Paging All Bookworms! discussion

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Read any good books lately? We want to know about them.
How about real stinkers? We want to know about those too!


Enter your reading list and/or reviews here. Did you like it? Hate it? Feel lukewarm?

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Indianapolis – Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic – 5*****
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man. The authors did extensive research, including interviews with survivors and their families. The result is a detailed, thorough and still intimately personal story.
My full review HERE

Paris By the Book – Liam Callanan – 3***
I wanted to love this book. The author is from my home town, the beginning of the book is set in Milwaukee, and then the action moves to a city I love, Paris France. Plus, it’s a book about books. But … While the book has a great premise, some marvelously atmospheric scenes highlighting Paris, and includes MANY book references, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
My full review HERE

Muhsin Al-Ramali, The President's Gardens [2012, tr. 2017] 349 pages

The President's Gardens is dedicated "To the souls of my nine relatives slaughtered on the third day of Ramadan, 2006/And to all the oppressed in Iraq." The first sentence is, "In a land without bananas, the village awoke to nine banana crates, each containing the severed head of one of its sons." So while fiction, this is obviously not entirely an imaginary story. One of the nine is Ibrahim Suhayl, and we see the reactions of the villagers, and especially his two closest friends, Abdullah and Tariq. The beheading is a few weeks after the American invasion: who is responsible? The Americans and their supporters? The supporters of Saddam Hussein? Or some other group opposed to both? We aren't told. But although we are left to wonder, the novel is not a mystery. It is the story of three boyhood friends, Ibrahim the Fated, Tariq the Befuddled, and Abdullah Kafka, as they nicknamed each other -- collectively known to themselves and the village as the sons of the Earth crack.

After the first chapter, the book flashes back to the discovery of a newborn baby in a crack in the Earth, and his adoption by a childless couple, who name him Abdullah. The story then proceeds mainly in chronological order, through the childhood of the three inseparable friends, their adolescence, and adulthood. We see through their eyes the horrors of the Iran-Iraq War, the invasion of Kuwait and the first war with the NATO allies, as well as the brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime. We learn what really went on in the President's beautiful gardens and palaces. We also see the condition of women in an Iraqi village -- the forced arranged marriages, and the "honor" killings. As with the earlier novels I have read by this author, Broken Crumbs and Dates on My Fingers, the political violence is relieved by episodes of friendship, romance, and even humor -- but in this novel, the balance tips to the darker aspects.

In the last pages, the story catches up to the first chapter, and the novel ends with Ibrahim's daughter Qisma setting off with Tariq to try to find her father's body and information about who killed him. This quest is presumably the subject of the recently published sequel, Daughter of the Tigris.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to go beyond the headlines and the superficial media propaganda to understand what these decades were like for the people of Iraq.

Terry Pratchett, Faust Eric [1990] 165 pages

Faust Eric is the ninth book in Pratchett's Discworld series, and the fourth in the subseries about Rincewind the Wizard. I read this now because I'm required to read books from various genres and review them on the Library's blog as part of my "working from home" (if you're reading this review later on, it was written during the spring of the coronavirus pandemic); one of the genres is fantasy, and this was one of the Discworld books I had previously skipped over. To be honest, I find Rincewind to be about the least interesting of all Pratchett's characters; he essentially has two standing jokes, his cowardice and his animated luggage. This novel, however, was better than I expected, because of the literary allusions. Eric is a thirteen-year-old parody of Faust, with Rincewind as an improbable Mephistopheles, and there are many quotations from Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, as well as following the basic plot outline. There are also other literary jokes.

If you are new to the Discworld series, this is not the book to start with; I would recommend the first book of one of the other subseries, for instance Equal Rites, Mort, or Guards, Guards. If you are already a fan, though, or have recently read Marlowe's play, this is a good entertaining novel you will not want to miss.

The Merciless II: The Exorcism of Sofia Flores (The Merciless #2) by Danielle Vega
5 ★

Sofia is sent to St. Mary’s Catholic boarding school after the sudden death of her mother. She’s hoping for a fresh start, but jealousy soon brings out the worse in her. She falls hard for Jude and after a heart to heart talk he believes that Sofia is possessed and an exorcism is needed.

I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not like graphic violence and torture. The author does a fantastic job drawing a perfect picture for the reader. There are many chilling parts throughout this book. I found myself cringing many times.
I feel bad for Sofia. She so badly wants to be good, but keeps finding herself in situations that make her bad side come out. Her roommates at St. Mary’s are fun and energetic. A bit rebellious, but not bad. If Jude hadn’t come into the picture I think that Sofia would have been just fine and been able to move on from her past.
Brooklyn makes a demonic presence in this book as well. I would have been disappointed if she hadn’t, since she was the catalyst to Sofia’s problems to begin with. Her appearance is shocking and disturbing. Although I did not like Father Marcus, he did not deserve what he got. Sister Lauren was the kind one who helped Sofia the most and I was devastated by what happened to her.
This is the type of horror I like to read and I look forward to seeing where book 3 takes us.

A Good Yarn – Debbie Macomber – 3***
This is book two in the Blossom Street series, featuring Lydia Hoffman and the people who come to her Seattle yarn store for knitting classes. The reader follows the ensemble cast through ups and downs, financial hardship, and business success, failed marriages and new love. Enjoyable, mind-candy comfort reads.
My full review HERE

Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning
5 ★

When MacKayla’s sister is murdered she travels to Ireland to find answers and find her killer. While she is there she finds out much more and her life changes for ever. MacKayla, Mac to friends, finds out that she is a sidhe-seer and that her life has been a lie her whole life.

I really enjoyed the whole idea of this story and I love that it took place in Ireland. The supernatural world building is fantastic and the creatures are described very well. The reader has no problem picturing anything.
MacKayla hasn’t grown on me yet. I’m hoping that changes with the next book since she kind of redeemed herself at the end of this book. She is way too high maintenance for the roll she needs to play. Her outfits are ridiculous and useless. I almost got sick of the color pink just reading the book. I also was not impressed with the way she kept ignoring everything like it wasn’t really happening.
Jericho Barrons is an extremely interesting character and I hope we learn more about him in the next book. I even liked V’lane to a degree. He’s sneaky and very sure of himself. I guess you have to be when you’re a Fae who human women addicted to sex. The scenes he’s in are very humorous.
I look forward to continuing this series and seeing what kind of trouble Mac gets into next.

Ken Liu, tr., Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation [2019] 479 pages

Last year I read Ken Liu's earlier anthology of Chinese science fiction, Invisible Planets. This collection is somewhat larger, having sixteen stories by fourteen different authors and three essays about Chinese science fiction. On the other hand, although many of these stories are good, there were none that had the impact on me of, for example, "Folding Beijing" in the earlier book.

The collection opens with Xia Jia's "Goodnight, Melancholy", which alternates a story about an AI therapeutic doll with (somewhat fictionalized) sections about the life and work of Alan Turing, one of the founders of modern computer science. The second story, "Moonlight", is by Liu Cixin, the best-known science fiction writer from China, who wrote the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, which I reviewed last year as well. This story considers alternatives to fossil fuels, and ironically concludes that we could destroy ourselves whatever technology we choose. The title story, "Broken Stars" by Tang Fei, is about a high school girl from a dysfunctional family, and I'm not sure why it is considered science fiction at all, though it was an interesting story. There are two quite short stories by Han Song, "Submarines" and "Salinger and the Koreans": the latter is a satiric story about an alternative world in which North Korea under its illustrious leader Kim Il Sung liberates the entire world and creates a golden age of socialism; J.D. Salinger, the author of Catcher in the Rye appears as a dissident. (Many of these stories have literary allusions.) Cheng Jingbo's early story, "Under a Dangling Sky", is a folktale-like story about a talking dolphin.

The longest and probably the best story in the book is Baoshu's "What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear", in which history runs backwards from the present to the Second World War, with tragic results for the protagonists but a lot of fun allusions for the reader. Sartre is one of the characters. Hao Jingfang's "The New Year Train" is another short work, based on the averaging over many paths approach to quantum mechanics. Fei Dao's "The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales" reminded me of Lem's robot stories in the Cyberiad. Zhang Ran's "The Snow of Jinyang" is a time-travel story of a particular subgenre of Chinese science fiction. Anna Wu's "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Laba Porridge" is the first in a series of stories she has written set in the restaurant famous from Douglas Adam's novel; it is full of inside jokes about Chinese writers, some of which I got and some of which I didn't. Ma Boyong's humorous story "The First Emperor's Games", starts from the premise that the first emperor of ancient China was a video gamer, and all the ancient Chinese philosophers present him with video games (which all happen to be popular games of today.) Some of the allusions are quite funny. Gu Shi's "reflection" combines Buddhism with quantum theory; Regina Kanyu Wang's "The Brain Box" is about recording memories.The last two stories, "Coming of the Light" and "A History of Future Illnesses", are by Chen Qiufan, whose novel Waste Tide I reviewed last year.

The book ends with three essays on the history of Chinese science fiction and the academic study of it. I won't repeat what I said about the differences between Chinese and American science fiction in my review of the first collection; one difference which was obvious here is that exactly half the authors here are women.

A True Cowboy Christmas – Caitlin Crews – 3***
I was surprised by how entertaining I found this, despite some totally ridiculous dialogue. I thought the miscommunication between Abby and Gray was belabored. Would have liked to see a more gradual coming-to-agreement, meeting-of-the-minds story arc rather than the abrupt “Come to Jesus (i.e. Christmas)” turnaround. But hey, it’s a cowboy Christmas romance, so it’s okay. And I did like looking at that cover ….
My full review HERE

News Of the World – Paulette Jiles – 4****
I loved this tale of an elderly widower who agrees to transport a 10-year-old girl who’s been held captive by a Kiowa tribe for about 5 years back to her relatives. The ways they support one another when facing various dangers and come to simply enjoy one another when things are going smoothly, paint a picture of love. There are some scenes that are quite comical, many that are tender, and quite a few that had me on the edge of my seat.
My full review HERE

Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin – 4****
A classic of gay literature explores the coming of age of a young American living in Paris in the 1950s. Baldwin’s writing is evocative and atmospheric. His characters are well drawn and reveal their strengths and weaknesses through their thoughts and actions. David’s struggles to be true to himself while living the life he feels is expected of him leads to tragedy. I feel for all these characters as their dreams and aspirations are slowly destroyed. I can only hope that after this story ends, David finds some happiness in his life.
My full review HERE

Let It Snow – Nancy Thayer – 3***
Thayer writes a lovely, quick romance set against a charming backdrop of Christmas in Nantucket. The characters are mostly straight out of central casting, but I’m not complaining. I read these books because they are comfort food. I know exactly what I’m in for and I’m happy to get it.
My full review HERE

Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman [1990] 263 pages

Lakota Woman is the autobiography of Mary Crow Dog, the wife of Leonard Crow Dog, a traditional Sioux medicine man who was the "spiritual leader" of the American Indian Movement at the time of the Wounded Knee Occupation. Born Mary Brave Bird, she grew up in a one room shack without indoor plumbing or electricity, raised largely by her grandparents as her father abandoned the family before she was born and her mother worked in another city. As a child, she was taken like many other Native Americans to a Catholic-run boarding school, where she was mistreated and indoctrinated with Christianity until she finally ran away in her teens. She wandered a while with groups of other "lost" teenagers, drinking, doing drugs, and living by shoplifting, until she ran into the American Indian Movement and discovered her ancestral religion. She participated in many of the well-known actions of AIM, such as the Custer Courthouse fight and the takeover of the BIA offices. She had her first baby at Wounded Knee during the siege.

Later, she married Crow Dog, and had to adapt to life as the wife of a prominent medicine man. Shortly after their marriage, he was arrested and sentenced to twenty-three years in prison for his role as religious leader of the Occupation, and for defending his home against invasion by some drunken whites (who it later turned out had been sent by the FBI as a provocation). While he was imprisoned she developed into a leader and speaker in her own right, touring for his defense committee. He was finally released on appeal after three years. As in many books about AIM, Mary Crow Dog describes the extreme lengths to which the FBI and even the military went to destroy the organization and its leaders, and the illegality and corruption of the South Dakota and even Federal courts when the defendant was an Indian, let alone a militant one.

As Crow Dog's wife, her perspective on AIM is quite different from those of Dennis Banks and Russell Means, whose autobiographies I have also read (Ojibwa Warrior and Where White Men Fear to Tread. She sees the struggle less as a political than as a religious one, essentially as a struggle against religious persecution. Of course, one of the surest ways to destroy a native culture is to supplant its religion, and Native American ceremonies were outlawed by the government and suppressed by the Christian missionaries for over fifty years in an attempt to force the Indians to convert to Christianity; they are still subject to harassment to the present day. Leonard Crow Dog played a role in reviving these ceremonies, and organized the first Ghost Dance in almost a century at Wounded Knee. One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the description of the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, and yuwipi ceremonies.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict – Laurie Viera Rigler – 2**
I should have read the book jacket and put the book aside. This was just ridiculous on so many levels, and Courtney was a total idiot whom I wanted to slap on about every other page. At least it was a fast read, and mildly entertaining.
My full review HERE

Planting Stories – Anika Aldamuy Denise – 5***** and a ❤
Subtitle: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré. This picture book biography is marvelously illustrated by Paola Escobar. The story is simple enough for children to absorb, but detailed enough to engage an adult.
My full review HERE

Verity by Colleen Hoover
5 ★

Lowen Ashleigh has been offered a dream job: writing the last couple books in a series started by a well-known author, Verity Crawford, who was injured in a auto accident. She moves in with the family to work on the books using Verity’s notes and finds Verity’s husband to be very much the man she would want. Things start to change though when Lowen finds am autobiography written by Verity that reveals information about the recent deaths of her daughters that Lowen is sure Verity doesn’t want anyone to know.

I devoured this book in just a few sittings. The writing is amazing and the story flows very smoothly. I really like how the author broke up the chapters by adding chapters from the autobiography. It really gives the reader I look into Verity’s mind set. It’s very disturbing and morbid, but I was unable to stop reading.
Lowen Ashleigh is a great character who doesn’t feel that she deserves the assignment. She felt like an everyday person that I would know in my own life. She does make some mistakes throughout the book, but in the situation she was in I can truly understand, Her feeling for Verity’s husband, Jeremy, are very real I you can feel her anguish at not being able to tell him.
Verity’s son, Crew, is a slightly forgotten character throughout the book. Many of the things he says are brushed off as the imagination of a child. He was actually giving Jeremy and Lowen clues as to what was going on. Jeremy also has many of his own secrets that come to light in the shocking ending. That last chapter is a doozy that keeps you reading to the end.
This was my first Colleen Hoover book and I will most definitely be picking up another soon.

Honoré de Balzac, La Cousine Bette [1846] 425 pages [in French, Kindle]

La Cousine Bette is a classic of French literature. It is one of Balzac's later novels, and in the scheme of the Comédie humaine it forms part of the division Scènes de la vie Parisienne. It is one of the best-written of his novels; unlike many of them it never drags and the descriptions are subordinated to the plot. It is also unusual among his novels in that it moves among all the social classes and layers of the time. At the risk of anachronism, one could describe it as a "black comedy" which exposes the moral depravity of Paris society under the reign of Louis Philippe.

The novel opens with a secret conversation between the rich retired merchant M. Crevel and the Baroness Adeline Hulot, in which Crevel offers to pay the dowry of her daughter Hortense if Adeline will become his mistress, which she indignantly rejects. In the course of the discussion, we learn that the Baron Hulot and Crevel are "libertines" who met through their mistresses; that Victorin, the son of the Baron, and Célestin, the daughter of Crevel, are recently married; that the Baron has stolen the mistress of Crevel, the singer Josépha; and that between the expenses of his mistresses and the establishment of Victorin, he has lost most of his money and cannot provide Hortense with a dowry.

While these two are having their conversation, Hortense is talking in the garden with her mother's cousin, Lisbeth Fischer, the Cousine Bette of the title. Cousine Bette is apparently an old maid, a poor relative who is patronized by the Hulots; but she claims to have a lover, a younger Polish count. Hortense thinks at first that he is imaginary, but she and the reader later meet him -- Count Wenceslas Steinbock, a talented but impoverished sculptor. Hortense decides to steal him away from Cousine Bette and marries him. We also learn the history of Cousine Bette -- she is the less attractive cousin who has always since childhood been in the shadow of the beautiful Adeline, and while on the surface she seems humble and good-natured, she is actually consumed by hatred of Adeline and her family, which of course is further fanned by the loss of her lover.

Soon after, Baron Hulot is in turn dumped by Josépha for a rich duke, and takes up with a new mistress, Mme. Marneffe (Valérie), who goes beyond the simple greed of Josépha -- she is evil incarnate and has decided to ruin both Hulot and Crevel, whom she plays against each other. Valérie forms a secret alliance with Cousine Bette, and furthers her revenge by stealing Wenceslas. This all happens early in the novel, and is basically the "set-up". The remainder of the novel consists in plots and counterplots of Valérie and Cousine Bette against the Hulot family and their friends, where Valérie always gets the upper hand because the Hulots implicitly trust their dear cousin. I can't summarize all the many twists and turns of the plot and the many characters who come to play important roles on one side or the other, and I won't reveal how the novel ends.

When all is said and done, the real protagonist of this novel, as of many of Balzac's novels, is money.

An American Marriage – Tayari Jones – 4****
This is a marvelous character-driven study of relationships, in the broader context of modern society’s inability to grant a Black man the basic premise of “innocent until proven guilty.” Despite this great injustice, the central focus is really the characters’ lack of communication and honesty with one another. My loyalties shifted back and forth between Celestial and Roy as they took turns narrating the story. I think it would be a great choice for a book-club discussion.
My full review HERE

As Nature Made Him – John Colapinto – 5*****
Subtitle: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl. This made me so angry! The unmitigated arrogance and superior attitude of Dr John Money made me want to hunt him down and do an experiment on HIM! In writing the book, Colapinto did an excellent job of researching the various players in this tragedy. He provides considerable background on the development of sexual/gender identity theory, including interviews with many researchers and reporting from numerous professional journals. I think the book is balanced and truthful. I applaud David Reimer for the way he managed to survive the horror that was his childhood.
My full review HERE

Ahab’s Wife – Sena Jeter Neslund – 4****
Melville’s classic Moby Dick contains perhaps three or four sentences that reference Ahab’s wife, but those brief references were enough to inspire Neslund to write this tome. Una is a marvelous character: intelligent, forthright, adventurous, principled, loyal and loving. The novel takes her from her childhood in rural Kentucky to her later years in Massachusetts. Along the way she encounters many colorful characters, from slaves to judges, but make no mistake, the story is Una’s, first and foremost.
My full review HERE

Blue Asylum – Kathy Hepinstall – 2**
Iris Dunleavy is confined to a Florida island asylum for the obvious madness she exhibited in defying her husband. Perhaps Hepinstall was trying to give the reader a sense of the disorientation a truly sane person must feel in such a mandated confinement. If that was her intention, then she mostly succeeded. But, like Iris, I just wanted to escape.
My full review HERE

Sean Carroll, The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World [2013] 353 pages

The Particle at the End of the Universe is by cosmologist Sean M. Carroll, the author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time (not to be confused with Sean B. Carroll, the biologist, who also writes popular books on science.) The book is about the Higgs boson and the search for it at CERN's Large Hadron Collider; it was written about a year after the discovery in the summer of 2012. Carroll is not a particle scientist, and this book was not as good as his books on cosmology. It jumps around from one thing to another, and he repeats himself from one chapter to to the next, especially when proselytizing for spending money on particle research. The book is a very low level popularization, and the first several chapters are full of simplistic analogies and metaphors; the actual explanation of what the Higgs field is and what it does that I was looking for throughout the book finally shows up in one of the short appendices at the end. He also gives an account of the Standard Model particles in bits and drabs; again, for a real presentation in order you need to go to the appendices. He tells us that the Nobel prizes are not the point and that it's not really important who gets the credit for the idea of the Higgs field, then spends parts of several chapters discussing who should get the credit and the prizes. The history of the LHC is worth reading, and there are other worthwhile anecdotes from time to time, but this (unlike the book on time) would not be high on my list of recommended popular physics books.

Pies and Prejudice – Ellery Adams – 2**
I’ve been drawn to this basic premise – food’s magical qualities – since reading Citra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices. I’ve read other series books by Adams as well, and enjoyed them. But she really missed the mark here. Ella Mae is just too clueless, and the cast of “eccentric” characters just too over-the-top. Thank heavens it was a fast read.
My full review HERE

Muhsin Al-Ramli, Daughter of the Tigris [2019] 378 pages

The sequel to The President's Gardens, which takes place mainly under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, this book is set in the first year of the American occupation. It begins with Tariq marrying Ibrahim's daughter Qisma, the main figure in the novel, and leaving for Baghdad to look for the body of Ibrahim. This quest is soon largely forgotten, as the couple fall under the influence of Tariq's cynical wealthy friend Sheik Tafir and the mysterious "intelligence minister" Sayyid Jalal al-Din and become involved in the corruption of Iraqi "democracy". We are soon in the same world as Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad, but without the "magical realism"; the country is in chaos, with neither the Americans or the new Iraqi government able to maintain effective control. Instead of one Saddam Hussein, we have many contending forces all trying to gain power and money at the expense of the population, and engaging in random acts of violence.

Not everything is dark; we have three romances and some comic relief. Abdullah Kafka plays a supporting role, and there are two unforgettable new characters, the brothers Rahib and Bara "Breton" al-Shakhabiti. Qisma seems at first to be a strong feminist character, but she has her own demons. Throughout the novel, however, there is a strong sense that tragedy is unavoidable.

Montana Sky – Nora Roberts – 3***
A schlocky cowboy romance with some fun sex scenes. The romance was more than enough to hold our attention, with sibling rivalry and the push/pull attractions between the couples entertaining enough to keep even this curmudgeonly reader turning pages. And I did love picturing all those rippling muscles on the big, strong men! But that serial killer subplot! Totally unnecessary.
My full review HERE

The Only Road – Alexandra Diaz – 5***** and a ❤
This is a powerful story of twelve-year-old Jaime and his fifteen-year-old cousin Angela’s harrowing journey from their village in Guatemala to El Paso Texas as they flee gang warfare. They face many dangers on this long journey, but find within themselves the courage, tenacity, inventiveness and compassion they need to see them through. I loved these characters. Very well told young adult novel without graphic violence but still giving a sense of the real dangers such refugees face. Both heart-breaking and inspiring.
My full review HERE

Fāris al-Shidyāk, Leg Over Leg or the Turtle in the Tree. . . vols. 1 and 2 [1855] 542 pages [Kindle]

Considered one of the first works of modern Arabic literature, this is a work which doesn't fit any recognized genre. The author tells us he had two purposes in writing it: to discuss rare words in classical Arabic, and to praise women. Ostensibly a biography of "the Fāriyāk", a name based on his own first and last names, the book is filled with lists of rare synonyms and definitions, parodies of different styles of rhymed prose and poetry, puns and plays on words, and illustrations of grammar. However great this may be in the original Arabic, it's virtually unreadable in translation, despite the translator's over 700 footnotes. There are some narrative passages of religious satire which are funny, but for the most part this was like reading an Arab-English Dictionary. I won't be going on to volumes 3 and 4.

Cutting Edge (FBI Trilogy #3) by Allison Brennan
4 ★

FBI Agent Nora English has a troubled past that comes back to haunt her when an anti-technology group burns down a bio-tech firm and a body is found in the ashes. With the help of Duke, Nora plans on stopping the group before anyone else gets hurt.

The prologue to the book is a great start to the story. It gives the reader a very detailed account of Nora’s life prior to joining the FBI. It also helps you understand her reactions throughout the book.
Nora is a scarred character who still has not accepted her past and has not moved past it. Her sister Quin is free spirited and doesn’t seem bothered by her past at all. She was young when it happened though.
Nora and Duke have great chemistry in this book. It’s probably the most believable romance in the trilogy. They have worked together before and knew each other before this case. Duke is great and really knows how to talk to Nora.
The author really knows how to write psychopath characters. Maggie is truly a dangerous person who gave me the chills. How she so casually goes about her plans is methodical and emotionless. I really liked how the author linked her and Nora .

A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
4 ★

After fleeing following the Fourth Trail, Laia and Elias work together and head toward Kauf prison the rescue her brother. Meanwhile Helene, Elias former best friend and now Blood Shrike, hunts Elias for the new Emperor.

This book starts off right where book 1 ended. I really liked how there was no time lapse. The action starts there as well and doesn’t stop. Like the first book each chapter is written from the view point of a different main character (Laia, Elias, Helene). The jump helps the flow of the story and it makes the reader feel like they haven’t missed anything.
During this book the reader will see the characters grow. They evolve and start understanding who they are and why they are doing what they are doing. It’s a gradual thing, but it makes the character seem more real. You can relate to them more.
There are some heartbreaking scenes throughout the book that may bring a tear to your eye. It’s hard to fall in love with a character and then have something bad happen to them. The ending is a happy ending, sort of. There is 1 major change for the Laia and Elias that will change the course of the next book. The ending also ties up the story well with a definite continuing story line for the next book.

The Preacher’s Daughter – Beverly Lewis – 2**
I think Lewis does have a knack for exploring the Amish and Mennonite cultures, and contrasting their perspectives against those of modern-day America. I’m glad she gives voice to people who struggle with the basic tenets of faith and a way of life that may not completely suit them. However, I think Lewis’s ambitions got away from her. There is just too much going on in this novel and none of if it satisfactorily explored.
My full review HERE

Ismail Kadare, The Palace of Dreams [1981, tr. 1993] 205 pages

Ostensibly set in the Ottoman Empire sometime before the First World War, I expected this to be one of Kadare's more or less historical novels, but it is actually something quite different -- it has the same nightmare quality as the novels of Kafka.

The protagonist, Mark-Alem, is appointed to a job in the Palace of Dreams, a huge bureaucratic institution which collects and interprets dreams from throughout the Empire. He wanders through the labyrinthine corridors of the Palace without ever knowing where he is supposed to go, and never seems to actually understand anything he is doing, although he is regularly promoted, soon ending up as the Director of the Palace. The Palace is involved in the machinations of various factions in the State, through interpretations of random dreams. The book is a satire of bureaucracy and totalitarianism, and was banned in Albania; like most of Kadare's works, the English translation is actually translated from the French version.

The Gown – Jennifer Robson – 3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: A Novel of the Royal Wedding. Princess Elizabeth’s wedding to Phillip Mountbatten, that is. I really liked the friendship between Ann, the scrappy Brit, and Miriam, the French immigrant who had survived the Nazis. However, the dual timeline has become the latest fad in historical fiction and I’m over it. Nevertheless, the story captured and held my attention.
My full review HERE

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
4 ★

Nannerl Mozart wishes that she could be recognized for her music like her brother Wolfgang. She worries that she will be forgotten. A simple wish to never be forgotten brings a stranger from the Kingdom of Back to Nannerl and makes a deal with her. Help me and I help you. This deal may end up costing Nannerl her life and he brothers.

Nannerl and Woferl’s adventures in the Kingdom of Back start off fun and end up becoming scary and dangerous. The shift as they get older progresses well. I really like how this story was centered on Marianne Mozart. It’s sad that during this time period a woman wasn’t allowed to show her skills in music composing. There are some nice twists regarding her music in the story. The author paints a great picture of the relationship between Nannerl and Wolferl. How close they are and how much Wolferl looks up to his sister. I did not like their father. He was greedy and selfish. Wolferl got sick many times because of the busy schedule he kept them on.
The fantasy part of the book is very well written. The Kingdom of Back is beautiful and different. I have never read anything with such a place. The author describes the kingdom in vivid detail and I loved how Nannerl traveled there. The transition between worlds was seamless and simple.
I would love to know how much of this story came from fact, It would be nice to know how close Marianne and Wolfgang were and if why Wolfgang was known as just Mozart is based on fact. This is a delightful story with a great ending.