Reached, Ally Condie

Title:  Reached
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton
Publishing Date: 2012
Length: 512 pages
Summary: (from book) Cassia's journey began with an error, a momentary glitch in the otherwise perfect facade of the Society. After crossing canyons to break free, she waits, silk and paper smuggled against her skin, ready for the final chapter.
The wait is over.
One young woman has raged against those who threaten to keep away what matter s most-family, love, choice. Her quiet revolution is about to explode into full-scale rebellion.




My Thoughts:  Aaaaauuuuugggh.  This is the last book the Matched Trilogy. I loved the first book, wasn't much of a fan for the sequel, and the third one....mmm....not so sure what I think. I've met the author, she's fantastic. It was a fun book signing event; we got buttons with the Society logo and book quotes printed on them, and even pill vials to mimic the ones in the book. One thing her reviews always rave about is her poetic, beautiful prose, which to be honest....I find a little irritating after awhile. Cassia always goes on and on about creating and art and stuff, and I was to the point where I wanted to skip her chapters and just read about Xander and Ky.

(I'm on Xander's side, just so ya'll know)

The plot for this book was interesting....I wish there had been more subplots, but I can understand not wanting to create more story lines while trying to wrap up a series. It was a nice conclusion, and I am quite happy that Xander got where he needed to be.

Cassia and Ky? Eh. :)

Things To Be Cautious Of:  The word 'dang' used like five times throughout the book.  Mild dystopian stuff, plague related death. Some patient sabotage.

What I Learned: The power to chose is always worth fighting for.

Icefall, Matthew J. Kirby

Title: Icefall
Author: Matthew J. Kirby
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publishing Date: 2011
Length: 321 pages
Summary: (From book)  Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in the midst. A malevolent air beings to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.
Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings bust choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survived the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?


My Thoughts:  Wow. I just finished this one. And cried through the ending as usual.....
Matthew J. Kirby is an up and coming author and I absolutely loved his debut novel, The Clockwork Three.  With his second novel, I am starting to have a great appreciation for his work and will now look forward eagerly to see what else he comes up with.
As with all children's literature, there is a deeper meaning than just a clever storyline and I felt this one go straight through me. The different mentalities of all the characters and what they represented was so poignant and tastefully done. This felt more like an insight into the psychology of human behavior than a piece of fiction.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  Violence. Nothing too graphic or intense.

What I learned:  I am not just me. I have power within me and don't need to hold myself back. It is important to stay true to who you are and pick a side.

The Help, By Kathryn Stockett

Title: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Publisher: Berkley
Publishing Date: 2009
Length:  522 pages
Summary: (From book)  Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, raising her seventeenth white child. She's always taken orders quietly, but lately it leaves her with a bitterness she can no longer bite back. Her friend Minny has certainly never held her tongue, or held onto a job for very long, but now she's working for a newcomer with secrets that leave her speechless. And white socialite Skeeter has just returned from college with ambition and a degree, but to her mother's lament, no husband.  Normally Skeeter would find solace in Constantine, the beloved maid who raised her, but Constantine has inexplicably disappeared.
 Together, these seemingly different women join to work on a project that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town-to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South. Despite the terrible risks they will have to take, and the sometimes humorous boundaries they will have to cross, these three women unite with one intention: hope for a better day.
My Thoughts:    What a wonderful book. I loved it even more than the movie. I am so in awe of the writing style of this debut author. To be able to handle three very unique first person narrations and an entire cast of distinctive characters is quite an impressive feat.  I fell in love with all the personal stories and started crying at the end.  This book is unforgettable and tells an important story in a light that is both entertaining and humorous, but with just the right amount of gravity to realize the sadness of the widespread belief of segregation.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  Language. The Lord's name is taken in vain repeatedly throughout the length of the book.  There is a scene in the novel not found in the film about some insane, naked wild man running around Celia's house.  Mentioning of violence, domestic abuse, unfair treatment of African Americans.

What I Learned: We are all God's children and He loves us all equally. We need to remember that.

Love Beyond Time, Nancy Campbell Allen

Title: Love Beyond Time
Author: Nancy Campbell Allen
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publishing Date: 1999
Length: 196 pages
Summary: (from book) Amber Saxton is a bright young LDS doctor on the cutting edge of twenty-first century medicine. But when she has a head on collision with a swinging door, life as she knows it is suddenly reduced to a heart full of searing memories when she awakens in another time and place. How can she practice modern medicine on a Civil War battlefield-and how can she get out of this mess? She longs for her comfortable apartment and her dear little Pirmary class, but she's trapped in a world that is not her own. And it's anything but friendly.
Meanwhile, Tyler Tyler Montgomery, an overworked accountant, is spending the night at his computer, preparing for an audit, when two of his worst nightmares walk through his office door. The last thing he remembers is the blow from the butt of their sawed off shotgun-until he comes to in a tiny room adjacent to a nineteenth century Army hospital. I've died and I'm not in heaven, he thinks.
Amber and Tyler have just begun the adventure of their lives, fraught with danger, intrigue and unbelievable discoveries at every turn. Thrown together in a world apart, they must somehow find their way back to the present. But first, they need to find each other and learn what matters most in life. Can they meet the test- or will it cost them their lives  before they can unravel the mystery of generations past?

My Thoughts: Mm....what to say about this one. It was given to me by a friend who loved it, but I'm not sure this is my cuppa tea.  The title is bona fide cheesy, and I don't think I would call this much of  a time travel fic.  I didn't like the pacing of the novel at all and just read through it for it to get it over with.  I quickly grew tired of Tyler's 'heated blood' when it came to his attraction to Amber, but since this is an LDS novel, it never really goes anywhere except for more kissing than I like, which is surprising since the author claims her objective is to write enjoyable romance without guilt.
I feel horrible for never really liking LDS fiction. It just always has to be so perfect and everybody has to join the church at the end. If I read Christian lit, I much prefer to read from other sects rather than my own, not for the religious perspective, but just for the content.
The one thing I did like about this book is that both Amber and Tyler met some of their ancestors while living in 1862. It was a happy touch for the genealogist in me.
What I Learned:   I need to stop bashing LDS fics.
 

Dandelion Summer, By Lisa Wingate

Title: Dandelion Summer
Author: Lisa Wingate
Length: 381 pages
Publishing Company: New American Library
Publishing Date: 2011
Summary:(from book) All her life, Epiphany Jones has been tossed like a dandelion seed on the wind. Now, with the death of Mrs. Lora-the family friend who took Epie into her home-the sixteen year old must move to Dallas to live with her indifferent mother and new stepfather. Trapped in the low-rent area of Blue Sky Hill, Epie doesn't fit in-and soon finds herself on the wrong side of the law. To make restitution, she's sent to work in another place she's not wanted: a home on the upscale streets of the Hill.
When J. Norman Alvord learns that his daughter has hired a teenager to stay with him in the afternoons, he's determined the nix the arrangement. Widowed and suffering from heart trouble, Norman wants to be left alone. But in Epie's presence, Norman finds a mystery, Deep in his mind, lies memories of another house another life, and a young, black woman, a housekeeper who saved him....
As summer comes to Blue Sky Hill, two residents from different worlds will journey through a turbulent past and find that with an unexpected road trip through sleepy Southern towns come a life changing friendship...and clues to a family secret hidden for a lifetime.

My Thoughts: What a wonderful book! It was full of warm fuzzies and good messages and lots of mystery.  I loved it, just like all the books my Grandma gives me to read. The name Epiphany Jones is charming and I loved her spunk and courage. J. Norman was just awesome. I loved the switches between POV and the different details and opinions you would receive depending on who was speaking.  
Things To Be Cautious Of: Epie gets involved with a bad boy from school and he wants to do a little more than make out. She resists.
What I Learned: Family is very important and knowing where you come from is a wonderful thing to have.
 
 

The House I Loved, Tatiana De Rosnay

Title:  The House I loved
Author: Tatiana De Rosnay
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: February 2012
Length: 222 Pages
Summary: (From book)  Paris, France: 1860's. Hundreds of houses are being destroyed, entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann has begun a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, molding it into a "modern city."  The reforms will erase generations of history, but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.
Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end, even while others flee to new houses on bigger streets. She stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that march closer and closer each day. And as she waits, she escapes in the past, writing letters to her beloved late husband, Armand. By delving into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years.
My Thoughts:  Well....this book was nothing like the cover promised. I'm guessing the picture is supposed to portray how Rose and Armand looked as a young couple-but they didn't live in some mansion down a tree lined  drive, so I'm missing the point here...
I liked the writing style. It was elegant and too the point, but the story overall fell a little flat for me. I saw the movie Sarah's Key, and have had that story impressed on my mind for quite some time, so when I saw a new book by this author, I wanted to give it a try.
Rose is a widow living in the cellar of her house waiting for the destruction of her neighborhood. She does't want to let her house go, and is planning on staying until the bitter end. It wasn't a public protest, just her alone by herself, so the fight was more personal than rallying.
While she waits, she writes letters to her dead husband, Armand. I have to say I felt like she was a little selfish. She talks about how her mother paid little attention to her and her brother growing up, but then justifies not loving her own daughter in favor of their son. It's like an abuse cycle.
The big secret she carried around for thirty years wasn't something I wanted to read about, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to the story, but it works.
I have never wanted to visit Paris; it's always felt very pompous and...French. But I get the impression I would have liked to visit the old Paris before the renovations; that sounds more like something I'd love. So for giving me an interest in the old city, the book did it's job. For plot and characters....not so much.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  *MAJOR SPOILERS*  Rose's secret is that she was taken advantage of in her home and that is where her son comes from. I found it awkward and not necessary to the book and really wished I hadn't read that. After the son, *SPOILERS,* dies, the husband writes her a letter and says the way to overcome their grief is to love each other. ....Right.   There's hinting at romance lovey stuff, but nothing obscene, just married couple things. I really don't care for adult fiction since that seems to be an underlying theme.

What I Learned:  Old Paris sounds amazing. I don't want to be an old widow waiting for my house to cave in on me.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

Title: Between Shades of Gray
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel
Publishing Date: 2011
Length:  338 Pages
Summary: (From book) In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp.  All is lost.
Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?

My Thoughts:  This book made me cry. Repeatedly. I bawl through every story of the Jews in Germany during WWII, but I had absolutely no idea about the people of Latvia. What they were put through was horrific and should never have happened. Lina's voice tells the story of her people in an unflinching and truthful manner. It was a wonderful coming of age story that balanced well the concerns of a growing teenage girl growing up in a prison camp. Every character was memorable and emotionally poignant.  This book will become a classic.

Things To Be Cautious Of: It's the story of the horrors of prison camps. While none of it is excessively violent or crude, there is mentioning of the reality of what really happened. Some of these stories may be hard for sensitive readers. (Example, me.)

What I learned: Love is important. Stand for what you believe in and never back down. Family is the dearest thing you will ever have in life.