Book: The Midwife’s Revolt by Jodi Daynard

Published January 2013|Published by Opossum Press

E-book from NetGalley|221 pages

Series: None

Genre: Adult/Historical Fiction

Goodreads|Jodi Daynard’s Website

Summary: The Midwife’s Revolt takes the reader on a journey to the founding days of America. It follows one woman’s path, Lizzie Boylston, from her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams and midwifery, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy for the Cause. Much has been written about our founding men. But The Midwife’s Revolt is unique in that it opens a window onto the lives of our founding women as well.

This is an interesting take on the American Revolution.

I liked Lizzie and the relationships she had with the people around her.  Just seeing Lizzie, who’s a widow, try to survive on her own as a midwife during the American Revolution was great.  I liked seeing her friendship with Abigail Adams, even though it seemed to have a bigger role in the beginning of the book, and then dropped off a little as the novel progressed.  She had interesting relationships with Martha and Eliza, but I especially liked how her relationship with them changed from beginning to end.

What made The Midwife’s Revolt really interesting was the fact that you have a great combination of real and fictional characters and how well fact and fiction blended together.  It really felt like The Midwife’s Revolt was taken right from history.  It really is a great look at the lives of the women at home while their husbands are off at war, and Abigail being all worried about her son and her husband and getting infrequent letters from John Adams.

I honestly expected Lizzie to have more of a role in helping out.  She does become a spy, and I liked how everyone around her didn’t want her to become a spy…and she went ahead with it anyway.  I think I was a little disappointed with the spying aspect of it- I was expecting Lizzie to have more of a role in the American Revolution that what she did.

There’s only one issue I have with the book: there were times when you’d be reading, and it would end mid-sentence and go on to something else.  There were also times when it felt like paragraphs (or sentences) were missing because you’d be reading something, and all of a sudden, you’d be reading a completely different scene.  I really hope it gets fixed because I think it would make The Midwife’s Revolt a lot better.  As much as I liked the book and as much I enjoyed it, it was also hard to enjoy it wondering if/when it would stop mid-sentence.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed The Midwife’s Revolt, which is full of great characters who are living in interesting but hard times.  It’s a great look at the early days of America and those who are trying to get by.  It gets 4 stars.

Book: Masque Of The Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Published April 2012|Published by HarperCollins

E-book|Purchased from the Nook Store|336 pages

Series: Masque Of The Red Death #1

Genre: YA: Dystopic/Post-Apocalyptic/Steampunk

Goodreads|Bethany Griffin’s Website

Summary: Everything is in ruins.  A devastating plague has decimated the population, and those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles around them.  So what does Araby Worth have to live for?  Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery makeup . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.  But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion.  She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club, and Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat.  Neither is what he seems.  Both have secrets.  Everyone does.  And Araby may find not just something to live for, but something to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Masque Of The Red Death.

So, I am intrigued by this devastating plague that has killed a lot of people, and how only the rich seem to be able to afford masks that keep them from getting the plague.  And the Red Death is also really intriguing.  For the poor, life goes on as it always does, while the rich are partying away.

I thought Araby’s vow was really interesting.  I totally get her feelings of guilt after the death of her brother, and I don’t blame her for trying to forget by going to the Debauchery Club.  However, I kind of feel like Araby is picking and choosing what is a part of her vow to not experience what her brother won’t experience.  She can’t fall in love, but she can wear beautiful dresses and go to a club with her friend April?  In some ways, she’s fully committed, but in other ways, she isn’t.

I thought the world was interesting, with Prince Prospero being in charge, and some opposition in his nephew, Elliott.  And we can’t forget Malcontent.  In some ways, I was surprised by who Malcontent was…but at the same time, it wasn’t too surprising.  We get snippets of what the world is like, and while I was intrigued, I also feel kind of meh.

I feel pretty ambivalent about the characters.  Will is sweet (sometimes) and I certainly wasn’t expecting him to deliver Araby to Malcontent.  Elliott…I just couldn’t care about him, and I also couldn’t care about his sister April.  Araby is the one character that intrigued me the most but there were times when I just couldn’t care about her either.  I thought the romance was just okay, which I think is because I didn’t really care for either guy.

I did like the gothic/steampunk-lite elements of it, and I loved how dark and somewhat chaotic it seemed at the beginning.  I kind of feel like the feel that we had in the beginning got lost as the novel went on.  It did get a little more interesting and action-packed at the end, but it wasn’t enough to get me super-interested in reading the next one.

Final Thoughts:

This one was just okay for me.  There were things I liked and found interesting, but overall, I found I didn’t really care about what was going on.  I know it;’s based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe, which I haven’t read, so I’m wondering if reading it would have made a difference in me liking it.  Masque Of The Red Death gets 2 stars.

Book: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Published February 2012|Published by Feiwel & Friends

E-book|Purchased from the Nook store|464 pages

Series: Lunar Chronicles #2

Genre: YA: Science Fiction/Fairy Tale Re-Telling

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Marissa Meyer’s Website

Summary: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

I absolutely LOVED Scarlet!  Scarlet focuses on Little Red Riding Hood, and I loved the connection between Scarlet and Cinder.  I love the combination of sci-fi and fairy tales, and Meyer gives the fairy tales we know and love some new life.

Scarlet is pretty amazing, and I loved how her story fit so well with Cinder.  Scarlet is narrated by Scarlet and Cinder, and while I didn’t completely love the dual narration at first, I totally warmed up to it by the end, when you learn the connection between the two girls.  And every once in a while, we see what’s going on with Prince Kai, and how there’s this world-wide search for Cinder, who slowly learns to use her abilities.

There’s a lot more action in Scarlet, with Queen Levana attacking several cities and having something horrible planned.  There’s a lot going on, and I really liked seeing the different perspectives on what was going on and how connected things really are.

As much as I like Cinder and seeing how she’s dealing with being Princess Selene…I think I liked Scarlet’s story more.  There’s just something about Scarlet that I find more interesting.  Of course, I did want to know what was going on with Cinder, but I was also much more interested in how these two girls would meet, especially with all the hoopla surrounding Cinder and her escape from jail with Thorne.  There are lots of secrets, and I’m sure there are more secrets that will see the light of day in the next one.

We learn a little more about the Lunar people…well, the ones that are being used as part of Queen Levana’s evil plans…and we don’t even realize they’re Lunars at first!  Normally, I’d mention that, and how I want to learn more about them- which is all true- but this seems to be one of those times when I don’t mind, because Scarlet’s trying to rescue her grandmother with the help of Wolf and Cinder trying to find Scarlet’s grandmother so she can learn more about her past.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVED what Meyer does with fairy tales?  Because I really do!  Seriously, Wolf was not what I was expecting, but he’s completely awesome, and the connection between him, Scarlet, and Michelle (Scarlet’s grandmother) and how Meyer did something completely awesome and interesting and a delight to read.

Final Thoughts:

I could go on about how much I loved Scarlet, I really could.  I’m super-excited about Cress, and Meyer did a great job with re-telling Little Red Riding Hood.  Scarlet gets 5 stars.

Book: Heart Like Mine by Amy Hatvany

Expected Publication is March 19, 2013 and Will Be Published by Washington Square Press

E-book from NetGalley|370 pages

Series: No

Genre: Fiction: Chick Lit

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Amy Hatvany’s Website

Summary: Thirty-six-year-old Grace McAllister never longed for children. But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be? At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again. But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover that there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.

Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant, hopeful portrait of womanhood, love, and the challenges and joys of family life.

Heart Like Mine was a quick but enjoyable read, and I liked it.  The story itself was an interesting one, and I liked the relationships between Ava, Grace and Kelli.

I found myself really drawn into Kelli’s story- partly because we’re not sure how she dies, and partly because we see only a handful of flashbacks of Kelli.  I think it’s the whole mystery of her death and her past, which we get bits and pieces of throughout the book.  And it is sad that she never got the answers she was looking for.  Of the three main characters, I found myself relating to Kelli the most.

I could relate to Ava in a lot of ways, but I never got the sense that she was mature beyond her years.  In fact, she seemed a bit younger than her 13 years.  I think it’s because we see her life after her mother dies, and because we don’t really see her life with her mother.  And while Ava’s mad at her mother for leaving- which is understandable- a lot of the things she’s done didn’t really show how mature she was.  Again, sort of understandable, because she’s lost her mother and is experiencing and feeling things that she (in my opinion) doesn’t know what to do with.

As for Grace…she was an okay character.  Grace has her own story but I just wasn’t as interested in her story as I was with Kelli, and, to some extent, Ava.  I kind of feel for her- I mean, she goes from not wanting kids and not considering dating a guy who has kids to getting engaged to a guy and not having a huge role in Max and Ava’s life to having a huge role in their life after the death of their mother.

Overall, I liked the story, and how Ava wanted to like Grace but also wanted to be loyal to her mother by not liking Grace.  And I did (sort of) like seeing Grace come to terms with her role in Ava and Max’s life.  I liked that Grace and Ava narrated the novel, with flashbacks to Kelli’s life.  It worked well, and I liked seeing how they both learned bits and pieces of Kelli’s life and their reactions to everything that happened.

Final Thoughts:

I liked Heart Like Mine.  It was definitely heart-warming at the end, and while some things weren’t completely resolved, things were headed in the right direction for all the characters.  You get drawn in, and you can’t help but want to see how things work out for the characters.  Heart Like Mine gets 3 stars.

Book: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Published September 2011|Published by EgmontUSA

E-book|Borrowed from the library|361 pages

Series: Ashes Trilogy #1

Genre: YA: Post-Apocalyptic

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Ilsa J. Bick’s Website

Summary: It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

After listening to Drowning Instinct, I knew I had to read Ashes!  Ashes was an interesting but strange book that was hard to put down.

You can’t go wrong with zombie-like people and an EMP that destroyed electronics and killed people.   There are so many unanswered questions, and I really want to know what happens next, especially with that ending!  I’m not surprised that there was a cliffhanger.  Let me tell you, that was one cliffhanger I was not expecting!

I’m really impressed with what Bick did with the zombies and the Zap.  It’s an interesting combination- and one that’s a nice change from the typical zombie story where there’s some illness or something that turns people into zombies.  Plus, the only technology that works seems to be from the good ‘ole days, which means you’d need some serious survival skills.  I really feel like making sure I’m prepared for an earthquake now…

But back to the book.  It’s really creepy in that “this could really happen” kind of way.  Not necessarily the zombie part but the electromagnetic pulse part of it.  Although, if you think about it, something like that would have to have an effect on people.  But I was completely drawn in, and you can’t help but think about what you’d do if you had no way to figure out what was going on.  If people Changed…if people dropped dead…if you had a brain tumor and couldn’t smell but all of a sudden you could smell and you did feel better.

The characters are also great.  Alex is definitely a really tough character, but I couldn’t help but love Tom and Ellie…and I think I may have a soft spot for Ellie’s grandpa…even though he had a really brief appearance.  We meet quite a few interesting characters along the way, and about halfway through, we end up in a town called Rule, where there is a community doing what they can to survive and make it through.

As much as I enjoyed the book overall, I think I enjoyed the part of the novel that takes place in the woods more than when Alex arrives in Rule.  Things are pretty well-paced through the book, and time passes reasonably well, but…I don’t know, Rule just didn’t seem as interesting as the time surviving out in the “wild.”  Maybe we’ll get the back story on Rule, because there is more to Rule than what we get in  Ashes.  It definitely felt like two different books, so while I wasn’t surprised that Alex would find her way to a surviving community, I was surprised at how truly different things were once Alex arrived in Rule.

Final Thoughts:

Ashes was a quick, fun but really creepy read.  I’m amazed at the world Bick created and the characters that populate a world where an EMP destroyed technology and killed and changed people.  I didn’t particularly enjoy Alex’s time in Rule, but I have the feeling there’s a lot going on in Rule that we never saw.  Ashes gets 4 stars.