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.

Book Review: Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon

Finding Camlann
by Sean Pidgeon

This book has been described as of interest to fans of the movie Possession starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. While it's true that there are similarities - romance among two people brought together by new findings that shed light upon a piece of British history - the pacing of this novel would have been much better served as a movie. While I am glad I read it, I can't say I simply enjoyed it.

The story got lost for me in the emphasis placed on everything from the detailed descriptions of the British and Welsh countrysides to ancient historical events and genealogies to dreamscapes (which really seemed most out of place) to almost everything but the forward momentum of the story itself. I could see how the sweeping vistas would be gorgeous in a movie, or how the impeccably researched historical elements might appeal to history buffs, but I wanted more meat to the story itself. The very writing itself seemed to contain a kind of stereotypical British constraint that was occasionally swept aside by a fanciful phrase that almost did more to distract than add, it being so out of place.

All of that said, something about it kept me reading, maybe because the pacing was just enough to hook me in as I was about to give up with some new piece of the mystery or new development in a character's relationship. I did like the characters:
Donald Gladstone is the co-main character along with Julia Llewelyn. He's an archaeologist; she's a researcher for the OED. Her husband, Hugh Mortimer, I thought was the least realized character, despite his rather central role in the end. Some intriguing minor characters come in, with Donald's American ex-wife being my least favorite, mostly because she either put on airs as a character or the author genuinely believes American women act like this (either one being of extreme annoyance to me).

A slow build for sure, I was almost most disappointed in the ending, for right as there is a final build-up to the actual find that brings all the various pieces of the historical mystery together, the author prefers to write something prosaic and leave it all to our imagination, what happens next, as opposed to giving the reader some closure - which, ironically I felt, was something several of characters throughout the novel were looking for (closure).

Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico
9780547608327, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $8.99

Irreverent and hysterical, Croak tells the surprisingly believable story of the Grim Reaper. Or Reapers, to be precise, as there’s a whole group of Grims, and Lex Bartleby’s Uncle Mort is the head of them all. Shipped off to upstate New York to “milk cows or something,” Lex is surprised to find out she’s actually a Grim apprentice – and more than that, she’s the best Grim apprentice anyone’s ever seen. But when someone starts using the Grim powers to Kill people who haven’t yet died, Lex is torn – they’re killing bad people, like murderers, who Lex secretly wishes were dead, but it’s also an unforgivable use of Grim powers. As Lex and her friends get closer to uncovering who is doing this, she struggles harder with the question of whether to join the rouge Grim or turn them in.

Local Boston-area author!

Book Review: The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson

The Angel Makers 
by Jessica Gregson
9781569479797, Soho Press, $24.00

Both shocking and encouraging of sympathy, The Angel Makers is a haunting novel that will slyly seduce you.

Taking place in an isolated village in Hungary, the story revolves around Sari Arany, first as a young girl, then as a woman, and her place in village life. Her father is the village medicine man and seer; her only friend is the feared village midwife and herbal woman. Before her father dies, he arranges (with her permission) for Sari's engagement to Ferenc, the son of the wealthiest family in the village. It is a surprise to most, for because her mother died soon after her birth, Sari is thought to be unlucky and treated with scorn and suspicion by the villagers. It doesn't help that Sari is peculiar - beautiful, piercing eyes, more learned than most women, and surprisingly forthright with her speech and actions. Despite this, it is seen to be a good match, and when her father dies sooner than expected, Ferenc assumes they will marry immediately instead of waiting for Sari's 18th birthday. Yet Sari stands firm, and instead chooses to live with Judith, the herbal woman, to learn about being a midwife prior to marriage.

But soon the war comes to Hungary, and the men must go off to fight. Suddenly, the women of the village find themselves living in a strange new world where they don't worry about when food is on the table, where they have time to make new friends, where they begin to feel more free in thought and action - no longer worried about a harsh rebuke from a husband or father. When a POW camp sets up nearby, they also feel free enough to get jobs (and lovers) at the camp. Sari slowly becomes more accepted in the village, making a few particular friends, learning more about herbal medicine and midwifery, occasionally receiving letters from Ferenc about his dreams of home.

Then the war ends. The village men begin to return. The POWs leave. And the women are no longer so free as they once were. Sari's friend, Anna, again begins to creep around the village trying to hide the fresh bruises that are a marker of her husband's homecoming. But change did happen in the women. And they are not as willing to lie down and take the men's actions and decisions as they once were. It is at this point that they begin to rely on Sari and Judith's herbal knowledge for getting rid of those pesky problems - the men who maybe should not have returned home from the war.

The best part? This is based on a true story. As the author writes, "The novel details a peculiar kind of madness that gripped the women in a small, isolated village over a period of around ten years, and writing the novel was my attempt to try and understand what circumstances might have brought it about, as well as what may have been going on in the heads of the women in question." This is a fascinating look at how far some women will go to assert their freedom.

Book Review: The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

The Story of Beautiful Girl
by Rachel Simon
9780446574464, Grand Central Publishing, $24.99

Quietly enthralling. That's the first thing that comes to mind when trying to describe this book. The basic facts - the lives of 4 people interwoven over a period of 40 years - don't do justice to the elegant and simple way this novel unfolds and lays out the complexities of the plot. Rachel Simon exhibits true mastery in how her writing jumps from time, place, and point-of-view to paint a complete picture using pivotal moments, and her writing is lovely to boot: "What is the history of the word for 'child'? What is the future of the word for 'mine'?" (pg. 154).

The story begins on the doorstep of Martha's farmhouse in the late 1960s. A retired schoolteacher and longtime widow, Martha leads a simple life, her social life consisting of writing and receiving letters from her former students and hosting a yearly holiday party. When a deaf black man and a mentally-ill white woman show up on her doorstep with a newborn, Martha barely has time to feed them and clothe them before officials from the State School for the Incurable and Feeble-Minded knock on her door. Without really understanding what is happening, Martha lets the men in and they search her home to find Lynnie, the woman, hiding in a back bedroom. There is no sign of Homan, the man, and the officials apparently don't know to look for the baby. As Lynnie passes Martha, while being dragged from the house, Lynnie manages to whisper, "Hide her," and so Martha does. For the next 14 years, Martha will dedicate herself to the care, feeding, protecting, and loving of the baby, Beautiful Girl, Julia.

Meanwhile, Lynnie is brought back to the School, where she must endure the derision of the guards, and inattention of the doctors, and the loss of both Beautiful Girl and Homan. Not everything is horrible, however, and with the help of her friends - Doreen, a fellow "inmate" at the school, and Kate, a school employee - Lynnie is able to use her artistic ability to draw pictures depicting her escape, her return, and continue with drawing her life after. Over time, conditions at the School improve, Lynnie's own mind and abilities improve, and she is able to work on learning to speak, learning to communicate, and learning to take care of herself within assisted environments, ultimately speaking up in favor of legislation that would close all schools like the one she grew up in. Yet, despite her personal growth, she is constant in her memory of Homan and her baby.

Homan, deaf, scared, unable to communicate as no one understands his signs, he can't understand American Sign Language, nor can he read lips, runs from one situation to another - some of them bad, some of them good - but most of them taking him farther and farther away from Lynnie and Beautiful Girl. For a long time, he keeps the thought of returning to the School at the forefront of his mind, but it's the 60s, and then the 70s, and the introduction of smoking pot into his life makes it easy for him to live more complacently with people and in situations that don't push him to continue toward his goal. After many years of living an almost apathetic existence, crossing paths with someone from his past will bring about a change in him that has him looking toward a brighter future.

Ignorant of the circumstances of her birth, Julia has only known her grandmother Matilda (Martha) and the various aunts and uncles (Martha's former students) that have given them food and shelter over the years. It isn't until Julia hits her teen years that she begins to question, she begins to rebel, and Martha faces the tough decision of what and how much and when to tell Julia the truth of her birth.

Forty years brings about a lot of change in the world, and in the people involved, but certain constants - like love, and sacrifice, and caring for others as part of human nature - weave a positive thread throughout the opposition all four main characters face. The final scenes provide a clever glimpse into the future beyond the book without wrapping things up too carefully, so that Lynnie, Homan, Julia, and even Martha live on inside the reader long past the final page.

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:

Book Review: I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

I am Half-Sick of Shadows
by Alan Bradley
9780385344012, $23.00, Delacorte Press (Random House)

Another almost-indescribable Flavia de Luce adventure! Seriously, I'm not even worried about gushing too much, because every single novel in this series delivers. It's the best mash-up of a child protagonist's inquisitive nature, Sherlock Holmes's logic, historical literary fiction, murder mystery, and general good fun.

Continuing to explore the lives of land-rich, cash-poor, post-World War II, British countryside gentry, the Flavia de Luce novels each feature a murder mystery solved by 11-year-old Flavia herself. In this, the fourth novel in the series, Colonel de Luce has finally succumbed to mounting debts by allowing a film studio to take over Buckshaw, the de Luce estate. Movie star, Phyllis Wyvern, with complete cast and crew descend, all in the week before Christmas. In between concocting a sticky tar substance to catch St. Nicholas (just to make sure he IS real), Flavia is busy NOT getting in the way of the film company and making friends with Ms. Wyvern, much to her sister Feely's consternation.

Soon most of the village has also descended as Ms. Wyvern has agreed to give a special one-act performance of Romeo & Juliet to help raise funds for a new church roof. When a blizzard traps the town at Buckshaw, there are plenty of suspects when Flavia discovers Ms. Wyvern dead in her room during the night after her performance. Inspector Hewitt turns up, of course, and though he tries to avoid Flavia's assistance, she is, as usual, several steps ahead of him. All the favorite (and those favorite-to-hate) characters are present during this trying time, including Aunt Felicity who has more to do with this mystery than Flavia can imagine. Old war secrets, unexpected family connections, Dogger's bottomless wealth of information, and some good old-fashioned sleuthing all combine to help save the day in a truly shocking display of chemistry.

A great seasonal read for those who don't want anything too naughty OR nice.

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.

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!

Book Review: Plugged by Eoin Colfer

Plugged 
by Eoin Colfer
9781590204634, $24.95, The Overlook Press

It's not often that I say this, but I believe this book falls firmly into the "written by a man for men" category. While I appreciated it for being a quick, light read that had nothing to do with the types of books I usually read (can I actually claim to have a usual type?), the humor, though accessible, would clearly be greater appreciated by a man, probably a middle-aged one, like the character in the novel.

The title, Plugged, is a play on both the hair plugs troubling the main character with the slang term for being shot (both of which are pretty major plot points as you might imagine). Irish-transplant, ex-army, middle-aged Daniel McEvoy is a bouncer at a low-end club (gambling and girls) in nowhere New Jersey. Life ain't great, but it's not bad either, and Dan is mostly trying to keep his head down and get from one day to the next without a PTSD flashback, an altercation with his sleazy boss, or a run-in with his crazy upstairs neighbor. If he occasionally gets to hook up with one of the hostesses at the club, Connie, all the better.

Yet in his capacity as bouncer for Slotz, Dan can't really avoid trouble, especially when one of the customers licks Connie's ass. Literally. Takes a big ol' slurp. Gross. After throwing the guy out of the club, Dan's life goes from humdrum to hell-in-a-handbasket when Connie gets plugged, his apartment gets ransacked, his best friend/slash/hair transplant hook-up goes missing, his upstairs neighbor suddenly decides Dan's the reincarnation of her long-gone-lover, and Dan has no choice but to help solve several who-dunnit's in order to stop the (rough-and-tumble, heart-as-cold-as-ice, yet strangely attractive) policewoman from looking at him as the culprit. Hilarity in the form of a possible ghost living in Dan's brain, Irish Mike (the mick crime boss who's never been to Ireland), a freezer, a suburban drug ring, a half-naked police officer, a dog with sore testicles, a locker of firearms, and a wild poker game ensues.

The writing in this review is somewhat reminiscent of the writing in the book - "some moments are fat with menace," Dan thinks: an example of the protagonist-acknowledge clunky metaphors and tongue-in-cheek references that abound. I personally appreciate humor that's a little more sly, a little more cheeky, and a little less reliant on the reader sympathizing with the character because they see in him a reflection of themselves. That said, it was an enjoyable read, and not too heavy despite the subject matter. Ultimately, though, this being the second Eoin Colfer novel for adults that I've read, I much prefer his writing for the Middle Grade set in the Artemis Fowl series.

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.

Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
9781594744761, $17.99, Quirk Books

Jacob's grandfather used to tell him tales of a magical place. An island with a beautiful home where children with strange abilities lived, safe from harm, forever. As Jacob gets older he begins to question his grandfather's stories - a girl who could float? A boy who had bees inside of him? What were the children "safe" from?

His parents told Jacob these were stories his grandfather made up to help explain away his childhood experiences during WWII. But how, then, to explain the photographs his grandfather showed him? They were old, yellowed and faded with age, way before digital photography was invented. Creepy scenes of children - an invisible boy, just a body with clothes and no head; a girl with two reflections instead of one; pictures that looked like circus acts but weren't. Jacob gets angry, thinking his grandfather is lying to him, and they never speak of the stories again.

Until Jacob is 16. And his grandfather calls him, scared, looking for his guns, swearing "it" is after him. Then his grandfather gets killed, and Jacob finds him, and Jacob sees the terror in the shadows in the woods. That's when Jacob begins to believe.

Suffering from a nervous breakdown following his grandfather's death, Jacob has screaming nightmares, is often afraid to leave the house, and begins seeing a psychiatrist. Thinking that confronting his fears might help him, Jacob and his father travel to the island where Jacob's grandfather was sent as a child during the war. Remote and isolated doesn't even begin to describe the place, but Jacob is fixated on finding the house from his grandfather's memories, and possibly a woman called Miss Peregrine, one letter from whom was found among Jacob's grandfather's things.

Piecing together stories from local townspeople, Jacob is told the house was bombed, and everyone in it perished, except for one young man (Jacob's grandfather) who left the day after the bombing. But if they all died, how had Jacob's grandfather received a letter from a woman who lived there 15 years later?

When Jacob finally finds the house, it has clearly been abandoned for a very long time. With more questions than answers, Jacob gathers his courage to explore inside. He finds a trunk containing photographs like the ones his grandfather used to show him. Going through them carefully, Jacob suddenly hears a noise. "Abe?" asks a girl's voice. Abe was his grandfather. "Abe?"

And so, Jacob finds the children. And finds the answers. And comes face-to-face with the scary and awful and magical truth. By the end of this first book in what is clearly a series, Jacob must come to a life-changing decision: does he belong in the world of the children, forever?

Book Review: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

The Scorch Trials
by James Dashner
9780385738767, $9.99, Delacorte Press (Random House)

This is the second book in the Maze Runner trilogy. You can read my review of Book 1, titled The Maze Runner, here.

They thought the battle was over when they left the maze, but it soon becomes clear they've only moved on to stage 2 of these twisted games, designed to test the Gladers beyond their already stretched limits. Thomas wakes up on the morning after their "rescue" to find Teresa gone, a new boy in her place, and the Gladers in a panic as Cranks try to break into their enclosure. 

Cranks are zombie-like creatures that have been infected with a disease the Gladers later find out has infected the world. The new boy, Aris, says he's from Group B - a group of all girls, except for him. Oh, and Aris can speak in Thomas's mind, just like Teresa. Slowly Thomas and the Gladers piece together that there are two groups out there, and they're both competing for the same prize: The Gladers are told they've all been infected by the disease, but if they make it from point A to point B in the allotted amount of time, they will be given a cure. 

Sounds simple enough until they're plunged into total blackness where they can't see the deathly beheading orbs, then shocked by the almost constant sunlight battering down on them as they struggle to run across a desert, all with dwindling food and water resources. Lightning and rain storm burns them while they run toward a city - toward friend or foe, they're not sure, but they know they need to get out of the killing rain. In the city they meet Brenda and Jorge who promise to lead them safely through the Crank-infested city in exchange for the antidote, but first the group gets separated and both factions have to battle their way toward their destination point.

Less gruesome than The Maze Runner though still deadly, The Scorch Trials, puts Thomas, and all the characters, through a more bitter emotional journey, complete with deception, betrayal, and dreams/flashbacks Thomas has to a strange time and place that almost make it seem like he might have had a hand in creating all of this torture. But for what greater purpose? Who can he trust? And as before, he has to wonder what Teresa means when she mind-speaks to him, "WICKED is good."

Book Review: Habibi by Craig Thompson

Habibi
by Craig Thompson
9780375424144, $35, Pantheon (Random House)
Age appropriate: Adult graphic novel, 16+ (nudity, sexual content, violence)

Absolutely incredible. Beautiful calligraphy, detailed illustrations, intense historical fiction - I read something describing Craig Thompson's work as a "triumph" and I completely agree.

Habibi is a combination of historical fiction, religious fiction, and graphic novel. Told in a non-linear fashion, the stories of Dodola and Zam are brilliantly woven together with myths and tales from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, enhancing the stories of the characters and giving a contemporary context for religious history. Not a book intended to proselytize or convert, the center of the story revolves around the lives of these two characters, from childhood to adult, as they suffer atrocities, betrayal, happiness, and hope.

Dodola was sold into marriage to a scribe at the age of eight. Though she learned to read and write, she was also expected to perform wifely duties she was really too young to handle. One day, her husband is killed and she is sold into slavery, where she meets Zam, a little black boy in the slave market whom no one claims. Claiming him as her own, when Dodola escapes, she takes Zam with her. They find an old boat in the middle of a sea of sand and spend several years there. Dodola does what she must to get food from passing caravans, with Zam in charge of finding water. It is when Zam is old enough to feel the first stirrings of sexuality, old enough to challenge authority, and old enough to satisfy his own curiosity, that the two are thrust back into danger: Dodola is captured for the sultan's harem, while Zam wanders the streets of the nearby town, destitute. Years pass before the two are reunited, again needing to make a daring escape together. Both have changed so much, have had so much happen to them individually, it takes time to heal and trust each other, and most importantly themselves, again.

Habibi explores mysticism, spiritualism, and a brutal honesty about slave life, what people will do out of necessity, and the power of love in all its forms.

Thank you to Symposium Books in Providence, RI, for letting me sit in your store and read this cover-to-cover one rainy afternoon. I promise that wasn't my intention, but I got so caught up in the story, I honestly couldn't put it down.

Book Review: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck
by Brian Selznick
9780545027842, $29.99, Scholastic
Age appropriate: Read-together: 4+, Read alone: 8+

I had the pleasure of attending the NEIBA trade show NECBA children's author dinner last Wednesday (Oct. 12, 2011), where Brian Selznick explained what he was trying to do in his newest book, Wonderstruck. As you may remember, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, his previous middle grade novel, won the Caldecott Award, for a novel told in both pictures and text - you could not read one without the other, for together, they made the complete story. In Wonderstruck, Mr. Selznick wanted to stick with that format but play with the intent, so that instead of the film still-like images enhancing the same story, they tell a different person's story than that of the text. Ben Wilson's story in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota in 1977 is told via text, while Rose's story from Hoboken, New Jersey in 1927 is told through images. The stories build up suspense for each other until one fateful moment, 3/4 of the way through the book, they collide beautifully.

This structure is particularly brilliant because the main characters in Wonderstruck are partially or fully deaf, and in Rose's story, in 1927, the movie world is about to be completely changed with the invention of "talking pictures". Whereas before, deaf and hearing people could enjoy films together, talking pictures changes all that. I love the underlying film stories in both Mr. Selznick's works, and the themes of independence vs. family, adventure vs. security, past meeting present.

Ben's mother has recently died, and he's having a tough time adjusting to life with his aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins, even though their house is right next door to his old house on Gunflint Lake. One night, Ben sneaks into his own house and decides to search through his mother's things for any message she might have left him. When Ben finds a locket, a book, and a postcard that might give him clues as to who his father is, he decides to try contacting him. Using a phone. In the middle of a storm. When lightening strikes.

Rose is a little deaf girl living in a large house in New Jersey, overlooking Manhattan. Lonely, unable to communicate via either sign language or lip reading, she runs away to find her mother in the city.

Their stories collide when Ben also runs away to find his father in the city. Ben ends up at the American Museum of Natural History, where he makes a friend in Jamie, whose father works at the museum and from whom Jamie has swiped some keys. The boys explore the museum, E.L. Konigsburg-style (if you don't know what I'm referring to, check out Newbery Medal-winning From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler), and Ben ends up sleeping in an old Cabinet of Wonders-turned-storage room. After a few dead ends during the hunt for his father, Ben meets Rose, now much older, who tells him her own story while explaining to Ben who his father is, where Ben comes from, and that though his mother died, Ben is not without family and friends in the world. Masterfully woven together, Wonderstruck lives up to the promise of greatness from every Brian Selznick work.

Oh, and one last thing - be prepared to have the line "Ground control to Major Tom" drift through your head for days after reading this.