Pet Peeves: Spines in

Posted on November 2, 2010 by janicu

Ranting & raving is something I do periodically on this blog. Look for the “rants and raves” category for past rants and raves.

This has been a peeve for a couple of years. I think that’s how long it’s been since I started noticing bookshelves in certain furniture catalogs with the books shelved spine in. There is uniformity and the furniture can stand out. This makes sense when you want a consumer’s attention to be on the furniture, not to be distracted by what’s on it, but this trend in decorating is annoying otherwise:

Unless you know all your books and where they go by heart, or you are going to have a hell of a time finding a book.
There is no way a guest could come in and discover a book. No way to have a conversation about a book on those shelves.
It implies that a books function is as a design element rather than to be, you know, actually read.

Images are from Apartment Therapy. I am pleased to see from the comments that I am not alone in my dislike of the spine in thing.

A trend in the same vein, (but at least you can label the books in this case) is wrapping books in covers to display them:

The President’s Daughter by Ellen Emerson White

Posted on October 29, 2010 by janicu

The President’s Daughter

Ellen Emerson White

Angie is continuously pimping Ellen Emerson White so I finally took the plunge and bought the whole President’s Daughter series this year. This is the first book.

The Premise: “Sixteen-year-old Meghan Powers likes her life just the way it is. She likes living in Massachusetts. She likes her school. And she has plenty of friends. But all that is about to change. Because Meg’s mother, one of the most prestigious senators in the country, is running for President. And she’s going to win.”

My Thoughts: I had to steal the blurb for The President’s Daughter because when I tried to come up with the premise myself, all I could think of saying was: “Meghan’s mom, a senator, runs for president. The title gives you a clue to how that turns out.” The premise is simple, and the plot is straightforward. There aren’t any crazy plot twists, or drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next. Although the election happens throughout the book and Meghan is politically aware, the book follows Meg, not her mom, so the political life is conveyed by someone in the periphery. It’s fascinating to see glimpses of the election process from someone close to a candidate and to see how the media treats Meg’s family (and how Meg herself deals with it), but it’s not what I feel the heart of the book is about.

What the focus of this book is Meghan and her family. At the first glance, the Powers are incredibly All-American and privileged. When the book begins, Meghan (or Meg), is at a country club meeting her mother to play tennis. The other members of the club greet her mother as “Senator Powers” and afterward, they go home to a housekeeper, Meg’s two precocious brothers, and her lawyer dad. It’s all very American Dream, but the dynamics within this family that are universal. If you’ve ever smart mouthed at a parent to get a laugh, or said something cutting which you immediately regretted, then you’ve been a teenager and you will understand Meg.

I found Meg to be one of those girls you admire in high school. She knows how to present herself well and she has a quick wit and her mother’s looks. She’s aware that people are watching her for any mistakes she may make, and she is smart about how she acts, but on the other hand, she isn’t thrilled she has to keep herself in check. Knowing that she looks like her mom, and that boys are suddenly asking her out after her mom started running, Meg isn’t above secretly wanting her mother to lose the election so her life can go back to normal. The years growing up with a mom who has a job that keeps her away from home is another bone of contention. These are the undercurrents that run throughout the book, and yes, something comes out of them, but the drama in this book is over quickly. Meg is a kid with a certain amount of sense, and when she makes a mistake, she recognizes it fairly instantly. This includes boys. Meg is not immune to a pretty face, but she sorts through who the good guys and the not-so-good guys are in a way I found very satisfying.

Overall: I had a hard time with this review. After I finished, if someone asked me what happened in this book, I’d find it difficult to make the plot sound exciting, but I really enjoyed it for the humor in the day-to-day lives of the Powers family. Don’t read the book for pulse pounding action, read this book for the interactions between people. When Meghan is with her family, they play off each other. They zing.

(This is a review for the reissued version of the book, not the original that came out in the 80s. I believe it has been updated to make it more modern).

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository | Book Closeouts (currently 99 CENTS!!!)

Other reviews
Robin McKinley reviewed it! (and liked it quite a bit)
The Book Harbinger – positive
Chachic’s Book Nook – had a lukewarm reaction

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

Posted on October 22, 2010 by janicu

Enthusiasm

Polly Shulman

Another book bought because of book bloggers. I think the one review that had me paying attention was over at The Hiding Spot, although I see that the usual suspects have also reviewed and recommended this book. The Jane Austen connection also had me interested (of course).

The Premise: Julia (Julie) Lefkowitz’s best friend (and next door neighbor) Ashleigh is an Enthusiast. Every few weeks or so Ashleigh has a new interest which she throws herself into with unabashed vigor, dragging Julie along. Julie follows her friend, a little exasperated but knowing that nothing will dissuade Ashleigh. One day Ashleigh’s newest craze is one of Julie’s favorite things – Jane Austen. Determined to find her own Mr. Darcy, Ashleigh talks Julie into crashing the Columbus Cotillion at Forefield Academy. There she decides the Mr. Darcy role will be filled by Grandison Parr, the boy Julie has been secretly crushing on.

My Thoughts: I was in a not-really-in-a-reading mood, so the length of Enthusiasm appealed to me (198 pages). When I started, I was pleasantly surprised by how soon I was caught up in this cute story. Julie narrates to keep us informed about everything going on in her life, and it’s a pretty normal one. The people around her are as you’d expect: a best friend, her parents (divorced and living separately, sharing custody of Julie), kids in school, and boys. What I really enjoyed was how amusing this normal life could be, seen by the reader, as Ashleigh came up with another crazy idea which Julie would try to suppress, or as misunderstandings abounded.

I liked the dynamic between Julie and Ashleigh, particularly their loyalty to one another. Sure, Julie feels a twinge of annoyance that Ashleigh is appropriating an interest that was once hers alone, but even that twinge makes her feel guilty. She doesn’t want to begrudge Ashleigh anything, when she knows that Ashleigh would bend over backwards for her. This quiet suppression of how she feels so she doesn’t hurt her friend is fine sometimes, but when it comes to her feelings for Parr, that’s when I felt a little frustrated for her. Ashleigh has a personality that takes over a room, and she can railroad Julie unintentionally, which she does when she assumes (and announces) that the man for Julie is Parr’s friend Ned, a Mr Bingley to her Mr. Darcy. Julie of course keeps her real feelings back because she loves Ashleigh, but we readers know that Julie has noticed Parr around town long before the Cotillion and had nicknamed him the Mysterious Stranger. Of course, this secret from her best friend only serves to bite her in the butt. It’s not Ashleigh’s fault that she doesn’t know how Julie really feels, and it’s admirable that Julie puts her friend before herself, but throughout the book it seems to be a theme that Julie stays silent, not just with her best friend. It all works itself out, but I really wish that Julie had said something in at least one of the situations instead of being quiet. Maybe the merits of speaking up is a lesson she’s learning.

Julie loyally follows Ashleigh in Ashleigh’s schemes to see more of Parr, internally pained by the idea of seeing him with someone else, but trying to keep herself apart from him. What romance there is, is low key because it stays in the background until it’s time, but when romance does come to the forefront, it’s quite satisfying. Ultimately I really liked how things played out, and I loved how poetry was incorporated into this.

Overall: This is a perfect sized book for an evening when you find yourself craving something sweet but not without substance. I enjoyed how friendships and being a teen was conveyed, and the good-natured humor that overlaid everything made it a fun, feel-good read.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository | Book closeouts ($3!)

Other reviews:
The Hiding Spot – A
Tempting Persephone – positive review

This is #4 for the Everything Austen challenge

Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy

Posted on October 19, 2010 by janicu

While looking around for modern day retellings of Pride and Prejudice I ran across the movie Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy. It seemed like an odd combination but it looked cute. I couldn’t get it through netflix, but the whole thing seems to be up on youtube. Here’s the trailer:

Elizabeth Bennett is a college student in Utah who works part time in a bookstore and has dreams of publishing her book, the world’s only “Napoleonic Techno Fantasy” (Heh, I’d read that). She lives with four other girls. Jane is from Brazil and is Elizabeth’s best friend and roommate. Lydia is their landlord, and Kitty is Lydia’s younger sister. Mary is the awkward roommate.

Lydia and Kitty are devotees to “The Pink Bible” which is a popular self-help book about getting a man, and they plan to use it at a party at Charles Bingley’s house. This party is where we basically meet all the major characters and the story is set up. Of course Lydia is after Charles, but when he sets eyes on Jane, she’s the only one he’s interested in. This is also where the girls meet Darcy, Charles’ best friend. At this point Darcy has already managed to put himself in Elizabeth’s bad books when he was an arrogant jerk at her bookstore. Also circling Elizabeth is Collins, the resident church bore, and bad-boy Jack Wickham, both who ask Elizabeth to marry them, for different reasons. Things get complicated when Darcy begins to fall for Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s book catches the eye of a publishing company, which turns out to be Darcy’s.

This was story very loosely based on the original with only the core group of characters. It’s a fun movie, and I think that it falls under the made-for-TV romcom. The type of movie you’d see on some weekend movie marathon on a cable network. It isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. The movie had a lot of goofy moments and pretty much everyone was gently made fun of. And although it’s set in Utah and the characters mention church (and there is a funny scene at church), I didn’t find this religious at all. It just feels like part of the setting. I think if goofball romcoms are your thing, and you don’t mind something mindless, this is the movie for you, but if you can’t stand that sort of movie, skip this one.

I set up a playlist to watch the movie in it’s entirety

This is #3 for the Everything Austen 2 challenge.

Jane by April Lindner

Posted on October 18, 2010 by janicu

Jane

April Lindner

Well, as I’ve mentioned before I’ve been eying Jane by April Lindner first because of the cover posted on Tempting Persephone, then because of Angieville’s review. There was one reviewer who didn’t find the book worked for her, but I decided to plough on and try it. The idea of a modern day retelling with Mr. Rochester as a famous rock star was too appealing to miss. (Also the cover is amazing and it called to me).

The Premise: Jane is a modern day retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Left homeless and penniless after her parent’s accidental death, Jane Moore applies for a job as a live-in nanny, and because of her serious nature, she is considered perfect for the job as a nanny to the daughter of famous rocker, Nico Rathburn. When she gets to Thornfield Park and finally meets Nico, he isn’t the partying playboy she imagined, and she is not the easily impressed fan he’s used to dealing with. There’s a mutual fascination which turns into something more, but the secrets of Rathburn’s past threaten to ruin their fledgling relationship.

****** This review assumes you know the basic story behind Jane Eyre. If you do not, it’s probably best you just skip to the “Overall” section ******

My Thoughts: This book started off muy excellente. I felt my pulse quicken in the early pages, learning about the serious, practical Jane, desperate to find a place to live now that her semester at Sarah Lawrence is over. As she muses about her indifferent family and selfish siblings, I can’t help thinking ahead, knowing that she’s going to get the job. The anticipation was delicious, certain that she deserves something good, and but well aware that Jane has no idea what awaits her at Thornfield Park. I took to Jane very quickly. She has a level headed practicality which actually feels rather refreshing. Under circumstances where the cliched young adult heroine could be twittering and making me cringe, Jane keeps her spine up and never falters. Hooray for a nineteen year old girl who isn’t portrayed as a dimwit!

The fact that Jane didn’t compromise herself in childhood in order to please her family serves her well when she arrives at Rathburn’s estate. She’s a firm but understanding nanny to 5 year old Maddy, and when Nico Rathburn finally appears, despite an internal turbulence caused by his presence, she stays true to her steady self. Unlike other people, she doesn’t coddle the rock star, and initially she keeps herself well-contained, but Nico is intrigued by the new nanny and keeps her nearby. I knew where things were headed and so I paid careful attention. I think that at first, I liked how the two got along, but the romance may have moved a little more quickly than I would have liked. The looming disaster I knew was coming, the difference in their ages and most importantly, Nico’s role as Jane’s boss worried me more than I remember being worried by the original. I felt unsettled by them in this book, and because I knew Nico’s secret I paid more attention to how he hid it (and how he lied to do so).

I haven’t read Jane Eyre since high school, and I remember the general story, but the details are fuzzy. I remember when I first read it, I was shocked to find out about what was in the attic. After the revelation, previous hints made sense in the original book. In Jane, I already knew what was coming, so the shock value was not there, and the hints strewn throughout the book felt more heavy-handed than necessary. I wondered – did Brontë’ really leave as many hints as this? After finishing Jane, I got a copy of Jane Eyre to compare, and Jane is surprisingly true to the original, and the hints are the same. So are the lies that Mr Rochester tells his Jane about the strange things she sees in his house. I like that Jane is faithful to the original, but on the other hand, this faithfulness to Nico/Mr. Rochester’s deception left me cold.

I was dismayed when I felt out of love with where Nico and Jane’s relationship had been going. Then a surprising thing happened. I fell back in love with them. I kept reading; Jane does the right thing and leaves, and then she spends time hiding away with the St. John siblings in New Haven, Connecticut. In her time apart from Nico, Jane convinced me that her feelings weren’t just something that happened because of the thrill of having someone like Nico paying attention to her. She can go on with her life and there are other options open to her, but it’s clear that Nico has her heart, even after what he’s done. In her path to forgiving him, I guess I did too. Maybe this is a process I would have gone through re-reading Jane Eyre today. At any rate, I have a new appreciation for Jane’s withdrawal, because it makes all the difference.

At night ,though, I would drift into dreams so vivid I felt I was actually reliving moments Nico and I had shared – his hands on my back, his smell, his taste on my tongue, his voice calling my name, his weight in the bed beside me – and I would startle awake. For minutes afterward, I refused to believe it had only been a dream. And then I couldn’t get back to sleep, my sadness so heavy and palpable I feared I might never sleep again. In those long, dark hours, Nico haunted me like a phantom limb.

Overall: This modern day retelling cleverly leaves the bones of the original intact, staying remarkably close to the plot of Jane Eyre, but in a fresh and youthful package. Jane and her rock star love are nods to Bronte’s original characters, but they are all their own. I may have been disenchanted in the middle, but the ending reversed those feelings. Ultimately, this is a book that lived up to my expectations and I closed the book with a sigh of satisfaction. Highly recommended for fans of Jane Eyre.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Angieville – positive
Persephone Reads – positive review
Book Fare Delights – 2 out of 5 (It didn’t work for her, but she explains why very nicely)

Killbox by Ann Aguirre

Posted on October 15, 2010 by janicu

Killbox

Ann Aguirre

This is the fourth book in the Sirantha Jax series, which is a wonderful space opera I’m addicted to. Another one I would have read sooner if not for the self-imposed book buying ban (which I’ve now completely given up on, the TBR wins).

Here are my reviews for the earlier books:
Book 1: Grimspace
Book 2: Wanderlust
Book 3: Doubleblind

**** Spoilers for the first three books from this point on ****

The Premise: After her job as a Conglomerate ambassador to Ithiss-Tor, Sirantha Jax and her crew finally have the time and the resources to work on some of their ultimate goals. The most important of these is to fight against the Morgut – terrifying, worm-like aliens who feast on the flesh of humans and who have been decimating outskirt planets and stations. Unfortunately, the random Morgut attacks begin to look less random, particularly in recent weeks.

Read an excerpt of Killbox here

My Thoughts: It kind of amazes me how much was packed into this book. The story starts right after the trip to Ithiss-Tor. Jax, March, Vel, Dina, Hit, Doc, Rose and Constance are on their way back to Emry Station to meet up with their friends and decide what to do next. Along the way they have an encounter with some slavers, and the experience serves to highlight how much criminals have been taking advantage of the lack of policing now that Farwan is no longer in power. When Chancellor Tarn asks March and the crew to build an armada of spaceships to keep slavers and piracy down, they agree. In the meantime, Jax is working on the goal of teaching those with the J-gene how to navigate ships without the structure of an academy. And then the Morgut become a problem that the newly minted armada cannot ignore.

That’s three big things right there – training jumpers, creating a space armada and fighting the Morgut. Three impossible things before breakfast as they say. You do have to put on a little bit of a suspension of disbelief because Jax and her friends tackle all of these in one book. In each aspect, Jax demands miracles from her crew and they deliver. Now, this is not something new in the series: Jax almost died when she overextended herself in grimspace, and Doc was able to do some amazing gene therapy combined with Jax’s unique ability to repair her brain at the expense of the rest of her system, but in Killbox, the medical genius is asked to do at least 3 new and unprecedented procedures. Dina, the resident mechanical genius is also asked to work on something that no one has ever done before with jump drives. You have to just accept that Jax has the vision to be right about what her crew can do, and that Doc and Dina are just miracle workers, and I think that this is something where your mileage may vary.

This suspension of disbelief is probably my biggest problem with this installment of the series. Otherwise, I think it does quite a bit to move the story forward and it is a book which ties in all three previous installments. Characters we haven’t seen or heard about since the first book make appearances. I had to refresh my memory about them, but they do contribute to the plot and where the series as a whole seems to be going. It was nice to be pleasantly surprised by their reappearance, and I liked that there was the feeling that every character had an important role in the story. And as I’ve come to expect from this author, these characters are three dimensional.

March and Jax… what can I say? I continue to love them. At this point in the series, they’re in an established relationship. It’s nice to see them together and working as two parts of a whole. I don’t feel any loss of chemistry between the two of them when things are going well. They’re very grateful for one another. Of course, there is something of a separation that they have to deal with in Killbox. The reason for their problems is one I understand, and it adds some worry about their relationship, but even when things look bad I believe in these two. I don’t think there is anything insurmountable, and I see Jax and March putting aside their personal feelings for what they believe in. If they can do that, they can find themselves back to each other. That’s what I held on to while I read the book. On the other hand, I can see the relationship drama added to the story as something some people may have an issue with. I did not.

P.S. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger but I was actually OK with where it ended.

Overall: Out of all the books, this one feels the most like it’s about the universe and Jax’s effect on it rather than it being a story about Jax herself. It has the biggest scope so far, with space battles and discoveries that will have far reaching consequences. The threads of earlier books start coming together in Killbox, and the ultimate battle between the Conglomerate and the Morgut is one step closer. Weaving among this, as always, is the complex, ever-changing, ever-human relationship between Jax and her crew. I think that despite a problem with believing how much was expected from the resident miracle-workers, this installment is as rich and varied as the others. And I don’t know many books that could keep me reading till 5 o’clock in the morning.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:

Calico_reaction – Must have.

Mardel (Rabid Reader) – a very positive review “better and better with each book”
See Michelle Read – positive review
Fantasy Cafe – 8/10
Dreams and Speculation – 8/10
Smexy Books – 5/5
Lurv a la Mode – 5 scoops (out of 5)
Literary Escapism – positive review
Tempting Persephone – positive review
The Book Pushers – 5/5

Reading Raves: Alice in Wonderland Illustrations

Posted on October 13, 2010 by janicu

Ranting & raving is something I do periodically on this blog. Look for the “rants and raves” category for past rants and raves.

I love illustrations for Alice In Wonderland. I remembered a livejournal community I used to watch (storybookalice) and spent some time happily looking at pretty pictures today. Wonderous whimsy.

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Posted on October 12, 2010 by janicu

Glimmerglass

Jenna Black

This was a book that calico_reaction was kind enough to pass along to me earlier this year (I’d like to pay it forward and pass it along to someone else, but more on that later). I read this during the 24 hour readathon this past weekend.

The cover is also gorgeous. I love this cover design – the pale colors against the black, the gray spots, even the font of the title and author’s name. The cover for the second book looks equally dreamlike and lovely.

The Premise: The narrator of this young adult paranormal is Dana Hathaway, a teen who is sick of dealing with her alcoholic mom. When her mom arrives at her recital sloppy drunk, Dana has finally had it. She knows that her father, Seamus Stuart, is Fae and lives in Avalon, an independent city-state in England. Dana calls him and before long she’s running away to Avalon to stay with her father. Although Dana’s mom told Dana that her father was something of a bigwig, Dana doesn’t realize how big or that her arrival in Avalon would make her the target of political manipulations from pretty much every faction you could think of.

My Thoughts: This is a pretty fast read. It’s only 294 pages but it moves quickly. I was surprised by how quickly I got through this one during the readathon.

It’s in the first half of the book that I hit most of my problems with the story. That’s unfortunate, because I found the second half much better. The biggest issue I had was with Dana herself. I found myself repeatedly wondering why she didn’t ask more questions! First, Dana decides to run away from home, but doesn’t question why her father was OK with her going to Avalon without knowing how Dana’s mother felt about it. When Dana arrives, she find out that her father is in jail. Dana never asks what her father was in jail for and just accepts that he will be there a couple of days. I found that incredibly surprising. I also found it surprising that she knew who her father was but didn’t bother to find out as much about him as possible. She didn’t bother to google him, she didn’t bother to research into her heritage or to ask him about her other relatives? She had no questions about being half Fae? I could go on. It was incredibly naive, and as a result she looks like a fool when she learns that her father is in the running for the Council (Avalon’s governing body), that she has an aunt, and that there are possible complications in being half-Fae.

What made this worse was that the naïveté contrasted sharply with Dana’s upbringing. Her mother is an alcoholic and it’s clear that Dana has had a lot of responsibilities thrust upon her. Dana is used to a mother who lies to suit her own purposes. You would think that this would make Dana wary of being lied to. Yet, she’s very gullible when she gets to Avalon. It bugged me to see how she reacted to obviously suspicious behavior. For example when strange people burst into her room, Dana notices the intruder’s pretty eyes and is disappointed when he (a young Fae named Ethan) is clearly chummy with the girl he brought. Then chastises herself .”Why on earth would I care?” – YES, why on earth would you care about this when this strange guy just broke into your room? To compound this, when Dana becomes friendly with Ethan’s sister, Kimber, she is warned about Ethan, yet Dana continues to lose all sense. When she’s betrayed – yep, that’s a big ol’ surprise to her, but not the reader.

It was frustrating to read about these initial mistakes. Thankfully Dana learns some lessons, and in the second half of the book and she finally begins to question people’s motivations. Once this happens, I found her a much less annoying and could just enjoy the story. At this point we’re also introduced to Dana’s father (finally out of jail), along with Finn, a Fae Knight who acts as Dana’s bodyguard, and Keane, Finn’s son who teaches Dana some self defense. I liked Dana’s interactions with these characters a lot better than her interactions with characters in her first couple of days in Avalon. Dana’s dad takes honesty to painful extreme, but we do get the feeling like he is being honest and that he acts like a parent. He has rules and boundaries that he makes clear to his daughter. There’s still a question of who should be trusted and what everyone wants from Dana, but at least Dana knows this. It’s too bad that it took half the book to get to this point.

Dana’s mother’s alcoholism is a big part of the story (it’s why Dana left her, and is said to be the result of Dana’s mom’s stress of leaving Avalon), and I want to put in my two cents about the way it was depicted. What I thought worked: Dana has a conversation on the phone with her mother who had been drinking and Dana can tell. The description of her mom’s clear but slightly sleepy-sounding voice and indignation at being called out do fit. Dana wanting to blackmail her mother into going into detox and her father telling her that that would not work was also true to life. What didn’t work so well: I already mentioned that Dana not having a very good lie detector didn’t seem to mesh with dealing with her mom. I also thought that if Dana is so used to hiding what’s going on at home, she would have a better poker face than she did. Lastly, Dana’s dad said that Dana’s mom didn’t drink any more or less than anyone else and she must have become alcoholic after she left Avalon. I don’t think this is something where someone can be “normal”, then after some traumatic event become alcoholic. I think it’s always there.

When this book was done, I think what we have is an introduction to a series. Dana’s heritage and particular talents are established along with the possible political ramifications it could entail. Avalon and the factions within it are set up. And so is a potential love triangle between Dana and the two boys close to her age – Ethan and Keane. I think that I’m in the Keane camp because I found Ethan on the swarmy side (and it’s a big warning sign that his sister is telling Dana to watch out). Keane seems to be pretty up front in comparison and I liked how Dana was around Keane. I’d like to see where that goes and also to see what else Dana finds out about being half-Fae, but I’d like to avoid the naïveté that I saw in the first half of this book. I also had the impression that the plot could have been tighter (the climax has a cartoony evil villain wants to rule the world feel). I think I’d wait and read the reviews before picking up the second book (Shadowspell).

Overall: It falls in the “OK, but I had reservations” camp for me. The second half balances off a pretty poor beginning, which is hampered by a teen protagonist who fits an overly naive, silly girl stereotype. Dana improved a lot by the end of the book, but ultimately this feels like a set-up-for-a-series book.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
calico_reaction – Glad it was free
Karin’s Book Nook – positive review

Although my review shows I had problems with this story, I know others may not have the same kind of reaction. I’d like to pass it forward. If you are someone with a book blog who is willing to review this book, let me know and I’ll send it along (first come, first served). The book has been claimed!

Readathon Progress Post

Posted on October 9, 2010 by janicu

8:00 Here we go again. I’m up and I have my coffee. This is all I can say for now.

9:06 I’m about 56 pages into GLIMMERGLASS by Jenna Black. It’s about a girl who is fed up with her alcoholic mother so decides to go live with her long lost father – who is a Fae that lives in Avalon, in England. The first chapter was OK, but after that, I noticed how dense the heroine, Dana is. She’s the narrator and her first reaction to adverse change is deny it. Hey someone seems to be kidnapping me, but let’s reason why this can’t be so. Or I should scream now, but I’ll momentarily hesitate because I noticed my captor is hot.

Meanwhile I’ve been entertaining the cat who is in the NOTICE ME HUMAN phase of the day. And my husband came out and got his birthday present (which fits his proclivity for bikes and the color black).

10:13 The heroine is still annoying me. Page 116. She’s being hidden in some underground room and because there’s chamber pots and candles instead of electricity and facilities, she is overwhelmed and begins to cry. Young good looking guy is comforting her. My eyes are rolling all over the place.

10:29 Breaking for a bit. I went to write comments on other people’s posts and update twitter.

Also Mini-challenge for hour 3 – a “creative a six-word celebration of Dewey’s Read-a-Thon”. I’m going to go with:

“Booknerds of the world, read on!”

11:11 am Still on GLIMMERGLASS, but on page 134 now. I took a long break in the last hour so I’ve been reading for about 2 hours and 10 minutes out of the past 3 hours I think. Still think the heroine is TSTL. The Mister made pancakes out of this mix (mo’s bacon chocolate chip). It was most excellent. The bacon is in very small pieces in the chocolate chips and just add a bit of saltiness to it. It doesn’t overwhelm the pancakes with bacon. I think my husband is all kinds of fantastic for making breakfast on HIS birthday.

1:00pm Page 234 of GLIMMERGLASS. Glad to say that the heroine has gotten a lot better. I think in the past 100 pages she started to act less foolish so I haven’t felt annoyed. Wish the book had started out that way. I also like the secondary characters around her a lot more. There’s also a scene where she’s talking to her alcoholic mother which I felt was true to life (her mom sounds normal, maybe a little sleepy, but she’s really drunk). I’d say in the past 5 hours I’ve been reading for.. 4 hours maybe? Sounds about right.

Wearing my Pulp t-shirt to go along with my reading.. cat is quietly sleeping next to me on the couch.

2:25pm Finished GLIMMERGLASS! Overall I think I found it OK. The second half was much better than the first, although there was a evil villain scene in there that was sort of predictable. Feels very much like a set up book overall. I’ve been thinking about how her mom’s alcoholism was portrayed. I think there are parts that I could agree with but also parts that I didn’t think got it quite right. I’ll save it for the review. In the meantime, I guess I’ve been reading for 5 hours now. Total – 294 pages.

4:00pm I took a bit of a break after finishing GLIMMERGLASS to get my mind ready for another book. And I checked my mail and a chapbook of the first three chapters of The Heir of Night that I won from the author, Helen Lowe had arrived. It’s a fantasy story that I was eying. I started reading it. I’m about 50 pages (these are mini pages) in. I’m liking it so far, and the Robin Hobb blurb on the chapbook’s cover is a plus. It’s set in a fantasy-type world with what seems to be a bunch of Houses who have a history of warfare against what they call The Swarm. This book centers on a young girl named Malian, the heir to the house of Night. It’s interesting what’s being dropped as hints – seems like these people didn’t really originate from this world (called the Haarth) – they fled there. Also there seems to be an equality in the sexes – heroes of legend are both male and female. Must go buy this book..

Totals – 50 pages of Heir of Night chapbook. 344 pages all together today. 6 hours of reading (ish).

6:00pm In the past two hours I finished the chapbook (another 12 pages), and started Killbox by Ann Aguirre (6 pages in). But all the reading and staying in one place was getting to me and my husband wanted to go for a walk so we went out. To Barnes and Noble and then Target. I looked for The Heir of Night but they didn’t have it. $:\$ So total is 362 pages read and probably something like 6.5 hours of reading in .. what is this, hour 10? Yeah. And now I’m probably going to have dinner! 😀

8:00pm Still haven’t been reading. We decided to go out for food (curb side takeout from Outback). I think the Mister’s birthday trumps the readathon

Mid event survey!!

1. What are you reading right now? Killbox by Ann Aguirre

2. How many books have you read so far? 1 and a bit

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Hmm, Killbox!

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I just let people know what I was doing, but I didn’t really free it all up because it is the Husband’s birthday and I feel OK taking long breaks to do birthday stuff.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? see above

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? That I’m not sick of reading yet! (Although.. I haven’t been reading for 4 hrs..heh)

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope! It’s pretty great right now.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Nothing differently

9. Are you getting tired yet? Not yet! Ask me in a couple of hours.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Take breaks, read shorter books (YA, graphic novels, design books)

9:00pm OK back to reading. Read about 54 pages of Killbox now. Can’t discuss the plot since this is the 4th book of this series and I don’t want to spoil. So.. 7.5 hours of reading total. 416 pages read in all.

10:00 pm Now on page 86 of Killbox. 8 hours, 20 minutes of reading? 448 pages read.

11:00 pm Page 130 of Killbox. I may take another break, not sure. 9 hours, 10 minutes of reading altogether I think. 492 pages read.

12:12am Page 164 of Killbox. I read for half an hour, then went and commented on some book blogs, and then spent time with the cat and his game of “Throwing Ducky in the air and if it falls off the couch, stare at it until the human gets it for me.” I’m getting tired, but at least I’m not rereading pages because I’m too tired to figure out what the words mean. I’ve had half a bottle of Cherry Coca-Cola Zero. 526 pages read total. 9 hours, 40 minutes of reading all together.

2:00am Took another bit of a break there. Now on page 220 of Killbox. Still interested and not having a problem reading even though I’m getting tired. Not sure how long I’m going to last. 10 hours, 40 min of reading. 582 pages read in total.

My cat just bit through the cover of Killbox. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

3:30am Yep, still up! On page 285 now. So uh… 12 hours of reading? and 647 pages in total. I’m about 70 pages away from the end of the book. Debating if I want to stay up or just go to bed.. More because I don’t want to mess up my sleep schedule for Monday rather than feeling tired. Hmm. Ponder.

5:00am OK finished the book. 353 pages it was. SO: 13 and a half hours of reading, 715 pages read in total. 2 books finished, plus a chapbook. I think I’m going to bed now! 😀

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

Posted on October 8, 2010 by janicu

Grave Secret

Charlaine Harris

This is a series that falls more into the “mystery” genre (and that’s where it’s shelved), but there are paranormal overtones. Harper Connelly, the protagonist was struck by lightening as a child and after that, she’s been able to sense the dead – at least when she’s in close proximity to their bodies. She can also tell how someone died. With her step-brother Tolliver Lang, Harper has used her ability as a unique way to earn money – finding bodies and identifying the cause of death for her clients.

Read an excerpt of Chapter 1 of Grave Secret here

I’ve been reading this series for a while now, and at four books, I think it may be done, at least for the foreseeable future. Grave Secret came out in September 2009, and there hasn’t been news of another book yet. Here are my reviews for the first three books in this series:

Book 1: Grave Sight
Book 2: Grave Surprise
Book 3: An Ice Cold Grave

The Premise: Harper and Tolliver decided to visit their younger sisters Mariella and Gracie who live with their aunt and uncle in Dallas. Along the way to Dallas, they take a job identifying what killed the grandfather and patriarch of the wealthy Joyce family, and Harper discovers some things that the Joyce’s are not happy to hear. Then Tolliver and Harper discover that Tolliver’s father Matthew was recently released from prison and is trying to renew ties with his children. Then someone begins shooting at Harper and Tolliver. Somehow all of this is connected and their past is involved. Memories and questions about the abduction of Harper’s older sister Cameron resurface.

******* Minor spoilers for earlier books from this point on ********

My Thoughts: Like the other books in this series, Harper and Tolliver are presented as not really sleuths, but people who keep getting targeted by people with something to hide or found out news they didn’t want to hear. In this book, someone keeps shooting at them. Something happens which forces them to stay in the area, and to stay alive, they have to re-examine the past few days and find out who wants to kill them. I think that this is sort of a standard Harper Connelly mystery, with a bunch of deaths before we find out what is really going on. It’s a little unsatisfying that so many people die before the bad guys are caught, but this seems to be how it goes in these books.

I’ve commented on this before: I find Harper to be a hard character sometimes. The book is told from her point of view, and how she sees people feels colored by lenses that first look for what’s wrong in others. I don’t think this is an obvious thing, but when you read half a book and meet several characters you notice that Harper isn’t one who tends to like someone at first sight and what she says about people is often unflattering. I think this is something I can only take in small doses, but, this is all part of her character. Harper’s mom and Tolliver’s dad were drug addicts and dragged their children from a regular family life to one of despair and poverty. In this book when Matthew Lang, Tolliver’s father shows up, the dark childhood that Harper experienced was rehashed, and I could see why Harper took a jaded view of people. It was pretty bad. I think Harper and Tolliver have the appropriate, healthy response to their father. I wouldn’t forgive or trust him either. On the other hand, we also get to see more of the rest of Harper’s family and Harper learns to appreciate her Aunt and Uncle, who adopted her sisters, but Harper has always had a little friction with, as well as their other siblings. There seemed to be a better understanding all around by the time the book was done.

In the meantime, their sister Cameron’s abduction is brought up again. That mystery is one brought up from the very beginning of the series, and Harper has mentioned details of the day Cameron disappeared in other books. This story does get wrapped up here, which is why I think that this is probably the final book of the series. There’s also a resolution here in terms of Harper’s relationship with her family, and in terms of her relationship with Tolliver. I still maintain that I feel uneasy about their relationship. I know that they’re not blood related. They’re only step-siblings. I think it bothers me because Harper keeps calling him her brother. Not step-brother. Brother. She introduces him as such, even after they become lovers, and then reminds herself she has to stop thinking of him as her brother. Ew? I’m also not exactly sure how long they lived together as siblings. I’d feel better if it wasn’t long, but we’re not really reminded. It feels like the author is deliberately pushing the ick-boundaries on purpose by doing these things. The reaction of other characters who find out about them feels like a backhanded way of telling the reader not to judge, but I find it hard when the narrative seems to intentionally push my buttons.

Overall: I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand I feel satisfied by the way the long-running story arc of Cameron’s abduction and of Harper and Tolliver’s relationship were dealt with in this book, but on the other, I wasn’t as satisfied by the other mystery. It felt sort of overly-complicated and forced to fit with the Cameron storyline with some senseless killings thrown in. The mystery didn’t feel as strong as the previous books -and the big reveal felt rushed and convenient. I also felt like I was being emotionally played with in terms of the ick factor in the main relationship, which bothered me.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Karissa’s Reading Review – positive review
Angieville – positive review (“Harper and Tolliver accept that they are all each other has in such a matter-of-fact way, with such stoic integrity, it pulls at my heartstrings”)
Ellz reads – similar comments to mine about the mystery here but satisfied by how the series ended
jmc_bookrelated – “phoned in”. A C- grade
lindseyfrankin – “3-3/5 stars for a solid end to a good mystery series”
Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ News and reviews – not really a review but a commentary that I found aligned with some of my complaints