Book: Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Expected Publication is September 24, 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Children’s|Expected Number Of Pages: 352

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Where The Stars Still Shine is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads|You can find Trish Doller on Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.

I think my thoughts on Where The Stars Still Shine are some of the weirdest thoughts I’ve ever had about a book, but in a totally good way. I really like Where The Stars Still Shine, but I also have mixed feelings about it, and I’m not completely sure what to think.  I have no clue if that makes sense, but that’s where my thoughts are.

I liked seeing Callie go from living with a mother who didn’t seem to take her into consideration to living with a father who wanted a daughter that Callie wasn’t able to be.  She definitely struggled with feeling like she belonged and having people who get worried when she decides to wander off in the middle of the night.  I totally understand that her mom wasn’t around a lot, and Callie spent a lot of time on her own, and had to fend for herself.  And so I can totally understand that it would be hard to adjust to living with someone who is there, and actually worries when she keeps wandering around town and not telling anyone where she’s going.

Her loyalty to her mom was frustrating, especially with what happens after Callie goes back to Florida to live with her dad.  Her mom is not a likable person, and she wasn’t supposed to be likable, but it did get frustrating because her mom totally didn’t deserve it, in my opinion.  I understand why her mom acted the way she did (to some degree) and I can understand not wanting to take meds but Callie also deserved better.  I suppose I can relate to Callie’s loyalty, because it is the only thing she’s ever known, but that didn’t make it less frustrating to read.

I also liked seeing Callie re-connect with her family after being gone for so long.  Also interesting was her relationship with her step-mom and half-brothers.

Here’s the thing that I have really mixed feelings about: her relationship with Alex.  I just didn’t care for their relationship and it was hard to stay interested in them as a couple when she get ditching her family for him.  She made an effort to do things with him, but not her family, and that got a little old after a while.  I also wasn’t expecting it to be such a big part of the novel.

I was reminded of If You Find Me, which has a pretty similar plot and deals with similar issues as Where The Stars Still Shine.  I didn’t pay too much attention to Callie’s education, but she only finished kindergarten, because moving around all the time would definitely make it hard to stay in school.  I’m kind of surprised her dad didn’t push the issue, but at the same time, she only has a kindergarten education, so Callie would have a lot of catching up to do.

I do feel bad for her dad, because his daughter came back as a complete stranger that he’s not sure how to parent.  He’s doing the best he can, and Callie certainly didn’t make things easy for him.  I do think he clung to his memories of Callie as a small child and had ideas of who she was and what she was like, and I’m sure his image of her didn’t match up with who she really was.

Final Thoughts:

My mixed feelings seem to be focused on Alex and Callie, but other than that, I really enjoyed Where The Stars Still Shine.  I liked seeing Callie struggle with her place in the world.  Where The Stars Still Shine gets 4 stars.

Book: Dead Girls Don’t Lie by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Expected Publication is September 17, 2013 by Walker Children’s|Expected Number Of Pages: 346

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

Goodreads|You Can Find Jennifer Shaw Wolf on twitter and facebook!

Dead Girls Don’t Lie is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads Summary: Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. 

Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth.

I so wanted to like Dead Girls Don’t Lie, but it turned out to be okay for me.

I think part of why I didn’t like Dead Girls Don’t Lie was the fact that I was reminded a little too much of Shaw’s first book.  The mysterious death of Rachel and Jaycee trying to figure out what really happened the night Rachel was murdered reminded me a little too much of Breaking Beautiful, when Allie tried to remember what happened the next of the car accident that killed her boyfriend.

There are all of these clues that Jaycee has to put together, but the mystery surrounding Rachel’s death wasn’t enough to keep me interested.  It was just hard to care about what it was like for Jaycee to lose someone she used to be best friends with.

One really interesting thing about Dead Girls Don’t Lie is the divide between the migrant workers and the rest of the town.  Since Rachel’s death appears to be gang-related, everyone believes that there is nothing more to the case, but I found the divide between the two different parts of the community got a little repetitive after a while.  I also felt like Rachel’s death being blamed on a gang to be the teensiest bit shallow, and I felt like it could have been explored a little more.  At the same time, though, I also understand them being blamed and all of the distrust over one part of the community.

As for who really killed Rachel, I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out until the end.  I felt like I totally should have been able to pick up on it, since the clues really did seem to be there.  I found Jaycee’s innocence to be pretty refreshing, since she could have been the complete of that.  She did make some pretty stupid decisions because of it, and it is interesting to see Jaycee’s innocence in comparison to how Rachel  was acting the last few months before her death.

It did feel like something was missing from the book- there were times when I felt like I was missing a paragraph or two, and I had to re-read some parts of several times to try to figure out what was going on.

Final Thoughts:

Dead Girls Don’t Lie was just okay for me.  I just felt like something was missing, and it was hard to care and stay interested in the mystery Jaycee was trying to solve.  Dead Girls Don’t Lie gets 2 stars.

Book: The Storycatcher by Ann Hite

Expected Publication is September 10, 2013 by Gallery Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 352

Series: None

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction

Goodreads|You can find Ann Hite on Facebook!

The Storycatcher is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads Summary: Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around. But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore. 

Critically acclaimed, award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a mesmerizing gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt us.

It took me a while to get into The Storycatcher, and at first I didn’t like it, but once I got past the first 75 or 80 pages, I really started to enjoy it.  

I think part of why I didn’t initially like The Storycatcher was because of the set-up. The Storycatcher has several narrators, and there’s a bit of set-up needed in order to understand the rest of the story.  It did start a little slow for me.  

You certainly see an assortment of characters, several of whom narrate the book.  I can’t imagine this book being told by one narrator, because they all have their own story and their own part in the events of the book.  But at the same time, it didn’t quite work for me.  It flowed pretty well, and I think it is the best way to tell the story, but there’s something about it that didn’t quite work for me.  I’m not sure why, but there’s just something about it that wasn’t quite there.  

It also went back and forth between the 1930’s and the 1800’s, so I had to pay attention to not only the narrator, but the time period, and it always took a couple paragraphs to get into each part of it.  

I am really intrigued by the combination of historical fiction and paranormal.  I was expecting something more paranormal than what we saw in the book, especially because the setting and period in time is such a good one for a paranormal historical fiction.  I loved the vibe of the book, which was sort of gothic and creepy and there’s a sense of isolation on the mountain that worked really well.  

I also really liked the mystery aspect of the book, and you start unraveling what’s going on with Pastor Dobbins and what really happened during the storm several years earlier and secrets start coming out.  You’re not quite sure what’s going on. When some of the mysteries were revealed, I totally felt like I should have picked up on them, because some weren’t that surprising.  But they kind of were, because I sort of wasn’t expecting it.  There is something about this book that puts you on edge and makes you feel uneasy- it’s not outright scary, but Pastor Dobbins is a very creepy character.  

Final Thoughts:

The Storycatcher was a little hard to get into a first, and for me, it took a little too long to set up the story.  The multiple narrators worked well enough, but it was also hard to keep up with at first.  Still, The Storycatcher was a great read once I got into it. The Storycatcher gets 4 stars.  

Book: Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

Expected Publication is September 10, 2013 by Ballantine Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 431

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction

You can find out more on Goodreads

Empty Mansions is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in any way

Goodreads Summary: When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?

Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.

Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.

The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.

Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.

When I saw Empty Mansions on netgalley, I knew I had to request it!  While it sounded interested, it was far more interesting than I ever could have imagined.

Huguette was such an interesting and eccentric woman, and she really came to life in Empty Mansions.  The book does jump around in terms of time and place, but I didn’t mind it, because it gave a really good picture of who Huguette was as a person, and why maintaining mansions that she never visited or hadn’t visited in decades was something she did.

Her love of painting and her interest in art was one of the most interesting things about her.  And the fact that her relatives hadn’t seen her since the 1950’s and 1960’s was also super-interesting.  I can’t imagine only communicating with someone by mail or over the phone…and not knowing that she was living in a hospital room for something like 20 years or that she had cancer.

Like, she just randomly gave away millions of dollars.  She was very giving- if someone mentioned a child or grandchild going to grad school or needing work done at home, she’d write a check with no hesitation.  She lived a very long life, and given she lived to be over a hundred, she seemed to be in pretty good health and pretty alert.  And she didn’t write out a will until really late in life.  I found myself really irritated with the hospital she lived at, because part of the book talks about their plan for donations from Huguette.  I understand wanting/needing donations, and targeting a very wealthy patient.  Some of the doctors and at least one of her nurses accepted monetary gifts from Huguette and it seems like they did what they could to hide Huguette from inspectors, which kind of makes them suspect.  And I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or what, but her room got moved when they learned they weren’t getting a large sum from her in her will.

Also: her family challenging her will.  I get their concern (especially in regards to her accountant) but it’s interesting that they’d challenge her will, given they hadn’t seen her in decades, and tried to get messages to Huguette, even though she didn’t seem interested in communicating with them.  As of now, things still are not resolved.

Final Thoughts:

Empty Mansions is such an interesting and complex look at Huguette Clark, her life and her homes.  I definitely recommend the book!  Empty Mansions gets 4 stars.

Book: The Rainborowes: One Family’s Quest To Build A New England by Adrian Tinniswood

Expected Publication Is September 8, 2013 by Basic Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 367

Series: None

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction- History

Goodreads|Check Out Adrian Tinniswood’s Website

Goodreads Summary: The period between 1630 and 1660 was one of the most tumultuous in Western history. These three decades witnessed the birth of New England and, in the mother country, a chaotic civil war that rent the very fabric of English social, political, and religious life. At the center of this turbulent time was an outsized family: the Rainborowes. Shipmasters and soldiers, entrepreneurs and idealists, they bridged two worlds as they struggled to forge a better future for themselves and their kin. In The Rainborowes, acclaimed historian Adrian Tinniswood follows this singular clan from hectic London shipyards to remote Aegean islands, from muddy Boston streets to the bloodiest battles of the English Civil War, revealing their indelible mark on both America and England.

A feat of historical reporting, The Rainborowes spans oceans and generations to describe a family—and a people—struggling to find its identity.

I have really mixed feelings about The Rainborowes.  It is interesting to see this family in the context of a very tumultuous time, and on two different continents.  But I also felt like the book had a jumble of names and dates and events that was hard for me to keep track of.  It just seems like the Rainborowes had a lot going on and were really involved in important events, and I wish I had taken notes so I could keep better track of everything.  I think me not keeping up with everything was pretty much my fault, since I didn’t pay as much attention as I could have.  I did find myself going back a few pages a few times, because I felt like I missed something important.

I think another reason why I have mixed feelings is that I wasn’t expecting a book about the family and how they fit in to what was going on around them.  While it is the best way to talk about this very large family, I think I was expecting more about them.  I liked some of the details about life in New England, especially some of the details about the churches they attended, but there were times when the book got bogged down in the details.

I think the thing I liked the most about The Rainborowes is that I was reminded of how there are people and families throughout history that played a really important part in things and yet they don’t get the recognition they deserve.

The Rainborowes also felt a little over the place, and just when I got used to reading about one side of the Atlantic, the book would switch locations, and we’d be on the other side of the Atlantic.  It did seem pretty linear, but there was something non-linear about it at the same time.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not sure what else to say about The Rainborowes.  It is an interesting look at a family I had never heard of before and how instrumental they were on both sides of the Atlantic, but the book got weighed down in the details at times, and I had trouble keeping track of the many people in the book.  While interesting, I don’t think it’s the book for me.  The Rainborowes gets 2 stars.

Book: Magic Words: From The Oral Tradition Of The Inuit is translated by Edward Fields and Illustrated by Mike Blanc

Expected Publication is September 1, 2013 (Today!) by Vanita Books|Expected Number Of Pages Is 24

Series: None

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

You can find Magic Words On Goodreads

Magic Words is an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which has not influenced my review in anyway

Goodreads.com Summary: Magic Words describes a world where humans and animals share bodies and languages, where the world of the imagination mixes easily with the physical. It began as a story that told how the Inuit people came to be and became a legend passed from generation to generation. In translation it grew from myth to poem. The text comes from expedition notes recorded by Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen in 1921. Edward Field got a copy from the Harvard Library and translated it into English.

I really liked Magic Words!  It’s such a great poem, and I like that it’s a part of the tradition of story-telling.  It translated really well, and if I didn’t know it was a translation, I don’t think I would have picked up on that.  I really liked how the story was so lyrical and poetic, and I want to know more about the Inuit after reading Magic Words.  I also liked that there were a couple lines at the end about how there was no explanation, because that’s just how things were.  It’s just so interesting that there’s this whole story that’s basically summed up with that’s how it is.

The illustrations were absolutely beautiful!  I loved the colors and the shapes and they brought Magic Words to life.  They go so well with the story, and there’s a lot to look at.  It’s totally worth it for the illustrations alone!  Although the story is an interesting part of the oral tradition of the Inuit, and I think it would be a good choice if you’re teaching kids about other cultures.  I also liked that it’s about how everyone got along and there was no difference between anyone, whether they were animal or person. Another cool thing about Magic Words is that at the end of the book, there’s a list of all of the animals who made an appearance in the book, so I think it could also be a great way to talk to kids about animals.

Magic Words is a great picture book, and it gets 4 stars.

Book: Unbroken by Rachel Caine

Published February 2012 by Penguin|Pages: 320

Where I Got It: Nook store (e-book!)

Series: Outcast Season #4

Genre: Adult Paranormal

Goodreads|You can find Rachel Caine On Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: For millennia, Cassiel was a powerful Djinn–until she was exiled to live among mortals. Now the threat of an apocalypse looms, and Cassiel is in danger of losing everything she has come to hold dear… 

As the world begins to fall apart around her, Cassiel finds herself fighting those she once called her own: the Djinn. With Weather Warden Luis Rocha and the rescued child Ibby by her side, Cassiel struggles to find a way to protect those who are in her charge and come to terms with the leadership role she never asked for. 

Cassiel is opposed by Pearl–a powerful Djinn bent on raising an army of kidnapped Warden children to bring about nothing less than the end of the world. It will take everything Cassiel has to stop the Djinn from starting a war that will wipe all of humanity from the face of the earth. She knows that this might not be a battle she can survive, but protecting those she loves is worth any cost…

After finishing Total Eclipse, I decided it was time for me to revisit Outcast Season and actually finish it up.  Unbroken is the last book in this series, and there is some overlap with the last book or two of Weather Wardens.

I really liked seeing some of those events from Cassiel’s perspective, especially as she’s a former Dijinn.  It was also nice to see some of the characters through Cassiel’s eyes.

There is a lot going on in Unbroken, and it was so hard to put down that I finished it in day!  I liked seeing Cassiel’s journey, and how becoming human helped her realize what she needed to do in order to save humanity.  Also: she’s pretty much on her own, with only Luis, Esmeralda and Ibby for a good chunk of the book.  She has to draw on Luis’ abilities as a Earth/Fire Warden, and Ibby using her own abilities…poor Ibby!  She started off the series as such a happy child, and now, she’s pretty broken and scarred from everything that’s happened.  She did have an interesting friendship with Esmeralda, and I really liked seeing their relationship in this book.  Also: I like that there’s such a contrast in how Ibby acts.  Sometimes, she’s still a 6-year-old-girl, other times, she acts much older.  It’s definitely interesting to see how there are all of these different things going on with Ibby because of what Pearl did.

Speaking of Pearl: I totally loved that Pearl has her own thing and she has this whole plan to become the new Mother Earth. and I really liked how that lined up with the events of Weather Wardens.  It’s definitely not necessary to read Weather Wardens first, because Outcast Season has it’s own storyline that also happens to be going on at the same time as Weather Wardens.  I will say that reading Weather Wardens first helped, in terms of timeline and the parallels of Pearl and the whole thing with Bad Bob and Mother Earth waking up.

Unbroken is everything I could have wanted in the last book for the series, and Caine did such a great job with wrapping things up.  You definitely see the damage that’s been done, and there are a lot of people who didn’t make it through the craziness that is Weather Wardens and Outcast Season.  Unbroken really ties the two series together, and the great thing about Unbroken is that you do see what’s going on. While Weather Wardens focuses on Joanne, and her fight to save the world, you also don’t see what’s going on all over the place. Which is why Unbroken is so great- because you actually see  some of the craziness and destruction, instead of just hearing about it.

It was a little weird reading Unbroken, knowing how things ended, and even seeing a glimpse of the future in Total Eclipse.  But there’s something about Cassiel’s journey and wanting to know how things turned out for her.  While we don’t get an epilogue for her story, I still think the ending was a wonderful one for Cassiel.

Part of me also wants to know what happens with all of the kidnapped Warden children, and if they turn out okay.   Should Caine ever decide to revisit this world, I think she has a really interesting story with the Warden kids.

Final Thoughts:

I feel like I haven’t talked about Unbroken except in regards to the rest of the series and how it related to Caine’s Weather Warden series, but for me, it’s hard separating the two.  But I loved Unbroken, and I loved seeing how much the characters changed, and how you don’t need special abilities in this world to make a difference.  Unbroken gets 5 stars.

Book: Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine

Published August 2010 by Penguin|Pages: 320

Where I Got It: Nook store (e-book!)

Series: Weather Warden #9

Genre: Adult Paranormal

Goodreads|You can find Rachel Caine On Twitter and Facebook

Goodreads Summary: Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin, her husband, the djinn David, and the Earth herself have been poisoned by a substance that destroys the magic that keeps the world alive. The poison is destabilizing the entire balance of power, bestowing magic upon those who have never had it, and removing it form those who need it. It’s just a matter of time before the delicate balance of nature explodes into chaos-and doom.

I’m really sad to see this series end, because I really loved it!  Total Eclipse is a pretty good end to the series.

It was pretty fast-paced, and while it was hard to put down at times, I really wanted to stretch it and enjoy it.  The last couple chapters were not what I was expecting, and I was sort of expecting…not what happened.  It does make sense, and it’s totally believable, but not what I was expecting.

I was expecting more overlap with Outcast Season- which is a spin-off of this series- but we only get a glimmer of connection between the two series.  But it’s actually okay that there isn’t, because Outcast Season is a different perspective of the events of this series.

Back to Total Eclipse: there is a point where all things seem lost and hopeless, but as it turns out, things, there was a larger plan that you don’t even think about until the last couple chapters.  Speaking of which, I was a little surprised that things were wrapped up nicely.  It’s like, you spend 9 books reading about characters who can’t catch a break and have so many horrible things thrown at them, and then the last couple chapters happened.  And all of a sudden, things magically work out, and then you get to the epilogue- which happens almost 10 years later- and things are pretty much back to normal.

It was nice that things worked out okay in the end, and that things are good for the characters.  And it’s nice to know that there really was a larger plan in mind for some of the characters, because things that happened before make so much more sense now than they did throughout the book.  It’s not that the last couple chapters are bad, because they’re totally not.  They’re just not what I was expecting. Still, Caine did a great job at tying up most of the loose ends, and you really couldn’t ask for a better ending.  Seriously.

Final Thoughts:

Total Eclipse is such a great ending to this series, and while I’m a little sad to see it come to end, there’s always re-reading and there’s also Outcast Season to read. There’s a lot going on, and Caine did such a great job with wrapping things up and keeping me interested.  It was also nice to see that everything worked out relatively well for everyone, even with a few losses along the way.  Total Eclipse gets 5 stars.