Jessica

Nothing makes me more upset than a book that started out promising, only to take a nose-dive in the last half. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was one such novel for me.

In the beginning I loved the story of Kaoru, a blue haired art student living in Prague (my favorite city!) She runs gruesome errands for her adoptive father, a chimera, while trying to lead an ordinary life at the same time. This premise showed great promise - I wanted to find out more about her childhood, and I was interested to see her struggle, caught between two worlds.

Unfortunately, halfway through she meets her love interest, Akira, and things take a sharp nosedive. Akira is, to be blunt, a dull character. He's perfect physically, which we are told ad nauseum by the MC and her friends. Oh, but he's also sad and brooding! Basically he's a checklist of YA fiction cliches. Karou, naturally, is irresistibly drawn to him. The minute she meets him, she stops being an awesome kick-ass female character, and instead turns into a clingy, lovesick bore. Yes, there is insta-love. Lots of it.

At this point I was willing to give the novel three stars, but then we got to the end. Spoiler Laini Taylor makes the choice to spend several chapters in another character's head, in flashback. Then, of course, it turns out that Kaoru is reincarnated from this woman. She gets her memories back, and it feels as though the character we have known for the whole book disappears. I didn't care a bit about Madrigal, who was a Mary Sue to the extreme, more than Kaoru. I certainly didn't care about her forbidden love story.

In the end the book feels like a long setup for the series, and ends on a cliffhanger. I'm used to this, I suppose, but I wish authors would't do it. I like books to have endings, even if you are beginning a series (see: Harry Potter for a good example.)

On the plus side, the prose in the book was well written. The Chimera were interesting creatures, and I would have liked more about them, less about romance. A real fantasy novel set in their war would be really interesting. I just don't care about romance, at least not romance that eats the entire book. I can't recommend this one.

I would not say that fact checking was high on the list of priorities in writing this book. There are many, many errors which are easily found with a quick perusal of wikipedia. This is not to say that there aren't errors on Wikipedia, but there seems to have been some willful ignoring of evidence when the rumor was more salacious.

For instance, explorer James Cook was indeed killed on a voyage. But he was not, as the book claimed “served at a Hawaiian buffet”. To quote the wikipedia page: (warning, gross!)

“The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians resulted in his body being retained by their chiefs and elders. Following the practice of the time, Cook's body underwent funerary rituals similar to those reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disemboweled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew.”

I didn't have to work hard to turn up not only the Wiki, but dozens of academic sources for the same information. And really, this story is shocking on its own, though I suppose it doesn't have the shock value of cannibalism.

Yes, yes, I'm getting awfully worked up about a book with the above title. But the fact checking is just lazy, and as it is I spend too much of my life correcting the people who believe these stories without question.

I would not recommend this book at all. Even as a light book of lists it fails.

I read and reviewed the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series, Birds of a Feather, a few years ago. I gave it three stars, commenting that Maisie was a bit too perfect, and the book had some odd historical inaccuracies.

I've recently become interested in WWI, so I thought I would try another book in the series. I chose this book because it was generally well reviewed, and was supposed to have more of a dark tone. And I suppose it did (there are a few gruesome descriptions, and things are going rather poorly for Maisie's assistant Billy.) But I had, I must say, issues.

My major issue was this: I cannot see that Maisie has changed significantly from the first to the sixth book. She's still entirely too perfect. I don't care for a perfect heroine. I also don't care for static characters. Many mystery writers (PD James is a good example) manage to have their characters evolve between books.

The WWI bits were interesting - I enjoyed reading about the treatment of soldiers after the war. But I must confess that I skimmed the last half. Maisie wasn't holding my interest, and I thought the mystery was weak. Two and a half stars, and I don't think I'll be trying again.

A very engaging history of the war, told from the perspective of the people (both soldiers and civilians) who lived through it. I have a hard time reading military books - too much talk about strategy leaves me cold, as I'm interested in the human history of things. This is the best book on WWII that I have read from that perspective. It's well laid out, both by geography and year. I read it very quickly for such a subject!

I stayed up far too late last night reading Seraphina, then woke up at 8 AM on a Saturday (so not my usual thing!) to finish it off. I read about this book on some fantasy blog (IO9 maybe?) It sounded interesting, and I liked the cover, so I added it to my list.

I've been trying to expand my reading this year, so I've been reading two genres that have always given my difficulty - fantasy and YA. Seraphina is both, and it's one of my favorite books of the year.

So many fantasy authors fill the first half of their books with infodumps. Hartman manages to avoid this problem. Her world is fully realized from the beginning, and the required information never comes at the expense of believability. Her world feels real.

I haven't read many books about dragons, so I can't compare it, but the dragons in Seraphina were fascinating to me. They can take the form of humans, but they disdain their emotions (not that Dragons don't have any, but they are strictly suppressed.) This sounded sketchy to me, but it absolutely works. The dragons were some of my favorite characters.

Seraphina herself is an excellent character. She's smart and independent. She's an excellent musician (and let me say, as a professional musician I didn't find that any of the musical descriptions in the book rang false... and that's saying something in a novel where the main character plays an Oud.) She grows and changes over the course of the book.

There is a love story, but it's not your typical YA tale, and it's not the focus of the book. In fact, I wouldn't say that this was YA fiction at all. Yes, the main character is a teenager, but outside of that fact it reads like any other fantasy series. Highly recommended!

An enjoyable, though insubstantial, book on spirits. As a self-professed lover of “old man drinks” I was excited to read this. The author, a spirits critic, has a refreshing lack of pretension while trying to convince Americans to enjoy foreign drinks. Most of the spirits he talks about aren't so much exclusive as they are obscure in the US. I don't share his fondness for such herbal liquors as Grappa and Aquavit, but reading his stories has made me more likely to try them again! Highly recommended to anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of spirits and cocktails.

I'm really glad that I started out with Clare's other series (The Infernal devices) because this one would have turned me off. It's a first novel, and it reads like one.

Clare famously got her start as a Harry Potter fanfiction writer, and I remember reading and enjoying her stories back in the day. Unfortunately, that is coloring my perception of this book. Why, you ask? Because Jace basically is Fanfic Draco Malfoy. The voice is the same, and the background is similar. The story about his father giving him a Falcon feels like something straight from some sort of story about poor Draco's sad childhood. Because of this issue, Jace never gels for me as a character. He's snarky and funny, but his motivations don't always make sense.

The plot is pretty standard. In this book, as in the first of her other series, it seems that we spend most of our time wading through acres of exposition. I'd rather learn about the world through the main character's eyes - not read a long lecture given to her by another character.

The main character is a bit of a Mary Sue. She doesn't know anything about her mysterious past or powers, but she still manages to cause every man in a ten mile radius to fall in love with her. Still, she's not unsympathetic, so I don't have a problem with her.

I am torn on recommending this book. I honestly don't think it's very good, but I love her other series (which can be read as a standalone easily.) I'm going to continue this series, as I suspect they will get better. I'd suggest reading the other series first if you are new to Clare, and then coming to this book with the understanding that it's a first novel.

Let me state that I absolutely agree with Ben Goldacre's premise. We are far too willing to believe nonsense coached in scientific language. I remember the first time I read what homeopathy actually was - I was shocked because I had imagined it was much less crazy than the reality. He touches on many similar topics, including the mmr vaccine scare and the detox industry. He includes a great deal of information on the components of a real scientific study, and discusses the placebo effect in much greater detail than I usually see.

I'm rating this book three stars because, though not a lengthy book, it was very repetitive. I understand that the goal is to give the tools to evaluate claims on your own, but I needed less repetition. I've read quite a bit on the subject, and there wasn't much new. I did enjoy the uk centric perspective, but it didn't hold my interest. A good beginning book on the subject.

Clockwork prince corrected the quibble I had with the first book (that nothing much happened.). In this book we finally get real plot, and considerably less exposition. I continue to love all the characters. They seem real, with motivations that are consistent with their back stories. And speaking of back stories, will finally gets one. And his story managed to make me forgive his poor behavior.

I loved the relationship between Jem and Will. Yes, there is a love triangle, but what kept me from hating it was their friendship. I don't want to pick sides because I love both characters.

The Victorian setting feels true. This novel is less filled with steam punk than the last, and so it avoids becoming cliched. Highly recommended - I can't wait for the next book to come out!

I approached this book with a great deal of trepidation. I've heard mixed reviews of the author, and I've read some truly terribly steampunk. To my surprise I really enjoyed this book, love triangle and all!

Unlike many victorian/steampunk books I didn't feel as though the steampunk elements were an afterthought. The clockwork creatures were integral to the plot and made sense in the universe. We weren't burdened with continual descriptions of someone wearing goggles and driving a dirigible, so it felt as though those story elements were organic.

I have not read Clare's other series, though I plan to soon. I read this one first because I find I prefer historic novels to contemporary settings, particularly where supernatural evens take place.

The characters felt real enough to me, with the glaring exception of Will. Will is one of (probably the main) love interest of our heroine Tessa. He's surly and difficult, thought I'd imagine he will improve later in the series. For now? I can't imagine what she sees in him, but ah well. I have read far worse, so I can overlook that, as the romance is not the focus of the novel.

I took off one star because it seemed that not much happened for the first 2/3 of the novel. I know that starting a series requires exposition, but it was a bit slow. It felt like it had just gotten interesting when the novel ended. I'm going to read the next novel in the series - I'm excited to continue, and I happily recommend the Clockwork Angel to fans of Steampunk, Victorian novels, and urban fantasy.

This is not the sort of book I usually read. I avoid anything with reviews talking about how often they cried while reading - my life has enough sadness already, I don't need it from a book! I also don't read many coming of age stories. I was initially attracted to this book by the cover, and then when I read the summary I knew I had to read it, tragic or not.

“Tell the Wolves I'm home” is the story of June, an awkward high school freshman caught between childhood fantasy and adult reality. Her uncle, Finn, is her best friend. He dies of AIDs and leaves June without a confidant. She is eventually contacted by his boyfriend, Toby, and the two strike up an unconventional friendship.

It's also the story of June's relationship with her older sister Greta - once close, the two have grown apart as they grow up. It's the story of regrets, and the idea that you can't really change the past, just learn to live with its consequences.

June... June was wonderful. I related to her intensely, having been a weird teen myself. My interests were musical theater and science fiction rather than falconry and medieval times, but I understood her need to be different. Some reviewers mentioned finding her indecisiveness frustrating, but I didn't. She seemed very real, and her actions made sense.

Toby and Finn (though we mostly see him through other's eyes) were also wonderful characters. Having had close friends die from AIDs I was interested in their story.

I gave the book 4 stars. It's compulsively readable (I read the entire thing in one sleepless night!) In contrast to the other reviews, I was not tempted to tears once. I mean, when the book is about AIDs in the 1980s you pretty much know what you're getting into there. But remember, I hate to cry, so that wasn't a problem for me.

I have two criticisms of the book. The first was the imagery of the wolves which fill the book. It was a bit heavy handed, and took me out of the plot (as thought the author were saying “Let me show you my metaphor!”)

My other frustration was with the character of Greta (June's older sister.) Throughout the book we see Greta self-destructing. It felt as though we were building to something, but it turns out that Spoilershe is sad because she misses her relationship with her sister. I know the book is June's story, but that particular plot thread's conclusion took away from the character's. I wanted Greta to have other motivations, to exist as a character separate from June in some ways.

I highly recommend this book. It's adult literature, but I think it would also appeal to teens.

Another victim of my 100 page rule. It's not a bad book, but the characters just didn't grab me for some reason, and the plotline didn't have any particular tension. After 100 pages (this is not a long book) I realized that I was playing picross puzzles on my ipad to avoid reading it, and I put it to rest. Recommended, just not for me.

I couldn't bring myself to finish this one. I was really excited to read it - I'm a feminist, and almost the same age as Caitlin. I am frustrated by the fact that the college students I teach refuse to identify with feminism, or indeed to admit that sexism exists. But this book... I just couldn't.

The biggest issue to me was the language. Look, I'm not a prude. I don't mind a curse word or two, and I don't really care if you want to talk frankly about sex etc. But to be honest she struck me as one of those sorts of comedians who have to prove they can be just as disgusting as the boys (Sarah Silverman etc) Unfortunately, I don't care for those sorts of men, and I don't like it in a woman either. Quite frankly it started making me uncomfortable around the point that she insisted all women reach a point when they name their vaginas (do they? really? I haven't taken a poll or anything, but I doubt it's so widespread.)

As a woman who is childfree I found her chapters on motherhood to be a bit muddled. I did enjoy the chapter on her abortion, which I found to be refreshingly free of spin.

I liked the bits on her childhood (especially the character of her younger sister!) As the book went on she started to strike me as someone I would not like to meet (another reviewed opins that Caitlin is the sort of extrovert that introverts most fear getting trapped with... and I can totally see that.) I made it halfway and then skimmed. I wish I could recommend this book, but I simply can't. There are much better books on new wave feminism out there!

I really thought that the high rating of this series meant that I would at least find it tolerable - but then I should have remembered that plenty of people recommended Twilight, and I thought it was terrible.

VA is better than Twilight, which is damning with faint praise, but it's all I've got! The main character, Rose, is simply not sympathetic in any way. I didn't like being in her head - hey, I was a teenaged girl, and I don't remember that level of obsessing about “hotness.” She's also mean, selfish, conceited, and not above ruining her best friend's life “for her own good.” The other characters are mostly sketchy - Dmitri, the main love interest, has no personality at all beyond a desire to protect the Moroi.

Speaking of that, the entire arrangement seemed a bit sketchy to me. Why exactly would the Dhampir give up their lives? For some kids? That you then have to either give away or turn to blood prostitution to support? Uh-uh. Didn't work.

90% of this book consists of typical “mean girl” tactics from the female characters. I have no patience for this, as it took up the room allowed for any actual character or plot development. It was only in the last 50 pages that we got any plot at all, and most characters ended the novel in the same place they started.

So no, I'm not recommending this. My search for decent YA lit continues...

Very, very funny. Not terribly coherent. But funny! I didn't feel like there was a real sustained plotline - and what was there kept getting lost in all the Lovecraft - ian descriptions. If Lovecraft had been a pan of feces humor, which I don't recall as being the case.

I had a hard time getting through this book. It needed editing. But even saying that, there were some truly hilarious moments, and I would certainly read more from the author!

I wanted to love Devil in Winter - it's my first Lisa Kleypas novel, and I have heard good things about her books. Unfortunately, it was just ok. Lord St. Vincent was a decent enough hero, but Evie was irritatingly stubborn. The story was rather cliched. Three stars for writing quality.

Halfway through this book I was planning to award it 4 stars, but poor pacing and characterization in the second half lowered the rating.

The good: Allison (the heroine) was an excellent character - tough and self reliant, she didn't spend the novel waiting to be rescued. I enjoyed her time with her sire, Kanin, and the first part (with her living in New Covington). The setting was interesting, and the apocalyptic history, if not terribly original, was compelling.

The bad: The second half seemed to drag. Once Allison joined up with a group of humans looking for Eden (a mythic human city)the pacing slowed to a crawl. I thought the idea of a leader (cult leader?) leading humans on a search had potential, but it seemed as though the author couldn't decide whether Jeb was admirable or crazy. I was not impressed with the love interest - he was inoffensive but I really had a hard time understanding his attraction to Allison. The settings themselves were not terribly well described - I had a hard time picturing the cities, even Chicago (and why was it under water? That was unclear.)

The resolution was a let down, though I know there will be another novel. I don't think I will be reading it - I find myself disinterested in the story.

One final point: do they no longer know how to get food? Because throughout the story they continuously come upon 60 year old canned goods and eat them, and I don't know how they aren't all dying of food poisoning. Gross. Not really highly recommended, but if you're in the mood for vampires you could do worse!

I suspect that I am not the target audience for this book. I've read most of the books mentioned, and I love literary criticism. So why did it fall flat? To be perfectly frank, I'm not looking for “life lessons learned from Jane Eyre.”. The biographical info was decent, though it wasn't new to me. The literary analysis was fine, but not terribly deep. But the bit in each chapter with the moral (so to speak) seemed a bit trite. I might recommend this for teens looking to read some classics. Jane Eyre is my favorite book, so I approve of anything that sends young people that direction!

I got this book for my husband, thinking that he would enjoy it as a geek. I imagined it would clearly lay out the science behind diet and exercise principles in a scientific manner, leaving out the photos of musclebound dudes that I'd imagine would turn off a geek from other fitness books.

What was I not expecting? A thinly veiled piece of Paleo diet propaganda. When I say veiled, I only mean that it was not mentioned on the front or back covers. I'm not saying paleo doesn't work for some people, but I don't appreciate it being described in such smug scientific terms, when the science behind the diet is in fact not as solid as it might appear. Occasionally the author will ask an actual dietitian questions in a sidebar, often including “what do you think of Paleo?” as the final question. It doesn't present options other than paleo, and offers more dubious advice (please note: chocolate is not actually physically addictive. You may have an emotional need for it, but your body does not suffer withdrawl if you stop. Don't compare it to coffee, it is not the same!)

Although called “Fitness for geeks,” the diet portion takes up the majority of the book. When we finally get to fitness the info is cursory at best, and (no surprise) CrossFit is pushed (actually, I don't mind CrossFit, but it's not useful in a book like this - and it's totally expected from the paleo leanings in the beginning.)

At this point it became clear to me that while called “Fitness for Geeks,” what it meant was “Fitness for geeks who are also dudes.” There are exactly 3 photos of a woman in this section. In all three she is demonstrated using weight machines (except one where she has tiny dumbbells and does hammer curls). The male demonstrator, meanwhile, shows exercises such as back squats with a barbell. I know a fair bit about fitness - I'm geeky and also a weight lifting enthusiast, and one of the most damaging things to women is this concept that they musn't use heavy free weights. Of course, all the text in the book is aimed at men (gee, I wonder why there aren't more lady geeks - maybe we are all bad at math? Or maybe we sense that we are automatically excluded, even from pandering pieces of poop like this book.)

The info on tracking is very detailed, far beyond what I think a beginner geek would care about. Overall the book is poorly organized, and I cannot recommend it. There are many better books on diet and fitness to be found, and they all come without the side helping of condescension.

I don't read very much YA literature. As a fan of adult genre fiction, I find much of the category to poorly done. I've read the Hunger Games, a book which obviously shares much in common with Angelfall. And yet that book rated only middling well for me, but I loved Angelfall!

I'm a big fan of angel stories. I've always thought they were creepy, and I like the way it subverts common perception in our society. So the plotline of this seemed meant for me, as we have a destroyed Earth, laid to waste by hordes of angels.

The heroine, Penwyn, was neither irritatingly perfect nor bland. Raffe, the hero, was a bit blank to me in the first half of the book, but became more interesting as we learned a bit of his back story.

I have a few minor quibbles: Spoiler I didn't really buy Penwyn's mother. She continously showed up ahead of Penwyn, and quite frankly it seemed a bit much, even in a book that contains angels and weird life sucking demon baby things. I was a bit vague on how the earth got to this point; other than the story of Gabriel's death, I don't understand the total breakdown of society.

Despite these few issues, it's still my favorite book this month. I read it, home from work with the flu, in one afternoon. Highly recommended, even to those who think they don't like YA.

From the title “Confederates in the Attic” I was expecting a different book - perhaps the story of some family's hidden confederate past. What I got instead was a surprisingly moving account of the south at the end of the 20th century.

I'm from the south, though only barely (Louisville is a city with far more mid-western roots, unless the Derby is currently going on for the tourists). Even so, I recognized some of the attitudes portrayed in the book as belonging to my own relatives. This book doesn't always paint the nicest portrait of the south, and certainly it doesn't speak for all southerners. But it's of interest, particularly in light of our current political situation, to consider how the south might still feel as though northerners are telling them what to do.

The book dragged a bit towards the end. My only disappointment was the lack of conclusion - Horowitz seems to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions, but there are some obvious points in the book that I would prefer to be addressed. Even so, the book was very readable, and quietly humorous in its own way. Recommended!

I've decided to stop torturing myself, and give up on this book halfway through. I'm surprised at how I didn't enjoy this, as I'm a big fan of Sanderson's latest book! The magic system is, as mentioned in many other reviews, very complicated and well explained. The trouble is that for me it was confusing and a bit boring - too many lengthy explanations of how it works. The characters feel a bit flat and two dimensional. They fill the standard fantasy roles, but I never got the impression that they had anything else going on. Actually, there is very little going on for most of the book - there is a lot of exposition but very little substance. I didn't care for the fighting scenes. They were hard to follow, and spent too much time telling us about what metal the allomancer was currently burning. In short, I don't recommend this one, but I do recommend Sanderson's latest novel, “The Way of Kings.” There are a lot of similarities between Mistborn and the newer book, but in every way the new book is superior.

I love modern quilting, and I have a ton of project books. This book though? I didn't like it. All of the projects are composed of simple rectangles and squares laid out in grids. If you're a beginner that's a good choice, but even so I didn't love. I find that I simply cannot get past the fabric choices in the book - there are a ton of browns and earth tones, making the book feel anything other than modern. I did like the carousel lap quilt, but I sent the book back to the library without adding to my sewing queue.

“If I Stay” is not the sort of book I usually go in for. I don't like books that make me cry, and YA isn't my usual bag. I picked this up at the library on a whim - it was part of a display, and I liked the cover. In spite of all that, I really enjoyed this book.

Maybe it's because I'm a classical musician, but Mia felt like a real person to me, like one of my friends from high school, when we were all applying to conservatories, with no idea of what life might hold. Is it a sad book? Yes. I teared up several times, but I couldn't put the book down until it was finished (I read it all in one setting - it's a short book). I would recommend this book to teens for the nuanced examination of what makes a life worth living.

I think this is the first time I've read this particular regency trope (the lady disguised as a man.) I wanted to love this book, but there were things that held me back. First of all, Millicent was very quick in the beginning to consign herself to a lifetime spent imitating a man. I know it was an emergency, but it was a bit too pat for my taste.

Things picked up when Mr. North was visiting his estates and met the Duke. This was my favorite bit - the characters were delightful, and I believed in Mr. North. Once they arrive in London for the season I had mixed feelings - I enjoyed Mr. North's success (although I didn't actually find any of his funny stories funny, but that might just be me.)

I didn't like Spoiler the plot thread with the rumor about Mr. North's sexuality. I know, I know - it's a historic novel, and the characters must take on the prejudice of their times, but I was really disturbed with Stoffer's reaction to the idea. He seemed almost relieved to find that Mr. North was in fact a lady instead, as though lying to him all the time was preferable to being gay.

Beth was a lovely character, and I really enjoyed seeing her growth. Her Grandmother, as the assigned villain, was a little cardboard to me. I would have liked to see her motivations a little more, because what we were given didn't make a whole lot of sense Spoiler Look, I get that she's a snob, but it doesn't seem as though she has any other motivations, which I doubt. I also doubted her abuse of Beth - again, it was a little cartoony. It could have worked, but she was so evil that I found myself a bit disbelieving.

The end is wrapped up a bit too neatly, but that's romance for you I suppose. I rate this a solid 3 stars - I had issues, but I would certainly read more by this author. She shows a lot of promise!