Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Review: Thirst

Thirst Thirst by Benjamin Warner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fast apocalyptic read about what happens when all of the Earth's water disappears. I kept expecting a zombie to jump out of the bushes, but the characters do a pretty good job of acting like senseless idiots. Lots of stealing and murder while trying to survive, and the hallucinations at the end were a bit unclear to me.

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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Review: The Last Good Girl

The Last Good Girl The Last Good Girl by Allison Leotta
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review to come at SLJ AB4T.

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Review: Lucky Few

Lucky Few Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great contemporary YA fiction read about a teenage homeschooled girl in Austin, Texas. Loved how she described the different types of homeschooled kids and defended her own position as a NORMAL. I was intrigued because she has Type I diabetes, like my daughter, but this isn't the main plotline of the book--it isn't even mentioned until location 312 on my kindle, when she "double-checked my messenger bag to be sure the vitals were there: water bottle, cell phone, chewing gum, glucose tablets, insulin pen."

This is one of those romance, coming of age, friendship, light drama type of story--pretty clean for a YA novel, but still funny and dramatic when it needed to be.

Kudos to the author for creating a main character with Type I!

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Thursday, May 26, 2016

Review: The Dark Days Club

The Dark Days Club The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just my type of regency novel! A spunky heroine who discovers she has magical powers inherited from her traitor to the crown mother. Trouble ensues, along with a tangled love interest. Of course, it leads right into the sequel.

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Monday, May 23, 2016

Review: Nowhere Girl

Nowhere Girl Nowhere Girl by Susan Strecker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cady, now a best-selling mystery writer, has always been haunted by the death of her identical twin sister when they were 16. The killer was never found, and now the past comes back when the police chief is fired and the case is re-opened. Cady is happily married, but now her high school crush comes back into her life. He's a corrections officer, and is able to give Cady information for her next month.

I read this book in one night, but there were too many dings against it for me to highly recommend it. Several plot twists were undeveloped--the police chief getting fired, her parents moving, the town rumors, her own marriage problems. I read fast, and, in some cases, a major plot twist happened in one sentence--no exploration necessary, I guess. I had to go back and re-read--what just happened? Don't I get an explanation? Reasons?

And then when I got to the end I felt like I had read the book before. But even that felt unbelievable--she was 16 and her twin sister supposedly KNEW her. I felt like even making the twins 18 or 19 would have made it more believable. And I never felt like Brady and Patrick rang true. The whole romance thing was just messed up.

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Saturday, May 21, 2016

Review: City of Women

City of Women City of Women by David R. Gillham
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I listened to about 30 minutes of the audiobook and I wasn't hooked.

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Review: A Fighting Chance

A Fighting Chance A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Warren has a new fan--me. Recently I heard someone say that she should run for president and I decided to take a look at her more closely. And I like what I see. She is truly trying to make a difference for working families while holding onto her roots, and she's one badass female politician super-lawyer professor. I want to be her friend. I want to hear her speak in person. I want to donate to her presidential campaign. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat.

And, once again, the sexism she endured during her campaign was just unbelievable. Sure enough, I just googled her and in the top 4 articles, one was about WHAT SHE WEARS. Horrible. She is a female politician. Stop talking about what she looks like and what she wears. I don't care. I like her brain and I like that she stood up to big banks.

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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Review: We Are the Ants

We Are the Ants We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't feel the love for this one as much as my colleagues did. I give it 5 stars for breaking some boundaries with LGBTQ YA lit (yay romantic love!), but I didn't feel that I was reading something genuine. Maybe it was the supernatural elements added in? Because I did feel like they were added in after the realistic parts of the book were written. I found myself skimming the science parts, and I just didn't understand how no other students/teachers/adults came to Henry's aid. Maybe I live in a lala land, but in schools around here, LGBTQ kids still have a group of kids to hang out with. It's so much different in 2016 compared with 2006. I don't understand why more kids don't help Henry at school, and I REALLY don't understand why the teachers don't do more about the bullying.

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Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Review: The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Michelle Cuevas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loved the illustrations--I felt like my fingers would smudge the pencil drawings and the shaded colors. Love how I found myself searching for the critter on each page, too, and the main character's facial expressions.

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Review: I Hear the Sirens in the Street

I Hear the Sirens in the Street I Hear the Sirens in the Street by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series is getting better and better! I love Sean Duffy, even if he is a little too free-giving with the ladies. It's 1982 in Northern Ireland, and he's a Catholic serving in the Brit detective force. This time he gets mixed up with the FBI, the IRA, and the owner of the Delorean factory and things get messy. I had not idea the owner of the Delorean company was arrested on drug charges, did you? I had to research a bit after reading this one to find out more about fact and fiction.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Review: Sweetgirl

Sweetgirl Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading this book, I feel like I know what it's like to be inside the head of a white trash, methhead from Michigan, and it's not a good feeling. Really....I feel gross.

Percy, a hard-working high school dropout, is looking for her drug addict mother again, and heads to a local meth maker's farmhouse to see if she's there. She isn't, but a crying baby is, along with its passed out mother. Percy takes the baby and enlists the help of one of her mother's ex-boyfriends to try to get the baby to safety at the local hospital. But this is winter in Michigan and it's cold, and snowing, and everyone is walking around with guns and high on some drug or another.

Really, this world is depressing. Don't do meth, people. AND GET THE HELL AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SAVED!!!

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Review: A School for Brides

A School for Brides A School for Brides by Patrice Kindl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I read this, I kept thinking of Jayne Entwistle narrating it for me. And that made it better! Years ago I read the first book in this series and loved it (Keeping the Castle) so I thought I would give the next book a read. Thoroughly enjoyable, and, like a typical Regency-ish historical fiction, the girls are nuts, and the people in charge of them are even nuttier. Very glad I wasn't born back then! The entire book is about most of the girls wanting to find a husband to complete their life (except for the wannabe scientist), but I still enjoyed the thoughtless read. It was just what I needed the first night of my break.

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Monday, May 16, 2016

Review: A Brilliant Death

A Brilliant Death A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A pleasant small-town mystery set in the Ohio Valley. Two teenage best friends--Travis and Mitch--spend their high school career investigating the death of Travis's mother. Supposedly she died jumping off a boat naked with her lover while Travis was asleep at home as a baby, but the story doesn't add up. Travis's father is abusive and never wants to talk about anything, so the two of them have to investigate on their own. I didn't think things seemed very realistic at the end, but it was still a good read. Loved the occasional quirky line in the book that was funny.

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Saturday, May 14, 2016

Review: The History Major

The History Major The History Major by Michael Phillip Cash
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Not a fan. Jumped all over the place-sometimes trying to be literary with descriptive adjectives and then other times trying to be more edgy or YA. I read 25% and moved on.

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Friday, May 13, 2016

Review: My Friend Maggie

My Friend Maggie My Friend Maggie by Hannah E. Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks, Dial, for sending me an advanced reader's copy. Receiving children's books gives me an excuse to have my 13-year-old snuggle with me on the couch like we used to when she was little, and we read every other page, too!

This book made us GROAN because we have both been in Maggie's place. And, honestly, we've been in Paula's place, too. Perfect book about friendships, mean girls, judging people by their looks, and loyalty. Great read-aloud for classrooms, libraries, and parents! Although it might be hard to keep kids from yelling out names.

And we loved Harrison's illustrations--good attention to little details that made the critters come to life.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Review: Ghostly Echoes

Ghostly Echoes Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I read the first half of this ARC on my kindle and it just didn't grab my interest for some reason. I loved the first two books in the series, but this one was different, even though I still appreciated the wit of Jackaby and Miss Rook. For the last two nights, I chose to go to sleep early instead of reading this book, which is weird for me! And so I'm switching to something else.

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Review: Dead I Well May Be

Dead I Well May Be Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Pretty dark 1st book in a series about an illegal Irish immigrant trying to survive in NYC. Gangs, guns, drugs, and sex with the kingpin's girlfriend in the first two disks means that Michael probably doesn't have a great future in front of him. I loved the narration by Gerard Doyle, but my audiobook copy of I Hear the Sirens in the Street came in and I'm going to switch to that one. I'm more of a fan of Irish cop novels than NYC street thug novels. :)

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Monday, May 9, 2016

Review: Her Royal Spyness

Her Royal Spyness Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Oh, to be in line to be Queen of England, yet poor as dirt. :) That's the life of Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie. Her family is born to do nothing and going broke. Instead of becoming a companion to an old relative, she moves to London, and does anything to make a bit of money. She learns how to live without servants, how to start a fire, and even how to clean a commode. Oh, the horrors! But I enjoyed the accents--lots of Scots, English, and even a hilarious man who cannot pronounce his Rs. Katherine Kellgren is an awesome narrator!

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Review: Find Her

Find Her Find Her by Lisa Gardner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I couldn't tell that this was #8 in a series, so don't let that hold you back. Flora Dane was kidnapped years ago, and she hasn't fully recovered from being held captive for over a year. Who could? Now she's on a mission to save other young women who have suffered, too. Detective D.D. Warren and Flora's FBI Victim Specialist have to use the clues to find Flora and the other women who have been taken in Boston.

This was a very fast read--I wanted to know how it finished, but I like my thrillers more believable and realistic.

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Friday, May 6, 2016

Review: The Girls

The Girls The Girls by Emma Cline
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I think the book is written very well for a debut. I liked the choppy sentences and literary turn of phrase that the author has. Who else would write a sentence like this: "Its pictures of genitally slick hams, wreathed in pineapple" when talking about pictures of food in McCall's magazine? I never thought of pictures of food in a magazine looking like genitals. Huh.

So much of it is from the POV of the older woman looking back on her life. And even the parts about her teenage life don't seem realistic to me--I don't think a naive 14-year-old would think like her. It's a slow read--it took me all week when I usually read quickly. Part of that is because I didn't like the main character--she's weak and the reader totally gets why she's sucked into a cult. Even as an adult, she says things like "I had no power" and she takes underage kids out to a bar and still thinks it's cool to buy them alcohol. I just don't get it.

I usually enjoy gross and sexy books, but this one has a 10-year-old girl dropping acid and threesomes between teen girls and fat men. All the men in this book want to seduce young teen girls.

Could I recommend this to a teenager? Nope, unless I magically meet someone like Serena van der Woodsen of Gossip Girls--weary, bitchy, and rich(y). This is another adult title that I think is for city women who ride subways (like White is for Witching), and not so much for Midwestern small town folks.

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Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Review: Everyday Sexism

Everyday Sexism Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Formal review will be in SLJ, but I had to write my own personal review here.

This book fired me up. I'm so sick of all the examples of everyday sexism mentioned in this book and so thankful for the men I know who don't do these things. But I'm embarrassed by the women I know locally who are raising their sons to act like the idiots in this book. I'm embarrassed by the women and men I know who don't stand up for people when they see harassment.

Example: Two years ago I went to Munich by myself. In a crowded pub, I found myself being "handled" a bit more than I'm used to in Midwest American bars. Finally, when one hand gave a firm grasp to my butt cheek, I swirled around and confronted the little bastard by grabbing his wrist. I yelled in my teacher voice (the band was loud) that he didn't have permission to touch me. And I asked him if I needed to get the bouncer at the door to throw him out of the bar. Most of the people in the bar spoke English, including him, and there were laughs and heads nodding all around me. He got pissed and turned away, while two other men asked me if I needed help. One of them said that not many women stand up to "guys like that"--he claimed that it must be "an American thing." I guess so. Or maybe it's a divorced American librarian thing.

This book is about the situation above. Why didn't his friends call him out on being an asshole? Why didn't his parents raise him to not act like an asshole? Where did his objectification of women come from? Why did he think he had the right to grab a stranger's ass in a bar? Why did he runaway scared when confronted? Why did the people around me only step in to help after I confronted him?

And don't even say that I deserved it because I was wearing tight jeans in a bar by myself. If that's what you're thinking, then you are part of the problem. Read this book and learn something.

I loved this book. It made me realize that I need to join the movement. And watch how I discuss weight/men/women who don't dress like me in front of my daughter. Just the chapter about how women of politics are discussed in the media (who made your dress?) irritated me. And how schools teach kids not to have sex, but they don't teach about consent.

Read this. Please. It's a quick read, but full of discussion points.

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Monday, May 2, 2016

Review: Everyday Sexism

Everyday Sexism Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So good that I had to re-read parts of it. Review to come.

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Review: The Cold Cold Ground

The Cold Cold Ground The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved the Northern Ireland accents--made me feel like I was back there. Detective Sergeant Duffy is a Catholic cop in Carrickfergus (seriously what was he thinking?) in 1981. He's trying to keep his head down, but it's difficult to do when you have to check your own car for bombs everyday and carry an automatic weapon and riot gear to and from work. I loved hearing more about what it was like back then, especially when I compare it to what I saw a few months ago. All that barbed wire and tall walls around the police stations make sense!

Interesting twist--serial killer targeting gay men? Homosexual acts are a crime in Ireland back then, and even a bigshot of the IRA can't protect himself when he becomes a target.

I've already got two more books by this author on hold--can't wait! And, seriously, I loved the slight twist in the book that is really out of place for most Irish police procedurals. No giveaways here, but you'll know what I mean if you read it.

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