Two Minute Review: I Work at a Public Library by Gina Sheridan

Title: I Work at a Public Library: A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks
Author: Gina Sheridan
Genre: nonfiction
Series: none
Pages: 160
Published: Expected July 31, 2014
Source: publisher via edelweiss
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Straight from the library--the strange and bizarre, ready to be checked out!

From a patron's missing wetsuit to the scent of crab cakes wafting through the stacks, I Work at a Public Library showcases the oddities that have come across Gina Sheridan's circulation desk. Throughout these pages, she catalogs her encounters with local eccentrics as well as the questions that plague her, such as, "What is the standard length of eyebrow hairs?" Whether she's helping someone scan his face onto an online dating site or explaining why the library doesn't have any dragon autobiographies, Sheridan's bizarre tales prove that she's truly seen it all.

Stacked high with hundreds of strange-but-true stories, I Work at a Public Library celebrates librarians and the unforgettable patrons that roam the stacks every day.

Reviewed by Danielle. 

I used to work at a public library in high school, so believe me when I say every story in this book rings true.

I Work at a Public Library recounts silly questions, baffling encounters, and even the touching stories of working with readers. It's often a frustrating endeavor, but as the last chapter shows, a worthwhile one. Of course, it doesn't generally feel that way when you're cleaning vomit covered sweatshirts out of the stacks.

The best part of Sheridan's book is the way she's organized the stories. I love the idea of using the Dewey Decimal system as the chapter headers. It was cute, made me think of libraries, and separated this book from several similar ones I've read. I also liked the chapter on one patron, Cuckoo Carol. It gave the book a personal connection that I was searching for.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of non-fiction books, (and even more blogs!) with stories from customer service jobs, and these don't really differ much from say the one about the bookstore or the other one about libraries. It's a genre I like, don't get me wrong, but in a few weeks I don't think I'll be able to tell you in which book I read the wetsuit story and which one asked if there was a copy of Tequila Mockingbird available.

I Work at a Public Library is a very short, (I read it in about 90 minutes,) but very funny book that's relatable to anyone who's worked with the public. If you've ever heard "my tax dollars!" in an unironic way, and you've gained enough space from the experience that it's funny now, you're probably going to have a great afternoon with Sheridan's patrons.

TBR Planning: July edition

Quite a lot of good books coming out soon! I have already read a few new favorites and have my eye on a veritable goldmine for a tbr! I have a lot of fun reviews and blog tour stops headed this way, too. It should be a great summer. 

Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.
Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters. All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission.
But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
I'm a sucker for epic fantasy and damned if this doesn't sound epic. I was lucky to get an ARC and plan to have a review for it up in the next week or so!

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
This one is going to be good. This one is going to be a favorite for me, for a lot of people. I think Dani is also planning to review it. It should be memorable, that is for sure.

Review: Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

Title: Traitor's Blade
Author: Sebastien de Castell
Genre: fantasy
Series: Greatcoats #1
Pages: 384
Published: Expected July 15, 2014
Source: publisher via edelweiss
Rating: 4 out of 5

Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their King’s head on a spike.

Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders. The Dukes bring chaos to the land, while the Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters. All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission.

But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King’s dream, the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will also have to stand aside as they watch their world burn…

Reviewed by Danielle. 
I have fallen in love Sebastien de Castell’s writing.

Traitor’s Blade opens with a classic, old-school prologue about duty, honor, and the inherent righteousness of our heroes. And then it drops us in the middle of a scene of said heroes guarding a boudoir as their employer deploys fantasy-Viagra to fuck a prostitute all night long. And with this juxtaposition, I fell hard.

Falcio val Mond was the First Cantor of the Greatcoats, the head of a legendary band of roving magistrates, protecting citizens high and low and defending the King’s justice. Unfortunately, the King lost his head and the Greatcoats lost everything. They’re reviled, loathed even, and knights are just itching for the chance to murder the lot.

Falcio, clinging to his ideals, sets out on his final geasa from the King, a journey to find the King’s Charoites, or jewels. He’s reluctantly joined by his best friends Kest, the greatest mortal swordsman, and Brasti, an archer beyond compare. Guarding caravan leaders may just be beneath their skills. Unfortunately, finding a bunch of hidden jewels in a world that despises you isn’t as easy as it sounds. The trio end up in the center of the political unrest that has followed the King’s death.

This leads to the largest portion of the book, the “Blood Week” in Rijou. Does that sound bad? The city is described as, “from a distance it gleamed. I don’t mean it shimmered, nor did it shine; it gleamed, the gleam of oily skin on a corpse, or the gleam in the eye of a man who fancies he can kill you without consequences.” Yeah, everything’s going to go great for Falcio in there. There’s a lot of action, particularly during this section, and it’s well written. There’s also a lot of humor and wit, something you rarely find in this genre. Even more interesting is Falcio’s obvious depression, bordering on suicidal, which serves as a counterpoint to Brasti’s easy humor and Kest’s stoic honor.

There are three scenes that concern me and kept me from giving the book a higher score. The first is a flashback to Aline, Falcio’s wife, being fridged. This is an unfortunate trope to start with, but when the woman agrees to let herself be raped to save both their lives and their home, rides the villain like a demon, gives him the best sex ever, (despite being raped,) and is then brutally murdered anyway to set the main character on his quest for revenge and redemption? Problematic at best, fucking-gross-Jesus-fuck-why-would-you-DO-that?!? at worst.

The second is Falcio’s night with Ethalia. The consent is questionable, the motivations are thin, and the conclusion felt rushed and out of nowhere. The spiritual cleansing of your main character shouldn’t read like a last minute, obligatory sex scene requested by the publisher.

And the last is the thrilling conclusion. Again, it felt rushed. Without spoiling too much, the acceptance of a new member of the Musketeers was frankly crazy. They pretty much literally went with “a wizard did it” to wave everything away. I’m left with so many questions. Spoilers: Why didn’t the soft candy work on little Aline, but it did on Falcio? Where did the Duchess get a Saint? How did any single thing the Tailor did actually work? Why was the King’s actual freaking plan, “leave a bunch of bastards around the country for after I die”? And WHY DID I FIGURE THAT OUT A HUNDRED PAGES BEFORE FALCIO? 

Traitor’s Blade is a fantastic high fantasy that should appeal to fans of Sanderson or Lynch, which I am and which it does. It does have a bit of a Three Musketeers flavor at points, but it didn’t feel derivative. The twists are engaging and (for the most part) exciting, though somewhat expected. It’s funny and sharp. I was never bored, and I’m extremely excited for the next in the series. I strongly recommend it.

Review: Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Sinner
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: young adult, supernatural
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls #4
Pages: 368
Published: expected July 1 2014
Source: I was given this ARC at Book Expo America in exchange for a fair review. This in no way affects my rating or thoughts.
Rating: 5/5

A standalone companion book to the internationally bestselling Shiver Trilogy.

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole's story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole's darkest secret -- his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel's life. Can this sinner be saved?

I mainlined the entire Mercy Falls series over five days. It was a great experience for me as a reader, and as someone who loves the chance to bask in pretty, unique prose. The first book, Shiver, was definitely the weakest of the lot for me, but author and wordsmith Maggie Stiefvater grows noticeably in her writing skills and storytelling over the course of her werewolf series. It was the rare series that started strong and, seemingly, ended even stronger.

Sinner, the fourth novel, is a clear reflection of that maturity and is the best book of the series.  It's been a few years since Sam and Grace's story was concluded so satisfactorily. But now it's Isabel and Cole St. Clair's turn. Their turn at helming the story is brash and loud and full of quiet moments and beautiful writing. I was a fan of Shiver, loved both Linger and Forever, but this was the first five-star read of the series for me. It was a thoroughly engaging, heart-wrenching, beautifully-imagined and written experience featuring two amazingly well-drawn protagonists who challenge each other, fight, and love so fiercely.

If you're here looking for more story about Sam and Grace, or anything approaching their kind of relationship, or even really for a werewolf book in the vein of the previous novels, Sinner is not the book for you. Of all the series, Sinner is the least concerned with the characters wolfing out/trying to find reasons/a cure, and more with the characters themselves, in all their many faults and virtues. There are still werewolf tendencies and elements to the novel, but Cole and Isabel's main struggle is with themselves or with each other. Their relationship has never been easy, and Stiefvater will run you through an emotional wringer with these two yet again.

When I talk about authors capable of pretty prose, the list I can reference is rather short. Melina Marchetta, Laini Taylor, Franny Billingsley, Leslye Walton.... and Maggie Stiefvater. I've always enjoyed Maggie's style and way of wording things, but there were entire pages of Sinner that I wish I could memorize for how perfectly this author can describe and encapsulate so many feelings so well. This woman can write. She can write beautifully. She can write effectively. And she can do both at the same time. Her prose is one of my favorite things, but this is an author doesn't sacrifice the plot, or pacing, or characterization in order to focus one thing. 

I loved reading from Cole and Isabel's POVs. I had a lot of feelings about their story when I finished, and I suspect those emotional will linger for a long time. While Forever left me feeling like everything was wrapped up and ended, Sinner makes me feel like I can never have enough time or books with these characters.

Review: The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas

Title: The Nightingale Girls
Author: Donna Douglas
Genre: historical fiction
Series: Nightingale Nurses #1
Pages: 512
Published: August 16, 2012
Source: publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5

Three very different girls sign up as student nurses in January 1936, while England is still mourning the death of George V. Dora is a tough East Ender, driven by ambition, but also desperate to escape her squalid, overcrowded home and her abusive stepfather. Helen is the quiet one, a mystery to her fellow nurses, avoiding fun, gossip and the limelight. In fact she is in the formidable shadow of her overbearing mother, who dominates every aspect of her life. Can a nursing career free Helen at last? The third of our heroines is naughty, rebellious Millie -- aka Lady Camilla -- an aristocrat on the run from her conventional upper class life. She is doomed to clash over and over again with terrifying Sister Hyde and to get into scrape after scrape especially where men are concerned. This utterly delightful novel brings a London pre-war hospital vividly to life.

Reviewed by Danielle. 
I like Call The Midwives on BBC, so when I received a NetGalley email advertising a historical fiction novel that was supposed to be very similar, I decided to take a chance outside my usual time periods and give it a whirl.

The Nightingale Girls follows three trainee nurses in 1930s London. There’s Dora, the poor-but-hardworking East End girl, accepted to the prestigious Nightingale Teaching Hospital because she reminds the new Matron of herself and her roommates; Millie, the dissatisfied Lady, fleeing her responsibilities for fun and sense-of-purpose; and Helen, the bookish but sad daughter of a powerful hospital trustee. They’re pretty easily recognizable tropes, but due to very varied home lives and tragic pasts, all three are unique to read.

Unfortunately, I wanted nursing and class struggles, similar to the show the publishers are drawing comparisons to. What I got was three 200 page romances. Dora undergoes some teasing and almost fails an exam because she can’t afford a book, but otherwise, her different background doesn’t factor much into the story. Likewise, the book only shows one or two classes and then moves on to using the wards as set dressing. There are patients, some of them are sick, sometimes the girls are required to attend them, but large swathes of the book feature no more nursing than cleaning and making tea.

Instead, each girl is given a romance that takes up the large majority of this very long novel. One falls for a boy from home, one is trapped in a love triangle between a good friend and a baaad boy, and one, the most interesting and consequently best, falls for a patient of a different class. I don’t mind romance, and I was expecting a love interest for each, but it drives too much of the book. The girls claim they don’t want to get married and leave their beloved jobs, but I didn’t find that to be the case based on the narration.

There are a lot of subplots and four or five other POVs that make brief appearances to drive them. The new Matron is too modern and her assistant and the trustees don’t approve. The mean girl has problems at home. One of the love interests has problems at home. Someone knows secrets about someone else. Three teachers knit and have tea. None of it’s bad, in fact it’s good to give villains motivation, but the book is too long by half and these detours frequently pulled away from the little action in the main story.

Still, I like Millie a lot, one romance really gave me the feels, and I’m kind of interested in a modern Matron at a very old-fashioned school. Unfortunately, I’m very against rape as a plot point, particularly child sexual abuse, and it’s deployed liberally in one backstory. I don’t think it was necessary and the resolution where: [the love interest drives the abuser away, without talking to the victims, because his brother overheard them fighting, made me feel scummy. Something about it felt like the victim is his property now, so the abuser left. It’s even more disappointing because the victim had previously displayed some savvy, outsmarting the abuser, and then completely lost her head and couldn’t see that he’d taken a new victim. The character progression felt off.] With the exception of that one plot point, there’s nothing wrong with The Nightingale Girls. It just wasn’t particularly interesting, either.

Jessie's June Book Haul

Hi everyone! I have a pretty decent sized haul going on today. That said, it's not quite as bad as my usual. This is a haul for all of June! BEA gave me so many books, my hauls are going to be on the small(er) side for a while.

Probably.


That said, here they are. 

These are my B&N-had-a-Hachette-sale buys:

Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty (Shambling Guides #2) - loved the cheeky, fun first one 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #1) - great reviews, often favorable compared to the Paradox books.

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach (Eli Monpress #1-3) - this woman wrote the Paradox books. I need all her books.

My Ryan-took-me-to-Half-Price Books-haul:

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Brian's Saga #1) -- childhood favorite for less than a $1. Can't resist.

Sister by Rosamund Lupton -- not for me. Already read it and this is an author I just don't fare well with.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith -- marked down to $2 and it sounds cute/good.

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (Rebel Belle #1) --- that cover speaks to my soul. Plus it was $7 for a hardcover.

The Sweet Spot by Stephanie Evanovich -- for a TLC Book Tour later this summer. Thanks, William Morrow books.

Zodiac by Romina Russell -- Lili from Lili's Refelctions was awesome enough to send me this when I missed a copy at BEA. Greatly appreciated, lady!

 

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh O'Brien -- this was sent to me from Steph for a Cuddlebuggery review!


Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha #3) -- this book was four days late and then I read it in 6 hours. I am still Not Okay. (The book was fabulous but now I have no more Grisha booooooooooks.) (STURMHOND)

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman (Prisoner of Night and Fog #1) -- I've already read this as an ARC and but I needed a physical copy. 

My Strange-Chemistry-is-shutting-down-omg-buy-all-their-books haul:

Shadowplay by Laura Lam (Micah Grey #2) -- I loved Pantomime. There's no way I would not find out what happens next!

The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Hannah's Duology #1) -- Loved the cover, intrigued by the story. It was conceived and pitched as a duology so the fact the second (The Nobleman's Revenge) might not be published is troubling.

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Assassin's Curse #1) - another book I read and loved as an ARC. Plus the cover is amaaazing.

The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Assassin's Curse #2) -- I have to see what happens after book one. Plus, another case of CRC getting great, original covers.

See?

I have a few more Strange Chemistry books I need to pick up (57 Lives of Alex Wayfare, Stolen Songbird, Featherbound) and if you're interested in any, I would grab them before it's too late.