genre: fiction | Scribbles & Wanderlust | Page 7

Tag: genre: fiction
- Upcoming Books! [20]
  
  Posted at 4:53 pm by Laura, on June 3, 2012
  
  Title: Little Night
  Author: Luanne Rice
  Genre: fiction, drama, family
  Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: Clare Burke’s life took a devastating turn when she tried to protect her sister, Anne, from an abusive and controlling husband and ended up serving prison time for assault. The verdict largely hinged on Anne’s defense of her spouse—all lies—and the sisters have been estranged ever since. Nearly twenty years later, Clare is living a quiet life in Manhattan as an urban birder and nature blogger, when her niece, Grit, turns up on her doorstep.
  The two long for a relationship with each other, but they’ll have to dig deep into their family’s difficult past in order to build one. Together they face the wounds inflicted by Anne and find in their new connection a place of healing. When Clare begins to suspect her sister might be in New York, she and her niece hold out hope for a long-awaited reunion with her.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Monument 14
  Author: Emmy Laybourne
  Genre: young adult, dystopian, post-apocalyptic
  Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
  Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
  But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.
  Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.
  In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Dead Scared
  Author: SJ Bolton
  Genre: mystery, thriller
  Publisher: St Martin’s Press
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: When a rash of suicides tears through Cambridge University, DI Mark Joesbury recruits DC Lacey Flint to go undercover as a student to investigate. Although each student’s death appears to be a suicide, the psychological histories, social networks, and online activities of the students involved share remarkable similarities, and the London police are not convinced that the victims acted alone. They believe that someone might be preying on lonely and insecure students and either encouraging them to take their own lives or actually luring them to their deaths. As long as Lacey can play the role of a vulnerable young woman, she may be able to stop these deaths, but is it just a role for her? With her fragile past, is she drawing out the killers, or is she herself being drawn into a deadly game where she’s a perfect victim?
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading! What are you reading this week? I’ve started Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and I think I’ll either start The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox or The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe after.
  
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: mystery, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Book Review: “Faithful Place” by Tana French
  
  Posted at 4:23 pm by Laura, on June 3, 2012
  
  Faithful Place by Tana French
  
  Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin’s inner city, and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.
  
  But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn’t show. Frank took it for granted that she’d dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.
  
  Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie’s suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.
  
  Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he’s a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he’s willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.
  
  This third installment of the Dublin Murder series was better than the first book (In the Woods) and not as fantastic as the second book (The Likeness). It is a mixture of the two, with personal dilemmas like the first and loads of intrigue and mystery like the second. Faithful Place is first and foremost a love story, discovering the past and revealing mysterious incidents through vengeance. Frank Mackey is quite the charmer, and stops at nothing to discover what happened to his old girlfriend (and later, his brother).
  
  Rather than taking place in offices and solving the mystery through crime lab results and scientific data, Frank discovers everything “old school.” He’s always at the scene of the crime, back home, or visiting old friends’ places and having multiple conversations with others. At first the conversations seemed to drag – I wondered what the point was for all the dialogue – but once it seemed to be too much, Frank (and the reader) could immediately make connections to other conversations and incidents from the past. Tana French was very clever in her subtle hints and twists in the plot.
  
  What was incredibly fascinating was the internal switch in my mental accent. The voice reading in my head was no longer a midwestern American, but an Irish voice that I’m sure was a terrible mimicry of a true Dublin accent. The slang, phrasing, and deliberate misspellings in the dialogue begged to be read with the accent in mind! It certainly became entertaining, and easier to read once I got the hang of it.
  
  Filled with intrigue, old-fashioned word-of-mouth mystery-solving, folklore, and Irish homeliness, I would recommend this book to anyone who deeply enjoyed The Likeness (which Frank makes repeated appearances in) or wants a good heartbreaking love story that ended in murder. The relationships between the characters are entertaining, the conversations and class divides interesting, and the atmosphere intoxicating.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★
  Goodreads: 3.89 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: fiction, genre: mystery, goodreads, review
- Upcoming Books! [19]
  
  Posted at 12:00 pm by Laura, on May 27, 2012
  Title: Changeling
  Author: Philippa Gregory
  Genre: young adult, historical fiction, fantasy
  Publisher: Simon Pulse
  Publishing Date: May 29
  Summary: Italy, 1453. Seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is brilliant, gorgeous—and accused of heresy. Cast out of his religious order for using the new science to question old superstitious beliefs, Luca is recruited into a secret sect: The Order of the Dragon, commissioned by Pope Nicholas V to investigate evil and danger in its many forms, and strange occurrences across Europe, in this year—the end of days.
  Isolde is a seventeen-year-old girl shut up in a nunnery so she can’t inherit any of her father’s estate. As the nuns walk in their sleep and see strange visions, Isolde is accused of witchcraft—and Luca is sent to investigate her, but finds himself plotting her escape.
  Despite their vows, despite themselves, love grows between Luca and Isolde as they travel across Europe with their faithful companions, Freize and Ishraq. The four young people encounter werewolves, alchemists, witches, and death-dancers as they head toward a real-life historical figure who holds the boundaries of Christendom and the secrets of the Order of the Dragon.
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Yard
  Author: Alex Grecian
  Genre: mystery, historical fiction
  Publisher: Putnam Books
  Publishing Date: May 29
  Summary: Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives—known as “The Murder Squad”—to investigate countless murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt. They have failed their citizens. But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own . . . one of the twelve . . .When Walter Day, the squad’s newest hire, is assigned the case of the murdered detective, he finds a strange ally in the Yard’s first forensic pathologist, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. Together they track the killer, who clearly is not finished with The Murder Squad . . . but why?
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Watchers
  Author: Jon Steele
  Genre: mystery, thriller
  Publisher: Blue Rider Press
  Publishing Date: May 29
  Summary: Meet Marc Rochat, a man-child who has devoted his life to being the bell ringer at the Gothic Lausanne Cathedral, one of the greatest architectural structures in the world. Eerie things have been going on in and around his church, including tremblings in the underground crypt and a variety of gruesomely murdered bodies showing up in nearby streets. Across the square from the cathedral lives Katherine Taylor, a beautiful young American woman who is making phenomenal money as one of the highest-priced call girls in Switzerland; she’s a bit too introspective for her own good and, unfortunately, much too observant of her clients’ peccadilloes. Rochat’s and Taylor’s lives collide with Jay Harper, a British private eye who has been sent to investigate the killings and other strange doings; alas, he has no memory of who hired him or precisely why he was chosen for the job. And now all the clues are pointing skyward, where fallen angels are said to haunt Lausanne.
  
  ~
  
  Some books to look forward to publication later in 2012 and early 2013 include
  - Stephanie Thornton’s THE SECRET HISTORY, in which a theater tart-turned-Constantinople’s premier courtesan must decide what’s more important: pleasing the emperor who claims to love her or keeping the son he can never know about.
  - Mary Miley’s THE IMPERSONATOR, featuring a young vaudeville actress who takes on the role of a lifetime when she impersonates a missing heiress.
  - Benjamin Percy’s THE DEAD LANDS, a post-apocalyptic reinvention of Lewis and Clark’s epic journey across the West.
  Happy reading!
  
  Major thanks to several publishing houses, Goodreads, and Publishers Lunch for providing weekly updates!
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: mystery, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Upcoming Books! [18]
  
  Posted at 12:00 pm by Laura, on May 20, 2012
  
  Title: Of Poseidon
  Author: Anna Banks
  Genre: young adult, fantasy
  Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
  Publishing Date: May 22
  Summary: Galen, a Syrena prince, searches land for a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. It’s while Emma is on vacation at the beach that she meets Galen. Although their connection is immediate and powerful, Galen’s not fully convinced that Emma’s the one he’s been looking for. That is, until a deadly encounter with a shark proves that Emma and her Gift may be the only thing that can save his kingdom. He needs her help–no matter what the risk.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Jane Austen Marriage Manual
  Author: Kim Izzo
  Genre: fiction
  Publisher: St Martin’s Press
  Publishing Date: May 22
  Summary: Katherine Shaw—Kate— is happy with her life. She has supportive friends, a glamorous magazine career, and a love of all things Jane Austen. But when she loses her job, her beloved grandmother falls ill and a financial disaster forces a sale on the family home, Kate finds herself facing a crisis that would test even the most stalwart of Austen heroines.
  Friends rally round, connecting her to freelance gigs, and presenting her with a birthday gift— title to land in Scotland—that’s about to come in very handy. Turns out that Kate’s first freelance assignment is to test an Austen-inspired theory: in the toughest economic times is a wealthy man the only must-have accessory? What begins as an article turns into an opportunity as Kate—now Lady Kate—jet-sets to Palm Beach, St Moritz and London where, in keeping company with the elite, she meets prospects who make Mr. Darcy look like an amateur. But will rubbing shoulders with men of good fortune ever actually lead her to love? And will Kate be able to choose between Mr. Rich and Mr. Right?
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Enchantress
  Author: Michael Scott
  Genre: young adult, fantasy
  Publisher: Delacorte Press fror Young Readers
  Publishing Date: May 22
  Summary: Sixth and final book in the series “The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.”
  San Francisco:
  Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live, and one job left to do. They must defend San Francisco. The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city. If they are not stopped, they will destroy everyone and everything in their path.
  But even with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend the city? Or is it the beginning of the end of the human race?
  Danu Talis:
  Sophie and Josh Newman traveled ten thousand years into the past to Danu Talis when they followed Dr. John Dee and Virginia Dare. And it’s on this legendary island that the battle for the world begins and ends.
  Scathach, Prometheus, Palamedes, Shakespeare, Saint-Germain, and Joan of Arc are also on the island. And no one is sure what—or who—the twins will be fighting for.
  Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.
  But will the twins of legend stand together?
  Or will they stand apart—
  one to save the world and one to destroy it?
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading!
  
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Upcoming Books! [17]
  
  Posted at 8:51 pm by Laura, on May 13, 2012
  
  Title: A Confusion of Princes
  Author: Garth Nix
  Genre: young adult, sci-fi, fantasy
  Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
  Publishing Date: May 15
  Summary: You’d think being a privileged Prince in a vast intergalactic Empire would be about as good as it gets. But it isn’t as great as it sounds. For one thing, Princes are always in danger. Their greatest threat? Other Princes. Khemri discovers that the moment he is proclaimed a Prince.
  He also discovers mysteries within the hidden workings of the Empire. Dispatched on a secret mission, Khemri comes across the ruins of a space battle. In the midst of it all he meets a young woman named Raine, who will challenge his view of the Empire, of Princes, and of himself.
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Chemistry of Tears
  Author: Peter Carey
  Genre: historical fiction
  Publisher: Knopf Doubleday
  Publishing Date: May 15
  Summary: London 2010: Catherine Gehrig, conservator at the Swinburne museum, learns of the sudden death of her colleague and lover of thirteen years. As the mistress of a married man, she must struggle to keep the depth of her anguish to herself. The one other person who knows Catherine’s secret—her boss—arranges for her to be given a special project away from prying eyes in the museum’s Annexe. Usually controlled and rational, but now mad with grief, Catherine reluctantly unpacks an extraordinary, eerie automaton that she has been charged with bringing back to life.
  As she begins to piece together the clockwork puzzle, she also uncovers a series of notebooks written by the mechanical creature’s original owner: a nineteenth-century Englishman, Henry Brandling, who traveled to Germany to commission it as a magical amusement for his consumptive son. But it is Catherine, nearly two hundred years later, who will find comfort and wonder in Henry’s story. And it is the automaton, in its beautiful, uncanny imitation of life, that will link two strangers confronted with the mysteries of creation, the miracle and catastrophe of human invention, and the body’s astonishing chemistry of love and feeling.
  
  ~
  
  Title: As the Crow Flies
  Author: Craig Johnson
  Genre: mystery
  Publisher: Viking Adult
  Publishing Date: May 15
  Summary: Embarking on his eighth adventure, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire has a more important matter on his mind than cowboys and criminals. His daughter, Cady, is getting married to the brother of his undersheriff, Victoria Moretti. Walt and old friend Henry Standing Bear are the de facto wedding planners and fear Cady’s wrath when the wedding locale arrangements go up in smoke two weeks before the big event.
  The pair set out to find a new site for the nuptials on the Cheyenne Reservation, but their scouting expedition ends in horror as they witness a young Crow woman plummeting from Painted Warrior’s majestic cliffs. It’s not Walt’s turf, but the newly appointed tribal police chief and Iraqi war veteran, the beautiful Lolo Long, shanghais him into helping with the investigation. Walt is stretched thin as he mentors Lolo, attempts to catch the bad guys, and performs the role of father of the bride.
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading!
  
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: mystery, genre: sci-fi, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Book Review: “Grave Mercy” by Robin LaFevers
  
  Posted at 6:12 pm by Laura, on May 12, 2012
  
  Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
  
  Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?
  
  Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
  
  Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
  
  I should start this review by saying I was not expecting too much from this novel. I bought it on my Nook because I liked the cover and the idea of historical fantasy / assassin nuns. However, I expected it to be extremely silly and a young adult version of a trashy romance novel, while also tossing in some royal political Philippa Gregory-style intrigue.
  
  Admittedly, there are moments when it becomes borderline trashy romance, but so much of the novel is taken up with character development, plots, mysteries, schemes, and politics of medieval/Renaissance Brittany that this can be overlooked. Gavriel Duval, the character who has “stolen Ismae’s heart” is a wonderfully complex character without any of those typical brooding descriptions. Ismae is a hard nut to crack, firmly stubborn, sometimes blind, and wildly bitter — and rightfully so.
  
  The historical time frame is a bit hazy, but if I knew more about weapons and poisons and the political history of Brittany I could narrow it down pretty well. LaFevers does an excellent job of describing historical artifacts and the different tricks courtiers are notorious for (having read The Courtier and The Prince for a Renaissance history class, it is clear LaFevers has done her research). The drawback for me as a reader is my lack of knowledge of Brittany. If I had known more about this little duchy, the century would have become more clear. Because of this hindrance, I had to suspend any disbelief I may have held in regards to historical context.
  
  The fantasy, however, is fantastic (ha!). I love the idea of combining old religions with Christianity, masking them with different names. Apparently there were 9 gods that ruled Brittany, later renamed as saints for the sake of the Church. Ismae’s is the god of Death, and not Death as we would understand it. At first we find Ismae misunderstanding her tasks as missions of vengeance, but she soon grows to understand (and become blessed by Death) that her mission is one of mercy.
  
  I read through this novel as quickly as I could between job interviews and visits to the vet for my poor cat – I’m sure if I had a full day to sit and be alone, this would have been plowed through in a few hours. I was drawn to the tale, for that’s what it is. A really good story – not of literary merit or praise or any such thing as that, but a tale of faith, death, and love in a time of political turmoil.
  
  Rating: ★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.09 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, ebooks, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: young adult, goodreads, review
- Book Review: “Pandemonium” by Lauren Oliver
  
  Posted at 9:44 pm by Laura, on May 9, 2012
  
  Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
  
  I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
  pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
  pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
  push,
  push,
  push,
  like Raven taught me to do.
  The old life is dead.
  But the old Lena is dead too.
  I buried her.
  I left her beyond a fence,
  behind a wall of smoke and flame.
  
  Once again, Oliver delivers a ride like none other. Unlike the first in her dystopian trilogy, Delirium, this second installment focuses on survival, growth, and rebellion rather than the discovery and immersion of love.
  
  The book is dividing into then and now to illustrate the development of Lena’s character. She describes herself as reborn in the Wilds, hardening with work, hunger, and violent weather. The thens are filled with survival tactics. Oliver delves into the pain of heartbreak and grief without becoming melodramatic. The reader learns with Lena just how the people in the Wilds (or rather, “the other side”) live off remains and help from sympathizers. The nows jump to the future, almost a year after Lena’s escape, to her immersion back with the cureds in New York City. She works as a double agent of sorts, and falls into a trap, a scheme, that leads her to another boy, Julian.
  
  This is where the second book fell short of five stars and suffered the Middle Book Syndrome. Of course, because it’s YA and dystopian, there needs to be a love triangle. Sure. Fine. And maybe, realistically, this would happen to Lena if she truly believes Alex is dead. Even still, the romance seemed forced, far too rushed considering the time frame in the now lasted roughly two weeks at most. However, it certainly sets up for an explosive ending in the third book: politics, the definitive rise of rebellions, plus a little love war in the midst of it all.
  
  I’m really looking forward to Oliver’s next installment in the Delirium trilogy!
  
  Rating: ★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.25 of 5
  
  I am now over halfway completed with my 50 Books Challenge!
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged 50 book challenge, book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: young adult, review
- Upcoming Books! [16]
  
  Posted at 9:14 pm by Laura, on May 6, 2012
  
  Title: City of Lost Souls
  Author: Cassandra Clare
  Genre: fantasy, young adult
  Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
  Publishing Date: May 8
  Summary: The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.
  No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?
  Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.
  And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?
  
  ~
  
  Title: Home
  Author: Toni Morrison
  Genre: historical fiction
  Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  Publishing Date: May 8
  Summary: Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he’s hated all his life. As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Bring Up the Bodies
  Author: Hilary Mantel
  Genre: historical fiction
  Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc
  Publishing Date: May 8
  Summary: Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.
  At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne’s head?
  
  Woo! Happy reading!
  
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Upcoming Books! [15]
  
  Posted at 3:28 pm by Laura, on April 29, 2012
  
  Title: Insurgent
  Author: Veronica Roth
  Genre: young adult, dystopian
  Publisher: HarperTeen
  Publishing Date: May 1
  Summary: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
  Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
  See my review of the first book in this trilogy, Divergent!
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Proposal
  Author: Mary Balogh
  Genre: historical fiction, romance
  Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  Publishing Date: May 1
  Summary: Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her.
  Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous—if beautiful—aristocrat. He is a gentleman in name only: a soldier whose bravery earned him a title; a merchant’s son who inherited his wealth. He is happiest when working the land, but duty and title now demand that he finds a wife. He doesn’t wish to court Lady Muir, nor have any role in the society games her kind thrives upon. Yet Hugo has never craved a woman more; Gwen’s guileless manner, infectious laugh, and lovely face have ruined him for any other woman. He wants her, but will she have him?
  
  ~
  
  Title: Death Comes Silently
  Author: Carolyn Hart
  Genre: mystery
  Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
  Publishing Date: May 2
  Summary: Winter has arrived in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina, and business has slowed for Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand. So when the island’s resident writer publishes the latest in her popular mystery series, Annie jumps at the chance to host a book signing, even though it conflicts with her shift at the local charity shop, Better Tomorrow.
  Luckily, fellow volunteer Gretchen Burkholt agrees to sub for her. The signing goes well, but Gretchen interrupts the event multiple times, leaving voice mails about scandalous news she’s dying to share. Even though Gretchen tends to be excitable, Annie heads over to Better Tomorrow, where she finds Gretchen dead on the floor, an axe by her side.
  Annie enlists the help of her husband, Max, to piece together a puzzle involving an overturned kayak, a stolen motorboat, a troubled love affair, and a reckless teenager. And she must tread carefully in her investigation, because a killer is on the loose, and that killer works well in the foggy days of winter…
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading!
  
  Posted in books, Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: mystery, genre: romance, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Book Review: “Delirium” by Lauren Oliver
  
  Posted at 4:29 pm by Laura, on April 27, 2012
  
  Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  
  Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love — the deliria — blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
  
  But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
  
  Thank heavens the second of this trilogy is already out! The massive and thrilling cliff-hanger at the end is too much to bear!
  
  This YA dystopian novel is the first book of the Delirium trilogy. It’s important to note that this is primarily a love story that takes place within a dystopian world, not a dystopian world with a love story (like Hunger Games).
  
  While love stories can become cheesy, this one most definitely did not. The desperation between Lena and Alex is real, solid, and threatening within their world. The US is the only nation with “the cure” and it is separated from the rest of the world, keeping the “cureds” within and the “infected” outside. Even the cities are locked within electric fences, preventing people from escaping into the Wilds, the area where all the Invalids (uncured or infected) inhabit.
  
  I found two things that really pulled me into and through the story: Lena’s transformation and enlightenment, as well as Oliver’s language. Lena is a perfectly rational, calm girl, awaiting the day of her surgery to become cured of the disease amor deliria nervosa. The rational behind the dangers of love make some sense: the pain, the drastic behaviors, sweating palms and strange appetites. These are all things people in love experience, but the world twists it in a negative way, causing everyone to fear love and fear those in love. By the end of the novel, she feels “alive” and “awakened,” wanting desperately to escape to the Wilds with Alex so she’ll never have to undergo the procedure. Her transformation is an adventure in its own right.
  
  The language – my goodness! It’s so beautiful. Although this novel is for young adult readers, Oliver does not underestimate her audience’s reading abilities. The language reads like adult novels, full of elegant descriptions and fantastic imagery and sensory detail. You become Lena, you experience everything she experiences, your heart pounds in fear, anxiety, and thrill when hers does.
  
  I like to also offer my two cents on social commentary. Oliver says she was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s quote that great books are about love or death. While this is incredibly interesting and I love her take on it, I think there’s more that can be said. Suzanne Collins was inspired by wars and the media to write Hunger Games – the political commentary on that is immense. I think Delirium could also be a commentary on what modern society deems as acceptable love and human rights. Today, only a man and woman can marry. But there are also taboos within this freedom: younger men marrying older women, young girls marrying men the age of their grandparents, people marrying “too young” or marrying because of pregnancy. But this also does not leave room for men to marry men, women to marry women. Our society scoffs at teenagers who say they are in love — “You don’t know what real love is, you’re only 14.” We should take a step back and ask ourselves…whatis love? And why do we have such social pressures and regulations on what we believe is love?
  
  Food for thought.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.6 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: romance, genre: young adult, review
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  I'm a bookish bookworm and book hoarder. By day I'm a literary agent, and by night I'm forever rearranging my bookshelves. I could talk your ear off about Gothic literature, and in my past life people thought I'd become a professional musician. I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to travel, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm always down for chips-and-queso nights. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!
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