{Review} A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

Sandra
Books

A DOg's Purpose by W. Bruce CameronBefore reviewing W.Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose A Novel for Humans, I went to my trusty Thesaurus in search of replacement words for sentimental:  

Dewy-eyed, corny, gushing, idealistic, inane, insipid, maudlin, moonstruck and mushy. 

Okay, I’m all of those and then some when it comes to my love of dogs, especially my own little basset hound, Nico.

I picked up Cameron’s book one afternoon, curled into my most comfortable reading position on the couch, snuggled my dog at my side and began reading. I finished hours later at 12:30 AM with tears flowing down my face, gulping back sobs and my own dog looking at me with grave concern in his brown eyes.

{Review} I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Maggie
Books

I've Got Your NUmber by Sophia KinsellaOveridentifying with a Sophie Kinsella character is often a sign that you’re on the verge of:

a. a nervous breakdown
b. being arrested for fraud
c. Finnish Finnish Finnish
d. all of the above

Well, Finnish Finnish Finnish because I loved Kinsella’s latest, I’ve Got Your Number, and totally related to the main character, Poppy.

I mean, who isn’t absolutely, life-on-the-line dependent on their cell phone? Who doesn’t think the Lion King was the greatest musical?! And who hasn’t pretended they were an answering machine when accidentally picking up a call?

Crickets on the last one? Well, FINE. You’d be surprised how easy it is to pull off though.

{Opinion} Stop telling me what to read, please!

Sarah Moon
In the News, Opinion

In a blatant (and successful) attempt at link-baiting, the New York Time published an opinion piece on their website last week about how adults shouldn’t be reading young adult fiction. 

Cue the eye rolls.

(No, I won’t link to the article, you can find it if you Google “Joel Stein is a Sexist Ass.”) I’m not going to add to the commentary about how this is an absurd assertion, because loads of people have already done that extremely well, but I am going to ask another question, 

Why the HELL do we even care what people do or do not read?

Seriously. Why is this important to so many people? It seems that at least once a month, there’s some new article (50 percent of which feature Jonathan Franzen bloviating about his supposed superiority) asserting that we should read X, that we should not read Y and that “serious readers*” would most definitely should not read Z. 

If you’ve been reading this blog, you have probably figured out that my reading tastes are all over the place. But, I have a particular enjoyment of the following: 

  1. Contemporary, realistic YA;
  2. Creative, entertaining urban fantasy;
  3. Urban crime fiction;
  4. Post-apocalyptic/dystopian (adult or YA)
  5. Books involving prank wars;
  6. Smart contemporary romance (a la Julie James and Shannon Stacey);
  7. Novels involving zombies;
  8. Novels involving werewolves;
  9. Middle Eastern women’s fiction;
  10. Graphic novel/fiction with visual elements;
  11. Funny memoirs;
  12. Sweet and fun contemporary YA (a la Stephanie Perkins); 
  13. Books involving heists and/or capers; and
  14. Books that don’t suck (to me).

 

{Mini-Review} Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Sandra
Books

[Editor’s Note: Since Grave Mercy has benefited from a colossal publicity push, we thought it would be worth having a second opinion on this book. Interestingly, Sandra’s take is quite similar to Laura’s. Warning: Some may read this review as slightly spoilerish.]

Set in medieval Brittany, Grave Mercy’s timeless theme of abuse and escape gives the story of Ismae, Death’s Daughter, a contemporary storyline that unfortunately does not work, even when I did my best to employ the concept of Suspension of Disbelief.  

Mortain, the  God of Death, feeds off belief in and worship of him much as humans  nourish themselves  with bread and meat. Without belief and worship, Mortain would starve for lack of sustenance. Ismae Rienne, who Robin LaFevers created in Grave Mercy, bears a deep, red stain from her left shoulder to her right hip,

…a trail left by herbwitche’s poison that [her] mother used to expel [her] from her womb. 

The expulsion failed.

Life for Ismae’s mother was too ugly, dangerous and harsh to bring a child into. Yet, Ismae survived with a mark upon her signifying her role as the daughter of death, Mortain’s progeny. Her earthly father did not perceive the mark of the God Mortain upon her as significant, rather he viewed her as his personal whipping post, something  he could pummel his fists upon thus feeding  his cruel streak.

I felt absolute horror for Ismae.

{Review} Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Laura
Books

I liked, but didn’t love Robin LaFevers’ debut novel, Grave Mercy.

(Similar to how I liked, but never loved Lyla Garrity, and often found certain aspects of her personality annoying—hence the FNL Character rating below.)

First of all, this book is erroneously being marketed as Young Adult.

The main character and narrator, Ismae Rienne, is a young adult. That’s the only element of this book that strikes me as YA. (Sandra, a retired English teacher and therefore someone who knows what she’s talking about when it comes to literary genres, thoroughly agrees that this book does not have the attitude of a YA book.) A large part of that is due to the Ismae’s voice, which never quite struck me convincingly as that of a seventeen year old girl. This book should be categorized as historical fiction/romance with a touch of the supernatural.

Just keep that in mind if you decide to read this.

Now, the premise of Grave Mercy is Assassin Nuns + Medieval Court Intrigue, which sounds like it would = Badass Fun. However, Grave Mercy ends up going light on the badass, middling on the intrigue, and heavy on the non-smutty romance.

If that doesn’t sound interesting to you, don’t read this book. 

Now, my favorite part of Grave Mercy is the setting. 

{List-O-Rama} Three Urban Fantasy Series Worth Starting

Sarah Moon
Listorama

I don’t know about you, but I get series fatigue. (I know Laura agrees with me on this one!) And, in one of my favorite genres—Urban Fantasy—the series is The Standard. (Has there ever been a stand-alone UF novel? Seriously… it’s okay to end a story after 400 pages!) So, when a series piques my interest, I usually wait until there are two or three books before getting started, because I hate the wait for the next part of the story—especially if it’s cliffhanger-tastic at the end of each novel. 

However, I’ve succumbed to temptation and discovered a three series that are only one novel in that are worth starting! Each of these series had their first book release in 2010, and have sequels hitting the shelves this year, so you won’t have to wait too long if you enjoy the first book. 

Unbound Series by Rachel Vincent

You guy! Rachel Vincent’s books are like Pixie Stix laced with extra sugar—once I start, I cannot put her books down. She’s even made me break my, “No YA Paranormals” rule with her Soul Screamers series. But, as much as a (somewhat guiltily) enjoyed her Shifters series (it took me about ten pages to get over the WTFery of the concept of werecats; werewolves I’m cool with, werecats are another thing altogether), her new series with Mira is in an entirely different stratosphere (it’s actually what started me on my Epic Rachel Vincent Binge last fall—I read all of her books in about six weeks).