Review: The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

Title: The Winter Rose

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: historical fiction, romance novel-ish

Series: The Tea Rose #2

Published: January 2008

Pages: 710
Source: bought

Rating: 4/5

As before with my previous Jennifer Donnelly novel, this one was an interesting read, and I might get a wee bit spoilery. And looooooong. After finishing the first, the question inquiring minds [me] want to know was if the author could top the sheer spectacle of The Tea Rose? That answer was a resounding YES, yes she can.  We've got illegal drug trades, unwitting use of said drugs by innocent persons, women's suffrage, the emergence of female doctors in the workplace, dirty cops and politicians, a modern-day [1900's] Robin Hood, Africa, amputations, TWO escapes from jail, a serial killer, more star-crossed lovers (two couples this time! 100% increase in Angst Opportunity over last time!), women being hunted by lions and hyenas AND the most repellant antagonist I've read this year.

If I liked The Tea Rose and enjoyed its amount of sheer ridiculousness, then I loved The Winter Rose. This second story focuses on a female doctor, India, the quietly fierce, determined and oh yeah, disowned heir to the Selwyn Jones fortune, and the brother of the protagonist from the first, Fiona Finnegan's brother Charlie/Sid Malone. Instead of a Fiona-like righteous revenge driven plot like the first, this story focuses on the redemption of morally deficient, damaged Sid Malone.

The story blends the action and melodrama together much better than its predecessor. There is a believable mix of the outrageous (Joe Bristow personally knew Jacob Riis the American muckraking photojournalist?), and the touching when Sid and India are reunited for the [FINAL] time in the epilogue. But where Donnelly truly excels is the same as before: in creating a believable, gripping, and rich atmosphere for her characters. (I may or may not have walked around using a 'orrible Cockey accent after finishing each book. I admit nothing.) Whitechapel is such a huge part of both these novels and the characters within them: the poverty and deprivation each suffered here marked them for life, in ways they're constantly discovering. Fiona, Charlie, Seamie, and Joe might have left Whitechapel behind, but they will never escape it.

I enjoyed the wit in this novel immensely. For instance when a crooked politician tells Sid that "crime doesn't pay", Sid's aside: "Not like politics does, that's for sure". In fact, I laughed a lot in this novel, during the lighter moments that were few and far between. Fiona, tea magnate extraordinaire, names her two dogs "Twinning" and "Lipton" because "they are forever at her heels." The humor was a nice and apropos touch against such a bleak backdrop for the characters.

One of the less-well executed elements in this novel was the constant and loquacious recapping of the first book.  This happened nearly every other chapter and it got old, fast. It were heavy-handed when a light touch was need. For instance it was, "Fiona remembered back to that dark day when she learned her father died, and then had to flee to America, save her friend from ruin with a 10 year sham marriage, all the while creating the biggest tea empire in the world and pining away for her true love," instead of "Fiona remembered." Also, the foreshadowing was awful at creating suspense. The author would just ominously state something like: "Fiona thought she'd be safe. She was wrong" or "The past will always come back to bury you". If you're going to go that route, you might as well type DUN DUN DUNNNNN after "you".

I honestly believe the Charlie/Sid story arc from the first novel was superbly and tragically done. It continued to be the best element of this story; India and Sid's struggles to make a life for themselves anew held me attention far more than the Seamie/Willa story. It was sad, and oddly riveting to watch a promising and caring young man get sucked so far deep into London's underbelly that he became someone else entirely: Sid Malone. It's quite telling that until a serious threat is levelled to Fiona in Charlie's domain without Charlie helping her, Fiona refuses to call her brother Sid, referring him to constantly by his given name. Besides India, there was only one person who truly believed in Charlie and that was his sister Fiona. Fiona also seems to work best as a secondary character. MAybe I'd just read another 500+ page tome focusing on Fiona Finnegan Soames Elgin Bristow and a I needed a POV break. Either way, she was much less abrasive in this.

Let's talk about Charlie Finnegan/Sid Malone. I love him. LOVE. HIM. Donnelly made him so compelling, I couldn't help but love his character the most and genuinely care what happened in his life. He is funny, and obviously a rogue with a tender side. He falls for India, a do-good brand-new doctor who dreams to open a free clinic in Whitechapel. Slowly but inevitably, he came one of my favorite male leads this year.

India was also likable, a nice change from the immediate fierce, in-your-face attitude of Fiona. She is much more quiet and unassuming, but she posses a hidden fire and an unflinching will that was remarkable. The novel acquires its name from Sid's description of her: a woman as rare as a rose blooming in winter. While she begins as a brash know-it-all, and sweeps into Whitechapel assuming broccoli and porridge are going to cure all the slum's ills, Sid shows her how deep the problems are within Whitechapel and its people. Driven unto further action by the horror and despair of the slum, India becomes determined to do good in her city. En route, she falls in love with Sid, with this "bad man trying to do a good thing" and decides to leave her life for a new one with him in America.

India begins the novel freshly graduated from med school and engaged to childhood friend, Freddie Lytton. Freddie, from a broke noble family, is a slug that slowly reveals his slimy nature each time he appears within the pages. He does not love India since she dared to love someone else (before she knew of his feelings), and is using India to try and divert her inheritance towards a political campaign. He is a turncoat both politically and personally. He is shown as having a difficult childhood with his noble and abusive father. Accidentally killing his father when he was just 12, Freddie beings a dark slope that becomes truly despicable. He manipulates India's first love into prison and death, he out-right murders India's cousin Wish when he attempts to help her with the free clinic and he murders Sid's former girlfriend when Sid falls in love with India. Then the places the blame on Sid so Sid cannot runaway with the now-unbeknownest-to-him pregnant India.

All in all, this was just as crazy as book one. I just cared way, way more about the characters. I actually got a little teary when Sid and India were separated in London and Africa, and then Africa again and then America. Perhaps because Sid was more complicated and damaged than Fiona, he wasn't perfect, and therefore easier for me to love. Perhaps because India seemed more relatable to me, and so fierce for who and what she loved. I don't know what it was exactly, but I was hooked by these two characters and their story. Job well done, Donnelly.

Blog Watch Wednesday!

These are the blogs/posts/websites that I either love already or found this last week: 

I'm a big fan of snark. It's exactly my type of humor. I'm a big fan of fashion (though I live in very fashion-oblivious Northern Arizona). I'm a BIG fan of the Fuggirls. They're unique, a perfect storm of humor and fashion. They blog at their own website: Go Fug Yourself. These two hilarious sartorial wits just released their own YA novel, Spoiled. It just dropped (June 1st) and I have a nice pretty copy, which looks like this:

basically this book is going to be made of win. Look a review probably beginning of July. I love this blog. I check it twice a week at least. 

A voracious reader and  unfairly clever too, Ewa over at Palace of Distractions wrote up a lovely list of must-read fantasy and graphic novels. Check out that post here. Be sure to browse about that site - If I could hire someone to walk around and be my wit, it would be her.

This is an excellent review of a YA dystopian novel I've been waiting to get my grabby hands on. I also enjoyed this review at the same blog of Amy Plum's Die For Me; the review definitely piqued my interest in this recent release.  Also, pretty:

As I am sure most people with an internet connection are aware, there was a rather large recent brouhaha over a piece in the Wall Street Journal bemoaning the nature of today's YA literature. A lot of people had a lot to say (Maureen Johnson wrote a response article she was so upset by the original). But what I did not hear a lot of was response from those young-adults themselves. A lot of stories from older readers, though no less valid, made me curious about the younger. Brielle, over at Awesome Bookworm, wrote a post about the WSJ article.

Worth checking out.

While I am here, a couple free eBooks I've stumbled across, totally innocently. 

The Strange Case of Finley Jane by new author Kady Cross. This is a free ebook, set before the beginning events of the series in The Girl in the Steel Corset.  Kady is just starting out, Girl is the first in her planned series The Steampunk Chronicles. Blurb for Finley:
"In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her. "

Julie Kagawa, author of the popular Iron Fey series, has a free eBook novella available Summer's Crossing, set in this series. Labelled as Iron Fey #3.5, obviously I'd suggest holding off until you've read up until that point in the series to check it out. Here is the short blurb for those interested: 

"Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Summer Court prankster, King Oberon's right hand, bane of many a faery queen's existence—and secret friend to Prince Ash of the Winter Court. Until one girl's death came between them, and another girl stole both their hearts.

Now Ash has granted one favor too many and someone's come to collect, forcing the prince to a place he cannot go without Puck's help—into the heart of the Summer Court. And Puck faces the ultimate choice—betray Ash and possibly win the girl they both love, or help his former friend turned bitter enemy pull off a deception that no true faery prankster could possibly resist." I also love pretty much every cover Kagawa has had for this series. No exceptions here:

In other news, I am about 30% through The Winter Rose, the sequel to The Tea Rose. The question, clearly, is can the author top the sheer epic scale of the last novel? The answer is yes, yes she can.  How dare I even ask.

Review: The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

 

Title: The Tea Rose 

Author: Jennifer Donnelly

Genre: historical fiction, romance novel-ish

Series: The Tea Rose #1

Published: April 2008

Pages: 620
Source: bought

Rating: 3.5/5

This is going to be an interesting review. But that is entirely fitting since this was an interesting book. I went back and forth on the rating of this as well. It's truly not good enough for more than a 3.5 star rating and yet, in the end, I sped through it and loved it. This also might end up being a tad bit more spoilery than I usually try to be; I honestly couldn't help it.

This was part daytime soap-opera distilled into book form, part historical fiction set in London/New York in 1880s/1890s, The Tea Rose is one hell of a fun, epic melodrama. We've got truly star-crossed lovers, decades-long revenge plots, sham marriages, murder plots, dockworker's union strikes, crooked politicians, Jack the Ripper, falling in love with New York millionaires, famous celebrity cameos, and of course, betrayal and redemption.

There is a LOT of story going on here. I might sound critical, and I should; this book is not without a myriad of faults. Fiona, the main character, though likable, starts out as a bit of a Mary Sue cliche. She can be irritatingly overemotional and jealous in the beginning and especially with her bloke, Joe Bristow. Those annoying traits are stamped out quickly, however. Once she loses her father and her innocence and naivete, Fiona can finally find her own strength. Her enemy, the ruthless tea merchant behind her father's death, William Burton is chilling, though one-dimensional.

Regardless of the sheer outrageousness of the plot, shallowness of various characters and all the deux ex machinas, I loved this novel. It does have several things going for it: Donnelly spent numerous years researching her time period and culture of the Whitechapel area of London. Her descriptions of bleak and beautiful London were vivid, well-written and best of all, authentic. There was definitely the feel of 19th century present throughout the book. Ms. Donnelly managed to create an enthralling, absorbing atmosphere I had a hard time pulling myself away from. 

Everything in this novel is done on a grand scale. Ms. Donnelly certainly does not believe in half-measures with her storytelling. Fiona needs hardship? Check - half her family is murdered (all, eventually it turns out at the machinations of Jack the Ripper!). She needs an epic love that is tested? Check - Joe and Fiona are separated FOR TEN YEARS. With NUMEROUS and frequent near misses between while they were actively searching for the other. It's comical.. Fiona wants to have a business to furnish her revenge? Check - she has the BIGGEST tea business in the United States.

While the over-the-topness can be fun and work for the novel (such as getting Fiona out on her own and develop into a real character instead of a Mary Sue), it can also detract from the essentials. For instance, in this novel our intrepid heroes/heroines meet: Jack the Ripper (and have personal business with), the Crown Prince of Wales of England (Albert Edward), Paul Gaugin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and numerous other famous personages frequented Nick's idyllic life in Paris. Fiona's closest friend Nick, in addition to being the heir of the bank controlling Fiona's nemesis's company (though Nick and Fiona are unaware of this the entire time [10 years!!] they're friends) ends up being Viscount Elgin, firstborn son of the Duke of Winchester. That was all a bit much, really.

Fiona has ridiculous, extremely unlikely luck once she arrives in America (Nick gets her on the boat, a famous New York millionaire steps in o help her, falls in love with her, she "invents" iced tea and tea packets, etc); she has to in order to set her revenge against the men who killed her father. This made the book seem a bit rushed once Fiona and Seamie fled England. Also not helping the narrative were the random jumps of time between the three parts. Part Two to Part Three had an intervening nine years, in which crucial events to the story happen. Instead of showing Fiona build her business, her marriage, her revenge, it is simply "told" away in the beginning of the next part. I couldn't help but feel a bit cheated at that, and wish for more depth and exposition on Fiona's early struggles to make The Tea Rose salon a success.

Sadly, parts of the novel, though fun and campy, were entirely too predictable. Michael's recovery from alcoholism so rapidly and easily, Will McClane's swooping in to save Fiona's shop and proposing, his crooked son politician plotting against Fiona, the list goes on. I laughed a lot and often at this book. The only problem was that I was not sure I am laughing at the author/book or with them, where and as intended. 

Straining credulity, and poetic license aside (William Burton, Fiona's own personal foe was really Jack the Ripper? Really? That's where you went with that superfluous plotline?), I enjoyed this novel. It is not perfect, not even close. It's a melodramatic, over-the-top, romance-novelish tome of crazy. It's also a lot of fun. And the cover is pretty.

The Monstrosity Grows

I'm halfway through The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly (about 350 pages in as of ten minutes ago) and completely, completely caught up in it. I have no idea how this happened, as it's basically a day-time soap opera in book form. Somewhere after the plot line of Jack the Ripper connected to Fiona's life, I was inexplicably, inextractably lost.  Maybe I'm a sucker for a revenge story. Maybe it's the deft and intricate descriptions of bleakly beautiful London in the 1880s. Either way, I'll definitely be giving this epic melodrama a review later on. I'm looking forward to whatever hijinks the sequel, The Winter Rose, has in store to top this one. Can I also throw out that I LOVE the covers of both these novels? The magpie in me is appeased.

So, despite the fact that I have over 60 books (both ebook and psychical) already purchased eagerly awaiting my short-lived attention, I went out and bought the following:

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. I'm not as big of a fan of Gregory as I was when I first started reading Tudor historical fiction five years ago; prolonged exposure to the genre has opened my eyes. She's often historically inaccurate without cause, and her writing is a lot of "telling" rather than "showing". So why did I buy this? Sheer force of habit, probably, and I like to finish series I've started unless they're abominable (coughterrygoodkindkateelliottcough). I've already been through this, and a review might follow. Standard Heaving Bosom Historical Fiction.

Shadowspell by Jenna Black. This is the second in Black's Faeriewalker series. I absolutely adored the first book Glimmerglass; simply couldn't devour it fast enough. I just hope the sequel lives up to the standard of the first.

The Emerald Storm by Michael J. Sullivan.  Part four in Sullivan's ongoing epic centered around the lives and friendship of two thieves. Fun, fast and easy to read The Riyria Revelationsm series has been excellent from book one, The Crown Conspiracy.

Additionally, over at goodreads, I've just won a historical novel: Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey. First in a planned trilogy, I'm expecting sumptuous dresses, a scheming court, laissez-faire French nobility and one hell of a rebellion. Maybe not all in this first novel, but if it lives up to its promise, I'll be a very happy girl.

Anyway, that's what I am reading today and probably the rest of the week.

Review: Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

Title: Among Thieves: A Tale of the Kin Author: Douglas Hulick Genre: fantasy Series: Kin #1 (I assume, the title of the series is never explicity stated) Published: April 2011 Pages: 414 pages Rating: 3.5/5 I was pleasantly surprised to win Hulick's Among Thieves in the Good Reads First Reads giveaway. I usually win random books I've never heard of prior to winning them (though  the books are excellent, most of the time), but this was one I'd heard of before and was already in my t-b-r pile. I dove right in, and my big picture take on it as a whole: I enjoyed it and wouldn't be averse to continuing this series as it is published.  I was told by a friend that Among Thieves reminded her of Scott Lynch and his truly spectacular The Lies of Locke Lamora and I can clearly see why. There are shades of Locke Lamora in Drothe, but only that, shades. I was reminded more of Joe Abercrombie's Logen Ninefingers from his bloody and funny The First Law trilogy, perhaps. Both Drothe and Locke are clever, manipulative thieves; Logen and he are murderous and sarcastic men used to command. Either way, Drothe is a singular character, one that you're never sure what he's going to do or how you will feel about it. He is clever, he is desperate and he is amusing. He's also a dangerous, murderous member of the underground. He's not snow-white as a protagonist and that makes him a more interesting and thus more fun to read about for 400 pages. Hulick's writing is clever, descriptive and best of all, very engaging. It's delightfully free of unnecessary details or developments. The battle scenes (especially the fencing/swordfighting), as well as those between Drothe and his closest thing to a friend Bronze Degan, are what truly stands out about this novel.  They all felt real, and vivid, as does the city of Ildrecca. The book continues to improve on its faults as the novel progresses. Douglas Hulick has created a thriving world, a unique Empire, wityh an interesting theology, a different magic system, culture and a thriving underworld wheeling beneath it all.  The book was exciting, interesting and thankfully, wasn't too predictable for fantasy fare. It doesn't get bogged down in decades-old fantasy cliches or characters. It's a darker fantasy, with an ambiguously disciplined main character. There's very little reliance on magic to solve all Drothe's problems, which creates a more resourceful and clever finale.  I was reluctant to finish as fast as I did. The magic system presented in the novel is fairly straightforward, but is unlike others in fantasy I've read and it was a pleasure to read a new idea on "glimmer", as it's called here. Another high point for me was the culture of the thieves in this book. It felt real, and obviously different from the regular citizens' in the city. The authentic-seeming thieves cant that Hulick created has a lot to do with this. Instead of forcing a lot of random colloquialisms on his audience immediately, Hulick slowly employs more and more of the cant until the reader can read a sentence peppered with the slang with ease.  I highly enjoyed this first novel in Hulick's work, and I look forward to picking up the rest of this series as he publishes them, and learns to polish his work as he goes. I can't say that it was the best fantasy novel I've read so far this year, but it was fun to read and easy to do so.

Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Genre: dystopian, young-adult

Series: Uglies series #1

Published: February 2005

Pages: 425

Rating: 3.5/5

The world that Tally Youngblood lives in seems to be idyllic. In her ultra-organized dystopian country everything is recyclable, everyone is a vegetarian and fighting, much less war and conflict, is unheard of. Once you're sixteen, you're in perfect health and you're gorgeous. Forever. You're invited to a literal life-long party where your only job is just to have fun with your fellow gorgeous citizens. Of course Tally never looked for more, or wanted anything but to be pretty until a new friend named Shay changes the course of her life.

This is not a perfect book. Far from it. There are large plotholes (black and white movies with "an English she could barely understand" but doesn't know the name David or what a roller coasters was/or Barbie?), inconsistencies (Tally doesn't know about trains but cars, though not used, are common knowledge?) and other errors. Sometimes it was hard for me to look past the how nonlogical the characters and settings were and focus on the story. But it is a good book; an entertaining and thought-provoking dystopia where life is based entirely on surgically-created and updated looks. 

Tally was a decent protagonist. She was aggravatingly dense often, and grated on my nerves when "pretty" or "ugly" was every fourth word out of her mouth. Those two words are all she focuses on, thinks about for much of the four hundred page novel. For instance, when her only friend Shay leaves Tally for "forever", striking out into the dangerous wild, all Tally can muster up for her friend is to wish she she could have known what Shay looked like as a Pretty. It was a tear-my-hair-out moment for me as a reader. That clearly showed just how far into conforming with the ideals of her society Tally was, and what a struggle it would be for her to have independent thought. Unfortunately, and rather inexplicably, she grew on me. Slowly and creepingly, her narrative matured, improved as she had to face new situations and deal with things outside her dorm and New Pretty Town. Tally actually thought more about others, she repeatedly tried to do the right thing and generally stopped being so self-absorbed. Yes, the pretties are self-absorbed and vapid, but the point is the uglies aren't so I felt that Tally's maturation was overdue by the time it arrived.

The big revelation about what happens to the Pretties seemed like a rather large let-down to me. I saw that coming from before page one hundred, when Tally mentions how an Uglies' party would have fights but never a Pretty party.  However the "twist" made sense with the storyline so far in the book and with the ideals of Tally's "world", so I have no complaints about that except predictability. I hope that the next in the series, Pretties, shows a bit more originality and creativity. 

On the whole, this is a rather slow-starting novel; the initial escapade we discover Tally during was not interesting or riveting to me. I unfortunately had about fifty pages right at the crucial beginning that I read without any connection or involvement with the story. However, the novel picked up immensely when Tally met Shay and started thinking outside the prescribed lines, and things got interesting --and messy -- fast. I enjoyed the relationship between Shay and Tally because Shay was challenging and questioning rather than meek, brainless and accepting as most of the uglies and pretties seem to be. The relationship between Tally and David was different, mostly because David remained off-scene or distant for most of the book. He remains mostly a mystery, up to and through the very end. I would have liked to see more development for David, as well as the rest of the Smokies. I never felt that the romance/relationship between the two teens was authentic; it felt rushed, thrown into the novel as a random opportunity for a plotline for maximum angst. 
 
The wording in the novel is pretty simplistic, and thus, very quick and easy to read. I think it was worth the few hours it took to read. It just needed a little more depth, more exposition on the characters. A mixed bag of good ideas with poor execution, with potential to become great.

Blog Watch Wednesday!

This is a new idea I am trying out for size. Every Wednesday, I am going to try and link to the best blog entries I've come across. Some will be book blogs (aka most of them), but expect a couple other randoms thrown out there. I'm pretty bad at keeping to a schedule but I'm going to really try with this meme-ish idea.

Over at Unabridged Chick, the amazing Audra turns out some of the most thought-out and well-written book reviews I've had the pleasure to read. Audra is very friendly and super approachable; her blog is consistently one of my favorites. This week she reviewed the historical fiction novel, Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith. Check out her review and bonus! her giveaway of the same title here. If you like insightful, in-depth reviews, I'd definitely follow this blog.

Jon Mac of the Mythik Imagination blog was kind enough to share this awesome post with us. If you went ahead and clicked that link, you'd see that Jon was lucky enough to stumble upon the Baen Free Library, which as you guessed it, has NUMEROUS popular author's ebooks for FREE. Thanks to Jon (and Baen!) for this awesome discovery. I picked up the following free of charge:

Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro (already in the tbr monstrosity)

Sunrise Alley by Catherine Asaro (added)

Fiddler Fair by Mercedes Lackey (added)

The Lark and the Wren by Mercedes Lackey (already in tbr monstrosity)

The Shadow of the Lion by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer (already in tbr monstrosity)

This Scepter'd Isle by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis (added)

Werehunter by Mercedes Lackey (added)

There are many more, from authors like Elizabeth Moon, Harry Turtledove,  Lois McMaster Bujold, Fred Saberhagen...

This is a bit of an older entry, already about two weeks old, but author Lindsay Buroker's Kindle Geeks: Ebooks for Your Geeky Side has an excellent post up for cheap $.99 fantasy ebooks for Kindles and Nooks here. Her own The Emperor's Edge is included, and is more than worth the $.99 pricing. There are some pretty small indie authors in there, so you might not otherwise see their debuts. Definitely worth checking out if you're a fantasy fan.

My friend Hollie has an awesome cooking blog called From My Mouth To Yours. She's a faaantastic chef, and she shared a recipe for a delicious quinoa salad with citrus vinaigrette. Sounds scrumptious, right? Check out the post here. I can't lie and say I've made this myself (I DO NOT cook) but I fully intend to have The Boyfriend do so ASAP. Mmm, food.

Writer Libby Heily, over at her eponymous blog, has a weekly meme called Flash Fiction Friday.   This week it was The Gummy Files, a short story aimed at young readers about a day in the life of a piece of gum. Imaginative and fun, I emailed this to my elementary school teacher sister whose students LOVED it.  Every day, Libby has a different blog topic ("Monday and Thursdays we discuss writing and random topics. Tuesdays are book recommendations. Wednesdays are a fun day where I post videos. FRIDAYS ARE FOR FICTION, namely mine.") It's a fun and informative blog!

Also, my monthly planned reads:

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole

Room by Emma Donoghue

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin (reread to gear up for book #5!)

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly.

That's all I have planned, but I am sure some will fall to the wayside until later and random ones that catch my eye will fill in. But expect me to read and review at least some of these.