Book: The Sacrifice by Kathleen Benner Duble

Book Info: Published by Margaret K. McElderberry; 224 pages; hardcover

Source: Borrowed from the library

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction

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Goodreads.com Summary: In the year 1692, life changes forever for ten-year-old Abigail Faulkner and her family. In Salem, Massachusetts, witches have been found, and widespread fear and panic reign mere miles from Abigail’s home of Andover. When two girls are brought from Salem to identify witches in Andover, suspicion sweeps the town as well-respected members of the community are accused of witchcraft. It isn’t long before chaos consumes Andover, and the Faulkners find themselves in the center of it all when friend turns themselves in the center of it all when friend turns against friend, neighbor against neighbor, in a desperate fight for the truth. At the heart of this gripping story are Abigail and her sister, Dorothy, who together must find a way to persevere during a period marked by terror, adversity, and ignorance.

Told from Abigail’s point of view and based on actual events in the author’s own family histoy, “The Sacrifice” offers a unique perspective of the Salem witch trials by delving into the devestating effects the trials had not just in Salem but throughout Massachusetts.

This book was okay.  It seemed a little younger than I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it a little.

I think I loved the setting and the historical back-drop the most.  It did seem very real and I liked that it was based on the author’s own family tree.  I think I was really surprised by the fact that it was set in a town near Salem, and not in Salem itself.

Duble does a great job of showing just how widespread and crazy the witch trials were, and how limited your choices were if you were accused of witchcraft.  Some of the names seemed vaguely familiar for some reason, and I definitely want to read up on the Salem Witch trials.

Even though there were more than a few things about the novel I really liked, overall, I didn’t like it as much as I was expecting.  Duble only scratched the surface, and it didn’t go into a lot of depth, but it is a good introduction to what things might have been like.  I give it a 2 out of 5.

Book: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Book Info: Published by Dial; 288 pages; hardcover

Source: borrowed from the library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transfer from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding. This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.

I am so glad I read this book!  It made me laugh, but it also made me cry.  I even laughed through my tears.  It seems like I’ve come across several books dealing with grief over the last year or so, and I think this is one of my favorites.

I really related to Lennie, especially when she and her grandma were talking about how they didn’t know who they were after losing Bailey.  The way someone feels after losing someone close to them is so complex and varies so much from person to person, and I think Nelson captured this so well.  All of the characters have lost someone and are dealing with it in their own way.  While I didn’t always like the choices Lennie made, I still understood where she was coming from.

I especially loved the notes (written by Lennie) that are scattered throughout the book.  It’s a great look at who Bailey was and her relationship with Lennie.  It really made the book a lot more emotional.

And we have to talk about Joe!  I loved him, and it’s easy to see why.  Words cannot express how much I love him.

I just loved this book.  So much, in fact, that I shall give it a 5 out of 5.  And buy a copy for myself.  It’s such a beautiful book.

Book: Undone by Rachel Caine

Book Info: Published by Penguin Group; 320 pages

Source: E-book, via the public library

Genre: Fiction/Paranormal

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Goodreads.com Summary: Once she was Cassiel, a Djinn of limitless power. Now, she has been reshaped in human flesh as punishment for defying her master—and living among the Weather Wardens, whose power she must tap into regularly or she will die. And as she copes with the emotions and frailties of her human condition, a malevolent entity threatens her new existence…

I really liked the first book in the Morganville Vampires series so I thought I’d check out some of her other books.  I was actually surprised to find that the Morganville Vampire books are her only YA books.

It started off a little slow, but by the end, it picked up.  I definitely loved the playlist at the end of the book, and it’s always cool when authors share the music that they listened to while writing the book.  I’ll definitely have to check out that playlist.

Other things I liked?  How she used Dijinn, and the fact that they weren’t the typical genies you’d normally see.  I really liked that Cassiel became human because she didn’t want to kill the entire human race, and the relationships between the Dijinn and the Warden.  There seems to be a long, interesting, and not so good relationship between the two.

So while I got an okay sense of the Warden are and what they do, I can’t help but wonder if I should have started off with her Weather Warden series.  And really, this is the only thing I didn’t like about the book.  It doesn’t seem to be necessary, but it would probably help me understand them and their powers better.

I really liked the characters, and thought they were all really interesting and somewhat complex.  Okay, Luis having ties to a gang, in retrospect, is a little cliche.  Especially since his brother Manny seems to be a good guy.  It’s also an interesting plot, and once things get going, things move pretty well.

I give it a 4 out of 5.  I wasn’t confused by the possible references to her weather wardens series, and I loved reading an adult paranormal novel.

Book: The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Book Info: Published by St. Martin’s Press; 213 pages; hardcover

Source: borrowed from the library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.

But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

The Chosen One is really interesting and I don’t think I’ve read a book that deals with polygamy before.

Once again, I’m not sure how accurate the portrayal of a polygamist sect is, but it did feel real and very accurate.  I thought Williams did a great job of handling the issues with care.  She gets right to the point while still letting the emotions of the characters shine through.  There is something beautiful about the writing.

I really liked the ending, which leaves you wondering about what happens to Kyra and the life she left behind.  You can tell things aren’t over for Kyra, her family, or the comunity but things still felt optimistic and hopeful.  And poor Patrick!  That was definitely sad.

While the book deals with polygamy, it’s not a book about polygamy.  It’s really more about the isolated community and the hold leaders can have on their communities.

Another plus is that Williams kept things moving.  The novel moved fast, but not too fast.  It was a hard book to put down.

I think my rating would be a 4 out of 5.  I didn’t love it, but it’s an interesting look at something I don’t normally think about.

Book: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Book Info: Published by Egmont USA; 270 pages

Source: e-book via the public library

Genre: YA/Science Fiction, Paranormal and Romance

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Goodreads.com Summary: One hour to rewrite the past . . . 
 
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

What intrigued me the most about Hourglass was the blending of paranormal and science fiction.  Normally, I wouldn’t put the two genres together, but I thought it worked well.

I really liked the time travel and schools for people with different abilities.  There are rules to time travel and such- they aren’t explained, which didn’t irritate me like it normally would.  I thought it worked, though, because most of the novel was laying the groundwork for the rest of the series.

The romance was okay, with the seemingly required love triangle.  There is a definite (and immediate) connection between Michael and Emerson, which makes sense, given their abilities complement each other quite nicely.  But there’s also something between Kaleb and Emerson, but for now, I’m chalking it up to Kaleb being very empathetic.

There is something very epic about this book.  I also liked that it was slightly unpredictable.  And the setting?  Tennessee was interesting, but not what I pictured.  For some reason, I kept picturing Georgia or South Carolina.

I liked it enough to give it a 3 out of 5, but not enough to keep reading the rest of the series.

Book: The First Queen Of England: The Myth Of Bloody Mary by Linda Porter

Book Info: Published by St. Martin’s Press; 452 pages; hardcover

Source: borrowed from the library

Genre: Non-fiction/Biography

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Goodreads.com Summary: In this groundbreaking new biography of “Bloody Mary,” Linda Porter brings to life a queen best remembered for burning hundreds of Protestant heretics at the stake, but whose passion, will, and sophistication have for centuries been overlooked.

Daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, wife of Philip of Spain, and sister of Edward VI, Mary Tudor was a cultured Renaissance princess. A Latin scholar and outstanding musician, her love of fashion was matched only by her zeal for gambling. It is the tragedy of Queen Mary that today, 450 years after her death, she remains the most hated, least understood monarch in English history.

Linda Porter’s pioneering new biography—based on contemporary documents and drawing from recent scholarship—cuts through the myths to reveal the truth about the first queen to rule England in her own right. Mary learned politics in a hard school, and was cruelly treated by her father and bullied by the strongmen of her brother, Edward VI. An audacious coup brought her to the throne, and she needed all her strong will and courage to keep it. Mary made a grand marriage to Philip of Spain, but her attempts to revitalize England at home and abroad were cut short by her premature death at the age of forty-two.  The first popular biography of Mary in thirty years, The First Queen of England offers a fascinating, controversial look at this much-maligned queen.

I liked this book, and I really liked reading about Mary.  It was a nice change from reading about Henry VIII’s wives and about Elizabeth I.

I really liked that it didn’t focus too much on her childhood, her dislike of Anne Boleyn and her relationship with her sister.  It is a very good overview of Mary’s life and what was going on during her lifetime.  There were plenty of details about Mary without getting bogged down in them.

The one thing I noticed is that Porter sees Mary in a very positive light.  Porter is not completely objective in this biography, but I can appreciate that she is portraying Mary in a different way than what we’re used to.  I don’t see Mary any differently after reading this book, but you get a very good sense of who Mary is and the different people and events that influenced her.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, and while it isn’t too detailed, it is a really good introduction to Mary Tudor.

Book: An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green

Book Info: Published by Puffin Books; 272 pages

Source: E-book via the public library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Goodreads.com Summary: When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He’s also a washedup child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin’s on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl.

An Abundance Of Katherines was a disappointment after reading Looking For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars.

I had some trouble getting into at first, but I felt the same way about Looking For Alaska at first, and then I fell in love with it.  Sadly, that did not happen with this book.

It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, especially Colin.  The Katherines were mildly interesting, but not enough to keep me interested.  I skimmed over the math portions, because I was bored and because I didn’t particularly care about Colin’s theorem.

I hate to give a 2 out of 5, but it was just okay.  As much as I love Green, this book didn’t do anything for me.