The month of February was a little different. I read two amazing classics instead of one. The first, a Regency England romance between two people that hate one another, and the second, an American classic about sisters and loving one another. Both books were the same and different in many ways.
Read MoreRushed out of Boston at rumors of a family scandal, Lydia and her two sisters find themselves permanently living in their family’s intended summer home. A home built on the very ashes of the burned down house before it. Lydia immediately feels that the place is different. Starting with her father’s new business partner, Mr Barrett, who just learned that there’s a family attached to his partner. As summer passes, Lydia learns that the scandal may be more real than she thought, and that her own secrets may have more truth in them than she wants them to. She must pull on her family’s history to save herself and those she loves.
Read MoreIn a world where magic is scarce and those with magic aren’t allowed to have control, Zaira has eluded the Falconers since her mage mark appeared. That was, until her anger got the best of her. Amalia was the only one present that could place the jess on Zaira as her fire burned out of control, fueled by those she’d killed, binding Zaira’s magic to Amalia - becoming Falcon and Falconer. But there was a problem. Being an heir to the Council of 9, Amalia was never meant to become a Falconer. High houses aren’t allowed that much power. The two girls, thrown together by fate, are forced to trust each other as war looms and the political structure of Amalia’s home is threatened, sending her and Zaira to the front lines.
Read MoreToday I’m taking a break from book reviews to talk about something that’s been bothering me for a few weeks.
Read MoreSeven husbands in the course of one lifetime… Why did she do it? It’s the question everyone asks when the elusive Evelyn Hugo decides to donate gowns to a charity auction. Monique asks it when she arrives at Evelyn’s house to conduct an interview for Vivant magazine. She also questions why Hugo requested such a low rung staff writer. Evelyn promises to explains it all if Monique does one thing - writes her biography instead. Now, as the story of Evelyn’s life unfolds, Monique has to decide between the chance of a lifetime and keeping her job at the magazine.
Read MoreAfter the death of their father, three sisters and their mother establish themselves in a new home at the insistence of a distant relation. Elinor, the sensible one, is forced to not only leave her childhood home to her half-brother but to also leave the man that has stolen her heart. Marianne, yet to see the world past her 17 years, falls into a man one rainy day while exploring her new home. Together the sisters must discern who deserves their love in the twists and turns of 19th century English society.
Read MoreNine people come to a health retreat for different reasons - health, relationships, vacation. The owner, Masha, has plans for this group. People come and go, even returning to feel her great results again and again, but no one ever practices what they’ve learned when they get back home. This time she wants it to be different and she plans to make it happen no matter what it takes. What these nine people don’t know, amid their own tumultuous lives, is that they might be in for more than they paid for.
Read MoreBorn with a curse, Val has never known what it means to be free. Her grandmother always said to keep something for herself - something from him. But his pull is getting stronger and, with the new family in town, she has her work cut out for her. Marion has a lot on her shoulders. She’s the rock in her family. The one keeping them all moving since her father’s death. But now that they’ve moved to Sawkill, she can’t keep it together. And then Zoey, the outcast, isn’t helping the situation much, scouring the town for her missing best friend. As the number of bodies grows higher, these three girls find themselves as the island’s only possible savior.
Read MoreWhat if your son had done it? What if your son had sexually abused someone and the proof was floating around? Not only does Nina struggle with the truth but what it also means for her as a mother. How can she bring about justice when her husband undermines everything she does? As Nina watches events unfold, she begins to see how their rich lives might be to blame. Lyla, living with her single dad, just wants it all to go away, to ignore what happened. She has a crush on the boy, and doesn’t this really mean that he likes her? How will she handle the ridicule at school? It wasn’t that racists, but her dad won’t let it go, won’t let Lyla fade into the background. Because there’ll always be another scandal.
Read MoreThree girls, the closest friends, are born in a town thought cursed because, since its creation, the girls born within the border have a gift; either making enough, finding what’s lost, fixing what needs mending, or healing those that are hurt. Rome lives in the town, and she doesn’t think her ability can save her or her mom from the landlord that wants to evict them, even trading her most prized possession for just a few more months. After a nasty tornado rocks the town, Rome and her two friends stumble upon a discovery that could either fix everything or tear them apart.
Read MoreNot only are we ringing in a new year but there are a lot of new books to get excited about. Below are a few of my most anticipated reads of 2019.
Read MoreIn a world… (insert deep voice)... where there are two sides, the Commonwealth and the fringe, Ia thinks she’s got the right side - Blood Wolf of the Skies. That is, until she is caught, shocking the world. It’s no harden criminal terrorizing the skies, but a seventeen-year-old girl behind the helmet. Seeing this as an opportunity, the Commonwealth sends her to be trained at the Star Force Academy where she has only one goal, escape. Brinn on the other hand is trying to stay in the Academy. She’s joined to make a difference, set to stop the likes of Ia from destroying the safety and security that the Commonwealth provides. But then why must Brinn hide who she really is? Thrown together at the academy, the two learn what the truth really is, and whose side they should be fighting on.
Read MoreIt’s time to flip the story of the damsel on its head. Who says every girl needs to be saved? Except that’s the way it’s been for generations - the prince goes to rescue his damsel, claiming her as his wife and future queen. And now it’s Emory’s turn. After scaling the wall he climbs inside the tower to kill the dragon. Hours later, with no memories of her own, Ama awakens besides Emory. She tries to piece together her past, finding no memories of her life before she awoke. The two return to Emory’s home where Ama is rushed to be married and feeling herself change as the wedding day draws near.
Read MoreIn a world where the gods walk amongst us, Circe is born with no place of her own. Though birthed to one of the most powerful Titans, she’s left to drift with no power or beauty to carry her through life. So she waits. One night the tides turn when one of their own is punished. That same night Circe defies all those around her, setting her own path - from one crazy ill-thought decision to the next - all leading to her exile for eternity alone, but now with power, where she watches history shape itself.
Read MoreLiving her entire life in front of the camera, Essie must play the greatest role of her life - deciding her own future. First she waits. Waits on others to decide how to deal with her unplanned pregnancy and the PR nightmare to follow. Essie plays the game, placing tiny pieces along the way to curve the narrative around her will. She convinces her mother to let her pick Roarke, and then recruits the help of a reporter who has her own family crisis. Though Essie’s family thinks they’ve got it all figured out, Essie reveals the scandal of a lifetime.
Read MoreHave you ever wondered the story? Pondered how the Sea Witch came to be? In a world of merpeople, why was she so different? With power and vengeance of her own, why did she haunt the cave among other lost souls? Well, her name was Evie once and this is her story.
Read More“Choose the path that's right by you. Always. It may end in misery -a small price to pay. No amount of hardship compares to the emptiness of regret. Of never having lived at all.”
Hello book world. I was kind of scared to pick this one up. I’ve been watching Moreci for a bit on YouTube but it’s one thing to talk about writing and another to pull it off well. So eventually I figured I needed to see what she was made of. Could she do as she preached?
I jumped, feet first, into her second book The Savior’s Choice.
In a world where a Savior brings fertility to the land, all men of competing age may try to win her hand in marriage and become the Sovereign. And many want to… just not Tobias. The thought of killing 19 other men for supposed love sends his stomach churning. He keeps refusing to enter until he no longer has a choice. His sister, crippled from an accident, needs more help then his feeble income can provide. So he enters, risking all, but assuming that he won’t make it far; all for the coin purse handed to the selected’s family. Once in the maze, fate has a different idea for Tobias, sending him on a wild journey that may get him out alive.
Romance, palace intrigue, blood, guts…. What more could I want in a story? With the perfect balance of everything, including the kitchen sink, I was immediately lost to the labyrinth and everything held within its walls. Moreci sets the tone in the first scene by opening with the brutal killing of the current Savior. By doing this, Moreci makes a promise to her readers, showing them upfront what they can expect. .
Next we meet the main protagonist. How Moreci pulled off writing from the mind of a male protagonist, I have no idea. Her grasp of internal dialogue, thoughts, and actions was superb. Reader’s weren’t handed the perfect male specimen from our dreams, but an honest guy with his own faults. Just one that we can stand behind. His actions throughout the story make sense. We aren’t given this overwhelming good boy act. Maybe just a nice little hero to make every girl swoon for.
“You are the strongest man I've ever known. And you are kind. And you are good. You are bruised by this tournament, but you are not broken.”
Which leads me right into a very important point - that does not mean that Moreci’s female characters were weak or needed saving. Quite the opposite. Moreci created a female cast that was strong in every way possible without losing their femininity. Instead of the man coming to save the woman, we got a woman who could save herself, and did so on many occasions, but decided to team up with a man. Reader’s were still gifted with the strong man scenes, but got a better story when the woman could stand right beside him in the fight.
Sadly, not all of Moreci’s characters were this well done. One of my biggest issues with the book, I only have two, is that the bad guys were made to be very bad. They were too easy to hate and, at times, felt evil just to move the story along. There was no guilt from the decision Tobias had to make. You eventually wanted something bad to happen to them. Overall, every antagonist or negative character in Tobias and Leila’s way, fell flat. Every character in a book needs to be fully realized, and come across as human, even if we, as the writer, don’t like them. Don’t make it easy for the reader to hate them. It takes out a large emotional factor from the story. Look at the Darkling in the Grisha Verse. That’s an excellent example of a fully developed antagonist.
And I might as well let you know the other issue. Even though the dialogue was superb, bordering on genius, there were some points when the quips and back and forth felt a little too modern for the world. I’m not looking for old English, but I don’t want to hear Joe from down the street when this story is set in some other universe not contemporary to ours.
Ok, hard part is over.
“If everything looks good and pure, then nothing's truly beautiful. The ugliness is what makes beauty so distinct.”
Still, Moreci’s art is in her dialogue. Seriously. You need to work on that in your writing… here’s your textbook.
What I think sets this book above all others was Moreci’s work with sex and her ability to make what many deem to be inappropriate, natural. She broke boundaries and showed a natural side to human nature. Instead of hiding the male anatomy, she placed it front and center in a respectful, story important way. This isn’t some romance, sexually explicit book. Every sex reference felt vital to the story and worked to create an atmosphere of what competing in the tournament would be like. This includes the same sex relationships as well.
I think what took me on the biggest ride was the imagination in each section of the tournament. I really don’t want to see inside Moreci’s mind because I have no idea how she came up with all of the challenges. Each one was unique and interesting, and kept the reader on their toes. Each scene was well constructed to not leave the reader lost in the what was happening. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you know I hate when writers don’t craft well choreographed fight scenes. Most of the time I’m lost, which loses the whole point of the fight scene.
If you haven’t guessed it… I’m giving this book 5 stars. Man it was amazing. I was left with some serious book hangover. I need a reread, but to do that, I need to actually own the book. Well, my birthday is coming up. Fingers crossed.
Happy Reading.
Love Kait.
Reading Challenge: 97/100
“And Sadie, if you’re out there, please let me know. Because I can’t take another dead girl.”
Sadie is alone. No mother. And now no sister. Only a burning desire and knowledge no one else has. West, with an assignment he doesn’t want, answers the pleading cry - ‘Sadie is gone.’ All they have to go on is her abandoned car and a dead little sister. Can West discover what’s happened to Sadie, or will she be able to tell us herself? Together, their stories collide, one in the past and one in the present, revealing more than either thought possible.
Today, books are becoming less like stories and more like windows into stark realities. Haunting stories. I’ve been talking about this a lot on the blog recently. It could be the books I’ve picked up, or it could be that authors are using their craft to tell more. Do more. Show more. Stories are meant to take us on a quest, to open our minds to concepts that we may never have thought of before. Sadie fits right in.
Sadie begins right in the middle. Immediately readers are given the information that a 13-year-old girl was brutally murdered and now her sister is missing. Not a delightful start to a story, but Summers just drops the reader in, laying the groundwork. She establishes where Sadie is from and what her background is right off the bat. Readers are left without any questions.
“It was a terrible thing, sure, but we live in a world that has no shortage of terrible things. You can't stop for all of them.”
Summers also makes it clear that the format is going to be a little different. Mixing in first person POV and Podcast style scripts, she weaves the two together. And personally, I loved it. Normally, I want a good old fashion story, but Illuminae convinced me changing things up can be good, and Summers falls right in with the greats.
The Podcast added elements I’m not sure could have been pulled off otherwise. It would have been a completely different story. Told not through a detective per usual, readers are instead given a character off the streets. A man hosting his first podcast with a wife and family of his own. Not some cop with a hard record of seeing the bad things. West instead, is seeing this dark side of the world for the first time, mixing his own emotions into the story by the end. Even battling with his desire to see the mystery out. The Podcast also lets readers see what’s happening back at homebase without slowing down the script.
Well… most of the time.
Here’s where it didn’t work. Since the Podcast is discovering things after the fact, because Summers shows them through Sadie’s eyes first, the Podcast tended to repeat some facts. I don’t think it could have been helped, but hearing the same old knowledge of what happened tended to bore me.
“Or maybe you get so used to the mess of home, you convince yourself over time everything's exactly where it belongs.”
But let’s not leave the fact, that here Summers did something different. She gave a different perspective, a different format, a downright different style to break the normal humdrum offered to readers. She pushed the boundaries. Something writers should take note of. Don’t be afraid to be different.
My last negative comment is with Sadie. Her character profile was fine. In fact, all the characters were so well done, they played to the old adage of write each person as if they are the protagonist of the story. But, I struggled connecting with Sadie on an emotional level. Which ultimately made me feel horrible. Here is this story, a sister on a mission of revenge, that lacked Sadie’s emotional turmoil coming through. There was just a disconnect that didn’t allow me, as the reader, to be fully immersed in the pain and suffering.
“Paul taught me a person committed to silence can suggest importance, strength. So long as they’re a man, I mean. It’s not an option when you’re a girl, not unless you want people to think you’re a bitch.”
But that’s it guys. The rest of the story is pure magic. I’m even going to give Sadie a whooping 4.5 stars.
Full cast of characters that each played a role to the overall story. Realistic storyline, without the crazy magic coincidences that can happen in mystery novels. Perfectly established backstories and settings. Excellent prose that made me cry as a writer. And dark in all the right places.
Just downright masterful. Summers shows readers a world that many of us don’t see. Drugs, poverty, abuse, it’s all there. Painted to show a sister and how far someone will go in the end. I highly recommend this read. I mean, the list of things you can learn as a writer reading Sadie is staggering. I personally plan on grabbing my own copy and studying it from cover to cover. But if you need an idea of each point, pay attention to the following when reading:
Prose
Characters
Style
Background
Plot
Timeline
Reveals
Foreshadowing
Etc...etc...etc…
Happy Reading.
Love Kait.
Reading Challenge: 93/100
“A few years turned into more years, and more years turned into all years. Years have a habit of behaving like that.”
Some stories make us think. Some stories put us on the edge of our seats. And then some stories make us laugh at humanity.
Cleaning and keeping house have been Britt-Marie’s job for years. She loves it, the orderly semblance to life. That is, until her husband goes and has a heart attack and his mistress phones Britt-Marie about it. Britt-Marie now has to figure out a new life with the only job she can get - maintaining the Borg Recreation Facility. She cleans and grieves until a unruly bag of ragga-muffins show up at her door.
Backman created a story about people, populating a cast with a beating heart. Each character has a backstory, nuances, character flaws, desires…. What a real flesh and blood version would need. He let each character shine, acting out as if they were the star when really, as the reader, we only ever see the story through Britt-Marie’s eyes. Which is where I think Backman’s skill lies. Character developed stories with soul and heartwarming story lines.
I mean the man even added a rat.
I’m not kidding people.
She fed a rat snickers and talked to him (I believe it was a him). It may be weird, but I think all of Backman’s stories come with a little bit of weird.
“A human being may not choose her circumstances, but she does choose her actions”
Overall, everything felt perfectly balanced. Comedic moments that were never forced. Perfectly painted pictures of a town on the brink of collapse. Characters that stayed true to their personalities. Plot points with substance. And the right amount of soccer, using it as a guiding point throughout the story. Never once did soccer take over though. Britt-Marie Was Here is not a soccer story. Instead, the element enhanced character relationships, stakes, and plot points.
But be warned people…. Spoiler, he never names Somebody. Why? So many times I was lost for a moment, thinking a random character just walked in, when it was always Somebody. I thought it would lead to a big reveal/heart wrenching moment in end, but it never did.
“At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks him or herself are really just about one thing: how should you live your life?”
And based on my own personal opinions, all character developed stories come with flaws. Most can’t be helped since the protagonist tends to run the show.
In Backman’s case, the struggle was in foreshadowing. He tended to point the way too clearly for the reader. At one point, Backman placed a dose of foreshadowing before a big plot twist. There was no longer a shock factor. Instead, the character spelled out what was going to happen, did it, and left a very large chunk of emotion out. At other times, Backman kept pointing to one thought so loudly, that when it came time for Britt-Marie to make a decision in the end, the reader was very aware of what it would be. Foreshadowing is a fickle mistress and one that doesn’t play well with character driven plots. The writer isn’t able to look far ahead and plan out the perfect moment to deliver the medicine. And maybe Backman just recieved some bad advice, because I personally would have left the bigger foreshadow out completely.
I highly recommend Backman’s work. Sometimes it’s a little weird. The narration can come across as clumsy, and the foreshadowing might drive you nuts, but his stories seep deep into your soul and make you want to meet the very characters he’s created.
“One morning you wake up with more life behind you than in front of you, not being able to understand how it’s happened.”
And I almost forgot. I give this one a solid 4 stars.
Happy Reading
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 92/100
“The fear all men have that there’s something inside us that shifts, and turns. A living thing, once dormant, stirring now, and filled with rage.”
Let me tell you a secret…
Good reveals in a book come with a touch of beauty, finesse, and excellent timing. So when you allude to something at the beginning of a book, and then reveal it half way in…. It better be good.
Kit is in line for a prestigious grant position, only three of a handful are set to receive it. All her hard work since high school, and the infamous Diane Fleming coming into her life, might finally pay off. Before any announcements can be made, Kit’s worst nightmare comes true when Diane appears in the very same lab, bringing the past back to haunt Kit as she remembers Diane’s haunting confession in high school that changed both their lives. Can Kit trust Diane again or will her dreams come crashing down?
“In some animal part of my brain, I guess I thought looking her up might somehow summon her. So I never did. And she came anyway.”
I will start with the good things about Give Me Your Hand. Abbott’s research into chemistry and biology felt spot on. I’ve worked in a few labs, biology and physics, and her overall feeling as a woman in the lab rang true. I’ve had some of the same gender attacks that Kit experienced at times in the lab. Abbott also sprinkled in the perfect amount of technical terms without making the reader confused or bogged down. Just enough to paint the reader a picture.
A lot of times writers want to throw in everything they learned because they spent all the time researching and don’t want the work to go for not. It’s another iceberg. Show only the tiniest portion, and leave the rest for yourself.
Abbott’s overall story was a bust though.
Yup…. that’s all the good stuff I have for you today. I won’t even hide my rating. (1.5 stars)
Attempting a thriller, Abbott’s build up and reveal were the biggest let downs.
“My mom always says, you don’t have a self until you have a secret.”
Most of the story is based around a secret. It’s mentioned early on, and has a lot of suspense around it. Reading along, Abbott keeps alluding to how grand the secret is, building up more anticipation. What didn’t work, was that the secret was staring the reader right in the face. Paying even the tiniest of attention, one can easily figure out this grand secret. By the time it’s finally revealed, 50% in, there’s a huge let down.
The whole first half of the story felt built around this moment, the big reveal. Abbott spent a very long time working on the backstory, flipping from present to past. Bleeding the two times into one. Though they both played into one another, the struggle of seeing past Kit and present Kit together left a huge gap in Kit’s personality. Young Kit felt more fearless. She did and said things that no longer matched future Kit, leaving future Kit to feel lost and altogether a different person. Ten years did pass, I guess change could happen, but as a writer it’s important to pay attention. Readers will sit there comparing and finding all the flaws.
And, sticking with the character problems, Abbott’s characters were not true to themselves. Many times I questioned the motives and actions some of the side characters took. Seriously, they led the suspense of the story along, dragging out some unbelievable twists. But that’s the point. They were unbelievable because the characters never would have done those things. Especially with the break down at the end. Added in dramatics.
“When you get away with something it’s yours only, forever. Heavy and irremediable.”
Abbott wanted to explain why Diane was who she was. She wanted to spell out the story word for word. Which led to the final reveal at the end. Ok, I didn’t see that one coming, but looking back it was a little obvious. It was another let down. It gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
In all, I’m surprised I actually finished this book. I put it down always questioning if I should pick it up again. Knowing that I could count this towards my reading goal kept me going.
My next book is the great Britt-Marie Was Here and it’s another book club read. I loved A Man Called Ove and Backman’s style of storying telling. I can’t wait to share it with you all on here. If you want to remotely join in with my book club, visit the book club page. I’ll be updating the books every month. When you see the book review pop up, start a discussion below and we can all join in.
Happy reading.
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 89/100
