Review: Intuition by C.J. Omololu

Title: Intuition
Author: C.J. Omololu
Genre: young adult, supernatural 
Series: Transcendence #2
Pages: 336 (Nook ARC edition)
Published: expected June 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 3.5/5

In the sequel to Transcendence, past lives and lost loves make the present more dangerous than ever.

As Cole begins to accept her new life as Akhet, every new vision from her past lives helps explain more about who she is in this life. Her love for Griffon grows as quickly as her Akhet abilities, while Cole learns to recognize other Akhet around her, including Drew, a young millionaire who reveals a startling connection—he was Cole’s true love in Elizabethan England. But Drew’s intense desire to restore their past relationship alienates Griffon. Caught between the person she was in the 15th century and the person she is now, Cole must decide who she loves and figure out her place in the Akhet’s worldwide plan as a rogue Akeht sets out to destroy them all.

With more epic romance and adventure, Intuition brings readers further into this fascinating world where reincarnation changes all the rules for life and love.

I enjoyed this novel, but those three-and-a-half out of five stars pained me to assign. Really pained me. I had started this betting myself that it could only improve on how much I loved Transcendence. For as much fun and as entertaining as this novel manages to be, it is a pale shadow of the sheer awesome that was the first book. A lot of what made the latter different among YA is happily still there: a focus on Egyptian mythology, reincarnation as a means to immortality, and a strong, smart female protagonist. Unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, Intuition falls prey to a lot of YA tropes that keep it from being a better novel. A distinct concentration on the romance to the detriment of an actual plot, a love triangle, and a somewhat rushed final conflict and resolution kept Intuition from the level previously seen in this series.

C.J. Omololu has a lot of talent for writing likeable characters, but it hurts the novel when the writing is concerned more with depicting a love triangle rather than in further developing and defining her cast of characters as individuals. I will always appreciate actual conflict more than romantic drama. Cole, the main character and first person narrator, comes off a lot less capable and interesting than she did in the first book. I can lay this solidly on the conflict she engages with most: which boy she wants to date. There are other conflicts at play in the novel, but her main struggle is between her past love from another life and the one she has found in her current one. If the author had chosen to showcase Cole's struggles to streamline her memories and past lives within her current one more, or even on her newfound abilties - well, let's say this would be a different review. 

The antagonists of the book are also lacking in both dimension and presentation. The inclusion of the villain from the first book, Veronique, came off as a minor plot point. Subsequently, the later reveal of the actual antagonist was rather flat and rushed, compared with the time it took to get Cole to that point. It just didn't play well within the scope of the novel; after so much time, so many pages on Cole's wrestling with her love life, the sudden turnabout to real plot felt shallow and hollow. The books ties up the ends pretty nicely and satisfactorily while still leaving an open door for a further sequel.

For all that I had some misgivings, Intuition is a fast and involving read. The ideas and mythologies I loved so much from before are still in evidence and Omololu expands the worldbuilding more. The Ahket, The Sekhem, the Khered - all are explained and detailed more, but never in a way that feels like an infodump. If you don't remember what the terms and ideas are from the first book, I suggest you reacquaint yourself before trying this one. The author doesn't rehash too much from what happened or was explained before, so a good memory or a refresher is a good idea before diving in.

I didn't love this as much as I had hoped and wanted to, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a good time while reading Intuition. What Omololu does well, she does really really well. Her characters are likeable, her ideas unique, and her writing simple but effective. This may suffer a bit from sequel syndrome, but that doesn't mean I won't be eagerly anticipating any sequels or other novels the author will write.

Review: Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle

Title: Queen's Gambit
Author: Elizabeth Fremantle
Genre: historical fiction
Series: N/A
Pages: 452
Published: March 2013
Source: publishers via edelweiss
Rating: 3.75/5

The court of Henry VIII is rife with intrigue, rivalries and romance - and none are better placed to understand this than the women at its heart.

Katherine Parr, widowed for the second time aged thirty-one, is obliged to return to court but, suspicious of the ageing king and those who surround him, she does so with reluctance. Nevertheless, when she finds herself caught up in a passionate affair with the dashing and seductive Thomas Seymour, she believes she might finally be able to marry for love. But her presence at court has attracted the attentions of another . . .

Captivated by her honesty and intelligence, Henry Tudor has his own plans for Katherine and no one is in the position to refuse a proposal from the king. So with her charismatic lover dispatched to the continent, Katherine must accept the hand of the ailing egotistical monarch and become Henry's sixth wife - and yet she has still not quite given up on love.

"You will be Queen. You could not rise higher." 

"Nor fall further." - Queen's Gambit,  p. 106

Katherine Parr is one of the lesser-known and written about Queens of Henry VIII, though lately she has been cropping up more and more in the historical fiction genre. Between this and Sandra Byrd's The Secret Keeper, it's clear authors are becoming more interested in portraying this strong, determined woman. I will still read about the Annes and Jane and the other Katherines, but it's a pleasant change to read about the first English queen to have her words published. More often a peripheral character mentioned in passing in Tudor novels, due both to the short length of her marriage to Henry and the relative dearth of solid information on her life, the newer focus on her as a central protagonist is both refreshing and welcome.

Strong-willed, passionate, motherly, religious, and intelligent Katherine is reminiscent of so many of Henry's previous wives. What sets her apart from her compatriots is her survival skills and escaping nearly in tact from the clutches of one of England's most dangerous and unpredictable men. Though by no means safe from the many plots of her enemies, Katherine negotiates the dangerous waters of Hampton Court, etc. with an ease, skill and maturity not seen since Anne Boleyn was alive and manipulating those around her. As shown here by debut author Fremantle, Katherine is a fascinating woman; one whom clearly draws others to her by sheer magnetism and force of personality. From the royal physician to the common girl she practically adopts to her indecipherable stepchildren, Katherine inspires devotion and love from those who know her best. She's not the covetous girl of Cat Howard, nor the fumbling, shy Anne of Cleves, nor the too-stubbornly rigid Katherine of Aragon. Katherine is a twice-widowed woman who brings a new perpsective to the ongoing tumult of Henry's reign. Heeding the falls of her predecessors due to various reasons, this is a narrator who knows how to survive.

The life of Katherine pre-Henry is lightly touched upon in Queen's Gambit. We first get to know her a noblewoman, though a far step below the Queen she will become. She's introduced while married to her second husband, the 3rd Baron Latimer, in an act that will define her life, her actions and what she believes. Fremantle takes some liberties with the facts, and though I wasn't a huge fan of the way Queen's Gambit diverges from the historical early on, it works in the capacity imagined. In this version, Katherine knows love before Henry, only to have to maneuvered away from her for the King's own satisfaction. Caughte between family ambition and personal desire, Katherine's life is never truly hers while her brother and Henry both want something from her. Her marriage issues, to both Henry and Seymour, are foreshadowed nicely and subtly before either nuptials take place.

Fremantle is a capable writer, though Queen's Gambit is clearly a debut. The pacing is uneven at times, and certain events feel rushed or glossed over in order to get to the next event quickly. The author clearly knows both her history and her characters, but they both can come off as rather flat. The secondary characters in particular, and that of Dot (a rather unnecessary and ill-fitting POV character) especially suffer from lack of characterization. Seymour is painted as he always is: fickle, ambitious, jealous, and with a wandering eye. For an author not afraid to try something new with Katherine's story, I was sorry to see the same version of Baron Sudeley that so many authors have presented. I did think the author captured the essence of King Henry the 8th rather well, however. Unpredictable, dangerous, cunning and not without intelligence, Fremantle shows him  a force to be reckoned with and feared.

I had an enjoyable time reading Queen's Gambit. It's a diverting bit of historical fiction, and one of the better showcasing Katherine Parr. With a little time, practice and finesse, Fremantle has the talent to emerge as a strong historical fiction writer. If she ever returns to the Tudor period, I would be highly curious to see what new ideas she will try out. I would certainly be on board to read another novel from this author and would recommend this to historical fans looking for something slightly different from the usual fare.

New bookish arrivals!

Here are a few physical books I've received/bought in the last few weeks:

A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard (Something Strande and Deadly #2)

Perfect for readers Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel series, this spellbinding sequel to Something Strange and Deadly delivers a mix of intrigue, supernatural forces, intense romance, and revenge, all set against the enchanting backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris.

With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and see haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she’ll be fine. But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there’s a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.

In Paris, there’s a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

The lovely Flannery from The Readventurer was kind enough to send this me when she realized how desperate I was to read t!

The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora by Stephanie Thornton

 Where Theodora went, trouble followed…

In sixth century Constantinople, one woman, Theodora, defied every convention and all the odds, and rose from being a common theater tart to become empress of a great kingdom, the most powerful woman the Roman Empire would ever know. But the woman whose image was later immortalized in glittering mosaic was, in fact, a scrappy, clever, conniving, flesh-and-blood woman full of sensuality and spirit whose real story is as surprising as any ever told…

When her father dies suddenly, Theodora and her sisters face starvation on the streets. Determined to survive, Theodora makes a living any way she can—first on her back with every man who will have her, then on the stage of the city’s infamous amphitheater in a scandalous dramatization of her own invention. When her daring performance grants her a back-door entry into the halls of power, she seizes the chance to win a wealthy protector—only to face heartbreak and betrayal.

Ever resilient, Theodora rises above such trials and by a twist of fate, meets her most passionate admirer yet: the Emperor’s nephew. She will thrive as his confidant and courtesan, but many challenges lie ahead. For one day, this man will hand her a crown. And all the empire will wonder—is she bold enough, shrewd enough, and strong enough to keep it?

I received this as part of the blog tour, and I am so excited. Theodora is quickly becoming one of my favorite historical subjects to read about.

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

 The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew that it was her house. And now that she’s at last become its owner, she suspects that she was drawn there for a reason.

As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love.

Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past...until she realizes Mariana’s life is threatening to eclipse her own, and she must find a way to lay the past to rest or lose the chance for happiness in her own time.

I've already read and loved this book, so when I saw it for less than $7 I had to snatch it up. It was my introduction to both Susanna Kearsley - whom I now LOVE - and to time slip fiction.

The Inquisitor's Wife by Jeanne Kalogridis

 From the author of the critically acclaimed BORGIA BRIDE and THE SCARLET CONTESSA, comes another irresistible historical novel set during the Spanish Inquisition about a young woman who will stop at nothing to save her people from Torquemada’s torturers: THE INQUISITOR'S WIFE.

In 1480 Seville, Marisol, a fearful young conversa (descendant of Spanish Jews forced to convert to Christianity), is ashamed of her Jewish blood. Forced into a sham marriage with a prosecutor for the new Inquisition, Marisol soon discovers that her childhood sweetheart, Antonio, has just returned to Seville and is also working for the inquisitors. When Marisol’s father is arrested and tortured during Spain’s first auto da fe, Marisol comes to value her Jewish heritage and vows to fight the Inquisition. When she discovers that her beloved Antonio is working to smuggle conversos safely out of Spain, she joins him and risks her life on behalf of her people; a passionate romance follows.

Unfortunately, Marisol does not realize that her supposedly kind and gentle inquisitor-husband has been using her all along to lead Antonio and her fellow conversos to their doom...

I've read several of this author's books before, and they are fum romps through different periods of history. This one just sounded particularly good.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

A grand adventure that spans galaxies and lifetimes, A Confusion of Princes is a page-turning thriller, a tender romance, and a powerful exploration of what it means to be human. includes exclusive bonus Garth Nix short story 'Master Haddad's Holiday'.

I have died three times, and three times been reborn, though I am not yet twenty in the old earth years by which it is still the fashion to measure time. This is the story of my three deaths, and my life between. My name is Khemri.

Taken from his parents as a child and equipped with biological and technological improvements, Khemri is now an enhanced human being, trained and prepared for the glory of becoming a Prince of the Empire. Not to mention the ultimate glory: should he die, and be deemed worthy, he will be reborn...Which is just as well, because no sooner has Prince Khemri graduated to full Princehood than he learns the terrible truth behind the Empire: there are ten million princes, and all of them want each other dead.

I am a big, big Garth Nix fan and I have been eyeing this book for over a year. I've come close to buying it, but resisted until last week. Why last week? Well I found the hardcover for only $8.70. Clearly it was on sale for me. 

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars #1)

It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

I admit it  -  I have never read Persuasion. I've wanted to but never gotten around to it. Still, the cover? that title? I am ALL over this. I have an ARC of the second book, Across A Star-Swept Sea, so this should be done soon.

Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani

Based on the life of an Iranian princess this is “a fine historical novel, a story of intrigue and action…its scheming and parricide rival A Game of Thrones…and may remind you of Mary Renault’s stunning The Persian Boy” (San Francisco Chronicle).  

Iran in 1576 is a place of wealth and dazzling beauty. But when the Shah dies without having named an heir, the court is thrown into tumult. Princess Pari, the Shah’s daughter and protégée, knows more about the inner workings of the state than almost anyone, but her maneuvers to instill order after her father’s sudden death incite resentment and dissent. Pari and her closest adviser, Javaher, a eunuch able to navigate the harem as well as the world beyond the palace walls, possess an incredible tapestry of secrets that explode in a power struggle of epic proportions.

Legendary women—from Anne Boleyn to Queen Elizabeth I to Mary, Queen of Scots—changed the course of history in the royal courts of England. While they are celebrated, few people know of the powerful and charismatic women in the Muslim world. Based loosely on Princess Pari Khan Khanoom, Equal of the Sun is a riveting story of political intrigue that brings one extraordinary woman to light. Anita Amirrezvani is a master storyteller, and her lustrous prose brings to life this rich and labyrinthine world with a stunning cast of characters—passionate and brave men and women who defy or embrace their destiny in a Machiavellian game played by those who lust for power and will do anything to attain it.

I'd read another book by this author, The Blood of Flowers, so when a publicist emailed me an offer to read this I jumped on it. I'm excited - Iran in the 1500s isn't an area or time I know or read a lot about.

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Love, tragedy, and mystery converge in this compelling novel from “an author to watch” (Booklist).

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

I have wanted this book for so long I am having a hard time reconciling that it is mine and I can read it whenever I want. It's gotten so many rave reviews that I am both eager and scared to jump in.

eBooks (all of these were some kind of deal - Amazon Daily, Nook Find, etc.):

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger (Let The Sky Fall #1)

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

I hope this is as good as the blurb makes it sound. Or I will be Most Upset.

Shadowcry by Jenna Burtenshaw (Wintercraft #1)

The Night of Souls—when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest—is only days away.

Albion is at war . . . and losing.

The wardens have descended, kidnapping innocent citizens for their army, but looking for one in particular.

And fifteen-year-old Kate Winters has just raised a blackbird from the dead.

As her home is torn apart by the wardens, Kate's discovery that she is one of the Skilled—the rare people who can cross the veil between life and death—makes her the most hunted person in all of Albion. Only she can unlock the secrets of Wintercraft, the ancient book of dangerous knowledge. Captured and taken to the graveyard city of Fume—with its secret tunnels and underground villages, and where her own parents met their deaths ten years ago—Kate must harness her extraordinary powers to save herself, her country, and the two men she cares for most. And she'll make a pact with a murderer to do it.

Those who wish to see the dark, be ready to pay your price.

I love that cover. I love the colors and how ominous it looks.

The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

A heretic thief is the empire’s only hope in this fascinating tale that inhabits the same world as the popular novel, Elantris.

Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Though her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead.

Probing deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that Shai’s forgery is as much artistry as it is deception.

Brimming with magic and political intrigue, this deftly woven fantasy delves into the essence of a living spirit.

I will read anything Brandon Sanderson writes and his unique magics and worlds are always so creative and deftly explored. It may be a novella, but I expect I will love it just the same. It will help me survive until the next Stormlight Archive book is published.

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (The Long Earth #1)

1916: the Western Front, France. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson has returned to the burned-out home of one Willis Linsay, a reclusive and some said mad, others dangerous, scientist. It was arson but, as is often the way, the firemen seem to have caused more damage than the fire itself. Stepping through the wreck of a house, there's no sign of any human remains but on the mantelpiece Monica finds a curious gadget - a box, containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called a 'stepper'. An invention he put up on the web for all the world to see, and use, an invention that would to change the way mankind viewed his world Earth for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one...

...because the stepper allowed the person using it to step sideways into another America, another Earth, and if you kept on stepping, you kept on entering even more Earths...this is the Long Earth. It's not our Earth but one of chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side each differing from its neighbour by really very little (or actually quite a lot). It's an infinite chain, offering 'steppers' an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And the further away you travel, the stranger - and sometimes more dangerous - the Earths get. The sun and moon always shine, the basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events which have shaped our particular Earth, such as the dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and things may well have turned out rather differently.

But, until Willis Linsay invented his stepper, only our Earth hosted mankind...or so we thought. Because it turns out there are some people who are natural 'steppers', who don't need his invention and now the great migration has begun..

How cool does that sound?! It sounds freaking amazing. It also won a GoodReads choice award so I'm excited for whenever I read it.

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Triptych #1)

It’s 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between

Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.

When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities—a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present—Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.

Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.

Nazis and supermen, British and demons? Heck yes I want to read that.

The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley

With imaginative verve, intelligence, and exceptional detail, The Oracle Glass captures the rich tang of one of history's most irresistible eras. Spinning actual police records from the reign of Louis XIV into a darkly captivating story, it follows the fortunes of Genevieve Pasquier, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been transformed into an imperious, seemingly infallible fortune-teller... Genevieve is a skinny, precocious little monkey with a mind full of philosophy and the power to read the swirling waters of an oracle glass - for a demimonde who will believe anything. Left for dead by her family, Genevieve is taken in by La Voisin, an ingenious occultist and omnipotent society fortune-teller. La Voisin also rules a secret society of witches - abortionists and poisoners - who manipulate the lives of the rich and scandalous all the way up to the throne. 

 Tutored by La Voison, Genevieve creates a new identity for herself - as the mysterious Madame de Morville, complete with an antique black dress, a powdered face, a cane, and a wickedly sarcastic streak who is supposedly nearly one hundred fifty years old. Even the reigning mistress of the Sun King himself consults Madame de Morville on what the future holds for her. And as Madame de Morville, Genevieve can revel in what women are usually denied power, an independent income, and the opportunity to speak her mind. Beneath her intelligence and wit, what drives Genevieve is a private revenge - but what she doesn't expect is for love to come in the bargain.

I've read about La Voison before, but never so closely and that was what primarily drew me to this one.

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb (Light #1)

In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen--terrified, but intrigued--is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.

I'm not usually a fan of ghost stories, but reviewers I trust swear by this one and by Whitcomb's prose.

Book Tour Review & Giveaway: Cascade by Maryanne O'Hara

Title: Cascade
Author: Maryanne O'Hara
Genre: historical, literary fiction
Series: N/A
Pages: 384
Published: April 30 2012
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for review
Rating: 4.5/5

A novel of art and desire in the 1930s

It’s 1935, and Desdemona Hart Spaulding has sacrificed her plans to work as an artist in New York to care for her bankrupt, ailing father in Cascade, Massachusetts. When he dies, Dez finds herself caught in a marriage of convenience, bound to the promise she made to save her father’s Shakespeare Theater, even as her town may be flooded to create a reservoir for Boston. When she falls for artist Jacob Solomon, she sees a chance to escape and realize her New York ambitions, but is it morally possible to set herself free?

Fans of Richard Russo, Amor Towles, Sebastian Barry, and Paula McLain will savor this transporting novel about the eternal tug between our duties and our desires, set in New York City and New England during the uncertain, tumultuous 1930s.

"There are so many ways of drowning, my dear."

-Cascade, p. 2

Duty versus desire, women's rights versus traditional gender roles, personal freedom versus drowning in responsibility - these are all themes handled so well in Maryanne O'Hara's involving look at life in small-town 1930's Depression. With a subtle touch and a keen eye for detail, this is an author that easily creates an in depth look at a town with its glory days quickly fading as the Depression marches on. With an obvious Shakespearean influence (Desdemona, anyone?), O'Hara's version of life in Cascade, Massachusetts wrangles with so many themes and ideas, but manages to pull them off nearly perfectly. Loosely based on the real story of the Quabbin reservoir, this fictional town full of fictional people reads and feels quite real from beginning to end.

This is a story that brings life and meaning to the art mentioned. As someone who is not particularly gifted at any form of it, I was pleasantly surprised at how well O'Hara conveyed the importance of art to main character Desdemona. With her gorgeous but spare prose, Maryanne O'Hara extends Desdemona's passion to the audience with ease; from the mention of Dez's own artistic creations to those that inspire her, the passages about art and color are some of the most compelling of the entire book. I found myself curiously Googling pieces mentioned by the characters, and loving them -- especially The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole. Particularly apt in a story about a town that has seen better days and in current decline, Cole's work is a subtle forshadowing for the story being spun about the town in question. In a Depression-era novel like this one, it's always refreshing to see a little joy in the characters lives and the artistic side of Dez's life clearly was one for Cascade.

Cascade is a slower-moving and paced novel. It's not action packed or fraught with immediate tension; rather O'Hara slowly but ably builds several conflicts and miscommunications that add into a larger resolution. These are themes and ideas that have been explored before, and will be again, but Cascade manages to be original in how it presents the issues it explores. The Depression is key to what happens to the town of Cascade and in Dez's personal life, but it's fully on the periphery, rather than a main focus for the story. This is a novel mostly concerned with the lives of Dez, her husband and fellow artist Jacob than in detailing the hardships across the country during the '30s.

Though there are some things in Cascade I am not too fond of reading about, adultery especially, but in this author's capable hands, it was pretty palatable. It works for the novel because of how much depth the author imbues in her characters and their disparate wants and needs. You can't really say there is a "bad guy" or antagonist in the story - rather Asa's wants and needs just don't meet up with Dez's life wishes and create a more meaningful struggle between the two of them to find a middle ground. Dez's cheating isn't about revenge or boredom - it's about feeling trapped in a complicated situation and who found someone she could truly connect with. It just wasn't the man she was married to. In another writer's hands, the affair would not have been so easy to understand or digest. I applaud Maryanne O'Hara's talent and characters for making it so real and not tawdry.

Cascade is a lovely historical novel. Fully-fleshed out characters, a vibrant, if declining town, and compelling storytelling make this 368-page novel read almost too fast. As a novel it is involving and detailed, as a debut it is double impressive. This is an author with a lot of talent and one who isn't afraid to take risks with her story and her unusual characters. If you're on the fence about reading it, don't be. This is one that will stick out and remain memorable for long after it is finished.



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Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Monday, April 29

Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesday, April 30

Feature & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, May 1

Review & Giveaway at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Thursday, May 2

Review & Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary

Friday, May 3

Review at Tiny Library

Wednesday, May 8

Review & Giveaway at Confessions of an Avid Reader

Thursday, May 9

Review at A Bookish Affair

Review & Giveaway at The Relentless Reader

Friday, May 10

Guest Post & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair

Monday, May 13

Review at Write Meg

Tuesday, May 14

Review at Kinx’s Book Nook

Review & Giveaway at Bippity Boppity Book

Wednesday, May 15

Review at Raging Bibliomania

Thursday, May 16

Review & Giveaway at Ageless Pages Reviews

Friday, May 17

Review & Giveaway at The Blue Stocking Society

Monday, May 20

Review at Amused By Books

Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book!

Tuesday, May 21

Interview & Giveaway at Oh, For the Hook of a Book!

Wednesday, May 22

Review & Giveaway at The Worm Hole

Thursday, May 23

Review at A Book Geek

Friday, May 24

Review & Giveaway at The Picky Girl

Monday, May 27

Review & Giveaway at The Novel Life

Tuesday, May 28

Review & Giveaway at Always with a Book

Review, Guest Post & Giveaway at The Lit Bitch

Wednesday, May 29

Review at Turning the Pages

Thursday, May 30

Guest Post at The Novel Life

Friday, May 31

Interview & Giveaway at Cheryl’s Book Nook

Monday, June 3

Review at Words and Peace

Tuesday, June 4

Review at Historical Tapestry & Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

Giveaway at Words and Peace

Wednesday, June 5

Review & Giveaway at A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, June 6

Review at The Little Reader Library

Friday, June 7

Review at A Novel Review

Book Tour Review: Blood Between Queens by Barbara Kyle

Title: Blood Between Queens
Author: Barbara Kyle
Genre: historical fiction
Series: Thornleigh #5
Pages: 448
Published: April 30 2013
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for review
Rating: 3.5/5

Following her perilous fall from a throne she’d scarcely owned to begin with, Mary, Queen of Scots, has fled to England, hoping her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, will grant her asylum. But now Mary has her sights on the English crown, and Elizabeth enlists her most trusted subjects to protect it.

Justine Thornleigh is delighting in the thrill of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to her family’s estate when the festivities are cut short by Mary’s arrival. To Justine’s surprise, the Thornleighs appoint her to serve as a spy in Mary’s court. But bearing the guise of a lady-in-waiting is not Justine’s only secret. The weight of her task is doubled by fears of revealing to her fiancé that she is in truth the daughter of his family’s greatest rival. Duty-bound, Justine must sacrifice love as she navigates a deadly labyrinth of betrayal that could lead to the end of Elizabeth’s fledgling reign…

Compelling and inventive, Blood Between Queens artfully blends history’s most intriguing figures with unforgettable characters, bringing to dazzling life the fascinating Tudor era.

With Blood Between Queens, the fifth book in her Tudor-era series centered on the fictional Thornleigh family, Barbara Kyle again shows she is no newcomer to the historical fiction genre. Her grasp on the history, on the characters and historical figures involved and on plotting are top notch and ably showcase a well-developed and thought-out novel. Though it is far from the first in the popular and long-running Thornleigh series, Blood Between Queens works well as a standalone novel;one that readers who have not read the first four can still easily pick up and immerse themselves in. A strong novel, with an invented but intelligent main character, this latest Thornleigh adventure ties in action, pirates, secret love affairs, family feuds, treason and rebellion all neatly into a detailed plot that never really lets up.

Justine Thornleigh, née Grenville, is young, smart, secretive and conflicted young noblewoman with a secret past she fears being revealed. Caught between her adopted family and the father who abandoned her eight years before, her life winds up being a key element in a far more dangerous struggle than the deadly family feud that has entrenched her birth family and her adoptive one since before her birth and later illicit adoption. Between two strong-willed cousins, who both happen to be Queens, Justine finds herself with an expected sympathy for the plight of the thrice married and twice widowed Queen of Scots. At odds with her upbringing and family belief in the rightful rule of Queen Elizabeth, Justine's actions complicate more than just her own life, but the fate of England itself. Deftly handled, the maneuvering and manipulation of Justine from several sides keeps tension high and the outcome, even for those familiar with the history, interesting.

Barbara Kyle is also adept at intermixing fact with fiction, period details with key plot elements. The mixing of fictional and real, both characters and events, adds a fresh element to a story that has been told dozens of times before. Her ability to create a vibrant world, in which her characters operate, provides a well-realized and described version of the Tudor court. It, and these characters, may be well-trod territory, but Kyle keeps it interesting with new developments and some slight twists on the mythos of the Virgin Queen. Under this author's pen, the conflicts of Justine to find the right path, of Elizabeth to do right by her fellow monarch without sacrificing her sovereignty, of Mary to be treated as she wishes, are universally well-written and fresh, despite the familiar ground.

There are several side plotlines that help to propel the novel - there's the missing seafarer Adam Thornleigh, the murder of a friend of Justine's - but the main focus of the novel is on Justine, as she is caught between her past and her future, her Queen and the woman she feels an unanticipated kinship for, her birth father and the man who raised her. A fast, adventure-filled read, with Blood Between Queens Barbara Kyle will not disappoint longtime fans of her Thornleigh series, and managed to create a new one. The first four are also fairly cheap for ebook, so this is one series I will continue, due to how much I enjoyed the latest offering.

Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Monday, April 29
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Feature & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, April 30
Review at Bitches with Books
Review at The Broke and the Bookish

Wednesday, May 1
Guest Post & Giveaway at The True Book Addict

Thursday, May 2
Review at The True Book Addict
Guest Post & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Friday, May 3
Review at Let Them Read Books
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages

Monday, May 6
Review at Broken Teepee
Review at Bibliophilic Book Blog

Tuesday, May 7
Review & Guest Post at The Lit Bitch
Guest Post & Giveaway at Broken Teepee

Wednesday, May 8
Review at One Book at a Time
Review & Giveaway at Always with a Book

Thursday, May 9
Review at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Review & Interview at A Bookish Libraria
Review & Giveaway at Book of Secrets

Friday, May 10
Review, Guest Post & Giveaway at Drey’s Library
Interview at The Maiden’s Court

Monday, May 13
Review at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Tuesday, May 14
Interview & Giveaway at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

Wednesday, May 15
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews
Guest Post at The Musings of ALMYBNENR

Thursday, May 16
Review at Turning the Pages

Friday, May 17
Review at Enchanted by Josephine
Guest Post at Turning the Pages

Top Ten Tuesday #9 - Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

 


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish.


















This week's topic is Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects. There are many, many good Issue books, but these are the ones that really got to the heart of me.

#1. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The first ten lies they tell you in high school. "Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. 

In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

I read this book years ago, and it still remains a novel that brings to my knees, metaphorically. It's simple, powerful, and so well-written. Anderson can write, and though she has many novels, this will always remain her best.

#2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

Oh, Elizabeth Wein, you know how to break a heart. With just a phrase, be it "Kiss me, Hardy" or "fly the plane, Maddie" or even "I have told the truth." you can convey so much. This book, to me, is about true friendship, real love, honor, and sacrifice. It's brutal and beautiful and so hard to read, from the casual mentions of torture, to the lengths these two girls will go to for one another.


#3. Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner

Set in New York's Russian émigré community, Vaclav & Lena is a timeless love story from a stunningly gifted young novelist.

Vaclav and Lena, both the children of Russian émigrés, are at the same time from radically different worlds. While Vaclav's burgeoning love of performing magic is indulged by hard-working parents pursuing the American dream, troubled orphan Lena is caught in a domestic situation no child should suffer through. Taken in as one of her own by Vaclav's big-hearted mother, Lena might finally be able to blossom; in the naive young magician's eyes, she is destined to be his "faithful assistant"...but after a horrific discovery, the two are ripped apart without even a goodbye. Years later, they meet again. But will their past once more conspire to keep them apart?'

I read this book over a year ago, but I think about it weekly, still. It made my heart hurt. This book... wow. For just being 272 pages, this is a lot of book. My heart grew three sizes (Oh, Vaclav) and I was entirely charmed by this story. This was beautiful and the ending was particularly poignant and moving.

#4. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

 Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:

1. You will remember to water the azaleas.
2. You will take detailed, accurate messages.
3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands.
5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.

Things that actually happen:

1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister.
2. He says he has her stuff.
3. What stuff? Her stuff.
4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to—
5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he—
6. You pick up a pen.
7. You scribble down the address.
8. You get on your bike and go.
9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.*
*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.

Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T. Smith’s debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music, madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.

Hilary T. Smith is a force to be reckoned with. This book is made of Tough Subjects - death, murder, grief, family alienation, drugs, mental issues... and for the most part, this is an author that carries them off so humanly.  Wild Awake is a whirlwind of a novel and if I can ever coherently discuss it, the review will come. And it will be glowing.


#5. If I Stay/Where She Went by Gayle Forman

 It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Both If I Stay novels are listed but really, Where She Went was more of a Tough Subject read for me. Adam is wrestling with human issues, whereas Mia's struggles in book one were more.. supernatural? His sadness, ambivalence and depression are horrifically sad to read about because you know he used to be different than how he is now.

#6. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

  

They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated bibles, each other. And if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.

I had to read this book as part of an AP class in high school and it haunts me. The sadness, the boredom, the humanness and the inhumanity of what these men went through... I had to read certain sections for class, but it was my choice to read the entire thing. It's resonated with me ever since.


#7. If I Lie by Corrine Jackson

 A powerful debut novel about the gray space between truth and perception.

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.

Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

The military and vets are close to home for me; my brother is a two-time Marine veteran. I loved how much depth and thought went into If I Lie. It made me think, it made me cry, and it brought up certain things that need to focus more on in daily life.

#8. Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz

In the wake of the post-9/11 sniper shootings, fragile love finds a stronghold in this intense, romantic novel from the author of Break and Invincible Summer.It's a year after 9/11. Sniper shootings throughout the D.C. area have everyone on edge and trying to make sense of these random acts of violence. Meanwhile, Craig and Lio are just trying to make sense of their lives.

Craig’s crushing on quiet, distant Lio, and preoccupied with what it meant when Lio kissed him...and if he’ll do it again...and if kissing Lio will help him finally get over his ex-boyfriend, Cody.

Lio feels most alive when he's with Craig. He forgets about his broken family, his dead brother, and the messed up world. But being with Craig means being vulnerable...and Lio will have to decide whether love is worth the risk.

This intense, romantic novel from the author of Break and Invincible Summer is a poignant look at what it is to feel needed, connected, and alive.

Hannah Moskowitza, you are a liferuiner. And I mean that in the best of ways. It is one of the biggest sorrows of my life that I will never be able to write as well as this woman does. The strength of her characters, their struggles and small triumphs... brought me to tears. Not many books have taken on snipers, especially ones that targeted American citizens, but Moskowitz has no fear.

#9. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.

Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.

Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

Growing up doesn't just stop when you hit a certain age. It's a lifelong process, and Brashares takes her adult characters on as many risks and struggles as she did when they were teens. Life is not always perfect or happy, and Sisterhood Everlasting isn't afraid to do what you least expect.

#10. If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

There are some things you can’t leave behind…
A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Neglect and abuse are hard to read about. And Murdoch spares no punches in this look into the difficult lives of Carey and Jenessa. It's an ultimately uplifting novel, but there are darker themes and events that take place.

Honorable mention: Without Tess by Marcella Pixley, The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison, How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr