Eleanor & Park (by Rainbow Rowell)

Posted on February 9, 2013 by setaian

“I don’t like you Park, ” she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. “I…”––her voice nearly disappeared––”think I live for you.”

He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.

“I don’t think I even breathe when we’re not together,” she whispered. “Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it’s been like sixty hours since I’ve taken a breath.”

For Eleanor, the only thing worse than going to school is going home. Coming from a home where her violent and abusive step-father lords over the household, her life is one of hopelessness and despair.

Park is a fringe dweller, a person who is on the edge of the popular group but not really a part of it. When Eleanor starts sitting next to him on the bus to and from school their journeys are at first silent, but gradually they start to communicate in small ways. Over time Eleanor comes to depend on Park, and Park falls in love with Eleanor. But the price of saving her might be losing her.

Eleanor & Park is an amazing book. It is a poetic and beautiful book which occasionally made me ache with despair. In a world with an abundance of really great books, Eleanor & Park is somehow a little bit more. One of the best books I read in 2012.

Many thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Shimmer of Angels (by Lisa M. Basso)

Posted on January 28, 2013 by setaian

His wings jerked, their immeasurable wingspan opening so quickly I didn’t have time to look away. The breeze they created shifted my hair into my eyes. I looked up at him from beneath its cover. With trembling fingers, I reached up and pushed my dark hair aside. Surprise jolted him.

Rayna sees angels. She has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now sixteen, the doctors have finally given her the all clear and she returns to live with her father and sister at their home in San Francisco.

Her only desire in life is to go to school, make a few friends and lead a normal life. So when she sees an angel in one of her classes she thinks the crazy has returned and she desperately tries to hide it. When students at her school start dying and she is never far from the scene, she discovers that her visions are real and that she is right in the middle of a battle for the souls of her classmates. She joins forces with two very different angels in an attempt to stop an even greater evil.

Shimmer of Angels is great young adult paranormal fiction. Lisa M. Basso delivers a polished book with great characters and an entertaining story that I didn’t want to end. I’ll be eagerly waiting for the next instalment in this series.

Many thanks to Month9Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Just Breathe (by Janette Paul)

Posted on January 26, 2013 by setaian

Dee leads a simple life. She doesn’t have any plans that are more than two weeks into the future, her idea of a bank account is tucking money into the pages of a book, and she teaches yoga. Feeling the pressure to get her life together she takes a job modelling for a health insurance company and meets millionaire businessman Ethan.

With his help she navigates the business world but she is terrified of long-term. Just thinking about the future causes a panic attack, and as Ethan tries to get closer she pushes him away.

Just Breathe felt a little like two books. For two-thirds the book was measured and felt a lot like chick-lit. The last third was very much contemporary romance. I really enjoyed this book but I think it was a little longer than it needed to be. The author went to a lot of effort to tie off every loose end and personally speaking, I think she really could have just left a few of them dangling.

Many thanks to Random House Australia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

The Water Witch (by Juliet Dark)

Posted on January 5, 2013 by setaian

“Ah, there you are! We got worried when you didn’t answer the door and went looking for your key. Only it doesn’t seem to be under your gnome.”
“It’s here,” I said, nudging a flowerpot full of geraniums with my toe.
Liz and Diana exchanged a puzzled look. “Why would you put it there? It belongs with your gnome,” Diana said, as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. “Everyone hides their key under their gnome.”
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of hiding the key if everyone knows where it is?”

Half fairy and half witch, Callie has a lot of magic. As a doorkeeper it’s her job to protect the doors between Faerie and the human world. But with a vengeful water nymph on the loose and looking for a mate, two men trying to get her into bed, and The Grove an ultra conservative group of witches plotting to close the door to Faerie forever and banish all other worldly creatures she has a lot on her plate.

With some help from her friends, including a succubus, a fairy, a Norse demigod, and her former lover (an incubus) she needs to unlock her powers if she is to have any hope of saving the people she loves and keeping the door open.

There is a lot going on in this book. At times I wondered how it could possibly work but Juliet Dark manages to pull all the threads together in an engaging and suspenseful book about witches and fairies, gods and demons, magical creatures of the forest and the water. Occasionally The Water Witch reads a little like a young adult novel but this book is definitely for more mature readers.

Many thanks to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Troll or Derby (by Red Tash)

Posted on January 3, 2013 by setaian

I originally reviewed this book as a guest reader for The Indie Bookshelf. The Indie Bookshelf is a blog created and run by a group of frighteningly talented women who support independent authors. It is something like an Aladdin’s Cave for book lovers and a great place to find your next book.

http://www.theindiebookshelf.blogspot.com

Roller Deb

“Roller Deb is a fighter. Debra, you were born a protector. You were born of Protectors. You have the blood of warriors and chiefs in your veins.”

Roller Deb lives with her mother who despises her and her beauty queen sister in a trailer park. She is the regular target of town bullies, including the sleazy son of a local mobster. After her sister is kidnapped she sets out to find her and set her free, but with what seems like the whole town hunting for her things aren’t looking so good for her.

Harlow

“Interrogating a pixie isn’t as fun as it sounds. I tried to keep it nice, but the little guys are vicious biters, and I may have squished one.”

Harlow is a troll. He lives at the local dump where he has everything he needs except any memories. Strange (for a troll), but he feels a deep compulsion to protect Roller Deb. Time is fast running out and Deb needs to trust Harlow for there to be any hope of finding her sister, defeating a mobster and maybe even saving a unicorn.

The Fairy Tale

Troll or Derby is fairy tale but it’s not a children’s story. When the first edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales was published in 1812, it was widely criticized for the violence and even sexual content. In ensuing editions the tales were edited to make them more suitable for children.

This is a dark fairy tale about a fairy and a troll who fight the only way they know how…with Rock ‘n’ Roll and Roller Derby. It’s packed with bikers, gangsters, drug dealers, amish and a whole bunch of other worldly creatures. I’m pretty sure your parents won’t want you reading this book. Read it anyway. (★★★★★)

Many thanks to Red Tash and The Indie Bookshelf for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Three River Ranch (by Roxanne Snopek)

Posted on December 30, 2012 by setaian

Rory has escaped her home town and jerk-off ex. Pregnant and homeless, she rents a cottage on a former cattle ranch as a temporary place to stay until her baby is born. Unfortunately Carson, who plans on using the ranch as a sanctuary for wild mustangs also has a claim on the cottage.

They find themselves living under the same roof and eventually fall in love, but both have trust issues and can’t admit to their feelings which causes a little angst.

Three River Ranch has all the ingredients you expect from books in this genre…a tall, rough around the edges hero; a soft pregnant and emotionally bruised heroine; a dog; horses; puppies; and a run down cottage.

To be honest it’s exactly what I want. Books like this are a little like McDonalds. You can go to a McDonalds anywhere in the world and know exactly what you’re getting. I don’t buy these books to be surprised, I buy them to be entertained and to feel good about myself.

Three River Ranch delivers that and then some.

Many thanks to Entangled and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Shadow Woman (by Linda Howard)

Posted on December 26, 2012 by setaian

Lizette lives a quiet life. She has a mundane job and drives a boring car. Even the food she eats is boring. Then one morning she looks in the mirror and doesn’t recognize herself. She discovers she has lost two years of her life and every time she tries to pull at the threads of her memory she is wracked with an intense headache and nausea.

Xavier has been watching and protecting Lizzie for the past five years. The secrets buried deep within her could destroy some very dangerous people and they will kill to keep those secrets buried. He’s the only person standing between them and her but as her memory begins to return even he might not be able to save her.

Shadow Woman is great Romantic Suspense. I’ve often said that I don’t think Linda Howard writes villains very well. They are so hyper-evil that they could almost come straight from the pages of a comic book. Not so with this book. It’s a well written page turner which will sit very comfortably on the bookshelf beside anything written by Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum or Ken Follett.

Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume (by Lisa Rumsey Harris)

Posted on December 17, 2012 by setaian

“Have you ever tried to look really good for a special occasion and just ended up looking stupid?”
Aussie didn’t respond. “Well, I have. In middle school, I wore parachute pants on a ski trip. People drew cartoons of me for months.”

Treasure Blume has gone through her entire life as the girl nobody likes. She wears dowdy sweaters, lives with her cat and her grandmother, teaches first grade, and spends most of her spare time trying to keep her grammy out of trouble and dodge her well meaning family.

She doesn’t really have any expectations from life. Men aren’t interested in her and she has very few friends her own age. Despite that she is able to see beauty in everything and is a blessing to the people around her, even people who are unkind.

Despite his initial dislike of Treasure, Dennis has to admit that she is a good teacher for his daughter, Micaela. Under her care, Micaela who was quiet and withdrawn has blossomed. Over time Dennis overcomes his dislike of Treasure and starts to see her for the kind-hearted woman she is.

The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume is a gentle and sweet love story about a woman who doesn’t fit in anywhere, and a man who doesn’t trust easily. It’s a relentlessly optimistic book about resilience and perseverance.

Many thanks to Cedar Fort Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Posted on December 14, 2012 by setaian

Shannon A. Thompson

This morning a 20-year-old gunman murdered 27 people, including 20 children, in Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Keep the victims and their families in mind today as this unfortunate incident is, sadly, not the first.

Read more about the shooting here, and keep your eyes out for ways to help the families.

Also, in regards to school shootings, I think education is very important, and I like to do this through writing and reading as many of you know. Even though I personally believe we cannot logically understand the illogical (situations like this), I still think we can try and/or cope.

I read Todd Strasser’s, Give a Boy a Gun, many years ago, and I found myself deeply moved by the severity of school violence he exposed. I really suggest this reading and/or Rachel’s Tears, which depicts the life of Columbine victim, Rachel Scott.

Please educate yourself, share…

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My Bluegrass Baby (by Molly Harper)

Posted on December 13, 2012 by setaian

“We’re going to talk and you are really going to listen to me. Because this isn’t coming from Kelsey, your awesome assistant who knows and sees all, but Kelsey, your friend, who cares about you as a person and the overall condition of your soul. You are heading down a very dangerous path, Sadie. If this promotion was the One Ring, you would be Gollum. If it was the white whale, you would be Ahab. If it was the Iron Throne, I’m pretty sure you would be a Lannister, and nothing good ever happens to a Lannister.”

Sadie is a shoo-in for the job as director of the Kentucky Tourism Commission. That is until the government decide to bring in some fresh blood. Now she has to compete for the job that was supposed to be hers with a flashy, over-confident PR man from Atlanta.

With the battle escalating and everyone in the office taking sides, Josh and Sadie need to settle their differences and find a way to work together before the entire office descends into all out war.

My Bluegrass Baby is great fun. It has elements of romance, chick-lit and travelogue all rolled into a quirky book about a woman who loves Kentucky just a little more than is healthy. Reading this book I really got the sense of just how much Molly Harper loves her home state. The book has Molly Harper’s trademark snarky sense of humor and will sit very comfortably on a book shelf right along side And One Last Thing, her other foray into chick-lit.

Many thanks to Pocket Star Books (Simon & Schuster) and Edelweiss for providing me with this ARC.

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