was believable. I think the reason this was not hard to digest was the fact that Fitz, the narrator, is very sorry that he didn't believe his wife before.

This is fantasy at its best, and I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend this book to those that enjoy fantasy. I am looking forward to the next in the series. I also think I'll go back and check out the beginnings or the world.

Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: Southern Fiction
Series: No
Copyright: 2011
Publisher:  Bantam Books
Buy: Amazon
Reviews of other books by Sarah Addison Allen: Garden Spells, First Frost, The Sugar Queen, Lost, Lake, and The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Summary:
Willa Jackson, Colin Osgood, Paxton Osgood, and Sebastian Rogers all went to high school together, in Walls of Water North Carolina and yet they can't seem to live down their past which is exactly what they would like to do. " The Joker, the Stick Man, the Princess, and the Freak" (p. 209). 

The Madam had been built in the 1800s by Willa's great-great-grandfather, the founder of the now defunct Jackson Logging Company. ... The irony was that the Jacksons, once the finest family in town, the reason for the town's existence in the first place, lost all their money when the logging stopped. ... [Willa] got out of her Wrangler and climbed onto the hood, leaning back against the windshield. ... The only thing left to the renovation was the landscaping, which apparently had gotten under way just that day. That excited Willa. ... Most of the activity, however, seemed centered on the area around the only tree on the flat top of the hill, where the house sat. (p. 11-12)

Willa's family has a history at the Madam but she is the only one who had not been inside the run down house as a teenager. She only views it from a distance. Thus when she is caught looking that it by Colin she is embarrassed and hurries off in the hope that he didn't recognize her. Colin is left with the invitation to the gala event being held at the Madam. He goes to return it to her and in a jet-legged state ends up falling asleep on her couch. In high school Willa was the school Joker and she had pinned her pranks on Colin not on purpose to start with but because everyone thought he had done them. Colin is drawn to Willa because of her wild side, but she is not the person she was in high school.

Paxton is having the Madam remolded for the big 75th anniversary gala for the Women's Society Club. Paxton is the president, and she feels that she must be in control. Colin is doing the landscaping for the Madam and when he finds a skeleton under a peach tree his sister feels as though everything is out of her control and she worries that she will not be able to have the gala there. The skeleton belongs to Tucker Devlin a traveling sales man who was in Walls of Water 75 years before. The mystery surrounding his death brings Paxton and Willa closer.

Paxton and Sebastian are very good friends and Paxton is under the impression from being in high school together that he is gay, yet she finds herself sexually attracted to him. She wants more from her relationship with him than just the friendship they have.

"He opened the car door for her and helped her out. 'It's too hot to be sitting in your car. Your hair is wet.' He put his cool hand to the base of her bare neck, which made her want to shiver. It was a base reaction from a place deep within her, a well full of sharp longings and pipe dreams." (p. 67) 

Even the way they interact shows how close they are physically even if it isn't sexual.

Colin and Paxton both need to come to terms with who they are now and what it means for them to be part of their family and an individual. All have to learn to be who they were in the past as well as who they are now to be comfortable, in coming to terms with this they are able to find happiness.

Feelings:
I really enjoyed the mountain setting for The Peach Keeper. The idea of a town of waterfalls seems magical, and the way the mist was described makes the setting magical. The idea of selling jars of fog, because of how think and magical it was seems an odd idea to me, but living in the mountains I understand the kind of fog that is being described. Unlike some of Sarah Addison Allen's other books this one combines a fictional location, Walls of Water, with a real location, Asheville, where the author is from. I liked that touch. Walls of Water is both a small town but also has the feel of a larger town. Through the setting and nature we learn about the characters which is important to the story.

Contrary to the title there were not many peaches in the story. I expected them to play a bigger part in the story but they didn't really. Personally, I had hoped that they would as they are my favorite fruit. Tucker Devlin has peach tree that is growing over were he was buried and there is the smell of peaches sometimes when people think of Tucker and what he did to the town. Mostly though peaches are part of the magical or unknown in this story.

I really enjoy reading Sarah Addison Allen's books but I have to admit that I am beginning to see a similar structure in them. This has not stopped me from enjoying the writing and the story. Almost all of her stories have a strong focus on the past and healing wounds. This story was no exception to this pattern. What makes her books really enjoyable to me are that the characters are strong and easy to like. The romance between characters helps, but I think I would like the story even if there wasn't romance and the characters were just friends.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good read over a weekend. It is easy to get into and the characters give in to the superstitions of the town. The town and the characters all have their own personalities that make this a book worth reading.

Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: Southern Fiction
Series: No
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Bantam Books
Buy: Amazon

Reviews of other books by Sarah Addison Allen: Garden Spells, First Frost, The Sugar Queen, Lost, Lake, and The Peach Keeper

Summary:
This is the story of Emily Benedict and Julia Winterson. Emily Benedict comes to Mullaby, North Carolina, when her mother dies, to live with a grandfather she didn't even know she had. Julia Winterson who grew up in Mullaby, she saw no reason to return until her father dies. Julia is living in Mullaby until she has paid off the mortgage on her father's BBQ restaurant at which point she will return to her life that has nothing to do with her past in Mullaby. When Emily first arrives she finds the difference between her life with her mother and life in Mullaby hard to adjust too.

Emily hesitated, then paid him and got out. The air outside was tomato-sweet and hickory-smoked, all at once delicious and strange. It automatically made her touch her tongue to her lips. It was dusk, but the streetlights weren't on yet. She was taken aback by how quiet everything was. It suddenly made her feel light. No street sounds. No kids playing. No music or television. There was this sensation of otherworldliness, like she'd traveled some impossible distance. (p. 3-4)

At night Emily sees a light in the woods and finds it odd and interesting. Once she ventures into town she finds that her mother's past in Mullaby is not what she thought and many of the things she thought of her mother are not as they seem.

"I'm Julia Winterson. I live over there." She turned her head slightly, indicating the yellow and white house next door. That's when Emily noticed the pink streak in Julia's hair, tucked behind her ear. It wasn't something she expected from someone so fresh-faced, in flour-stained jeans and a white peasant blouse. ... [Of an apple stack cake Julie says,] "It means..." she struggled with the world, then finally said, "welcome. I know Mullaby has its faults, as I'm sure your mother told you, but it's also a town of great food. Your going to eat very well while you're here. At least there's that.".... "My mother didn't tell me anything about Mullaby," Emily said, staring at the cake. "Nothing?" "No." Julia seemed shocked into silence. (p.23-24)

Emily's lack of understanding of the town and everyone else's understanding of what her mother "did" leave her an outcast. Win Coffey is the only one that seems to be interested in her yet he is the only person who everyone wants to keep her away from.

Julia has been back in Mullaby for a year and a half, and she has done everything she can to avoid Sawyer. Until one small slip while she is talking with Stella, her best friend who she lives with, leaves Sawyer wanting to get close to her.

"Don't you want to know what Stella told me last night?" [Sawyer] asked. ... "Stella was drunk last night." "She said you told her that you bake cakes because of me." (p.17)

Julia and Sawyer have a past, and not one that Julia is likely to forget.

She couldn't blame him for being a scared teenager when he'd found out she'd gotten pregnant from their one night together on the football field all those years ago. ... But she resented how easily he'd gotten on with his life. It had been just one night to him. One regretful night with the freaky, unpopular girl he'd barely even talked to at school. A girl who'd been madly in love with him. (p. 20)

Getting over the past is something both Julia and Emily must overcome to find a place where they can fit.

Feelings:
Like with many of Allen's books food plays a big roll in the story. Expect to be hungry when you read this. BBQ and Cakes play a big part in the story and how the characters interact. I really enjoy reading a book were food is an important part of the story. Sometimes when you read a book and you never see the characters eat it makes you wonder if they are real. This makes food seem magical which I really liked.

This is an easy read. I enjoyed the story, a hint of magic and a little bit of tension make it a good read. I enjoyed the characters and how they seemed so real. Yes there were times when you must suspend disbelief but I don't have an issue with this and really enjoyed the magical elements of the story.

As with all of her stories Sarah Addison Allen takes a setting in rural North Carolina and makes it come to life. I like that her setting is real. I'm from North Carolina and while it feels much like some of the places I have traveled in North Carolina it is a setting that is friendly and it is clear that Allen knows what she is writing.

Review: Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Yes, link to my review of Incarceron
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Dial
Buy: Amazon


Summary:
The Summary and Feelings on this book are shorter because the story is so linked to the prequel Incarceron that to say much about this book is to give away the story of Incarceron. The story is set in both the prison and the realm. It still follows Claudia, Finn, Keiro, and Attia as well as the problems in both the prison and Realm. In this book we see that maybe escape is not exactly what it seems and that both prison and realm have aspects of confinement. We do learn much more about Sapphique in this book and the story of Sapphique's escape from the prison.

Feelings:
This book explained many things that were left unexplained in Incarceron but still didn't do many things that I would have hoped. I doubt there will be a sequel to Sapphique but there are still things that could be cleared up. The book did resolve many things and end nicely but I would have liked to see a little more resolution. I don't trust what happened at the end of the book. To trust the ending is to trust a character who is not trusted. I know that is an odd thing to say but I don't want to give to much away.

Review: Time and Again by Jack Finney

Genre: Fiction
Series: Yes, next From Time to Time
Copyright: 1970
Publisher:  Simon  Schuster
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
Simon Morley is one of a very small number that is selected to be part of a project in New York City in the 1970s. This project believes that time is like a stream and we are only stuck in one place because we do not know enough of anther time to get off there. With some convincing of the project director and the board Simon, called Si, is going back to January 1882 in New York City. He has an apartment in the Dakota an old building which was around in 1882 and though it would have been on the outside of the city it was there. He prepares himself for the project by eating and dressing like they did during the time. It is not easy for him to disconnect himself from his own time but with a little help and lots of studying he is able to do it.

"You'll sleep for only a little while, Si. But it will be a marvelously restful sleep. Deep and dreamless. Restful as you've ever known. And when you wake, everything you know of the twentieth centery will be gone from you mind; it will dwindle to a motionless pinpoint deep in your brain, and lost to you....But you know what the world is like; you know very well. You know all about it. Why shouldn't you know what the world is like tonight, January 21, 1882? Because that is the date; that is the time we're in of course...Now hear what I say. I am going to give you a final, irrevocable instruction; you will hear it, you will obey it. You will sleep for twenty minutes. You will awake rested. You will go out for a walk. Just a little walk, a breath of air before you go to bed. You will be as careful as you possibly can be . . . that on one sees you. You will be absolutely certain to speak to no one. You will allow no act of yours, however small, to influence anyone in any way, however trivial." (p. 99-100)

Thus starts Si's adventures into 1882 to discover the mystery of a letter and a picture of a grave that Katie his girlfriend has wondered about her entire life.

"If a discussion of Court House Carrara should prove of interest to you, please appear in City Hall Part at half past twelve on Thursday next. In blue ink below the fold, in a large half-illegible scrawl, blot-stained in four places, it said: That the sending of this should cause the Destruction by Fire of the entire World (a world seemed to be missing here at the end of the top line where the paper was burned) seems well-nigh incredible. Yet it is so, and the Fault and the Guilt (another word missing in the burned area) mine, and can never be denied or escaped. So, with this wretched souvenir of that Event before me, I now end the life which should have ended then" (p. 72)

The grave stone is simple with no name just a nine pointed star within a circle all formed of dots. It had confused the decedents who did not know why such a thing would have been made. As did the letter that did not make sense to them.

Si is to go back and watch the mailing of the letter without interfering in what happens. The project starts small and grows with each trip Si makes to 1882, until the letter is decoded and Si is left with an important decision to make.

Feelings:
I had a really hard time liking this book to start with. Si really annoyed me at times. His attitudes were difficult to deal with because he thought of himself as good and self-riotous at times. I think this quote is a good example of how Si can be even when he doesn't realize what he is doing. It is clear to those reading yet not to others.

"I like women, I never run them down as somehow inferior to men, and I have a contempt for men who do. And I think, for one thing that women are just as principled as men--but they sure as hell aren't the same kind of principles. I knew I could trust Kate in virtually anything, relying on her absolutely, her sense of right and wrong as lively as mine. Yet now we argued interminably: Kate at the stove, where she'd taken over dinner preparations, I at the kitchen table, waiting; then, sharing my two chops, we continued the battle at dinner. ... With no trouble at all Kate saw through the transparency to the truth--the feminine truth--underneath the serious pretense. She knew this was really a great, big expensive fascinating toy; we were all of us playing with it, and like a determined tomboy on a playground shouldering her way into a circle of boys, she was damn well going to play, too." (p. 108)

This is the kind of attitude that made it hard for me to like Si. Although by the end of the book I did. I think for the most part this book might be better for the male reader than the female. It is in first person from a male perspective and it shows. That made it harder for me to read and really get into. I have a feeling I will read the next in the series because I did enjoy the contrast between the time periods and I liked the descriptions. I have to admit that sometimes the descriptions were over powering and really slowed the plot. However, I think that was a big part of the story, dwelling on the past and what comes of it.

I would recommend Time and Again by Jack Finney to men, but would really think twice before I suggested it to a woman just because of the narrator's views and how they made me feel.

Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Narrator: Malcolm Gladwell
Genre: Non-Fiction
Series: No
Copyright: 2005
Publisher:  Hachette Audio
Buy: Amazon


Summery:
An exploration of what our brain does without us knowing we are doing it. Those fast decisions that help us cross the road when a car is coming up faster than you expected, and you dash out of the way before you know you are doing it. How do we make these decisions and can we control or do we want to control these fast judgement we make. Also looks at micro expressions that we perceive but don't know we see because of the speed at which they happen.

Feelings: 
I enjoyed listening to Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, it was read by the author which was enjoyable. Some of the book wasn't as engaging as other parts but I liked the opening where snap judgments and science were compared. I'm sure there are also examples that can go the other way where science was better than intuition. I think what I liked most was the part of the book that talked about micro expressions and the expressions we make and how they communicate more to us than what is said. We learn these expressions before we learn to talk they are vital to our communication with others as well as the way we feel about others after we meet them. This is a book I would recommend but not to everyone. There are some people that will really dislike this book because of the discussion about thinking without knowing we are doing it. Those that need to be in charge every moment will not enjoy this book as it is letting the subconscious take over for a while. However, we may be able to use snap decisions and judgments to our advantage with some amount of practice at which point we may be in control of them more than we would know.

Review: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Yes, link to my review of sequel, Sapphique
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Dial
Buy: Amazon

Summary:
Incarceron is a prison with a conscious. The realm outside the prison once knew great progress and scientific advancements under the Sapient who created the prison. The prison was created as a place for prisoners to reform and create a new perfect society. Claudia is the daughter of the Warden of the prison. She does not understand the prison nor her father. Claudia was engaged to the prince of the realm who disappeared. She does not want to marry the new prince. Wanting to know more about her father and out of frustration she steals a key from his office. The key connects her to the world inside the prison and Finn a young man who remembers the stars something not seen in Incarceron. Finn and Claudia talk of the world inside the prison and the failure of the Sapienti to create a peaceful world full of moral and perfection. They begin to plan Finn and his friends Attia and Keiro's escape from the prison.

Feelings: 
I enjoyed the idea of a futuristic prison that is animated and can talk and think for it's self. The characters in the book are human while existing in a world that is foreign and strange and changing even to the inhabitants of the prison. Curiosity plays a big part in what happens in the story. Sapphique idolized by both the prison itself and those within the prison has escaped to the outside world. None know how he did so and the prison itself have a conscious of it's own craves knowledge of what is beyond itself. There are so may things about this book that make you stop and wonder or ponder the possibilities of such inventions. While the realm outside of the prison has been trapped in the 18th century without progress Incarceron is full of change and uncertainty. The differences between the inside and outside of the prison are what drive the story. I recommend Incarceron by Catherine fisher, and I look forward to the next book.