Book Review: Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer

Frances and Bernard
by Carlene Bauer
9780547858241, $23, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Beautiful. Heartbreaking. I fell in love with the language of it and the romance of it and the way my heart still hurts now that I've finished it.

It's brilliant but terrible in its lack of traditional happy ending. Both parties end up with - as harsh as this sounds - what they deserve, but God it still hurts.

I never expected to find myself enjoying a book that spoke so much about Catholic God and faith, but they speak of it in a way that's palpable to an agnostic Jew, which I think really says a lot. I don't shy away from conversations about faith, and in fact, find belief and adherence to those beliefs and searching for those beliefs to be a very real and human and admirable thing. The way the author intertwined the search for faith and the belief in religion with the search and belief in love was, for lack of a better description, done incredibly well. It didn't feel too didactic or heavy-handed, probably because Frances was so pragmatic about the whole thing. To say I enjoyed it doesn't pay homage to the way my heart feels torn apart, but throughout 3/4ths of this book, I did absolutely enjoy reading about Frances and Bernard falling in like and then in love and then I had to figure out what to do about how very much I respected Frances for her convictions and living up to them while I also very much believe in Bernard's declarations of love and try to live my own life believing in it.

*Spoiler alert in the next paragraph!

The one tiny glitch that I am still thinking about is how Bernard's character was framed after his marriage to Susan - all his infidelities. We are absolutely influenced by those we love most, and so though it is possible that Frances might have been influenced for the worse by Bernard's character, was it not also possible that in marrying Bernard, Frances could have been the making of him instead? Was Bernard's character allowed to run out of check because of Susan's character, herself?

That aside, it's going to take me a little while to build back up from all that again. Some books are supposed to make you feel like that.

I feel like I underlined half the book, but here are some particular favorites:

"I thought I had been growing up by unleashing my strength and mind onto the world, by imposing myself and not being afraid of it, but this suddenly began to seem like a lifetime of tantrums. I'd gotten used to having too much, at having whatever I willed become real, which had made my will promiscuous. Not strong at all." (19)

"She is a girl, but she is also an old man, and I see that there is intractability in her heart that may never be shattered. Perhaps that is because she grew up among women who love harder than they think, and she has strengthened her innate intractability in order to keep tunneling toward a place where she could write undisturbed by the demands of conventional femininity. So she may always think harder than she loves." (48)

"My life without you would certainly be less. That is one think I know." (77)

"'Bernard,' I said, and took his hand. 'No, no, that's not enough,' he said. He took the package out of my other hand, put it down on a chair, and then pulled me to him. He was right. That wasn't enough." (81)

"I wonder what of your mother was encoded in you without your knowing; what of your life is a letter she wrote you that you have just opened and will take your whole life to read." (85)

"...people who made a point to weave themselves together because they had poured out their blood among one another. They may be annoyed with each other, but they do not hate each other. They understand that annoyance is a fair price to pay for the strange protective love of family." (132)

"You rely on your books for things the rest of us search for in people... 'Your books need no help from me. They are for you alone. When you don't want to be alone, then here I am.'" (177)

Book review: Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

I am overwhelmed by how perfectly completed this trilogy is. One of the most brilliant things about this whole trilogy, but this third and final book in particular, is how seamlessly history and current events are woven together so that you're both reminded of events that took place in the previous two novels, as well as given carefully revealed tidbits of information from the history of these countries, to give context to the action happening in the present. A phenomenal ending, not only with all the loose ends tied up, but some lovely additions or plot asides (such as recognizing the bravery and sacrifice made by a 17-year-old Charynite boy in Lumatere 13 years earlier leading to child care advice for Quintana, or Quintana softening enough to play matchmaker) that balanced out all the sadness that came before. Toward the final third of the book, I found myself crying at the small moments of happiness, the expressions of love, instead of over the horrors that came before.

One of my favorite paragraphs:

"And Phaedra saw her smile, with a hint of mischief in it, and she couldn't help smiling herself and then she was laughing. They both were, and the savage teeth were the most joyous sight Phaedra had seen for a long time. It was as if they were dancing. There it was. Suddenly the strangeness of Quintana of Charyn's face made sense. Because it was a face meant for laughing, but it had never been given a chance. It robbed Phaedra of her breath." (pg. 201)

That, to me, is where Melina Marchetta is truly gifted, in that she can make those sweet moments so profound because of the bitterness that is being let go because of them. She makes forgiveness and love such a powerful force throughout this entire series, but most particularly in this third and final installment of The Lumatere Chronicles, Quintana of Charyn.

I will try to describe the plot without giving too much away. At the end of book 2, Froi of the Exiles, Froi was left for dead with 8 arrows in his body, while Quintana was spirited away through underground caves to no one knows where. Froi is saved by his birth uncle, Arjuro, the gods-blessed priestling, and is reunited in Charyn with his birth father, the genius Gargarin, and his birth mother, Lirah of Serker.

Meanwhile, Quintana has gotten herself to Lumatere, where she is being reluctantly taken care of by Phaedra of Alonso and the other escaped Charynite women living in the valley between Charyn and Lumatere. The women fakes their deaths to keep news of Quintana from reaching the evil Charynite soldiers-for-hire who killed the seven scholars-turned-soldiers (Rafuel's) men, in book 2. All the women are hiding out in a cave a few miles upstream from the rest of the refugees, with only Rafuel knowing their truth. It is when Quintana begins leaving the cave to hunt for food and meets Lady Beatriss's daughter Vestie, and is found by Tesadora, that the plot begins to unfold.

In Froi's adventures, he's traveling back and forth through Charyn with Gargarin and Lirah in an attempt to both find Quintana and raise an army to rescue her from whoever has her. In Quintana's adventures, as more people find out the women aren't dead and that Quintana is there, the more all the women, but most especially Quintana and the unborn little king, are in danger, for Bestiano, the horrible man who raped Quintana and was trying to take over the palace and the kingdom of Charyn, is still alive and has offered gold as a reward to any man who will bring him the little king, not Quintana, alive.

Subplots include a jealous argument between Finnikin and Isaboe that leads to Finnikin accompanying his father, Trevanion, and Perri, on a hunt for Gargarin, who they believe to be behind the attack and slaughter of Isaboe's family, during which they run into Froi, whom they haven't seen in 9 months; Lucian finding out that Phaedra is alive, struggling with his new feelings of love for her, and the two of them learning to trust each other; Isaboe and Quintana's unborn children talking to each other, to their mothers, and helping to explain what happened during the day of weeping 13 years earlier when all the women of Charyn lost the babies they were carrying and Lumatere became cursed, thus causing the last borns to be marked; and how to best avoid war and broker peace between all the kingdoms.

I am pleased to announce that despite all the political intrigue, battles fought, and messages gone astray, there is a happy ending in there for everyone who deserves it, with compassion, forgiveness, and love occurring in the most unexpected, but well-deserved, circumstances.

Definitely one of my favorite books of the year, the only downside is what on earth do I read next?

To read my review of book 1 of the Lumatere Chronicles, Finnikin of the Rock, click here. Though I never reviewed it, I did a Waiting on Wednesday post for book 2, Froi of the Exiles, here.

Book Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of HerOwn Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Absolutely delightful. I don't know why it took me so long to read it, as it was on my TBR shelf from the moment I saw the title - being a fan of the absurdly long title, such as Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - but I will be forever grateful to my coworker Roger who finally literally pressed it upon me. Much like the content of the books that have those other titles, the content of this book lives up to its title as well. In fact, I'm having difficulty coming up with a book that has such a deliciously involved title that doesn't live up to it. Can you? Any novel with a long name really has to be strong enough (and by that I mean interesting enough) to live up to it, doesn't it?

Clearly I digress. It's difficult to explain why this book is so fantastic, and to explain why, think of The Phantom Tollbooth. I dare anyone who has read that book to sum it up concisely. There were so many times while reading this book that I thought of TPT, not because they're really all that alike in terms of story, but more that they're alike in terms of the sly way the authors used a child's fantasy novel to impart little wise asides about our daily lives. They're similar in that "out of the mouths of babes" kind of thing that you get from other books like Winnie-the-Pooh and Alice in Wonderland, too, where a childlike innocence and curiosity underscores some of our deepest thoughts and brings to light some of our most foolish actions. All without condemning us, simply pointing them out, as if they're saying, just in case you missed the fact that as adults we're sometimes selfish asses, and here's why that might be, and here's how to maybe stop. But, you know, without being too pretentious about it. Now on to what the story is actually about.

September is a little mostly-heartless girl from Omaha who is whisked away for an adventure in Fairyland by the Green Wind and his Leopard. Queen Mallow has gone missing and The Marquess has replaced her and so instead of everything in Fairyland being sugar and spice and all that's nice, the Wyvern and fairies have their wings chained and other bad things like that are happening. September doesn't really know much about the history of this, she is mostly just trying to have an adventure, but she has read fairy tales before and so recognizes a quest when she sees one. In addition to the Green Wind, along her quest September will meet a red Wyvern, a blue Marid, a Panther, a few fairies, a changeling, some witches, a woman made entirely of soap, and last but not least, a paper lantern. All play integral roles - some to hurt, some to help - as September loses a shoe but gets a new pair, is gifted a jacket and sash, collects a spoon, a wrench, and the most loyal key ever, and don't forget, sails around Fairyland on a ship of her own making (losing her heart and her shadow in the process). If all of that doesn't sound intriguing enough to make you read it, then I don't know what will.

Waiting on Wednesday: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

Breaking the Spine.

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

Prince Charming Doesn't Live Here by Christine Warren

Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler
Saint's Astray by Jacqueline Carey

Timeless by Gail Carriger

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

Witch & Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson & Ned Rust

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

The Mockingbirds, Book 2: The Rivals by Daisy Whitney

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep 
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

And now for today's:

Scarlet
by A.C. Gaughen
9780802723468, Walker & Co (Bloomsbury, $17.99
Pub. Date: February 2012

A retelling of Robin Hood with "Will Scarlet" as a girl - so excited! This is my favorite type of retold story, with a new female character as the starring role; then throw in cross-dressing, thieves, and Robin Hood, and I'm hooked. Here's the publisher description:

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by
The Story Siren.

This week, I received:

 I Dreamt I Was in Heaven: The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang
by Leonce Gaiter
9780615490106, Legba Books, $10.99

Judge Isaac C. Parker's judicial tyranny over the entire 74,000-square-mile Indian Territory was coming to an end. Against this background, the multi-racial, teenaged Rufus Buck Gang--the last and most notorious of the Indian Territory badmen--embarked on their vicious, childish, and deadly 13-day rampage that shocked even this lawless land.

Thank you, Mr. Gaiter, for sending me a copy!

This week, I bought:

A Game of Thrones: Book 1: A Song of Ice and Fire
by George R. R. Martin
9780553386790, Bantam (Random House), $17.00

Figured it was about time to see what all the fuss is about:

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

This week, I borrowed from the library:

Down These Strange Streets
edited by George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
9780441020744, Ace Hardcover (Penguin), $26.95

In this all-new collection of urban fantasy stories, editors George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois explore the places where mystery waits at the end of every alley and where the things that go bump in the night have something to fear...
Includes stories by New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Diana Gabaldon, Simon R. Green, S. M. Stirling, and Carrie Vaughn, as well as tales by Glen Cook, Bradley Denton, M.L.N. Hanover, Conn Iggulden, Laurie R. King, Joe R. Lansdale, John Maddox Roberts, Steven Saylor, Melinda Snodgrass, and Lisa Tuttle.

I think this book wins the "busiest cover design" award. Just sayin'.

Stormwalker
by Allyson James
9780425234693, Berkley (Penguin), $7.99

Janet Begay is a Stormwalker, capable of wielding the raw elemental power of nature, a power that threatens to overwhelm her. Only her lover, Mick, is able to calm the storm within her-even as their passion reaches unimaginable heights of ecstasy. But when an Arizona police chief's daughter is taken by a paranormal evil, they find themselves venturing where no human can survive-for only together can they overcome the greatest danger they've ever faced.

In my attempt to read more books featuring Native American characters, I stumbled across this series. I'm sure it's going to be well-researched and historically accurate (*cough*sarcasm*cough*), but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

In My Mailbox

This is my first week participating in the In My Mailbox meme - partly because I can't resist yet another way to list the books in my life and partly because I actually received some books in my mailbox this week, thanks to the amazing Holly Ruck, my former Houghton Mifflin Harcourt rep and current friend. THANK YOU so much, Holly! So, without further ado, may I present:

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by
The Story Siren.

This week, I received:

Circus Galacticus
by Deva Fagan
9780547581361, Harcourt (Houghton Mifflin), $16.99
Teen/YA

Publisher's description:
Rebel. Champion gymnast. Intergalactic traveler?
Trix can deal with being an orphan charity case at a snotty boarding school. She can hold her own when everyone else tells her not to dream big dreams. She can even fight back against the mysterious stranger in a silver mask who tries to steal the meteorite her parents trusted her to protect.
But her life is about to change forever. The Circus Galacticus has come to town, bringing acts to amaze, delight, and terrify. And now the dazzling but enigmatic young Ringmaster has offered Trix the chance to be a part of it. Soon Trix discovers an entire universe full of deadly enemies and potential friends, not to mention space leeches, ancient alien artifacts, and exploding chocolate desserts. And she just might unravel the secrets of her own past—if she can survive long enough.

The Star Shard 

by Frederic S. Durbin

9780547370255, Houghton Mifflin, $16.99

Middle Grade

*I read this as a manuscript when I was working for HMH - can't wait to read the final version!

This beautifully written fantasy tackles the issues of slavery and freedom. Twelve-year-old Cymbril is a slave on Thunder Rake, a gigantic wagon city that rolls from town to town carrying goods to be sold by its resident merchants. The Rake’s master purchases a new slave, a mysterious boy named Loric who is one of the magical Fey. Because he can see in the dark, Loric’s duty is to guide the Rake through the treacherous wilderness at night.Cymbril and Loric secretly join forces to plan their escape—soon the two friends thread their way through a series of increasing dangers, encountering an enchanted market and deadly monsters as their one chance for freedom draws nearer.

Outlaw 

by Stephen Davies

9780547390178, Clarion (Houghton Mifflin), $16.99

Teen/YA

I really enjoyed Hacking Timbuktu, which came out in 2010, and which I apparently forgot to review. Excited to read more high-octane adventure.

A high-tension, high-tech thriller with an African setting.
Jake and his sister, Kas, whose father is the British ambassador to Burkina Faso, are abducted, bundled into a van, and driven into the unknown. In smartphone contact with his father, Jake learns that the kidnapper with the spider web tattoo is the remorseless outlaw Yakuuba Sor, who is connected to an international terrorist organization. But is he the real Yakuuba Sor? And is Sor really a dangerous criminal? In this fast-paced tale laced with trickery and murder, Jake and Kas discover that with the corrupt local government and British Intelligence arrayed against them, survival in the African desert may be the least of their problems.

420 Characters 

by Lou Beach

9780547617930, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $22.00

Adult

Alternately surreal, funny, ominous, and lyrical, Lou Beach’s 420 Characters offers an experience as dazzling as any in contemporary fiction. Revealing worlds of meaning in single paragraphs, these crystalline miniature stories began as Facebook status updates, and mark a new turn in an acclaimed artist and illustrator’s career. 420 Characters features original collages by the author.

Waiting on Wednesday: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

Breaking the Spine.

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

Prince Charming Doesn't Live Here by Christine Warren

Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler
Saint's Astray by Jacqueline Carey

Timeless by Gail Carriger 

Third Grave Dead Ahead by Darynda Jones

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

Witch & Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson & Ned Rust

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

The Mockingbirds, Book 2: The Rivals by Daisy Whitney

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

And now for today's:

Under the Never Sky

by Veronica Rossi

9780062072030, Harper Collins, $17.99
Pub. Date: January 2012 

A young adult book by a first-time author, this is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet in a post-apocalyptic setting. Here is the publisher's description:

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.

Books I Discovered This Week: 11/27/11-12/03/11

Adult Fiction

• 420 Characters by Lou Beach
• After the Apocalypse: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
• All Yours by Claudia Pineiro, translated by Miranda France
• The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
• The Bone Doll's Twin (The Tamir Triad, #1) by Lynn Flewelling
• Book by Robert Grudin
• Diving Bells: And Other Stories by Lucy Wood
• Doc by Mary Doria Russell
• Galore by Michael Crummey
• The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy
• Murder in Mount Holly by Paul Theroux
• The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories 2011 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
• The Uninnocent: Stories by Bradford Morrow
• Victor Halfwit: A Winter's Tale by Thomas Bernhard
• Yours, Faithfully by Sheila O'Flanagan

Adult Non-Fiction

• 3MPH: The Adventures of One Woman's Walk Around the World by Polly Letofsky, edited by Rosemary Rawson & Vicki Tosher
• Cecelia and Fanny: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and her Former Mistress by Brad Asher
• Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life by Christian McEwan
• The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett
• The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Guillaume de Laubier, Jacques Bosser, & James H. Billington
• Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature by Janice A. Radway
• Reading Women: How the Great Books of Feminism Changed My Life by Stephanie Staal
• Two Guys Read Jane Austen by Steve Chandler & Terrence N. Hill

Children's Non-Fiction

• Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy

Middle Grade

• The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr
• An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo
• Guys Read: Thriller by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Brett Helquist
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

Picture Books

• The Girl Who Hated Books by Manjusha Pawagi, illustrated by Leanne Franson
• Library Lil by Suzanne Williams, illustrated by Steven Kellog
• Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone
• Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon
• Wolves by Emily Gravett

Teen/Young Adult

• Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, Book 1) by Jessica Spotswood
• Entwined by Heather Dixon
• Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Illuminata, Act 1) by Lisa Mantchev
• Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story by Kelly Milner Halls
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli
• Witch & Wizard: The Fire by James Patterson & Jill Dembowski

Book Review: Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society, Book 2)
by Ally Carter
9781423147954, $16.99, Disney-Hyperion (HarperCollins)

Teenage girl thief. That should really be 'nough said, right?

Kat (Katarina Bishop) comes from a family of thieves. One of THE family of thieves (of which there are about 7 in the world). In book 1, Heist Society, Kat tries to give up her thieving ways, only to end up pulling the biggest heist of her life with a full team of other teenage thieves in order to clear her father's name. In book 2, Kat has stayed true to her desire not to steal for stealing's sake. She has begun returning stolen goods taken from Jewish families during World War II. Only these she pulls these jobs on her own. No team, no backup, half the time no one knows where she is. That doesn't sit too well with certain members of her team/family, most notably the sexy possible love-interest Hale and Kat's cousin Gabrielle. Hale and Gabrielle are trying to badger Kat back into the family fold when Kat is contacted by an old woman and her grandson who beg her to make the heist of the century to return a stolen emerald to their family and restore their family's name.

When you head a team of teenagers that has stolen a Cezanne from one of the most heavily guarded museum exhibits in the world, in certain circles, your name becomes a famous one. Names are powerful things, like the name Visily Romani, one of the sacred names among thieves. When the old woman evokes the Romani name, saying he is the one who sent her to Kat, Kat knows she has to take this job.

But this is not just any emerald, and this is not just any job. Kat would have to steal the Cleopatra Emerald, the one rumored to be cursed by the doomed love between Cleopatra and Marc Antony, the one no one has ever successfully stolen, including Kat's very own Uncle Eddie. The one he's forbidden anyone in the family to steal. Kat knows she's on her own for this one...or is she really? Hale and Gabrielle have no intention of letting Kat go after the emerald by herself, and as they crisscross the globe, their team grows in numbers as faces old and new let Kat she doesn't have to be alone, on this job or any job in the future.

The plot thickens with a double-cross, a first kiss, a long-lost family member, and the customary high-class stakes, adventure, and excitement I've come to expect from an Ally Carter novel. Not super-fluffy, but also missing most of the super-teen-angst (thank goodness!), this is a light, enjoyable, well-written read. You don't need to have read book 1 to understand book 2, but it's an equally enjoyable read, so I highly recommend you dip into both.

Book Review: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, illustrated by Keith Thompson

Goliath
by Scott Westerfeld
illustrated by Keith Thompson
9781416971771, $19.99, Simon & Schuster

The completely-lives-up-to-it-thank-god conclusion to the Leviathan trilogy! For my review of Behemoth, book 2 in the series, click here.

 Mr. Westerfeld & Mr. Thompson continued to do a magnificent job of giving us both text and pictures to illustrate this alternate world history. It's a little difficult to write about this book without spoilers but I'm going to try.

At the opening of the novel, Alek & Dylan/Deryn are still aboard the Leviathan, making their way toward Japan to wave the British flag. Redirected to Siberia for a rescue mission, they meet the fanatical scientist, Mr. Tesla, the inventor of the Tesla cannon that did so much damage and created such a problem for Alek & Dylan/Deryn at the end of book 2, Behemoth.

Mr. Tesla claims to have created an enormous Tesla cannon, named Goliath; he predicts the mere threat of using this super-weapon will cause the Germans to surrender and will herald the end of the war. Alek believes it is his destiny to work toward peace, so feels he must side with Mr. Tesla, despite whatever misgivings Alek and Dr. Barlow, the lady boffin, have about him and whether his weapon even works. Dylan/Deryn has her own misgivings, but mostly she's concerned about continuing to keep her identity a secret from Alek who is not only her best friend, but who she definitely has romantic feelings for.

With Mr. Tesla taking over the direction of the Leviathan, they all find themselves on their way to America by way of Mexico. The land of opportunity awaits - opportunity for fame, opportunity for fortune, and opportunity for secrets to be revealed. No matter where they go, even to neutral America, the crew and guests of Leviathan can't seem to outrun the war. When Alek and Dylan/Deryn are separated and danger befalls them both, they both must make hard decisions about who and what is most important - duty, honor, promises to themselves, or promises to each other?

Readers who are looking for a true conclusion to the series should be 100% satisfied. Exciting up to the very last page, Goliath truly delivers. While I'm clamoring for more, it is simply because the author and illustrator have created such a complete alternate world that I believe there could be many more books written in this setting.

Watch a trailer for the book that began the series:

Books I Discovered This Week: 11/20/11-11/26/11

Adult Fiction

• The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis
• A Factory of Cunning by Philippa Stockley
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan 
• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
• Jigs & Reels: Stories by Joanne Harris
• Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto by Gianni Rodari, translated by Anthony Shugaar 
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 
• The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

Adult Non-Fiction

• Then Again by Diane Keaton

Teen/YA

• Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

Book Review: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Touch of Frost
by Jennifer Estep
9780758266927, $9.95, Kensington Publishing Corporation

Gwen Frost's mother died 6 months ago, on the same day Gwen fully realized her Gypsy Gift. Both her mother and her grandmother have Gypsy magic; Gwen's Gift is psychometry magic - the ability to see people's thoughts, memories, and actions by touching an object. She can see every person who has ever touched that object, feel their emotions, almost read their minds. After an incident in Gwen's public high school involving a hairbrush and a child molester indirectly leads to Gwen's mother's death, Gwen is sent to Mythos Academy, the special private school where boys and girls with powers go to learn how to use them.

Not just any kids go to Mythos Academy. These are the descendents of mythological figures: Amazons, Spartans, Titans, Greek Gods & Goddesses, and Gwen - the Gypsy. Gwen feels like even more of an outsider at this new school, where she's not good at fighting, doesn't care about learning history/mythology, and only wants to read her comic books and sneak off-campus back to her grandmother's house. When a murder in the library leaves one student dead and Gwen unconscious, Gwen finally wakes up to the fact that all this mythology might be as real as the teachers and other students say it is. Disturbed by the fact that none of the other students seem fazed by the death of the most popular girl in school, Gwen decides to investigate the murder herself.

Throughout the course of her investigation, Gwen will engage in some breaking-and-entering, reluctantly make or make a reluctant new friend, and keep running into (literally) Logan Quinn, the best Spartan fighter with a killer ladies' man reputation in the school. By the end of book one in this new YA series, Gwen will have solved the mystery of the murder, learned more about her Gypsy gift, inherited an ancient weapon, been honored by the gods, and will almost have started dating Logan Quinn.

This was a promising beginning to a new series, though honestly, I believe it could have used some tighter editing. Readers of Estep's adult Elemental Assassin series will recognize the same snarky sense of humor and addiction to describing food that Gin Blanco exhibits, but unfortunately I don't think it works as well on Gwen Frost. The descriptions of food are, frankly, pedestrian and add nothing to the story. Gwen isn't like Gin; she doesn't own a restaurant or cook to relieve stress. So why the emphasis on the creamy cream cheese frosting? In addition, Gwen is so disturbingly like Bella Swan (sorry for this obvious comparison) with her "I'm so average and a loner but actually want friends" persona, that her snarky attitude actually seems at odds with her self-description and loner behavior. The "poor me, why do the teachers think I'm special, I just have this one power that isn't very helpful" attitude is not only grating but doesn't seem to reflect her confident speaking voice or her initiative-taking actions in certain scenes.

Luckily, the "poor me, why me" phase seems to get beaten out of her by the end of book one, where she manages to avoid getting killed long enough for Logan to save the day and for neither one of them to get any credit for it. She's supposed to be receiving fighting lessons from Logan, her assigned personal trainer, and as long as he pulls the stick out of his butt and starts explaining why he's running so hot and cold about his feelings for Gwen, I'm sure all will be well there. I'm looking forward to following this saga in book 2, because despite the loose writing, the story is compelling.

Books I Discovered This Week: 11/13/11-11/19/11

Adult Fiction

• American Stories by Calvin Trillin
• Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer
• The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
• The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
• The Horse of Selene by Jaunita Casey
• The Informationist by Taylor Stevens
• The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
• Little, Big, Fantasy Masterworks #5 by John Crowley
• My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
• No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories by Miranda July
• The Printmaker's Daughter by Katherine Govier
• Topics About Which I Know Nothing by Patrick Ness
• Warrior Princesses by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Adult Non-Fiction

• An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton
• The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World by Eric Weiner
• Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York by Richard Zacks 
• The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

Graphic Novel

• I Love Him to Pieces by Evonne Tsang, illustrated by Janina Gorrissen

Middle Grade

• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente, illustrated by Ana Juan
• Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce and Laura Geringer
• The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye

Teen/YA

• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
• Eona: The sequel to Eon by Alison Goodman
• Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynne Barnes
• Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
• Undeadly, The Reaper Diaries #1 by Michele Vail

Paranormal Romantic Fiction

• Eye of the Tempest, Jane True #4 by Nicole Peeler
• Tempest's Fury, Jane True #5 by Nicole Peeler
• Timeless, The Parasol Protectorate #5 by Gail Carriger

Unclassified

• Dulac's Fairy Tale Illustrations in Full Color by Edmund Dulac
• Moby Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page by Matt Kish
• Nielsen's Fairy Tale Illustrations in Full Color by Kay Nielsen
• Rackham's Fairy Tale Illustrations in Full Color by Arthur Rackham

Book Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Heartless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel 
by Gail Carriger
9780316127196, $7.99, Orbit Books (Hachette)

Two things first: I hate this cover. Despite that, I really enjoyed the story.

I absolutely judge a book by its cover, and there's something about the woman on this cover that really turns me off. To the point where, despite having waited patiently for this book to become available on my library queue, when it came in, it took the book actually being due for me to stop ignoring it in the pile on my floor and actually read the damn thing, and once I did that, I read it in one day. So, there you go. Just one more example of why you should really never judge a book by it's (quite awful) cover.

If you have not been introduced to the Parasol Protectorate series yet, it is a delightful mix of Queen Victoria-era London and it's surrounding countryside, with occasional forays into other parts of Europe; the supernatural, paranormal, and preternatural worlds; steampunkery in terms of machinery and accessories, though the clothing is more typically Victorian; and lots and lots of tea drinking. You can read my review of book 1: Soulless, my reviews of book 2: Changeless and book 3: Blameless, and watch a video about the making of cover art for Blameless here, in order to get caught up. If you read all of these reviews, you will notice that I've been a bit wishy-washy on whether I was fully in support of this series or not. There's always something that I don't really like in these books, making me feel vaguely irritated while reading them, and yet they suck me in with the quality of writing and the unexpected plot elements and the most ridiculous situations the characters get themselves into and the descriptions of Victorian life. Dammit.

Luckily, book 4 was much better, in my estimation, than book 3 (I don't like marital tension, and there was a lot less of that in this book), though it was a close call because I almost stopped reading after the first 3 pages. That's how disappointing I found the first plot point. BUT, as the book went on, it was woven in, in such a delicate and thoughtful way, that soon I was on board and interested to see where things would go next.

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, is eight months pregnant. Despite feeling the size of a fully-inflated dirigible, she tries not to let that slow her down as she investigates a new plot to kill the queen. Delving into the history of the last assassination attempt on the queen means diving into the history of how and why her husband Conall came to London from Scotland, a circumstance that no one is happy to remember as it involves betrayal and poison and a mad werewolf Alpha. After some sleuthing and deducing, Alexia realizes she's actually on the trail of two mysteries, just in time to alert the queen who's actually in danger (and it's not the queen you first think it is), save Genevieve's son, relocate a hive, relocate the werewolves, and give birth to the most beautiful and astonishing little creature ("creature" because I don't want to ruin the surprise). The whole cast of characters is present including a surprise visit from Alexia's sister, Felicity, who may or may not have joined the women's suffrage movement; Ivy and her hats who get sent off to Scotland for reconnaissance (there's a true friend!); Genevieve and her tinkering (octopuses come back into play); Lord Akeldama and his dandy drones; and of course, the Woolsey werewolves.

I enjoyed this book the most since the first novel, and am very much looking forward to book #5 in the Parasol Protectorate series, Timeless, out in March 2012. I warn you, though, I think I will continue not to like the covers.

Book Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset (The Steampunk Chronicles, Book 1)
by Kady Cross
9780373210336, $17.99, Harlequin Teen

Obviously a steampunk novel, as it's book #1 in The Steampunk Chronicles, there's a great mix of adventure, romance, and gadgetry in this quick (despite its 450+ pages) read. I love the trim size of this novel, its gorgeous cover with the steel corset peeking out from the scarlet dress, and the black gears that decorate each new chapter page. Overall, a gorgeous package for a book that delivers from a first-time foray into the YA genre by best-selling author Kathryn Smith.



Finley Jayne has had to run. Again. Something about her draws men to her, and at age 16 and a servant in people's homes, she's easy prey for the fathers and sons of rich families. Or so they think. There's something inside Finley that awakes when she's in danger, something dark enough to protect Finley by allowing her to fight well and become strong enough to throw a grown man across the room. Though she didn't kill him, after this last fight with a member of the crew of Dandies, followers of the notorious Jack Dandy, Finley knows she must run again and despairs of where she'll find herself this time, out on the streets, in the middle of the night, in 1897 England.

Luckily, she is run down by a Duke on a motorcycle-type machine. Griffin King, possessing powers of his own, recognizes something within Finley and so brings her to his manor to join his own band of misfits. There's Emily - better at tinkering with mechanical things than any man; Sam - part-man, part-automaton; Griffin's aunt, Cordelia - she can read people's minds; and Jasper Renn - an American who can move like the wind. Suspected by some of being a spy, unwillingly drawn to both Griffin and Jack Dandy, all Finley really wants to learn is why she feels like there are literally two sides of her - the Finley of her conscious moments, and the Finley who can fight like the devil. Is she evil? How will she reconcile her two sides? And can she do so while also trying to help Griffin's gang figure out just what evil plot The Machinist is hatching that involves Queen Victoria and life-like automatons like the one that almost killed Sam?

Though most of the plot twists and turns were not a super-shocking reveal, this is a perfect introduction for the 12-and-up set into the world of steampunk and all the clothing and machinery that goes along with it. I'm looking forward to following the gang to America in book 2!

Books I Discovered This Week: 11/06/11-11/12/11

Adult Fiction

• Arcadia by Lauren Groff
• The Daughter She Used to Be by Rosalind Noonan
• The Thief's Only Child by Rexanne Becnel
• The Time In Between by Maria Duenas
• Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Adult Non-Fiction

• I Dreamt I Was in Heaven: The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang by Leonce Gaiter
• The Love Lives of the Artists: Five Stories of Creative Intimacy by Daniel Bullen
• Mourad: New Moroccan by Mourad Lahlou

Teen/YA

• Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
• Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul by Leanna Renee Hieber 
• The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Middle Grade

• Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Waiting on Wednesday: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

Breaking the Spine.

 

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

 

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

Prince Charming Doesn't Live Here by Christine Warren

Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler
Saint's Astray by Jacqueline Carey

 

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

Witch & Wizard: The Gift by James Patterson & Ned Rust

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

The Mockingbirds, Book 2: The Rivals by Daisy Whitney

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

 

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

And now for today's:

The Flight of Gemma Hardy
by Margot Livesey
9780062064226, $25.99, HarperCollins

I've never read anything by Margot Livesey before, though she has published many novels, but this book caught my attention because it is a contemporary nod to Jane Eyre set in Iceland and Scotland. Sounds promising. Here is the publisher description:

When her widower father drowns at sea, ten-year-old Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland, to live with her uncle’s family. But the death of her doting guardian soon after leaves Gemma under the resentful eye of her aunt. When she receives a scholarship to a private school, Gemma believes she’s found the perfect solution, and she eagerly sets out again to a new home. Alas, at Claypoole she finds herself treated as an unpaid servant. To Gemma’s delight, the school finally goes bankrupt and she takes a job as an au pair on the Orkney Islands. The remote Blackbird Hall belongs to Mr. Sinclair, a London businessman; his eight-year-old niece is Gemma’s charge. Even before their first meeting Gemma is intrigued by Mr. Sinclair. Rich, single, flying in from London when he pleases, Hugh Sinclair fills the house with life. The unlikely pair are drawn to one another, but their courtship is cut short by Gemma’s discovery of a secret that has shadowed her employer’s life; soon after, she resolves to flee to mainland Scotland and vows to forget Mr. Sinclair. But as she rebuilds her life she wonders with increasing intensity whether she may still have a family in Iceland. As for her vow, that proves harder to keep than she imagines.

Book Review: After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

After the Golden Age 
by Carrie Vaughn
9780765325556, $24.99, Tor Fantasy

Are you as surprised as I was to see this on my reading list? Okay, probably not, but this was definitely one of those "judged a book by its cover" reads and I'm three-quarters glad that I did. Why only 3/4ths? Because the book was great for that long. Then she somehow lost it right at the end - don't you just hate that? BUT, because the first 3/4ths of the book was still really compelling, I'm going to blog it and recommend it anyway.

Celia West is the daughter of superheros. Captain Olympiad and Spark are actually Dad and Mom - beyond-wealthy socialites with a conscience who formed the crime-fighting team, the Olympiads. Unfortunately for Celia, she's superpower-less. Celia is a forensic accountant, and as sexy as that job sounds, she has actually been placed as an assistant to the DA on the case against the Destructor, the Olympiads' #1 nemesis. Why? Because after all the destruction The Destructor has managed to cause, he's actually going to be put away for something like tax fraud. Ain't that always the way?

Estranged from her family, Celia is nonetheless still acting in her role as "Bait Girl," meaning she continues to be kidnapped as part of a new rash of high-profile crimes hitting Commerce City. She's not scared - why should she be? This has happened so many times before - but it IS annoying to have to keep being rescued by your parents and their friends. Especially when she's done so much to distance herself from them, from her rebellious teenage self, and from her sealed juvie record which is about to be leaked and make the biggest, darkest secret from her past very public knowledge.

When, once again, Celia's thrust back into the limelight, all she wants to do is squirrel away in her apartment, maybe consider buying a new identity, and moving to another city. But in her work for this big "Trial of the Century," she's actually been making some progress. So who cares if she's been fired? If she could just get her dad to let her into the Olympiads' computer system, she just may be able to follow the paper trail that could lead them all to who is actually behind the new crime spree, the mayor's build-up to martial law, and quite possibly the secret behind even her parents' superpowers.

It is just at the moment that Celia is coming back to herself as her own proud, not powerless character, that the book takes a dark turn with the plot. Death, destruction, and a really fast wrap-up make me want to ask this author for a rewrite of the last 30 pages. As I said before, though, worth reading for the quick pace of writing, the humor, the brief characterizations, and overall, just a nice break from everything else I've been reading out there.

Book Review: Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy

Miss Timmins' School for Girls
by Nayana Currimbhoy
9780061997747, $14.99, HarperCollins

I don't know what made me pick this book up. I don't remember if I saw it advertised somewhere online, or if someone recommended it on Goodreads, or if I just saw it on the new books shelf, but for whatever reason I checked it out of the library and am so glad I did.

This is Nayana Currimbhoy's first novel. Her writing can only be described as lovely, and I look forward to reading more of her work. I'm not a fan of overt similes - X was like Y - and Ms. Currimbhoy is a master of the subtly evocative metaphor.

Told in three parts, Miss Timmins' School for Girls is first and foremost the story of Charulata Apte, a Brahmin Indian girl called Charu for short. At the age of 21 in 1974, Charu makes her first venture out into the world by taking a teaching position at boarding school in Panchgani, one still run "like an outpost of the British Empire". Class structure is very much at play, and shy, timid, only-child Charu is slowly, almost delicately, drawn out of herself when she unwillingly befriends Miss Moira Prince, a prickly, insubordinate, unexpectedly charming White teacher. Through Pin, as Charu calls her, Charu is introduced to the charms of the 70s - the Mystery Man known as Merch (a friend of Pin's), and with him, the music, the drugs, the politics, the independence. Touched by new ideas, new feelings, new experiences, Charu nonetheless feels safe inside her Panchgani/Timmins' School bubble, where the outside world never really intrudes.

Until a murder occurs. Until her mother is hospitalized.

Suddenly the perspective changes, and the story continues from the perspective of Nandita, one of Charu's top students, and Nandita's friends, who had snuck away to the place known as table-top on the night of the murder. With Macbeth and Gothic romances and contemporary detective novels as their guides, Nandita, Akhila, Ramona, and Shoba attempt to put together the pieces of that night. Miss Nelson, the school principal, was seen on table-top. So was Charu. So was Merch. So were some boys from another local school, Mr. Blind Irani, and enough people so that it seemed like half the school and town were out that night, the night there was a full moon and the rain stopped in the middle of the monsoon season. False accusations, false arrests, family connections and secrets and revelations, for a brief moment Timmins' School and all of Panchgani are national news in a huge game of who-dunnit.

Perspective changes again and it is now several years later. Charu has gone to Bombay, to become a teacher there. No longer provincial, living with her father and her child, life has moved on in so many ways, but she has never forgotten. A chance meeting with an old student brings it all rushing back, all the same feelings of first love, second love, guilt, confusion, frustration - and under it all, still a lingering question about what really happened the night of the murder. A trip back to Panchgani is needed to once-and-for-all discover the truth about that night up at table-top and how those events formed who Charu came to be.

The publisher's marketing calls this book "ultimately, a coming-of-age tale set against the turbulence of the 1970s as it played out in one small corner of India," but it's so much more than that. Reading this book was almost like traveling to India, with words and phrases and actions and castes and socio-cultural elements sprinkled throughout the prose. Though there is a glossary in the back of the book, I preferred not to use it, instead immersing myself in this place I had never been, letting the unfamiliar words wash over me while I sympathized with the budding womanhood of Charu's experiences. A true sensory pleasure.