Category Archives: reviews

Review: Half Lost by Sally Green

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Half Lost

I don’t even know where to begin with this review.  After finishing this book I said this on Twitter.

So yeah.  That ending.  I can’t say what it is because that would be an obvious spoiler but damn.  I’m still in tears thinking about it.  This series has been very surprising.  Sally Green did not hold back in the finally. It was chaotic and tense and painful.  I’m heartbroken for so many characters, Nathan and particular.  He is a boy who his whole life has been told he is bad for because of who he’s father is.  He is not and has never been.  Yes, he has done bad things. Some forgivable and some quite questionable but not a bad person.  He has from a young age been tortured and manipulated.  Used for one groups goals for another.  He had few people who truly cared about him and betrayed by one he truly cared about.  Only to find his true love, his soul mate.  The one person who truly believed in him and that is Gabriel.  I spent most of the first half, hoping that Nathan would look up an see Gabriel for who he really is and see that his love wasn’t just one way.  Gabriel questioned Nathan, he challenged him not because he didn’t believe in him but because he did.  He wanted what was best for Nathan and willing to go along with him no matter what.  It was a beautiful love story.  Nathan is not in a good place at the beginning of book but works his way through.  He may have thrown himself with the Alliance because it was best chance for revenge but by then end he understood that the Alliance was the best way to get his freedom.  As long as Soul and his White Witches continue to rule, he would always be watching his back.  So he does what no one else can.  He leads the fight.  War is hard.  There is always a price and the price Nathan paid may have been too much.  I know it was for me.  I felt a little broken like Nathan was by the end.  The ending was nothing buy heartbreaking and tragic but happy endings don’t always happen in real life either.

Half Lost unexpectedly helping me with my Diverse Lives, Diverse Stacks Reading Challenge by being a book with a Queer Character.  In the previous books, Gabriel’s feelings for Nathan were pretty clear but besides a kiss and some hints in Half Wild I didn’t think that Nathan would return Gabriel’s feelings.  I hope he would.  There was no confusion.  No pronouncement, I am Gay or Bi or Queer.  Just this was the person he wanted to be with and that was it.  I do believe that Nathan did love Annalisse but not in love with her.  She was first person outside his Grandma and siblings that treated him like he could be good or was good and he so desperately wanted but that wasn’t love.  There was nothing fake or forced about his relationship with Gabriel it was true.

Review: Riders by Veronica Rossi

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ridersThis is what I know about the Book of Revelations.  At one point Jesus will come back to usher those of us worthy enough to get into heaven, leaving the rest of us behind to deal with the Apocalypse which I think will have the 666 Beast and the Four Horsemen.  So basically I don’t know much but it is intriguing how the End of Time will play out?  Riders is not about the world ending but it does bring together War, Famine, Death and Conquest together to fight against evil.  Is that what the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse supposed to do? Gideon wants to be an Army Ranger when he dies in a training accident but instead of moving on he comes back as War.  With the help of the Seeker, Daryn, Gideon must find the other three riders to stop the Kindred from finding the key that will open different realms and enslaving mankind in their new kingdom.  If that isn’t hard enough, he has to convince the U.S. Government that he’s not crazy and the biggest threat to national security is a gang of demons.

I really liked this book.  I liked the set up. Gideon is being held by the Government in a secret bunker, trying to explain why he was where he was and convince them that he is not the enemy but it’s still out there.  He’s been drugged so the narrative is almost this stream of conscious.  Anything and everything in his head is just coming out but he’s a soldier so he’s still sizing up his situation.  He’s a likable, funny and smart. He knows the situation he is in not good and the only way to get out is to tell his story, size up his surroundings and use his military training to help him out.  We begin from the day he died and goes through discovery who he is now, finding the other horsemen, falling in love with Daryn and getting over the death of his father the year before.  Because it’s from his point of view, Gideon is the most drawn out character but Daryn is a fully fleshed out girl, who may not a trained fighter but can hold her own.  As for the other horsemen, I would love to know more about them.  Bas aka Famine we get to know a little bit more.  We meet him second so we have more time but we don’t really have that luxury with Marcus (Death) and Jode (Conquest) which is a shame.  All for of them are damaged in one way or another and no more then Marcus.  He’s defensive from the beginning and considering how Gideon basically jumps him as a welcome it’s understandable but there is clearly more to his backstory that Rossi hints at but doesn’t really get into.  I can only hope we learn more in the sequel.  Gideon himself is not perfect, he clearly has anger issues. Daryn I want to learn more about.  She’s brave, smart and clever. As a seeker, her life is not her own.  She goes to where she is needed meaning that she avoids attachments which leads to a lonely existence.  That is why I was happy to find out that the sequel, Seeker, is going to be from her point of view.  Speaking of the sequel, I can’t wait for it to come out because there was one pretty big cliffhanger for one the characters that needs to be answered. Not to repeat myself but I really liked this book.  It was different and kinda strange but completely enjoyable.

Review: Gage by Tess Oliver

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I had thought that I bought this book because my Mom recommended it but when I was reading it I told her thank you and she didn’t think it sounded familiar.

 

And, now I don’t know if I want her to read it because there was a lot more sex in it than the ones she usually recommends and I’ve had some weird conversations about the contents of romance novels with my Mom.

 

But, if you’re into romance novels, oh my, do I ever recommend this one. Gage is a lumberjack. He’s thinking about getting out of the dangerous rough and tumble lumberjacking world and has the perfect opportunity when the owner of his favorite bar dies. (Total bummer. Everyone was very sad.) He’ll buy the bar, he’ll retire from lumberjacking in Montana, he’ll have a quiet, peaceful life. That is, until Summer, the bar-inheritor, decides that she would prefer to be a bar-owner herself.

Just knowing that, you know where the rest of the story is going. Will they get together? Will Summer’s asshole mother upset the apple cart because her father didn’t leave her anything? Will Gage go back to lumberjacking and meet his maker on the mountain? Who knows?!

 

I really enjoyed this novel. I liked the characterizations of the folks and there was just enough tension between the characters and outside life pressures that it wasn’t boring. I would totally read another book in this series. A+, good job!51plUhb7VAL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_

Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

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glass swordBack in the complicated world of Mare Barrow.  **Spoilers** She’s been betrayed by Maven. Her dead brother isn’t dead and also has a super cool power.  Cal and Kilorn, two completely different boys who are totally in love with her are now in the same space.  Oh, and Mare now has to deal with the grief of killing people while pushing a revolution into high gear.  Yep, Mare has some things going on in her life.  I’m going to do something different then just a straight review.  I’m going to talk about how I felt reading this book.  If you’ve read any of my previous posts about the first book, Red Queen. Then you know how excited I was. (Also how disappointed that Barnes and Noble didn’t deliver it on timed)  I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed reading it and how it’s just as fast paced as the first.  Less then a chapter in and we are already into our first battle.  The emotional roller coaster I went through with Mare, Cal, Kilorn, Farley and Shade.  One of which I was pretty sure wasn’t going to make it to the end of the book.  (I won’t see who and sadly I was right). I could give you a synopsis of what happen but really, I’m probably spoiled enough of it already.  Just go read it!

As I was getting more and more into the story, I started to notice some disturbing signs.  I was pretty sure that I was not going to like how it ends  I was starting to see the end game and like I alluded to before, someone was going to die.  Someone was going to have face off with someone unpleasant and someone or someones were going to be heartbroken.  So I started to stall.  I figured I would just delay the inevitable. I distracted myself with other things. Since I was on vacation last week it was pretty easy to do.  I told my mom what I was doing and her response. “This is why I read the ending first”. BTW, she totally does and it’s adorable but I can’t do that.  That takes away the surprise! The suspense!  So I read a little bit a time until it was time for me to go home and when you are on a small commuter plane, there really is nothing else to do but read.  I had it finished before I got to Detroit.  It was painful as I thought it would be.  It didn’t play out exactly as I thought it would but yes the character I suspected was going to die, did.  The confrontation I thought was going to happen, did happen but not at all how I thought it did and it lead to one crazy cliffhanger.  And the heartbreaks were all around, myself included.  Readers, why do we do this to ourselves?  Why?  The good news I have time to process everything that happened and get my emotions back in check before the next book comes out.  The bad news (and also good news) is that there are two books to go. But really, is there anything better the agony and the ecstasy of a good book?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Review: Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier: The Man on the Wall vol. 1

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I may have fallen into a stack of comic books the last couple of months and I’m only now resurfacing. I would apologize but Beth would just roll her eyes at me certain in her knowledge that in a few weeks I’ll become obsessed with something else and disappear down that rabbit hole.

Over Christmas, I read a number of Captain America titles and then decided to read some Winter Soldier titles as well. While I am a huge fan of Captain America everywhere (and a fan of Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan) I’m not really all that into the MCU’s Bucky Barnes. He just seems like a skirt-chasing dick who occasionally turns up and helps Steve Rogers end a fight. (Or, he starts the fight. Whatever, fights occur as a function of his existence.) So, I decided that I needed to give print Bucky a go and see if he and I clicked.

He and I click. (Well, I like him. He’s fictional and thus has no opinion on me.)

This Bucky spends a lot of time in space fighting aliens (and stealing baby aliens and then trying to hide the fact that he’s stolen a baby alien. “Pay no attention to the small creature I’m feeding under the table!”). This is a Bucky that turns up on a planet, gets caught by the planetary guards and when he is asked what he wants says, “A date?” (Based on his results I’d say this is a solid strategy.) This Bucky cracks me the fuck up. This Bucky I could have a cup of coffee with. (I don’t know why that’s important to me, but apparently it is.) Also, this Bucky wouldn’t talk to you before having said cup of coffee.  This is also important since I pretty much run on coffee and spite.

There’s mayhem in the multiverse, and aliens, and gun play and Tremors (who you might now know from watching Agents of Shield!). So, I’m pretty into this and have already started volume 2.

Review: Captain Marvel Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick

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Captain marvel I didn’t know much about Captain Marvel besides she is soon to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. OK, maybe not that soon since she has yet to be cast and her movie keeps getting pushed back.  (Thanks a lot Spider-Man!) So, I thought I would give her a shot. If I’m going to start reading comics, I figured I might as well start with a character that I don’t already have a history with and start fresh.  Not to mention I wanted to read a story with a female lead.

At first I felt I was a little bit behind.  In the early chapters (or is it issues?) there were references of things that happened before the action of the story began.  A previous Avengers mission, for one, Captain Marvel’s ex and why she wasn’t ready to move forward with her relationship with Rhodey, aka Iron Patriot from the Iron Man movies.  So, I feel like someone needs to recommend me comics to read that might explain what happened before.  We open on Captain Marvel and Iron Patriot retrieving an unknown vessel that is hurtling towards New York.  Inside is an alien from a planet that has been destroyed.  Later that night, Iron Man finds Captain Marvel, or Carol Danvers, at home. Which is the Statue Liberty. That’s right, she lives in the Statue of Liberty.  As someone who lives in New York and knows how much rent is, I can’t even imagine what rent would be to live in the crown of the Statue of Liberty!  There has to be a story about how she got such a prime spot.  Just another perk of being an Avenger?  Anyway, Tony Stark has decided that they need an Avenger in space and Carol immediately volunteers. So, she and her cat go into space in take back the Alien, Tic, to her people.  The problem is that Tic’s people are refugees from a destroyed planet.  They were resettled on to an uninhabited planet but now they are getting sick so are being forced to leave and without their sick.  This doesn’t sit well with them. They have lost most of the their loved ones, they were not going to leave behind more.  While in Space, Carol meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.  You know, Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot.  This leads to one of the funniest moments between Rocket and Carol’s cat.  It also leads to the real problem of the story which surrounds Peter Quill’s father, who is not a good man.

Carol Danvers is a great character.  She’s smart, brave and little head strong (but who isn’t).  She believes in the missions of the Avengers and will go to great lengths to accomplish those goals, even putting her self on the line.  She’s also pretty funny. I like that.  This was a very fun book.  I’m looking forward to read more about her.  I’m also happy because this helps my Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives reading challenge.  I’ll admit, I’m a little behind.

 

This Month in Reality: Tidying Up

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When I get home tonight I’m going to take off my shoes and thank them (they are super cute and have done the hard work of keeping my feet out of the mud today). My wallet, essential oils bag (yes, I’m that kind of dirty hippie that brings her own aroma therapy with her everywhere she goes), my planner and the notebook I always carry with me will be taken out of my purse and I will thank them and put them in their new spots. I will hang my purse up and thank it. Then, I will feed my hungry, hungry monsters. Finally, I’ll try not to feel silly for expressing gratitude to inanimate objects. Hey, you know how I said I was done reading self-help books? Well, I lied to both of us. I read The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. All of this thanking is Kondo’s idea. I’m down with expressing gratitude as a regular practice. It’s allegedly good for you. Thanking things isn’t a problem. (It feels weird, but I do all kinds of weird things so what is one more?)

So, I read this book and now I feel like I need to divest myself of half of my possessions. Which, on the whole, is probably not a bad thing. I am kind of a pack rat so I hang onto things longer than I need to. (And, I’m on the job market expecting that a move is in my future if I want to stay in my field, so having fewer things to move would be pretty awesome.)

The Konmari method seems to work as follows: Go through all your possessions one category at a time and get rid of anything you don’t need. Don’t move it to your Mom’s. Don’t put it in storage. Straight up give it away or sell it or throw it away. No longer have it within your reach. Keep the stuff that makes you happy. Not the stuff you feel like you should keep, not the stuff that you have “just in case”. Just the stuff that makes you happy. If you use your stuff as a barrier between you and the world to keep you safe, this is going to be an awful process. However, she gives you something to deal with the anxiety-inducing trash-fest. She wants you to start by thinking about what you want from life. How do you want to be seen? How do you see yourself? What are trying to radiate? How does your space reflect that? So, the life-changing art of tidying up is not just about divesting yourself of possessions. It is also about divesting yourself of ideas, thoughts, and patterns that no longer serve you.

In short, this is going to be a rough ride.

I think this is a great way to approach tidying up your space and your life. But, I also think that confronting your feelings and thought patterns is rough work and that it might be easier when you have Kondo there in the room with you. So, I recommend this book. It was an interesting read. But, if you’re going to use the Konmari method to get rid of stuff in your life you may also want to be in therapy or keep a journal of the process so you can work out your feelings as you throw out your stuff.

 

 

This book counts as my book by an Asian author in the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge.

Quick Review: Deadfall by Anna Carey

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deadfallThe sequel to Blackbird was satisfying as the first book.  Deadfall picks up right where Blackbird ended.  “Sunny” is reunited with Rafe, the boy from the island on the train to New York.  Rafe memories have already come back to him and has made contact with other victims of the hunt in New York. Together they try to connect with the others and figure out how to bring them down.  Things get even more complicated when Ben is sent in to try to bring her back but instead chooses to side her.  The twists and turns go back and forth and we find out deep the game goes and far people will go for the ultimate thrill.  The scariest part is how easy it is for people to look at others people as less then human.  The hunters don’t see these kids as kids but as targets.  To them these are just runaway kids with no futures and no one will miss so it’s totally okay to hunt them for sport.  This novel is also written in second person like the first and lends itself to the urgency and the paranoia of our characters.  In the end our heroine finds out who she is.  Her memories are not fully back but for the first time in a long time she can be herself.  For mystery and action fans, this duology is worth checking out.

Review: Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

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stars above As you may have noticed.  Kate and I haven’t posted much lately.  I’ve been on vacation and had every intention of updating while I was gone but I was too busy enjoying doing nothing but hanging out with my parents and friends that blogging didn’t happen.  Oops.  Let’s try to make up.

Stars Above is a collection of short stories that takes place in the world of Lunar Chronicles.  Most of the them are prequels, giving readers more insight into who the characters were before the action the novels.  In the case of the first story, The Keeper, it fills in the story of how Cinder came to earth and how Michelle Benoit and Scarlett fit into her life before she became a cyborg.  Glitches follows Cinder as she meets her step family for the first time and how she went from the great hope to the just the mechanic.  In the Mechanic we get to read Kai’s first meeting with Cinder from his perspective and the final story, Something Old, Something New takes place a few years after the end of Winter where the whole gang comes back together for the wedding of two them.  I won’t say who because I don’t want to spoil it but you will be happy.  My favorite story was The Little Android. It’s the only story that doesn’t star anyone from the Lunar Chronicles but does feature a cameo by Cinder.  It’s about an Android like Iko that wants to be more then just an android.  She starts to have feelings with a human and buys an escort android body to pass herself as human to get closer to him.  The problem is that the man is in love with someone else.  We get a better view of what life is like for people living in New Beijing before Cinder’s revolution for androids, cyborgs and humans.  It’s a very bittersweet story but beautiful written.  This collection is worth it just for this story alone even if you are not a fan of the Lunar Chronicles.  For the fans, it’s a must read.

Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

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I am late to The Martian party, people. I was told by every person I know (and a few people I didn’t) that I would LOVE this book. And, I said, “Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. I’ll put it on the list.” And, I did put it on the list. Then, they made a film out of it and I thought, “Oh, I’ll read it before I see the film.” And, then the film was released and I thought, “That really does look good.”

And, then my friend gave me the audio book to listen to on a road trip. R.C. Bray read the audio book and he nailed the main character. I’m in love with Mark Watney. Seriously. If Mark Watney were a real dude I’d have his poster in my office. He’s like the Chris Hadfield of fictional astronauts. Mark Watney might be my new book boyfriend.

In case you don’t know the story, it’s like this: We’ve gone to Mars! And, Watney is an astronaut on a Mars mission who accidentally gets stranded on the planet. Oops. The whole novel is about how we works to survive on the surface. How he feeds himself, how he makes contact with NASA, how he’s eventually rescued. There were so many tense moments and so many funny moments and so many wonderful, “let’s work this problem” moments. This book reminded me why thirteen year old Kate wanted to work for NASA. (She didn’t want to be an astronaut. She wanted to be one of the nerds on the ground that runs eleven thousand different scenarios so that things don’t explode or go wrong (and so there is a back up plan when things do explode and go wrong.) Thirteen year old Kate, much like [redacted] year old Kate is claustrophobic and could never be an astronaut. Riding on the subway freaks out her a little. Especially when it stops between stations, for the love of god.)

So, this was a really excellent book and I want to sing the praises of the narrator of the audio book for a moment. I can’t say enough good things about them. Bray did such an amazing job that two things have happened. 1. I’ve looked for other audio books they’ve narrated just because they narrated it and 2. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m never going to see the movie because Matt Damon isn’t Mark Watney. He won’t sound right.

I highly recommend this book. If you somehow also missed the hype and you’re interested in space, suspense, and occasional comic relief, she should pick this book up!

This counts as my Audiobook for the Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives Reading Challenge.