[Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I received copies of the books contained in this post for purposes of review.]
September has a lot of great new book releases from true crime to historical fiction, to apocalyptic novels. Here’s what is on my radar this month.
Always the First to Die by R. J. Jacobs. A horror film actress returns to the manor where her first film was made, a place she swore she would never return to after the horrors that took place there. She is forced to return to the island to find her daughter as a category 4 hurricane hits, replaying the plot of the infamous horror film that made her famous. Releases September 13.
Children of the Catastrophe by Sarah Shoemaker. This historical fiction story begins in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, 1908. Liana Demirgis is being thrust into the spotlight by her mother in order to find a husband. An arranged marriage is made between the Demirgis and Melopoulos families and Liana is wed to Vasili. We follow the couple’s lives as the massacre of Greeks and Armenians after World War I takes place. Paperback releases September 6.
Duet: Our Journey in Song with the Northern Mockingbird by Phillip Hoose. National Book Award and Newberry honor-winner Phillip Hoose dives into the history of the mockingbird and it’s present day use as the rallying call in the Hunger Games. This YA book uncovers the connections between humans and the mockingbird over the centuries from the White House to modern day books. Releases September 13.
Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade by Nancy Springer. Oh, I love Enola Holmes and she is at it again. This time, trying to keep a friend with dual personalities out of trouble, while her older brother Sherlock is tasked with bringing the girl back home. What trouble will Enola find herself in this time? Releases September 6.
Fall Guy by Archer Mayor. Book 33 in the Joe Gunther series. This one is for those who love detective novels. When the body of a burglar is found in the trunk of a stolen car, the Vermont Bureau of Investigation discovers evidence in the car linked to an old unsolved child abduction case. Joe Gunther leads his team on the hunt for this psychopath before he kills again. Releases September 27.
Harrow by Joy Williams. Her first novel since Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Quick and the Dead, Joy Williams creates an apocalyptic story about a gifted young girl who stumbles upon a resort filled with elderly inhabitants who want to violently punish corporations and those who created the environmental apocalypse. Releases September 14.
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah. This is an incredible story that leads to complete doom every which way Koral turns. This new world was hard to understand in the beginning, but once the races begin, you get snared into its net and can’t help but hope that things will get better for Koral and her family. Will she win the race and help her family out of their ruin, especially when the entire world is stacked up against her? This South Asian inspired story releases September 6.
Nothing But the Night: Leopold & Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s America by Greg King and Penny Wilson. For my true crime lovers, I can’t sum this up any better than the actual synopsis. The synopsis alone makes my jaw drop. SYNOPSIS: Nearly a hundred years ago, two wealthy and privileged teenagers―Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb―were charged and convicted in a gruesome crime that would lead to the original “Trial of the Century”. Even in Jazz Age Chicago, the murder was uniquely shocking for the motive of the killers: well-to-do Jewish scions, full of promise, had killed fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The trial becomes even more sensational by the revelation of a love affair between the defendants and by defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who delivered one of the most famous defense summations of all time to save the boys from the death penalty. The story of their mad folie à deux, with Loeb portrayed as the psychopathic mastermind and Leopold as his infatuated disciple, has been endlessly repeated and accepted by history as fact. And none of it is true. Using twenty-first century investigative tools, forensics, and a modern understanding of the psychology of these infamous killers, Nothing but the Night turns history on its head. While Loeb is seen as the architect behind the murders, King and Wilson’s new research points to Leopold as the dominant partner in the deadly relationship, uncovering a dark obsession with violence and sex. Nothing but the Night pulls readers into the troubled world of Leopold and Loeb, revealing a more horrifying tale of passion, obsession, and betrayal than history ever imagined. Releases September 20.
Resurrection: Book One of the Manifestation Trilogy by Paul Selig. For those looking for spiritual guidance, renowned channel Paul Selig, channels the Guides for guidance and wisdom in manifesting our next phase in humanity. Releases September 20.
The Best Friend by Jessica Fellowes. For those who love thrillers, this book explores the friendship between two women. Friends at a young age, their story takes a dark turn after men come into their lives. Releases September 13.
The Deceptions by Jill Bialosky. This book qualifies for the tag of writing about strong women. As a woman’s life unravels at the seams, this teacher/poet spends her days in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sitting before the Greek and Roman gods. They come to life, forcing her to choose between myth and reality. This book is an exploration between ‘female sexuality and ambition.’ Releases September 6.
The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore. This retelling of Ivan the Terrible intertwines the tsar’s story with the mythical witch Baba Yaga. Yes, the witch who lives in a house with chicken legs. Part goddess and mortal, she is blessed with youth and a very long life. She is thrown into the tsar’s court to care for his ailing wife, Anastasia Romanovna, who is being poisoned by someone in the tsar’s court. The rumor is Ivan’s volatile behavior came from Anastasia’s death, thus beginning his reign of terror across Russia. This book intertwines the myths of the gods of old with the new Russia that formed as Christianity took over the land. Yaga faced more than just an irate tsar, she also faced an unknown evil that was taking over the land. Was this evil the workings of a madman or the amusement of the gods? Gilmore does an excellent job of making Yaga a participating spectator during this time in history. Yaga is an inspiring demigod, a heroine, and not just an ugly, old witch. Releases September 20.
When I first read a few years ago that women detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in detention centers were being sterilized involuntarily, I thought that cannot be true. After reading “Take My Hand” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, I now understand the US Government has been using sterilization on the poor, especially on people of color over the last 100 years. And I’m mad as hell about it.
“Take My Hand” is a historical fiction novel loosely based on the 1973 Relf v. Weinberger case where two sisters, ages twelve and fourteen, were sterilized without their consent in Montgomery, Alabama by a federally funded agency. In this story, we follow Civil Townsend, a nurse hired by a clinic to help women and girls with their reproductive health. She believes that all women and girls should take care of their reproductive health. Her mission is to help them.
She is responsible for administering Depo-Provera shots to two girls living in a one room shanty where they live with their father and grandmother. They live in complete squalor.
The girls are ages 11 and 13. The youngest does not speak and has developmental issues. When Civil learns that the youngest has not even had her first menstrual cycle, she questions why the girl is required to receive birth control.
Her friend, Ty, informs her the shot is not FDA approved and causes cancer in animal subjects. This alarms Civil and she realizes this may be similar to the Tuskegee experiments. She decides to stop giving the girls the shots and either get them on birth control pills or altogether stop administering birth control to them since they are not sexually active.
But her supervisor is monitoring the situation and notices the doctored reports. She shows up at the girls’ home and gets dad and grandma (both cannot read) to sign a slip of paper to take the girls to the ‘clinic’ for their shots. At least, that’s what they thought they were signing.
When Civil visits to let the youngest girl know she got her into a special school, she discovers the girls were taken to a hospital to be sterilized. By the time she gets to the hospital, it’s already too late.
Ty’s parents are lawyers and decide to help the family get justice for what has happened. A young white man is assigned to the case to help them. It catches the eye of Senator Ted Kennedy and he brings the family to Washington, DC to tell a Senate committee what happened. The story makes national news and more stories surface from across the nation of women and girls forced to be sterilized by federally funded agencies.
Reports appear of mothers in the midst of childbirth forced to sign papers that will allow the doctor to sterilize them after the birth of their child. The doctors threaten to not deliver the child if they refuse to sign the papers. In California, doctors report that poor Hispanic women are forcibly sterilized. More and more stories come to light as to how bad the situation really is.
We have found that sterilization is the rule, not the exception. It is widely endemic in this country. It is a form of reproductive control.
Last year we did a survey and found that although two-thirds of federally funded clinics’ patients were white and only one third are Black, 43 percent of those sterilized are Black. A report from the United States government…found that between the summer of 1972 and the summer of 1973, twenty-five thousand adults were sterilized in federally funded clinics. Of these, 153 were under the age of eighteen.
“Take My Hand” is terrifying and shocking as you learn that this atrocity happened and continues to happen. This is a war waged against women, especially those who are poor.
Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn’t matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn’t even belong to ourselves.
The fact that involuntary sterilization still occurs is unfathomable. How is it that an administration that is anti-abortion and pro-life is also pro-sterilization?
There’s also a conversation that underlies all of this and that is the importance of women’s sexual and reproductive health. Throughout the world, talking about any of this is taboo. From first periods to menopause, no one talks about women’s health. It is shunned. In some parts of the world, women and girls do not have access to sanitary napkins or tampons. Girls end up dropping out of school when they get their first periods, because they do not have access to something as basic as pads or tampons.
Sexual health is health care.
Women needed access to reliable birth control and information about their reproductive health.
One item that is very important to mention is that many of these women and girls felt like they had no choice but to accept sterilization. Those who accept government assistance (welfare, food stamps, housing, Medicaid) are subjected to constant government intervention. Government officials constantly came and went out of their homes. For some people, they were threatened that if they did not submit to sterilization, mandatory birth control, etc., they could lose their government assistance.
In some cases, people were not given the proper information on sterilization and Depo-Provera. They were not told that the surgery was not reversible. Side effects of Depo-Provera were not discussed. At times, clinics were not advised on the procedures regarding sterilization or the administering of it. Women and girls were not given alternatives to birth control. For thousands of women and girls, their right to have children was taken away from them without their consent.
That’s the most important thing here…their right was taken from them without their consent.
Women in prison as recently as 2006-2010 faced forced sterilization. Less than a hundred years ago, sterilization was forced on those institutionalized. Many women during that time were not mentally ill. A woman with irregular periods, or a woman whose husband wanted to rid themselves of their wife to marry another woman, could be institutionalized.
During the Trump administration, rumors of detained female immigrants who were forced to be sterilized made the news. But the only response became disgust, and then yesterday’s news.
The war on women needs to end. We don’t hear of men undergoing forced sterilization because they are poor or an immigrant. Their right to their own bodies is not under attack by the government. But for women, we are constantly threatened. It needs to stop. We need to stop being a taboo. Our reproductive health and overall women’s health needs to be considered important in the medical field. When I want to talk about menopause and what happens to the body changing, I need my doctor to be able to know what exactly that is and advise me on what to expect. When we are provided a vaccine, make it not just for men in mind, but women, too. Sanitary napkins and tampons should not be taxed. They are a necessity. It should be covered as a health need.
Why not provide adequate birth control to all women? There would be less abortions if women had the proper medical care and access to it. Give them other alternatives to birth control. Sterilization should be a choice, not something forced upon women by the government. Truthfully, I have to ask, why is the government so obsessed with controlling a woman’s body? Women must really scare them.
I have to say, this book made me mad. It is a difficult read, but necessary. Everyone needs to understand the way war is raged upon women, especially those who live in poverty and are a person of color. Women are not yesterday’s news. We are victimized daily in a numerous amount of ways, because we are women. It needs to end.
[All quotes are from “Take My Hand” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez]
[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of a review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]
Today is my stop on the blog tour for Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley.
[Disclaimer: Please forgive me if this post isn’t fully coherent. I had two of my wisdom teeth removed a couple of days ago. I am still on medication and not fully back to functional.]
This is the third indigenous author I’ve ever read. I think it has more to do with a lack of indigenous authors than it does not seeking out their stories. I’ve become a loyal Rebecca Roanhorse reader over the years, and I will definitely be a loyal reader of Angeline Boulley’s books, because of the strong characters they build to tell their stories.
In Firekeeper’s Daughter, we are introduced to Daunis Fontaine, an eighteen-year-old mixed race (half white, half Ojibwe) young lady getting ready for her first semester of college. She is from a hockey town, well known amongst the die hard hockey fans, called Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan (it’s not Salt, it’s pronounced Soo). Her father, Levi Firekeeper, was a great hockey player until an accident ended his career. Both she and her brother (also Levi) are hockey players.
Her family’s past though is a little complicated. Her mother is from the richest white family in town. When she discovered she was pregnant, she went to tell Levi, only to catch him in the act of cheating. She ran off, he followed and got into the accident. Her parents sent her to stay with relatives in Montreal. When she returned with three-month-old Daunis, she discovered he was now married and had a son called Levi Jr.
Despite this unfortunate beginning for Daunis, her mother always made sure she had access to her Ojibwe family, no matter how much her GrandMary (grandmother) disagreed with it. Daunis grew up in two different worlds. One that was white and French, the other that was a part of the indigenous Ojibwe community.
I’m always a big supporter of stories featuring mixed race kids, because I am one myself. You’re always stuck between two worlds, and one side is usually unaccepting of the other side. You tend to be more assimilated into one culture than the other. But you’re always an outsider of both cultures, and never fully accepted, even though you do everything you can to be accepted.
Daunis here is in the same boat. She is a star hockey player, really smart, volunteers her time, a pillar in her community, and always looking out for her friends and family. She is literally a female warrior throughout this book, and that’s what made me love her character so much. They call this Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman).
When we enter Firekeeper’s Daughter, it is shortly after Daunis’s uncle dies from an overdose. Two months later, her GrandMary is hospitalized. Her mother takes off work to watch over her while she is in a long-term care facility, and Daunis decides to forego leaving home to attend college at University of Michigan so she can be closer to her family during this time. She decides to enroll in the local community college where her friend Lily will be attending, and then transfer to U of M the following year if everything gets better.
What Daunis doesn’t know is that her world is just starting to change.
It starts with a murder, then a suicide. Then she is roped into an FBI investigation where she is asked to become an informant to help them uncover where a strange strain of meth is coming from. All the FBI knows is that it has something to do with her small town, her community, and hockey. But how?
It is here that I would like to warn readers that there are content warnings for this book. Do not read if you are sensitive to any triggers, because to accurately tell the story of the Ojibwe people, the author had to talk about the things that happen in their community. It is not all fairy tales and happy endings…although, this one had a fantastic girl power ending.
Indigenous communities suffer from a higher rate of suicide among men than any other race in North America. They are plagued with substance abuse issues, drugs, and criminal activity. What broke my heart though is that this is a harsh wake up call for those who want to understand how people of color are treated in America, especially when a group of people face systemic racism and poverty. People are forced to do things that can destroy everything about the community they love, just for their own survival. And they don’t care who gets hurt along the way.
When I realized in the story who was behind the drugs, I kept thinking…no. Please, no. This will break Daunis’s heart. But if Boulley is going to accurately describe what was happening in her community, she needed to tell the truths that would hurt. But she helps the reader survive those heartbreaks by making Daunis a strong Ojibwe woman.
Daunis doesn’t let the evils of the world transform her or stop her from being her own true self. She builds strength by standing against the evils and standing with her community. When she stands with them, they stand with her. And that is a powerful message.
I highly recommend this book. It was a 21 Jump Street meets hockey in an Ojibwe community kind of story. It tells us about the horrors that Ojibwe women go through, as well as what their community is going through. Boulley wanted to remain as true as possible to their stories when she wrote this book. She enlightens the world with who the Ojibwe people are and how they are being destroyed, yet somehow she knows all too well they will survive together if they stick together.
For those hockey fans that still read what I write, this is a great YA novel to pick up. There’s enough hockey in this that will keep you intrigued. It will also remind you of the story of the Tootoo brothers (Inuit tribe). Both brothers were hockey players. One took his own life at the age of 22. The other went on to have a 13 year NHL career.
Allow me to introduce you to the second book I’ve discovered this year to make my list of Best Books of 2021: Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans.
What qualifies on this list of Perfectionist Wannabe’s Best Books of 2021? I don’t know. It is the same je ne sais quoi I saw in a hockey player when I watched him on the ice, that intuitive knowing that he was going to make it big in the NHL. It was that je ne sais quoi I saw and wrote about that gave a lot of kids their big shot in the NHL to prove to the GMs that I really did see something great within them. Many players proved me right, having long careers, even becoming captain of their teams. With books, there is no way to accurately define that je ne sais quoi. You just know when that feeling arises that this book is on a whole different level than the others.
For my second find of the year, I discovered this thanks to @berittalksbooks on Instagram. Her buddy read introduced us to this collection of poetry by Newark, New Jersey native Jasmine Mans, who is also the resident poet of the Newark Public Library.
Photo by Redens Desrosiers
I’ve read a lot of poetry over the years and I have not found any modern day poetry that has resonated within my soul the way Black Girl, Call Home has. That’s what makes this work so unique. Like Rumi, Byron and Yeats, their works survived for hundreds of years because they stirred your heart or resounded within your soul. They spoke truth to your core being. That’s what makes you grasp onto their words and carry it with you for the rest of your life.
In Black Girl, Call Home, I found my head shaking along with her intimate discussions regarding Kanye and her dire disappointment in what he could have been when he finally made it big. It was as if he betrayed everything he believed in…everything she believed in when she listened to his words when he first showed up on the scene.
Her words reside under your skin as you feel her kisses upon another woman’s skin. Your heart is yanked out of you when she describes what it is like to fall in love with someone who cannot love you back, because their kind of love is forbidden.
When she tells the story of her little four year old cousin and Michelle Obama, your hand will go to your heart knowing how beautiful and precious that moment means to all the little ladies who have finally found someone to look up to…someone that looks just like them. A little girl that doesn’t know much about the world, knows how important Michelle Obama is to this world.
This collection of poems by Jasmine Mans resonated deep within me. This wasn’t about relating someone’s story to my own story, which is what people look for in poetry. No. This was about feeling what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. To feel that heartbreak. To feel that great love. To feel that want of someone you can never have, but you love them fiercely. To taste that potato salad at the community cookouts. To know how it feels to hear whispers of what boys say about rape. She opened the door to her soul and I saw everything she wanted to show me. This is Jasmine Mans.
That is what went into this je ne sais quoi to help me decide to add this book to my list of Best Books of 2021. I’ve read 38 books so far this year. Only two have been chosen so far.
I’d like to thank Berit and Berkley Publishing for allowing me access to this title.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of review. This site contains affiliate links.]
You can order your copy and copies for all of your friends by clicking on the book below. This is a book you will want to add to your curated library. I have.
Book: The High-Rise Diver Author: Julia von Lucadou Publisher: World Editions Release Date: March 2, 2021 Rating: [usr 5][AMAZON]
The High-Rise Diver is the perfect book for lovers of Brave New World, 1984, and The Handmaid’s Tale. This book rises to the ranks of those amazing pieces of dystopian literature, stories you will never forget and refer back to for the rest of your life.
Imagine you live in a world of perfectionism. Society dictates your appearance (thin, beautiful and fit people), your mind (daily meditations to calm you), your activities (they select who you date or mate with), and your pay is determined based upon your performance (only good performance is compensated).
For those who want to eat junk food, have normal families, have fun, or be whatever weight they want to be, they live in the peripheries outside of normal society. They struggle to find meaningful work. There is no ability to rise up in society or make more money. They can’t live in nice homes, because they do not fit into society’s mold of perfectionism. Society stamps them with the label of rebels, vagrants, and terrorists.
In this story, we follow Riva, a young high-rise diver (someone who leaps from tall buildings – quite similar to aerialists in a circus) who has lost all willingness to function in society. She doesn’t want to train, work, or do anything, but sit in her apartment and stare into nothingness. She has lost all motivation to be a famous high-rise diver. Something inside her is broken.
We watch Riva through the eyes of Hitomi, a psychologist that is tasked to watch Riva and help her find a way back to diving again. If she doesn’t return, they will seize her bank accounts, kick her out of her apartment and force her to move to the peripheries. But Riva doesn’t want to return. She has no desire to take part in this highly successful and famous life anymore. She wants to be free.
But freedom is unheard of in society. Your entire existence is regulated by the society. To resist who you are is to rebel against society.
For Hitomi, there is something about Riva’s predicament that is familiar to her. It reminds her of unresolved issues from her childhood of a friend that was taken from her, a parent that has rejected her, and a parent that is not even allowed to parent her. She longs for that feeling of having a real family, one with a mom and a dad living together, raising their children, hugging and kissing them good night. She longs for just that comforting, familiar touch of love, something that society does not allow.
In this world, parents have nothing to do with their children beyond assisting in paying for their schooling to help them place well in society. Visits are rare. Love, or basically any emotion, is non-existent.
As Hitomi watches Riva through cameras setup in her apartment, she starts to become obsessed with Riva’s demise to the point she is destroying herself. First, it’s missing a meditation. Next, it’s missing a workout. Then, she starts thinking creatively. “Once you start with self-deception, it’s hard to stop.”
Can Hitomi save Riva? Or will Riva drag her down with her?
This book is one that will stay with you for the rest of your life the way 1984,Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale or Lord of the Flies will stay with you. These stories are the ones you will return to, because you can see society floating in this direction, or at least, you fear society will one day become this nightmare world. Then you will think back one day and say to yourself, ‘Remember when that author wrote about this? It was a prediction of things to come.’
I enjoyed this book and hope dystopian lovers will love this, too.
This book will be published on March 2, 2021. You can order your copy from my AMAZON SHOP.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. This site contains affiliate links.]
Book: A Golden Fury Author: Samantha Cohoe Publisher: Wednesday Books Release date: October 13, 2020 Rating: [usr 4.5]
Happy Friday, Lovelies!
Fridays mean it’s movie night for me. It’s that little bit of normalcy I continue to do even though our world has changed. But instead of rushing home after work to watch a movie with Matthew, I spend all day watching movies while I’m working.
Hey, I can multi-task.
On today’s roster is last night’s episode of Supernatural (I’m going to miss this show so much), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Craft, and Trolls World Tour. I may sneak in a scary movie or a Disneyfied version of scary (hello, Freeform!).
I’ll also be monitoring Matthew. He’s not doing so well right now. We went to the vet on Sunday to get him ready for his pet passport application process. His allergies are horrible right now. He’s scratched off the right side of his face and scratched up his ears. His back paw is still hurting him from his allergies. So he had a bunch of tests performed on him, plus he got his medicine. Wednesday night, he snuck out and stayed out way past dark. He discovered that next door has small pine trees planted that he can play hide and seek in. I think he got bit by an insect, because Thursday night, his lip started bleeding.
This is something that happens every fall. He already had his shot for this on Sunday, plus he’s already on meds. I just have to soak up the blood when his lip bleeds, and then apply cornstarch to stop the bleeding. I feel so bad for him. Luckily, this isn’t as bad as previous years.
So on to the book review for “A Golden Fury.” Thank you, Wednesday Books for sending this title along to me. I love stories like this where a young woman becomes the last alchemist by creating the infamous philosopher’s stone.
Synopsis
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
What can I say? This had a very unexpected ending. I’m going along in this entire story thinking that this stone is so dangerous to create, yet it’s desperately needed to cure everyone in Thea’s life. And then the author does something I didn’t even ponder could happen. She doesn’t just do it once. She does it multiple times, so if you think the story will play out according to Thea’s plans…think again.
Honestly, I love when writers do this. As you read, the entire time you are wondering if she will be able to make the philosopher’s stone and save everyone. Will she go insane before the process is completed? Will the stone even work?
And then because the reader is so focused on this, when the author decides to throw a monkey wrench in there that we’re not expecting, the story becomes even more compelling and interesting, making you beg for more.
I will say that I hoped an unexpected love story would branch from this, but it never materialized. Cohoe had other plans for Thea in the love department.
I also kind of felt bad for Thea. She had a strange childhood. Alchemists as parents! Her mother is strange. Her father, well, that’s left to be seen what kind of dad he’ll be. But I felt bad for Thea that her mother couldn’t be a loving mother, because she was so super feminist for their time. It’s like being a loving mother worked against her idea of feminism. She wanted to spit on everything that was expected of women, including being a nurturing mother. Thea deserved a better mother.
I enjoyed this book. I was lost in the pages, waiting to see what would happen. Would Thea survive the madness of creating the philosopher’s stone? Would she find people she could truly trust that would not betray her? Those questions kept me entranced in the story.
I really enjoyed this. It was such a good story!
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
You can purchase your copy of “A Golden Fury” at any of these approved PW retailers.
Book: When We Were Young & Brave Author: Hazel Gaynor Publisher: William Morrow Release Date: October 6, 2020 Rating: [usr 5]
Hello Lovelies!
Seven months of lockdown. Insanity, right? Like many others, I have had difficulty getting back into reading 10+ books a month. I decided to take a break from Facebook and attempt to not stay on Twitter too long, except to read the headlines, so I am not completely out of the loop.
I found that forcing that little break has allowed me to actually finish reading a few books on time. I’m also less anxious.
It took stepping away for a few days to see how crazy our world has become. So I’m going to focus on me and my life, because I can’t do the crazy anymore.
So that leads me to today’s new release from Hazel Gaynor. I read “Meet Me in Monaco” earlier this year and it was absolutely lovely. The whole story of Grace Kelly procuring a special perfume for her wedding, as well as a love story between the woman creating the scent and a reporter, was just sigh worthy.
When William Morrow reached out to ask if I would review this title, I did not hesitate, because Gaynor is a wonderful writer and spins such wonderful tales.
Synopsis
Their motto was to be prepared, but nothing could prepare them for war. . .
The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home sets her unforgettable new novel in China during WWII, inspired by true events surrounding the Japanese Army’s internment of teachers and children from a British-run missionary school.
China, December 1941. Having left an unhappy life in England for a teaching post at a missionary school in northern China, Elspeth Kent is now anxious to return home to help the war effort. But as she prepares to leave China, a terrible twist of fate determines a different path for Elspeth, and those in her charge.
Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School, protected by her British status. But when Japan declares war on Britain and America, Japanese forces take control of the school and the security and comforts Nancy and her friends are used to are replaced by privation, uncertainty and fear. Now the enemy, and separated from their parents, the children look to their teachers – to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially – to provide a sense of unity and safety.
Faced with the relentless challenges of oppression, the school community must rely on their courage, faith and friendships as they pray for liberation – but worse is to come when they are sent to a distant internment camp where even greater uncertainty and danger await . . .
Inspired by true events, When We Were Young and Brave is an unforgettable novel about impossible choices and unimaginable hardship, and the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher in a remote corner of a terrible war.
This book is absolutely marvelous and beautifully written. I fell in love with the book within the first 25 pages.
This book is told from two different perspectives: Elspeth, the teacher, and Nancy, the young student. Telling the story in this manner allows the reader to have a deeper understanding of the situation at Chefoo School.
There’s a teacher running from her past to heal her broken heart. There is a young girl who is forced to leave her parents for a British missionary school. The ones they love are both spirited away from them, and they must learn how to cope without them.
The teachers at this school teach the students how to be prepared. For the girls, they learn how to do this by being a part of Brownies (i.e. Girl Scouts). So when Japanese soldiers take over the school at the beginning of World War II and the Chinese servants are dismissed, the students and teachers pull their weight and make chores a game. They make it easier for the kids to want to help out. In fact, teaching this to the kids in the very beginning helps them in the coming years as they face one internment camp after another.
Before the gardener leaves Chefoo School, he gifts Elspeth nine sunflower seeds. A Japanese soldier (nicknamed Trouble) demands to see the package. In his evil manner, a seed is tossed out and he stomps it into the ground. But like a lotus flower extending itself out of the mud, that sunflower seed grew. It gave hope to the students and the teachers that despite their circumstances, something beautiful can still come from it. Life moves forward and blooms.
Those seeds become very important. They serve as markers on their journey.
After a year, the teachers and the 100 students leave Chefoo School for Temple Hill. It is at this point that I really felt worried for them. Where are they going? What is going to happen to them? Will they be ok?
Then there’s Trouble. In every war there are good soldiers and then there are the dangerous ones. Trouble is one of the dangerous soldiers.
The same group of soldiers follow them from one internment to the next. Home Run is probably one of my favorite characters in this book. The children love him and he does his best to do what is right, despite the circumstances. Why? Because he has young children of his own that he misses and these kids remind him of them.
One of the questions I had at the end of the book was what happened to Home Run after the war? What about his family? I would have liked to know more.
This book comes with content warnings. For those sensitive to rape or animal abuse, please note these warnings. Unfortunately, rape is systemic to war. If Gaynor had left this out of the story, I don’t believe she could have been 100% true to what happens to prisoners of war. She touches briefly on what happened to Chinese women when Japan invaded. It is a foreshadowing of what happens later on in the book.
Mind you, this is just a tinny part of what happens in this story. It is not the main focus. It does not go into the full details of the abuse, but it is there.
There are a lot of great quotes and lessons throughout this book. The signs of an excellent piece of literature is when you can find multiple moments that resonate within you. This quote above is my new life’s motto, taken from page 191 in the book.
So many historical fiction books out there focus on Europe during World War II. I loved that this one was based in China.
I enjoyed this story. Just wonderfully done. I highly recommend reading “When We Were Young & Brave” if you enjoy historical fiction. You’ll appreciate the new change in WWII scenery.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
You can pick up a copy from any of these PW approved retailers.
Book: Where Dreams Descend Author: Janella Angeles Publisher: Wednesday Books Release Date: August 25, 2020 Rating: [usr 3]
Hello Lovelies!
So this month, I decided to review a book a little differently. I joined a buddy read with a few fellow Instagram book reviewers and we read the book together and chatted about the book a couple of times this month. I have to say, it was much more fun to review a book this way. I honestly think we should do it more often.
Here’s the synopsis for the book.
Synopsis
In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.
As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.
The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost
The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told
The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide
Where Dreams Descend is the startling and romantic first book in Janella Angeles’ debut Kingdom of Cards fantasy duology where magic is both celebrated and feared, and no heart is left unscathed.
As you can see from the ranking above, I gave “Where Dreams Descend” three stars. I agreed with the group’s assessment on the ranking. Here’s why.
The story was confusing. A whole group of us had so many questions at the halfway point and at the end. None of our questions were answered at any point.
Sure, we had some crazy conspiracy theories at the midway point, trying to figure out who was the bad guy and what was really going on. Was the villain really the villain or do we have this all wrong? What’s up with this strange town? Why does no one know anything beyond 50 years ago? What happened 50 years ago? What was this fire? Where in the world did Kallia come from? What’s her backstory and Jack’s? What is up with these mirrors? What’s with the cards? What’s with the houses? What about this fire they talk about?
NONE OF THE QUESTIONS WERE ANSWERED.
Granted, by the time we got to the end, we were even more confused than we were at the midway point. So in other words, it wasn’t just me. ALL OF US were confused!!!
Granted, I kind of liked our conspiracy theories we came up with. It made us want to race to the end to see if we were right. Sad to say, none of us were right. Instead, we were going, “HUH?” In other words, you will NEVER guess how this book will end.
But that’s not why we ranked it 3 stars.
The author created some very strong characters. I loved Kallia from the very beginning. I loved Aaros, too. Kallia and Aaros made the perfect partners in crime. I also loved the love story that developed between Kallia and DeMarco. These characters made you feel either a strong love or distaste for them. Even when you can’t quite figure out if someone is innately good or bad, you feel something for that character.
Creating strong characters is Janella Angeles’s strong point. But like all authors, writers have a strong suit and a weakness. For Angeles, her weakness lies in the plot. It is all over the place. Then when we get to the end, the plot is just lost on everybody.
But here’s the thing, this concept is great. The whole concept is intriguing and interesting, but it became too much and too many plot lines that nothing was answered at the end. It just sort of fizzled out and we’re all left going, “HUH?”
There will be a book two, and I need that book like last week, so I can figure out if all of our questions would be answered. Is everything resolved and fixed in book two?
This debut from Janella Angeles (a Filipino-American, for those interested in reading more books from Asian American writers) has great potential as a series. I love the whole concept, but it needs work to sort of streamline all of us out of its confusion. To build what Angeles has built, you have to truly master piecing it all together so it becomes that masterpiece. It’s like Erin Morgenstern’s “The Starless Sea.” The book is brilliant, but you have to be a genius to do what Morgenstern was able to do by tying up all of those loose ends. It also took her eight years to write that book.
Trust me, writing is not an easy process. Also, something I learned from other authors is that we all tend to be masters of one part of the writing process, and have a serious weakness in other parts. You can be strong at developing characters, but be weak at plot lines…or even spelling. I swear I saw an author put you’re in a post instead of your. That kind of drove me batty.
Writers are not perfect. This is an art that has to be continuously worked on and perfected. We have to work on our weaknesses in order to make them our strengths. I could also say that we should do that in all facets of life, especially in our jobs.
I’m looking forward to the next book just to see if any of the questions are answered and the plot lines resolved.
[DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this title from the publisher in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
You can pick up your copy at any of these Perfectionist Wannabe preferred retailers.
I just finished reading this incredible YA fantasy about brujas and lobizones (i.e. witches and werewolves), and it is something else. The last 10% of the book had me wrapped up thinking, NO FRIGGIN WAY!
This is book one in this new series and it is amazing.
Synopsis
Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past–a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this title in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
Wow. The last 10% of this book was just…WOW.
The first 90% is Manu’s search for her identity, home, and place in this world. There’s the world she’s running from and a world she’s running towards.
While her mother sits in a detention facility awaiting deportation, Manu is in a whole new world with people like her. But in this world, girls are brujas (witches) and boys are lobizones (werewolves). So when Manu arrives in this world, she tries to fake being a bruja, because that must be who she is, right? There’s no way she could have entered into this world unless she had magic.
But it ends up she’s not a bruja. She’s a lobizona. Not just any lobizana, she’s the result of a forbidden love between the notorious lobizon, Fierro, and a human mother. This relationship is illegal and cause for her and her parents to be executed if they were to ever be caught. But Manu doesn’t know who her father is. She’s been locked inside an apartment in Miami the first 16 years of her life with her mother and an old woman who took them in, because her golden eyes with star pupils betray her as not being human. Her mother came to Miami in search of her father after he fled the tribunal and their agents. She came with Manu, a daughter he never knew he had.
But she knows her father is on the run. What she never knew was that fate would lead her to him by following her true nature.
For teens wanting to learn about social justice and being the change our world needs, this is your book. Reading the author’s note at the end made me see how much Romina Garber is Manu in coming from Argentina to America, escaping governments that steal children and kill people for falling out of line. It’s about finding identity in two different homes. She explores what it feels like to be an illegal, and fitting into a society that doesn’t quite accept you, because you are different. Garber twisted all of those issues within her into an incredible story of witches and werewolves in Lobizona.
Just amazing. I am looking forward to reading book #2.
You can pick up your own copy of Lobizona on August 4, 2020 from any of Perfectionist Wannabe’s preferred retailers.
Book: The Lost City (The Omte Origins #1) Author: Amanda Hocking Publisher: Wednesday Books Release Date: Out Now Rating: [usr 5]
Hello Lovelies!
Today is my stop on The Lost City book tour. I am so happy I signed up for this tour, because this book is about trolls. Not the ugly, warty green folk that live under bridges, but a whole society of trolls where they look just like humans, but bigger.
New York Times bestselling author Amanda Hocking returns to the magical world of the Trylle with The Lost City, the first book in the final Trylle arc.
Nestled along the bluffs of the forested coast lays the secret kingdom of the Omte—a realm filled with wonder…and as many secrets.
Ulla Tulin was left abandoned in an isolated Kanin city as a baby, taken in by strangers and raised hidden away like many of the trolls of mixed blood. Even knowing this truth, she’s never stopped wondering about her family.
When Ulla is offered an internship working alongside the handsome Pan Soriano at the Mimirin, a prestigious institution, she jumps at the chance to use this opportunity to hopefully find her parents. All she wants is to focus on her job and the search for her parents, but all of her attempts to find them are blocked when she learns her mother may be connected to the Omte royal family.
With little progress made, Ulla and Pan soon find themselves wrapped up in helping Eliana, an amnestic girl with abilities unlike any they have ever seen before—a girl who seems to be running from something. To figure out who she is they must leave the city, and possibly, along the way, they may learn more about Ulla’s parents.
Review
I loved this book from start to finish. It was a five star read for me. The main reason why has a lot to do with the fact that I have never read a book about a whole society of trolls before. It was so different. In this universe, there are literally two worlds, the troll world and the human world, existing alongside each other.
The human world does not know the troll world exists. The trolls live on the outskirts of humanity, but they are very human in so many ways. They are vegan and can cook up some seriously amazing food. They are scholarly and have places like the Mimirin dedicated to the study of trolls and their history. Cars, computers and cell phones are things they use, just like humans. And don’t think they won’t partake in a bit of Riverdale every now and again.
When this strange creature called Eliana drops into Ulla’s car, who knew where this story would take them? There’s the part where Ulla feels she must protect this girl, but she also needs to find the truth of who she is herself. What’s strange is that this strange girl says she is from a city that the troll world calls a myth. But is it really a myth, or is it deemed so because no one has ever returned from this place? At the end, you will still be asking that question, because it leaves you with a mighty cliffhanger to prepare you for the actual adventure.
This book is a bit like S. A. Hunt’s Burn the Dark series (aka Malus Domestica, a series I am absolutely obsessed with) in that the first book lays down the background to the story and the characters in it. The next book is where the adventure begins.
Considering my obsession with Burn the Dark, if I am comparing The Lost City to S. A. Hunt’s series, that should tell you how much I really liked The Lost City. Let me just put it to you this way, Tor Books is aware of my obsession and actually sends me the advance copy of the next installment in the Malus Domestica series. Book Two hasn’t even been released onto the market yet. I already have Book Three. Like I’m that kind of crazy obsessed.
Don’t expect any jam packed thrills in this first book. She saves that for the last bit of the book as a teaser to prepare you for what will happen in the next one.
I had so many questions at the end. For instance, following Eliana seems to be her only answer. But is she following her to save her, or to find herself? If Ulla is from this mythical place, what kind of troll does that make her? Heck, what kind of troll is Eliana? That’s what I really want to know. So many questions left unanswered. That’s what hooks you.
Like I said, I really loved this book, because I’ve never read a book about a whole troll society before. It caught me from the very beginning, because I kept thinking how interesting it was that this book was about a troll society and it wasn’t about a bunch of big green, ugly, scary monsters. It was about a whole society of beings told from a very unique perspective.
The next book can’t come fast enough.
You don’t need to read any of Amanda Hocking’s earlier books to jump into this book. This is book #1 in this series. No previous knowledge is necessary. BUT this book will make you want to pick up the other books. I know I will be ordering all of them.
You can pick up a copy of The Lost City at any of these Perfectionist Wannabe preferred retailers.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
I have to tell you about this book I just finished reading called “Mayhem” by Estelle Laure. This book is everywhere. I kept telling myself for the past few months that I have to have this book. Well, somewhere along the course of needing this book (because I have a serious fear of missing out, aka FOMO), the publisher contacted me about reviewing this title. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.
When I went to download the title, I put myself on pause, because how much do you want to bet, I probably had this book in my Kindle already? Oh, I was right to assume I already had it this entire time I was going nuts over the fact I needed this book. Don’t ask me where or when I got the book, but it was there waiting in my Kindle for me to consume already.
And consume it ravenously I did.
This being one of my first posts during the pandemic, I thought I would let you know that I have only been reading certain genres lately. I am gravitating towards horror, supernatural, YA fantasy, and some historical fiction. I really can’t deal with people’s problems right now, being a pandemic and all. We all have way too much to deal with as is.
Like most books, I don’t read the synopsis very often. That was the case with “Mayhem.” So when I started this book, content warnings started to flash before my eyes. So if you are sensitive to domestic violence, drug/alcohol abuse, suicide, murders or rape, please steer clear of this title, because it has all of that.
If you can shoulder on, then let me tell you about this book.
Mayhem and Roxy are back in Santa Maria, California. They come crawling back to their hometown, after having fled from an abusive man with only the clothes on their back and what they could grab in a few short minutes. It took Lyle banging Mayhem against a wall repeatedly to get Roxy (her mother) to run with her back home to Santa Maria.
Once upon a time, Roxy fled Santa Maria with a three year old Mayhem. She swore never to go back there again, but dire circumstances caused her to change her mind and take Mayhem back home to the Brayburn Farm.
The Brayburn women have a secret that Roxy ran away from. They are special in a sense that they protect Santa Maria from the weird stuff that happens in this strange psychokinetic blip on the world map. Strange things happen here. If you ask the weird Frog Brothers what’s up in Santa Maria, they’ll tell you vampires roam the Boardwalk.
You really get some kind of The Lost Boys vibes coming from these two. Actually, a lot of what’s happening in Santa Maria seems very much like The Lost Boys. After reading “Mayhem” I decided to watch The Lost Boys again (available to buy/rent on Prime Video), which was released back in 1987. Ironically, that is the same year “Mayhem” takes place.
Ends up the Frog Brothers are the very same Frog Brothers from The Lost Boys, comic bookstore and all. The Boardwalk, roller coaster, the Sax Man, mom going to work in a movie rental store, and even the Brayburn Farm set up on the hill overlooking the town are very reminiscent of The Lost Boys.
So if you loved that 1987 classic, you will like this book. One side of the boardwalk is for the vampires. The other side is for the Brayburns.
What exactly are the Brayburns? They are a cursed lineage where magic and terror combine in a Doctor Sleep kind of way. They will suck the evil out of you, especially if you are a very bad person.
When Roxy and Mayhem arrive at their ancestral home, Elle (Roxy’s twin sister) is living on the farm with three foster kids. At first touch of Kidd’s hand (the nine year old), Mayhem reveals a little too much of her own truths. Yet, she doesn’t understand why she would just blurt out to anyone how she was truly feeling. You can tell right from the beginning that these three kids are different.
They wake up late and stay out all night long, not returning until almost sunrise. What exactly are they doing all night long? Their neighbor is a cop and notices that these three always seem to be around when another girl goes missing.
Yes, there are girls missing. Six of them, in fact. The cops are not doing anything, claiming that maybe they just ran away. But everyone knows there’s a serial killer on the loose.
Will they find the serial killer before he claims his next victim?
This book was so good. I couldn’t put it down. I am actually hoping there will be a book two, because if you’re a Lost Boys fan, any continuation or side story to go along with that amazing movie will make you want more. It is still a legendary cult classic for a reason.
Now, I don’t want anyone to be dismayed by my review. Remember, I said vampires to one side of the Boardwalk, the Brayburns to the other side. What that means, I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out.
Get your copy today at any of Perfectionist Wannabe’s approved retailers:
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.]
Check out my stop on the blog tour for Darkhaven Saga by Danielle Rose!
Dark Secret (Darkhaven Saga #1)
by Danielle Rose
Genre: YA Supernatural
Release Date: February 18th 2020
Waterhouse Press
Summary:
There’s no wrath like that of a witch scorned.
Seventeen-year-old spirit witch Ava López is the self-appointed guardian of the witches and humans of Darkhaven, an idyllic village nestled between the forest and the sea. Her watch: vicious and bloodthirsty vampires.
Ava is a novice in the eyes of her coven. If she expects to protect them and the secrecy of their powers, she must gain better control of her own. When a full moon ritual goes awry, control may be lost forever, and Ava is exiled from her coven. Forced to seek refuge among the beings she had always sworn herself to hunt, she vows revenge on those who have upended her life.
But the more time Ava spends away from her coven, the more she discovers a startling truth: the witches haven’t been honest with her. Ava’s quest to strip the truth from everything she’s ever known begins with the toughest realization of all—coming to terms with who she has become.
There’s something about the scent of blood from the undead.
In the heat of battle, hybrid Ava López discovers she has new and fascinating powers, but she does not know how to control them. Though her former enemies have offered her refuge and helped her acclimate to the vampire lifestyle, even they don’t understand her enhanced magic.
With mounting threats from Ava’s former coven and reckless rogue vampires, Ava and her new friends have no choice but to request the wisdom of Holland Taylor to help her understand her powers. Holland is one of the most powerful witches Ava has ever met, and he is also Jeremiah’s ex, which introduces another wrinkle.
Tension between the vampires and Ava’s former coven is building, and when the witches offer a deal Ava would be remiss to reject, she is forced to choose between the life she once considered safe and the life she never wanted.
Ava López’s best friend from childhood is missing, and her former coven has asked for her help to find her. Despite all the pain the witches have treated Ava to with their rejection, she is determined to find Liv—even though her new allies harbor resentment.
Ava hopes finding Liv will put an end to the feud between the two groups, but she realizes that to help the witches, she must turn her back on the vampires. But this is the least of her problems.
Ava must choose sides and test loyalties with a decision that comes at a cost—one even Ava, with her ever-growing powers and connection to spirit magic, never could have foreseen. To repent for her disloyalty, Ava must bind herself to a dark promise. A promise no magic can break.
The house is silent save for the howling wind outside. It threatens us
with the commotion of an incoming storm—its strength and fury already enough to
send the occasional tree branch crashing against my windowpanes.
This is the first time I’ve had to sneak out to go on patrol. The thought
doesn’t sit well with me. I’m used to trust and freedom, not the threat of
banishment.
Tossing my covers aside, I sit up and allow my legs to dangle over the
side of my bed. I’m already dressed. I began preparing for this moment as soon
as Mamá told me I wasn’t allowed to
hunt tonight.
Instinctively, I reach for my necklace. I run my thumb down the length of
the cross, my strength rejuvenated by its mere presence. The metal is cold to
my touch. This two-inch silver cross is the last thing Papá gave me before he sacrificed himself to save Mamá and me from vampires. I
never take it off.
I glance around my room in search of his portrait, but I don’t find it.
For the first time, I’m thankful Mamá is having the frame redone. I can’t bear the thought
of him watching—not tonight. Not until I have proof.
I tiptoe across the room, careful not to step on loose floorboards, and
slip into my combat boots. I’ve strategically placed them in front of my
dresser, which is directly to the right of my bedroom door.
I’m just feet from my escape now. My breath comes in shallow huffs, and
my hands are clammy. I can’t wait to feel the cool breeze against my skin. I
wipe my palms against my jeans and try to shake off the fear of being
discovered.
I stare at my reflection in the large mirror that hangs on the wall above
my dresser and replay each scenario in my mind. Mamá will not be pleased when she
discovers I’ve disobeyed her order to retire early and skip my patrol. But I
must ignore her. I can’t skip even one night of patrol in favor of rest before
our upcoming full moon ritual.
For weeks now, I’ve been burdened by the truth. Nestled deep within the
pit of my gut is the feeling that something horrible will soon befall my coven.
When I told Mamá,
she simply made me a potion mixed with dandelion, wormwood, and calendula herbs
to aid my clairvoyance and encourage psychic development. Her disbelief stings.
Being the only other spirit witch in our coven, she is supposed to trust my
instincts. I may be a novice compared to her, but I still know the signs of
impending doom.
Quickly, I tie my hair back and assess my look. I carefully choose my
attire for every patrol. Tonight, I’m wearing all black—not unusual for me. My
clothes are tight, yet loose enough to sidestep attacks. My jeans are tucked into
my boots, and my long-sleeved shirt has small holes that loop around my thumbs,
keeping it in place. My exposed neck is protected by my cross.
Missing only two things, I’m nearly ready to begin my patrol.
I grab the small mesh baggie. Last night, I filled it with horehound and
mugwort. They’re strong herbs used in protection spells. These aren’t a
guarantee, but they can’t hurt. And I’ll take anything I can get. Usually I try
to patrol with another witch, but tonight I’m going alone. It’s reckless, but I
don’t have another choice. I must hunt until this uneasy feeling goes away.
A long, narrow black box rests atop my dresser. I open the lid. Something
washes over me every time I see it, touch it. I run a finger down the long,
cool metal, and a jolt of energy shoots down my spine.
What started as plain, bright, and reflective silver is now a formidable
weapon. On one end, it’s thick and fits firmly in my hand. On the other, it’s pointed
into a sharp dagger.
Forged by witches, the metal was melted into its liquid state and mixed
with the strongest protection elixirs. No longer shiny, the weapon, my stake,
is a matte dark gray and etched with runes that represent magic, the elements,
death, and power.
When I grasp at it to pick it up, it rolls into the palm of my hand as if
it somehow knowsit should be there. It’s
nothing but metal and magic, but it feels alive. It feels like it’s part of me,
and as a spirit witch, with little control over the elements, I rely heavily on
this stake. It’s saved my neck more times than I care to admit.
I tighten my grasp around it, and suddenly I’m no longer afraid to sneak
away and hunt vampires.
I don’t fear Mamá’s reaction or care what the coven thinks. All I can think
about is driving this stake into a vampire’s heart and ridding the world of another
monster.
I slip the stake into its sheath, which hangs comfortably against my
side. Hidden by my arms, blissfully unaware humans don’t notice it. Of course,
vampires do. Their senses are far greater than mine. Their strength and speed
are unmatched. But they haven’t access to the earth’s magic, and that, in the
end, is always the reason why they bite the dust and I make it home for dinner.
I consider staging my room so it looks like I’m sleeping. I could adjust
my pillows to make them mirror the shape of my body, but I shrug away the
thought. I’m only planning a quick loop around the village. I should be back
long before Mamá wakes.
My door creaks as I open it, and I freeze. Seconds tick by. I poke my
head past the threshold and scan the hallway. Mamá’s door is still closed. I
listen for her soft snoring, my racing thoughts slowing with each exhale.
I tiptoe down the hall and press my ear to her door. If she catches me, I
will tell her I am just going to the bathroom. Or maybe I’ll say I can’t sleep,
so I’m going downstairs for a snack. Of course, she’d see through both lies. Mamá
is a natural lie
detector. But I’d have to try.
No noise comes from her room, save for her heavy breathing. I rub my
cross for strength and dash through the hall and down the stairs, skidding to a
stop at the front door. Before I even realize what I’m doing, I’m grasping the
doorknob, twisting, yanking, and pulling the solid oak open and then closed
behind me.
The cool breeze sends a shiver down my spine. I pull my jacket tighter
around me to keep out the cold night air and wipe the sweat that’s beaded at my
temple. Slowly, I turn to face the outside world.
Our house is still dark. Every other step, I toss a glance behind me
until I’m so far down the street I can’t see home anymore. There’s nothing but
dark space, guilt, and dread between Mamá and me now.
I don’t cherish the thought of upsetting her. Some of my worst memories
are from times when she’s told me I’ve disappointed her. My very worst memory
is when I was too young to help her and Papá. I was the ultimate disappointment.
I kick the pebbles at my feet. I tried explaining how important patrols
are right now, but Mamá wouldn’t listen. It’s frustrating that she believes in my
magic as a spirit witch, but she doesn’t believe in me.
Something dark is coming, I know it, and it’s heading straight for our coven.
If she won’t protect them, I will, even if it means lying, sneaking out,
keeping secrets, and breaking promises.
The streetlights are bright at this time of night, illuminating the world
around me in rays of light, showcasing all the things I don’t notice during the
day. That’s my favorite part about patrolling. Mamá doesn’t understand why I
love it so much—the hunting, tracking, killing. But there’s something about the
way the moon speaks to me. It’s like she sings songs for my ears alone. She
calls to me in ways Mamá doesn’t understand. I am destined for the night. For the
hunt.
The witches aren’t very good at training me to fight. Rather than using
hand-to-hand combat, they rely on their magical affinities for one of the five
elements—earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. Even as a coven at full strength,
the slightest hiccup can prevent a successful ritual.
Since witches are earthly vessels, our power is finicky and dependent on
too many outside factors. To perform a ritual properly and to cast even a
simple spell, timing matters. We’re servants to the moon, to the sun, and to
the seasons.
Our magic is so much a part of us, it affects witches on a cellular and
characteristic level.
A naturally masculine element, fire witches are passionate and creative,
and harness a fierce temperament. Fire witches can ignite a flame within their
victims, burning them alive, but the element is only at its strongest during
midday on a summer afternoon.
The other masculine element is air. Air witches are wise, intellectual
beings who rationalize even the most chaotic of times. They can hack through
skin with forceful blasts of wind, but they’re only at their most powerful at
night in the winter, when the moon is high and the air is cold.
Water is a feminine element. These witches are mysterious, intuitive
beings who can turn water droplets into ice shards. They are at their strongest
at dusk in autumn.
The final feminine element is earth. Users desire stability,
practicality, and materialism in the physical world, but with the snap of their
fingertips, earth witches can wield bullets made of stone. Their power is most
potent during sunrise in the spring.
Four of the five elements have weapons at their disposal to easily disarm
prey. Together, at their strongest hour, they would be unstoppable—but this
would never happen. It can’t be midday in the summer and dusk in autumn at the
same time. Mamá
says the earth can only handle so much magic at once, which is why witches have
natural limits and time boundaries.
As a spirit witch, my powers are mental. I have prophetic dreams and can
visit the astral plane. Basically, I can feel when something bad is going to
happen, and occasionally, I can see snippets of the future when I sleep. These
really aren’t the greatest powers to have when I’m facing a vampire in real
life.
I keep my mind sharp and focus on the world around me. Darkhaven is a
small village in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by the sea on one side and
forest on the others, it is a safe haven for the witch covens that call this
home. Humans don’t seem to notice when we make our way into the forest for a
ritual or to collect plants and berries for elixirs.
The sun won’t rise for hours, so I have plenty of time to loop around
town, making sure I hit all the spots vampires are likely to search for food.
Evernight Bar and Grill is Darkhaven’s local restaurant and pub. It’s closing
in an hour or so, and drunken humans will be stumbling their way through the
dimly lit streets like they’re meals-on-wheels. Most of the walking blood bags
will be lucky to make it home.
The soft smack of heels alerts me.
I am not alone.
About the Author
Dubbed a “triple threat” by readers, Danielle Rose dabbles in many genres, including urban fantasy, suspense, and romance. The USA Today bestselling author holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine.
Danielle is a self-professed sufferer of ’philes and an Oxford comma enthusiast. She prefers solitude to crowds, animals to people, four seasons to hellfire, nature to cities, and traveling as often as she breathes.
Book: Dark Magic (Darkhaven Saga #2) by Danielle Rose Publisher: Waterhouse Press Release Date: March 10, 2020
[usr=5]
Synopsis
There’s something about the scent of blood from the undead.
In the heat of battle, hybrid Ava López discovers she has new and fascinating powers, but she does not know how to control them. Though her former enemies have offered her refuge and helped her acclimate to the vampire lifestyle, even they don’t understand her enhanced magic.
With mounting threats from Ava’s former coven and reckless rogue vampires, Ava and her new friends have no choice but to request the wisdom of Holland Taylor to help her understand her powers. Holland is one of the most powerful witches Ava has ever met, and he is also Jeremiah’s ex, which introduces another wrinkle.
Tension between the vampires and Ava’s former coven is building, and when the witches offer a deal Ava would be remiss to reject, she is forced to choose between the life she once considered safe and the life she never wanted.
After living a few weeks with her new vampire coven, she still feels compelled to run back to her old witch’s coven, the one that kicked her out after she turned. It’s difficult leaving a family that is the only one you’ve ever known for a new one. It’s difficult understanding that your family does not want you anymore. You have to stay away.
That is the problem Ava is having in book #2 of the Darkhaven Saga. While she grows to learn how to be a vampire and get her newfound powers under control, she still has that hope that she can return to her mother and her coven once she masters being a vampire that will not harm anyone.
She does not understand that she is forsaken. She can never go back to her family. This is a difficult lesson for her to learn at this time. But she doesn’t stop running back home every time the rogue vampires attack the witches. She is trying to show that they can work together, vampires and witches. There is no need for this feud. There is no need to be enemies. She is trying to be the difference by showing them that both sides can ban together…even if that means leaving her new vampire’s coven to prove it.
This story is getting more and more interesting. The book leaves you with a cliffhanger at the end to prepare you for book #3. I hope that in the end of this saga, Ava will be able to accomplish everything her heart leads her to.
This series is written in penny dreadful style. This is book 2 in a 5 part series. I so can’t wait to see how this story turns out.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of “Dark Haven” from the publisher in exchange for a review.]
You can pick up a copy of Dark Magic at any of these preferred PW booksellers.
Book: “The Wish and the Peacock” by Wendy S. Swore Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing Release Date: February 4, 2020
[usr 5]
Synopsis
Paige’s favorite family tradition on the farm is the annual bonfire where everyone tosses in a stone and makes a wish. This time, Paige’s specific wish is one she’s not sure can come true: Don’t let Mom and Grandpa sell the farm.
When Paige’s younger brother finds a wounded peacock in the barn, Paige is sure it’s a sign that if she can keep the bird safe, she’ll keep the farm safe too. Peacocks, after all, are known to be fierce protectors of territory and family.
With determination and hard work, Paige tries to prove she can save the farm on her own, but when a real estate agent stakes a “For Sale” sign at the end of the driveway and threatens everything Paige loves, she calls on her younger brother and her best friends, Mateo and Kimana, to help battle this new menace. They may not have street smarts, but they have plenty of farm smarts, and some city lady who’s scared of spiders should be easy enough to drive away.
But even as the peacock gets healthier, the strain of holding all the pieces of Paige’s world together gets harder. Faced with a choice between home and family, she risks everything to make her wish come true, including the one thing that scares her the most: letting the farm go.
I grew up on a farm. I was a city girl, doomed to a childhood on a farm and I hated every single second of it. When I turned 18, I could not wait to get as far away as possible from that place.
Reading this book, I can tell you I was nothing like Paige. She is a 12-year old girl completely running a farm mostly by herself. That’s all she cares about is running the farm. If people help her, good. If they don’t, she’s okay with it, because she’s still going to do it. But try to stop her from doing her work and that person has got another thing coming. This is her life and she’s passionate about her farm.
A lot of Paige’s passion in running the farm has a lot to do with a promise she made to her father before he died. It was the last thing she said to him. She would take care of the farm. A year after his death, her family is facing foreclosure on the property.
While a real estate agent and a strange journalist poke around the farm, Paige and her brother Scotty (along with her two friends) try to sabotage the sale. Business men want the acreage. They don’t care about the farm. But Paige and her family want the farm to go to farmers, because once the industry comes in, the world will never get that farmland back.
While all of this is going on, Scotty discovers a peacock hiding out in their barn. The bird is injured, but it trusts these two kids to take care of it. When the journalist starts asking them if they’ve seen this peacock, they lie, because they have no idea what this man wants with the exotic bird. It’s obvious the bird ran away from something. Maybe it ran because it was running from a bad situation. They don’t know, but they will do anything to protect that bird.
This story will make anyone (including this city girl) appreciate the farm life and what Paige is doing to keep her family’s farm running. She really makes all of this look easy. From fixing motorcycles and riding tractors, laying down pipes to birthing a cow, this girl does it all. She’ll make you appreciate this life she’s so passionate about.
It is an excellent read. My heart just warmed to their situation. It almost made me want to buy a farm…and then I thought…nah, I’m not Paige. But I do appreciate what she taught me in this book.
I read Wendy S. Swore’s A Monster Like Me, and I really enjoyed that book. But this one, I think I love more. Definitely a great read for those who love YA.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. This post contains affiliate links.]
You can get your copy of “The Wish and the Peacock” by clicking on any of these PW approved retailers below.
Book: “Fierce Fairytales: Poems & Stories to Stir Your Soul” by Nikita Gill Publisher: Hachette Book Group Release Date: September 11, 2018
[usr 5]
Synopsis
Poet, writer, and Instagram sensation Nikita Gill returns with a collection of fairytales poetically retold for a new generation of women.
Traditional fairytales are rife with cliches and gender stereotypes: beautiful, silent princesses; ugly, jealous, and bitter villainesses; girls who need rescuing; and men who take all the glory.
But in this rousing new prose and poetry collection, Nikita Gill gives Once Upon a Time a much-needed modern makeover. Through her gorgeous reimagining of fairytale classics and spellbinding original tales, she dismantles the old-fashioned tropes that have been ingrained in our minds. In this book, gone are the docile women and male saviors. Instead, lines blur between heroes and villains. You will meet fearless princesses, a new kind of wolf lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent Gretel who can bring down monsters on her own.
Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations by Gill herself, Fierce Fairytales is an empowering collection of poems and stories for a new generation.
Review of “Fierce Fairytales” or Simply, Why Every Woman Needs to Own This Book
I could easily just copy and paste my review, but I am not going to today, because I can’t stop thinking about this book. Since I finished this book, I’ve told at least three of my girlfriends that they must buy, not borrow, this book. Hell, I’ll even buy them a copy.
In this book, Nikita Gill transforms fairy tales, or simply, every Disney princess cartoon, into something we can truly understand. Like: why was Captain Hook so obsessed with Peter? Why did Gaston turn villainous at the end? Why did Jack sell the cow for three magic beans?
She explains why villains become villains. For the evil witches and queens, she doesn’t let you hate them. She makes sure you understand who they are and how they took strength from the pain they endured, so that they could survive.
But one of the most important aspects of her poems is how she helps explain to you the pain you hold inside yourself. She cracks open your soul and explains why this and that hurt you. And then she shows you that the reason why you are the way you are today is because of this or that. She’s spot on every single time. At least, she was for me.
For example, I recently called it quits with my work husband. It just became too much for me, all the cruelty and passive aggressiveness. When he accused me of betrayal, I felt like the words he spun did not make sense, but then I realized we weren’t talking about some stupid email.
You see, this guy, he’s a hero. He’s someone everyone looks up to and respects. He’s the guy every single person in his field strives to be. He is perfect in every sense of the word. My boss always described him as being someone that walks between the raindrops. Then, all of a sudden, he turned into a villain.
Here’s what helped me understand what happened better:
How a Hero Becomes a Villain
Trauma when left untreated has the capacity to make a villain out of you.
No one understands how little boys who save villages, who become war heroes, who have fathers that just expect them to be brave no matter the cost to the insides of their mind, become villains without even trying to.
How then hearing the word ‘no’ becomes a trigger, how love rejected becomes cautiously pieced self-worth dissolved, how the thought of losing love and it being given to someone else makes this entire facade you have carefully constructed fall.
How you weren’t always an arrogant, self-involved, obsessive bad guy, how that is just the way you project yourself to keep the vulnerable little boy hidden; this is what is expected of you, the strongest man in the whole village.
How obsession is a symptom of a dark thing left untreated, and how truthfully under your brash surface you have kept a beast inside you secretly hidden, and what seeing the girl you love hand over her love to someone who looks just like the demon you fight every night does.
This is how a hero like Gaston becomes the devil in the story which could have been about his only chance at finding love.
Take this as your reminder: Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear darkness, some wear wounds.
[“Fierce Fairytales,” Nikita Gill; pp. 51-52]
Of course, it made me think back to Valentine’s Day last year. The way he apologized to me and then my response was not one he was expecting. I pushed him towards her and told him to make it the most fucking romantic weekend for her. I watched him flinch, as if his heart broke right there in front of me. What did he expect? I would beg him not to go? Ask him to make it up to me?
I had always suspected he felt more for me than he should have. I feel bad every time I look at him. He wanted me to love him back. I never wanted to break his heart. Instead, he watched me become heartbroken over someone else. He attempted to put me back together again, thinking he would be my knight in shining armor. But then it all fell apart. He wasn’t my “The One.”
He never could be. Why? Because for him, I’m not worth fighting for, but she is. She is worth fighting for until the day he dies. She is worth it. As his friend, I want him to be happy. That’s why she deserved the most fucking romantic weekend ever. She deserves that from him, because she has always loved him freely. He’s just forgotten to see that her love is there.
In the end, I got a Gaston that I knew would try to destroy me the second I tried to break away from him. I saw the beast inside of him come out. That is just something I will never be able to unsee. I mean, how does this perfect hero all of a sudden turn into a villain? Well, read the poem above.
You see, Gill’s words in her book hit me to my very core. That’s why I can’t stop thinking about the things she said in this 155 page book. You know that her work is good when you are constantly churning her words inside your soul, because she touched you in a way that helps you to understand your pain. But it helps you know that you can find strength in understanding that pain.
She has a little something for everyone. From abusive homes to alcoholic parents to getting your heart broken over and over again, she knows. She understands that pain so much, but she knows how to explain our humanity in ways no one else is able to. In the end, she leaves you feeling like everything is going to be alright now.
Ladies, this book is perfect for whatever ails your soul or your heart. She has a prescription for each and every one of us.
You can get your copy of “Fierce Fairytales” at any of these PW approved retailers.
Book: “Dark Secret” by Danielle Rose Publisher: Waterhouse Press Release Date: February 18, 2020
[usr 4.5]
Synopsis
There’s no wrath like that of a witch scorned.
Seventeen-year-old spirit witch Ava López is the self-appointed guardian of the witches and humans of Darkhaven, an idyllic village nestled between the forest and the sea. Her watch: vicious and bloodthirsty vampires.
Ava is a novice in the eyes of her coven. If she expects to protect them and the secrecy of their powers, she must gain better control of her own. When a full moon ritual goes awry, control may be lost forever, and Ava is exiled from her coven. Forced to seek refuge among the beings she had always sworn herself to hunt, she vows revenge on those who have upended her life.
But the more time Ava spends away from her coven, the more she discovers a startling truth: the witches haven’t been honest with her. Ava’s quest to strip the truth from everything she’s ever known begins with the toughest realization of all—coming to terms with who she has become.
What a great start to this new YA series from Danielle Rose!
Ava is a witch set on protecting her coven from the things that threaten them…mainly, vampires.
While out patrolling, she picks a fight with the wrong group of vampires. She makes the mistake in letting the leader get away. He comes back with a vengeance and attacks her coven, leaving her on the brink of death.
That’s when another group of vampires shows up to aide the witches. One vampire gives Ava his blood after she’s been bitten…dooming her to a vampire’s life. She is tossed out of her home and forced to reside with this group of vampires who tries to protect humans (and witches) from rogue vampires.
Fortunately for Ava, if she has to be a vampire, she can still continue to protect her family and her coven from the bad vampires that seek to hurt them.
This series is broken up into 5 books, which is essentially 5 different parts. The first part is Ava’s beginning and her first fight as a vampire where she realizes she needs to train to control her newfound powers. Book two comes out in March, followed by book three in April. Books four and five will be released in the fall. The way Danielle has broken this book up reminds me of the way penny dreadfuls were released. You get just a little bit of the story each week. You have to keep reading each week in order to find out what happens next in the story. That is how the Darkhaven Saga is written.
I can’t wait to read what happens next…
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher and author.]
You can purchase “Dark Secret” at any of PW’s preferred booksellers below.
Book: “The Sea of Lost Girls” by Carol Goodman Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollins Release Date: March 3, 2020
Rating: [usr 4]
Synopsis
In the tradition of Daphne du Maurier, Shari Lapena, and Michelle Richmond comes a new thriller from the bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages—a twisty, harrowing story set at a prestigious prep school in which one woman’s carefully hidden past might destroy her future.
Tess has worked hard to keep her past buried, where it belongs. Now she’s the wife to a respected professor at an elite boarding school, where she also teaches. Her seventeen-year-old son, Rudy, whose dark moods and complicated behavior she’s long worried about, seems to be thriving: he has a lead role in the school play and a smart and ambitious girlfriend. Tess tries not to think about the mistakes she made eighteen years ago, and mostly, she succeeds.
And then one more morning she gets a text at 2:50 AM: it’s Rudy, asking for help. When Tess picks him up she finds him drenched and shivering, with a dark stain on his sweatshirt. Four hours later, Tess gets a phone call from the Haywood school headmistress: Lila Zeller, Rudy’s girlfriend, has been found dead on the beach, not far from where Tess found Rudy just hours before.
As the investigation into Lila’s death escalates, Tess finds her family attacked on all sides. What first seemed like a tragic accidental death is turning into something far more sinister, and not only is Tess’s son a suspect but her husband is a person of interest too. But Lila’s death isn’t the first blemish on Haywood’s record, and the more Tess learns about Haywood’s fabled history, the more she realizes that not all skeletons will stay safely locked in the closet.
It reminded me of “The Woman in Cabin 10” because you don’t know what’s going on. In Ruth Ware’s book, the lead character is either drunk or drugged. She doesn’t know what’s what and she’s trying to see through her drunken lens. In “The Sea of Lost Girls,” the reader is the one trying to see through the haze, because Tess (our protagonist) lies all of the time. Her story is constantly changing. You don’t know what the truth is until the very end and that’s because someone else is trying to tell you what really happened.
Each time the story is told, it changes just a little bit. You think you’ve heard the story already, but then it changes. You have to pay very close attention.
“My Dark Vanessa” deals with an inappropriate student/teacher relationship. In “The Sea of Lost Girls,” Tess runs off with her teacher after she finishes her schooling, because she is pregnant with his child. Then later, after she goes back to school (at 23), she ends up marrying her teacher. The first relationship was the really bad and abusive one. She ends up living on a remote island in a cabin with this teacher (Luther) and their son (Rudy). Luther is abusive to both of them. She doesn’t decide to flee until after she discovers that he is a serial pedophile, dismissed from 4 schools for inappropriate relationships with students. The girls were all much younger than Tess.
During their flight off of the island, Luther receives a head blow with a rowing oar. But who did it? Who killed him? That story changes as it goes.
There’s the story of Tess and her relationships, but there’s also another story involving the lost girls who went missing from this school/wayward home in Maine. In the 1960s, 3 girls disappear. One girl notes that these three disappearances are all linked to one person. Next, they find her dead body out by the Maiden Stone.
Fast forward to present day. Lila, Rudy’s girlfriend, is also discovered dead by the legendary Maiden Stone. Her death comes just hours after Rudy and Lila get into a fight. Lila’s death also occurs right around the time she discovers the identity of the Lost Girls’ murderer. Is her killer the same murderer? Is it Rudy? Or maybe it was Luther, back from the dead? Or maybe it was Tess’s husband who was helping Lila with her paper? Did one of them have an inappropriate relationship with Lila?
There are so many possible motives, so many lies spinning, you will not be able to tell who is telling the truth until the very end.
A very enjoyable read.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of an eARC from the publisher.]
You can purchase “The Sea of Lost Girls” at any of PW’s preferred booksellers below.
Are you someone who wants to read more books? Whether it’s just one book a month or 200 books a year, I am going to share today how I work towards my reading goals.
Now, I don’t want you to think that by tomorrow, you’ll be able to read 100 books this year. Like anything, you have to train yourself to do this. It’s like weight loss. You can’t lose 100 pounds by next week. Over time, if you keep on chipping away at that goal, you’ll reach your goal.
How I Went from a Book a Month to Over 100 Books a Year
I always wanted to read more books, but I thought I was a slow reader. In high school, my friend would get through an entire Danielle Steele novel in a day. That feat would take me a month!
I read a lot growing up. I was never without a book. The shorter books could take a week or two. Longer books I just stayed away from. By college, I was lucky if I was able to even read 3 pages of my assignment before the next class. So trust me, reading more was a struggle, even though I was always reading.
I was in my 30s when I started to create goals. I decided I wanted to read one book a week. That equates to 52 books a year, a feat that would end up taking me two years to accomplish.
The year I finally reached my goal, my secret was reading more YA books. I found that I could breeze through a 400 page book, because I was completely engrossed in the story. But I did not want to read only kids books, so I made sure to add in one classic a month. I chose short ones and one long one that I could read a little bit at a time before bed. It might take 6 months to complete, but I was reading that big book.
When I finally hit the 52 books mark two years in a row, I decided to push my goal to 100 books. This one took three years to reach. Last year, I did not just hit the 100 books mark for the very first time, but I also surpassed it by reading 114 books.
So this year, I decided to push my goal to 150 books. In January, I completed 16 books. I am on track to completing over 150 books this year.
In January, I completed 16 books.
Diversify Your Reading Materials
January 2020 was a bit of a record for me. Sixteen books are six books more than what I usually read each month. The trick this month wasn’t in YA books. It was actually in the method I consumed the book.
I vowed this year to always be reading somehow, so I added audiobooks and pushed myself to read books on my phone and tablet. When I walk, I listen to a book. When I sit down on the train or the bus, I read a paper book. While I am waiting in line, I read a book on my phone. During the work day, I listen to an audiobook or have a book up on one of my screens and read a little here and there. Before bed, I spend an hour reading a paper book (no devices).
During the weekends, I try to binge read, but that doesn’t always work out, so while I’m doing chores, I have Alexa read a book to me. Yes, she can read books from your Amazon library.
Now, you’re probably thinking – I only read on my Kindle or I only read paper. If you want to read more, you should diversify. It is weird to try something new, but after you diversify more, it becomes easier to switch between the three ways to read.
Another way to diversify reading is to not discriminate other genres. I generally read almost everything. My friend’s daughter taught me a little something about reading. She only wants to read comics, because she’s not ready to give up the pictures in books. I thought about it and realized that we should never discriminate against the type of reading material. If it takes comics to get a child to read, then we should encourage them to read more comic books.
I started reading graphic novels because of that little girl. It’s not something that takes 10 minutes to read. Try a few hours. There are a few series I’ve fallen for, because it’s not just the story. The artwork is phenomenal.
Monstress is one of the most amazing series I’ve ever encountered. When you look closely at the intricate artwork, it looks like it took days to complete.
How to read more books? Read more comic books.
And guess what? Reading graphic novels counts towards your reading goal. So do children’s books.
Because I never want to fall too much into one category, I also make sure to include one classic novel and a book challenge each month. This year, my challenge is to read all of Toni Morrison’s novels. I have to say that reading her books has taught me so much.
The important thing when it comes to reading is to always make sure you are challenging yourself with better reads. Explore other genres and never discriminate against the different types of literature out there. Try them all.
Set Goals
A little something I learned from Marc Berger, Director of the Securities Exchange Commission, New York Regional Office: challenge yourself by setting goals.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice that every Wednesday, I release a new list of seven books I’m working through. Did I finish all of the books the previous week? NO. But each week, I push harder to finish the current week’s seven, PLUS go back to the previous weeks to finish up what I was reading.
This is last week’s seven. I made it through four out of the seven books. It took a few weeks to push myself to complete four out of seven scheduled books.
You have to create challenges for yourself that may seem absolutely insane, but you know it would be awesome if you could finally be able to complete that task. You keep pushing yourself and pushing yourself until you’ve surpassed that goal and the goal feels easy to accomplish every single time you repeat it.
The only way you can become better is by creating challenges for yourself and plug away at it until you’ve accomplished your goal. In a way, you are creating a system to perfect a certain outcome every single time.
The way Marc taught me was that you put the problem in the corner of a box. At the exact opposite corner from the box, you put your desired result. You put the tools into the box and you figure out ways to get from point A (the problem) to point B (the outcome you want).
For me, that means looking at the seven books I want to complete (Point A). The tools I use break down each book. I create visuals to monitor my progress. I list all of my books for the week followed by the author, publisher and page number. For ebooks and audiobooks, I create 10 boxes. For every 10% I complete, I fill in a box with a colored pen. For paper books, I create boxes for every 25 pages in the book. So a 300 page book will have 12 boxes. Every 25 pages I read in that book, I color in.
I do this so I can visually track my progress that week. I have a weekly chart, as well as a monthly chart.
I also share my progress on Goodreads, because sometimes it is good to inspire others and to be inspired by others doing far better than you.
How to decide how much to read per day? I try to create a mix of audio, ebook and paper books. This makes it easier to accomplish the goal. I find that if I want to complete all books in time, I have to read at least 15% from each ebook/audiobook every single day. For the paper books, I have to divide the book up by seven to know how much I need to read each day in order to meet my goal.
That’s a lot of pages, right? I started off reading 25 pages a day. That was my goal way back when I started my 52 books a year. Then I bumped it up to 50 pages per day. Now, I read between 200-300 pages a day and climbing. It took years to reach this. Just remember that it’s all about taking one step at a time and challenging yourself to read more. Once you’ve mastered your challenge, you create a bigger challenge, and then a bigger one.
If you can’t tell, my goal is to actually read a book a day. That’s 365 books a year. I don’t think I can surpass 365 book a year, but who knows? Maybe I’ll join the 400 book club some day.
Ways I Trick My Numbers
So you may have noticed a couple of tricks up my sleeves are children’s books and graphic novels. I usually aim to read no less than 3 books a week. Last year, I learned that the way to do this (which I actually don’t do now) was to have one short book a week.
Poetry books are a good way to get in an extra book. Books with 200 pages or less are another way to add to your numbers. YA books are definitely the way to go, too.
There are some classic novels that are less than 160 pages that you’ve heard of. H. G. Wells’s “The Time Machine” and “The Invisible Man” are short and sweet. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” the story of “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are all super short reads.
THEY COUNT.
I highly encourage all of you who are trying to read more to add short books to your weekly list, because we all need to feel a sense of accomplishment that comes when we finish reading a book. I know I feel like I’m the master of the friggin universe when I finish a classic novel (no matter how many pages it was). Don’t you want to feel good about accomplishing your goals? This is how you do it.
Also, I might have to explain why I don’t do this little trick anymore…the seven. That’s why. I have seven books to get through. That does not even include the other books I’m reading on top of those seven books.
Speed Reading
I highly recommend learning how to speed read. There are apps that you can use to try to challenge yourself to read faster. There are even books that teach the different methods.
I’ve done both the apps and the books. Both have helped me learn how to read faster. I apply their tricks to push myself to read faster. After you put this into practice every time you read, it helps you to read even faster.
I also recommend reading Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley. It’s free on Kindle Unlimited. He teaches you how to retain a lot of what you are reading. It really helps when you are speed reading.
Reward Yourself
In order to reach my goal and to keep myself going, I started a reward system. For each book I read, I paid myself. For the books I really wanted to challenge myself to read (like classics), I paid myself more. I saved all of that money up to buy what I wanted at year end.
Usually, it was a shopping spree which entailed some major designer handbag. This year, my goal is to buy an Hermes Birkin bag.
I recommend rewarding yourself according to what you can afford to pay yourself. It could be $1 or $5 per book. If you want to read more classics, give yourself $25 or $50.
You can also add in rules if you are trying to save money or have other goals you want to meet, like getting through your own library or backlist without buying more books. For instance, I pay myself $50 per Toni Morrison book. In previous years, if I bought the book that year and I was trying not to buy books, I subtracted how much I paid from the reward money I’d already saved up. I treated it as if I was dipping into the fund to buy what I wanted…a book. It is really meant to be a deterrent from buying more books.
The goal though is to save up the money for the entire year based on how many books you challenged yourself to read that year.
My rewards this year are: $10 per book; $25 per ARC or backlist; $50 per Toni Morrison book; $100 per classic. As you can see, if I want to save more money, I’ll read more classics.
The higher amounts are more aligned with the goals I’ve set to encourage myself to read more of a certain type of book. I am not subtracting the cost of new books this year, because my goal this year is to buy more books. I receive so many ARCs, so it is only fair to go out and buy books to help the book industry.
I recommend revisiting this reward system every year to make sure it aligns with whatever your reading and financial goals are for the year. If you want to save for a vacation, a new purse or a new kitchen, this is a good way to align your goals together. It worked very well for me, because it encouraged me to read more and more so I could earn more than enough reward money for my desired purchases.
It is because of this system I was able to amass a closet full of couture handbags.
Takeaways
The number one thing in this process is to not punish yourself. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. It took me a few years to reach each goal I created for myself. Never punish yourself if you don’t reach your goal at year end. Just look back at what you accomplished for that year. You may even find that you read more books than you did the previous year and that is definitely worth celebrating.
At the end of the year, you still get to use that money however you want, even if you didn’t reach your ultimate reading goal that year. This is your reward for trying really hard to accomplish something big.
At year end, re-evaluate what worked that year for you, what didn’t work, and what you should try in the next year to accomplish your goal.
The thing about that box Marc used to have me create is that I had to sit there and really go through the entire process to figure out how to make it work seamlessly every single time to reach the desired goal. I mean, he was really making me use my brain. I really had to strategize how I was going to reach the outcome I wanted. I didn’t just do this on my own. I asked others how I could perfect this process. They helped me fine tune things to where I am able to reach the desired outcome perfectly every single time.
I am still working on my current challenge of seven books a week. I apply different methods each week to see what is working and what is not working. I am constantly re-evaluating my approach to that box every single week. How do I get to that seven?
I’ve shared how I got to 52 and then 100. The ultimate goal for me right now is a book a day. The question for me is how am I going to get to point B in this challenge?
One last takeaway before I close, the reason why I share this method of creating challenges for yourself is because of this…Marc made me fall in love with my job after he taught me about challenging myself to be better than I was before. It was the challenge part that made me excited to come to work every single day. It made work fun for me.
By applying this process to reading, it makes it more fun for me and not so much of a job or a chore to get as many books reviewed as possible. I think a lot of people would think that this is just too much work for them just to read. But there are a lot of people out there that want to challenge themselves to read more. This is for them.
If at any time in this process reading books stops being fun, you’re doing it wrong. Take a step back and re-evaluate that box of yours. What made you stop having fun? That becomes a question you’ll have to answer to fix the process of getting from point A to point B.
I find that the only way we will ever better ourselves is if we are constantly challenged to be better than we were yesterday.
Book: “The Last Passenger” by Charles Finch Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication Date: February 18, 2020
[usr 5]
Synopsis
From bestselling author Charles Finch comes the third and final in a prequel trilogy to his lauded Charles Lenox series.
London, 1855: A young and eager Charles Lenox faces his toughest case yet: a murder without a single clue. Slumped in a first-class car at Paddington Station is the body of a young, handsome gentleman. He has no luggage, empty pockets, and no sign of violence upon his person – yet Lenox knows instantly that it’s not a natural death.
Pursuing the investigation against the wishes of Scotland Yard, the detective encounters every obstacle London in 1855 has to offer, from obstinate royalty to class prejudice to the intense grief of his closest friend. Written in Charles Finch’s unmistakably warm, witty, and winning voice, The Last Passenger is a cunning and deeply satisfying conclusion to the journey begun in The Woman in the Water and The Vanishing Man.
This book is exceptional. It was much better than I anticipated it to be. Charlie Lenox is a cross between Agatha Christie’s Monsieur Poirot and Sherlock Holmes.
You do not need to read any prior Lenox Mysteries to dive into this story. I think that’s the fear for many people when they pick up a book and realize it’s a series. With the Lenox Mysteries, you do not have to worry about not having read the earlier books. Finch may mention something that happened in an earlier story to explain a character, but he does not make it into a big thing like “YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS, because it was in my previous book.” You can expect to go into this like any other Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes book.
One of my favorite things about Finch’s writing is that he interjects little historical facts throughout the story. From backgrounds on how words were re-shaped into our current English language, to little historical tidbits about the most random things. You’re actually learning something as you read. They are the most random facts, but absolutely cool to learn.
This story begins with the death of a passenger on the 449 train at Paddington Station. The passenger is discovered stabbed to death with all of the tags inside of his clothing removed. Charles Lenox is asked by someone from Scotland Yard to take a look.
Lenox’s adventure takes him into the world of slavery and abolition between the US, Jamaica and England.
Points I had to investigate further: Franklin Pierce. So I thought I knew all of my US Presidents. I had to keep asking myself if Franklin Pierce was some made up president. So…he would be one of the lesser known presidents that preceded Abraham Lincoln during a time when the US was on the verge of Civil War. He was president between 1853-1857, which is the time frame of this book (i.e. years before Sherlock Holmes). [See, I told you there’s a lot of historical tidbits you will learn.] He did not believe in abolition, so these were the years that kept America out of the crosshairs of going to war over slavery.
All in all, this was a really good mystery. It’s perfect for the Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans. Just when you think the murder is solved, it ends up being a much bigger plot than originally assumed…that’s when the story becomes really interesting. This is definitely one of the better period mysteries I’ve read in some time. Definitely worth picking up the Charles Lenox Mysteries.
Just so you understand how much I enjoyed this book and the author’s work, I ordered the other books from the Lenox Mysteries right after I read this one.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.]
You can pick up your copy of “The Last Passenger” at any of these PW approved retailers.
Book: “How Quickly She Disappears” by Raymond Fleischmann Publisher: Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC Release Date: January 14, 2020
Rating: [usr 2]
Synopsis
“How Quickly She Disappears” is “The Dry” meets “Silence of the Lambs” in this intoxicating tale of literary suspense set in the relentless Alaskan landscape about madness and obsession, loneliness and grief, and the ferocious bonds of family …
It’s 1941 in small-town Alaska and Elisabeth Pfautz is alone. She’s living far from home, struggling through an unhappy marriage, and she spends her days tutoring her precocious young daughter. Elisabeth’s twin sister disappeared without a trace twenty years earlier, and Elisabeth’s life has never recovered. Cryptic visions of her sister haunt her dreams, and Elisabeth’s crushing loneliness grows more intense by the day. But through it all, she clings to one belief: That her sister is still alive, and that they’ll be reunited one day.
And that day may be coming soon. Elisabeth’s world is upended when Alfred Seidel — an enigmatic German bush pilot — arrives in town and murders a local man in cold blood. Sitting in his cell in the wake of his crime, Alfred refuses to speak to anyone except for Elisabeth. He has something to tell her: He knows exactly what happened to her long-missing sister, but he’ll reveal this truth only if Elisabeth fulfills three requests.
Increasingly isolated from her neighbors and imprisoned by the bitter cold and her own obsession, Elisabeth lets herself slip deeper into Alfred’s web. A tenuous friendship forms between them, even as Elisabeth struggles to understand Alfred’s game and what he’s after.
But if it means she’ll get answers, she’s willing to play by his rules. She’s ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to be reunited with her sister, even if it means putting herself — and her family — in mortal danger.
[Synopsis from Goodreads]
Review
I cannot give “How Quickly She Disappears” 3 stars, because I simply did not like it. Two stars means the book was OK. I will give it that much.
This book is from Berkley, which is an imprint under Penguin Random House. The name of the publisher alone means that we should have a certain level of expectation for this title. I expected the book to be of the highest caliber, because it should be considered a bestseller if coming from Berkley. This book though is a complete disappointment.
I did not like any of the characters. I can see where the marketing folks were going with this book being like “Silence of the Lambs” in the way Hannibal Lecter toys with people. But the difference here is that Hannibal is highly intelligent and does not become obsessed with people. Instead, he just plays with people for his own amusement before he devours them. He plays with his food.
Here, Alfred is just a friggin weirdo stalker. He tries to have the upper hand by appearing intelligent (like Hannibal), but he just came across as a complete asshole withholding information, because he has some weird obsession with Elisabeth. He plays these games, because he is trying to get her to stay in contact with him, the way a lovelorn person acts towards the person they desire.
It is similar to Hannibal’s interest in Detective Starling, but there is a reason why he strings her along. Once again, it is more for his amusement in his game of chess.
At the end of the book, we discover Alfred’s been stalking the same person since she was 11 years old. He was an adult. Pedophile? Yes. Stalker? Yes. He becomes a murderer when someone tries to protect her from him. Twenty years he stalks this girl.
At the end, when this is revealed, I almost put the book down and thought I totally wasted my time with this entire book. A stalker? Add in the pedophilia, incest between sisters, and the implied hate towards women that I kept sensing from the author (not the story)…I really could not believe this book is being published in this day of Me Too.
That implied hate towards women can be seen from the beginning and throughout. It’s not just how John speaks to his wife, Elisabeth. You get a sense of hate towards the main character, Elisabeth. Her twin sister that goes missing when they’re 11 is a little nymph. A Lolita. She’s almost treated as if she’s a goddess throughout the book. Perfection. She can do no wrong.
Because Elisabeth (the good girl) isn’t, I started to note the dislike towards her. It’s similar to the reason why 22-year-old Elliot Rodger went on a killing spree in Isla Vista, CA in 2014. He killed six people, injuring 14 others because “he wanted to punish women for rejecting him, and punish sexually active men because he envied them.” The author made me think he had a similar unhealthy relationship with women and it was all coming out in this book.
Of note, this is Fleischmann’s debut.
I noted the complete coldness and disconnect in how Elisabeth was portrayed. One moment she is the doting mother and wife, the next she’s a cold heartless bitch all because some guy shows up and mentions her sister and that he knows where she is. Why the sudden change after one night? I started to question why she became obsessed with Alfred. Is it really because she is trying to find her sister or is there something wrong with her? Then I realized…what woman does this? Is this a complete disconnect with who women are?
It’s like Elisabeth represents a woman that rejected the author and he’s poured his anger and hate towards her into this book. He loves her, but then he hates her, because she is not with him. In a nutshell, it is a bit like Alfred’s unhealthy obsession with Elisabeth. I can definitely make that connection.
Our lead character is Elisabeth, but the whole story feels like Alfred is telling this story. I get that sense just because of the way she is portrayed throughout the book. But that’s not what the author is trying to do, it just comes across as that in the blatant hate towards her.
Then how does her daughter turn from sweet, loving child to all of a sudden a rebellious child in three months time?
I could not understand Elisabeth’s unhealthy desire to keep going towards Alfred. It made ZERO sense. Asking to see her daughter should have been the end game. But no. She brings her daughter to a murderer in a prison and then he manages to kidnap her, just like what happened to her twin sister when she was that age. This goes back to the whole BLAME THE WOMAN FOR BEING STUPID. SHE DESERVED THIS.
A mother would not allow a murderer near her daughter. NOT EVER. That’s what made this so unrealistic.
I did appreciate the Alaskan imagery, and I did feel the coldness of the setting, the darkness of the winter and the never ending light of the summers. Fleischmann does an excellent job of allowing you to feel that you are right there in the room with the characters. Where the imagery goes all wrong is how Tanacross all of a sudden has a highway and is a brand new CITY after they’ve been gone for three months. Just three months. She could not recognize Tanacross after being gone only three months.
I had to flip back, because I knew it said they’d been away only three months. The sections were correct in the timing. So how in 1942 does a small native town all of a sudden change into a bustling city and have a highway, when three months earlier you couldn’t get there except by plane? THREE MONTHS in 1942. Even if it progressed to six months, how is this possible? We can’t even do that in the 21st century.
I really had high hopes for “How Quickly She Disappears.” I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for the last six months. Now, I think my time would have been better utilized reading something better…one where I did not feel the tone of a man’s hate towards women.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of the ARC from the publisher.]
You can purchase “How Quickly She Disappears” at any of PW’s preferred booksellers below.
