Archives

U for Underworld – Abandon, by Meg Cabot (fiction)

Apr24

The underworld, the afterlife…
We always wonder what it’s like, after we die,
but Pierce knows.

If she hadn’t tried to save the dying bird, she wouldn’t have fallen into the near-freezing water, wouldn’t have drowned, wouldn’t have flatlined in the emergency room.

And finding herself in the Underworld, seeing the young man she met in a cemetery as a child, realizing that she’s dead… Pierce just can’t stay, and somehow she escapes back to the world of the living. But she’s never completely here.

Well-known author Meg Cabot retells the Persephone myth with a dark, modern twist in this first book of the Abandon trilogy. Book two, Underworld, will be published May 8, 2012, so hurry to read book 1 at your local library or independent bookstore first.
**kmm

Book info: Abandon (Abandon, book 1)/ Meg Cabot. Point Books, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: A new start in a tropical paradise…that should cheer up Pierce, right? Somehow, she’s not recovering from her near-death experience very well. Part of her heart must have stayed in the Underworld, with him.

So Mom brought her to Isla Huesos, where she grew up. New house, new school, her uncle and cousin and grandmother nearby – living among the Florida sea breezes and bright flowers of “the Island of Bones” should help her readjust to being alive, to fully recover from being clinically dead after that accident two years ago, to escape from the strange things that happened at her last school.

People ask if she saw a bright light as she died, but not about her seeing John in the Afterlife or escaping from death itself. They don’t know that Pierce met handsome, dangerous John Hayden during her childhood when she tried to revive a dying bird at her grandfather’s funeral in Isla Huesos and succeeded or that he’s given her a necklace that warns her of danger approaching.

Isla Huesos High School has an odd tradition of “Coffin Night,” celebrating a hurricane so fierce that it lifted all the coffins from the cemetery. But this year, Coffin Night has been cancelled because someone has broken the cemetery gates and overturned gravestones. When John caught up with Pierce in the cemetery last night, he didn’t think that they’d be attacked by dark forces – striking back did a bit of damage, but they’d escaped, leaving Pierce’s necklace behind.

When the cemetery sexton shows up at school with her necklace darkening in its danger mode, Pierce has to meet with him later, despite John’s warnings. Does Mr. Smith know about John or is he just trying to frighten the newcomer? Why does her mother warn her about some local families and not others? Why are the storms strengthening so early in the season? Why does Pierce feel drawn to return to the cemetery again and again?

This eerie retelling of the Persephone myth takes readers to the Island of Bones and beyond, as strong winds and stronger feelings take Pierce far beyond herself. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

S for Schizophrenia – Border Crossing, by Jessica Lee Anderson (fiction)

Apr21
Being an outsider, a minority, a “half-breed“.
Hearing mocking laughter from privileged people.
Hearing voices in his head telling him to do something about it.

Manz has only his mom’s stories to tell him about his Mexican father and how he died a crazy man. Her boyfriend Tom is a good enough guy, excited about being a father to their baby, sorrowing when Gabe is stillborn. Mom still hasn’t gotten over it, just drinks her dinner, fills Gabriel’s crib with painting after painting.

Who knows why the voices chose to invade his head, why the Messenger is warning Manz that his best friend might turn on him, that the Border Patrol will kill him, that everyone in the little dusty Texas town wants to see the teen dead.

A compelling look at the world through the eyes of schizophrenia – will Manz make the Border Crossing back into sanity after this violent summer?
**kmm

Book info: Border Crossing / Jessica Lee Anderson. Milkweed Editions, 2009. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: On the wrong side of the tracks, Manz wonders if things will ever go right for his family – Mexican father dead, white mother drinking herself crazy after his brother was stillborn, competing with illegals for work in the blazing hot Texas summer sun.

At least his pal Jed will be working with him at the dude ranch, pulling up rotted fence posts, putting up new fences, away from Jed’s mean dad who’d sooner hit his son than talk to him. Manz worries about Jed and his sister, having to put up with that abuse.

Thorns and barbed wire, dust and more dust, Manz and Jed are glad to stop for lunch in the cool of the ranch’s chow hall. Of course, Jed flirts relentlessly with the cute Latina girl who serves the guests; Manz is tongue-tied, but Vanessa looks at him, not Jed.

Maybe soon, his mom’s boyfriend Tom will be back from his long-haul trucking run and can get her to calm down and stop drinking again. Manz needs to ask Tom if the Border Patrol is getting more aggressive everywhere – seems like they’re around every corner in Rockhill, watching the migrant workers, watching Manz.

It’s just nervousness about meeting Vanessa’s parents that makes Manz’s brain feel fizzy and loud, just concern about how much longer Jed can fool his dad about working somewhere other than their own orchards that makes the murmurs in his head get louder, panic that he’s being targeted as half-Mexican that causes the voices inside to grow louder and louder.

The Messenger is speaking inside his head, warning Manz that the Border Patrol has begun Operation Wetback again, will deport him, will kill him, will take away his mother. As the loudness of the Messenger out-shouts the summer thunderstorm, Manz slips further away from himself. Can Jed take care of his sister if the authorities take Manz? What about his mom and Tom? Maybe the Border Patrol will use them to get him!

Schizophrenia tackles Manz and throws him down – can he find his way back to reality? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

P for Prized, by Caragh O’Brien (fiction) – not enough daughters, not enough time

Apr18

In the desert-dry future,
when the oil is depleted and hope is imprisoned,
there are rumors of a safe place beyond the wastelands.

Gaia and her tiny infant sister actually make it to Sylum, to a lake with more water than the teen midwife has ever dreamed of, to morning mists instead of parching winds, to the Matrarch‘s iron-fisted rule over everyone – the women citizens and the second-class males who vastly outnumber them.

Her own grandmother fled here years ago, and Gaia had hoped against hope that she’d still be in Sylum. Alas, she died a decade before their arrival, but left coded messages addressed to Gaia’s parents. Perhaps they’re family history, perhaps they’re clues to why fewer and fewer daughters are born to Sylum each year.

To fully appreciate Gaia’s story, read Birthmarked first, but if you just can’t wait to jump into this dystopian world, the author subtly brings in enough snippets of information from the first book to let you read Prized by itself. If you have read Birthmarked (book 1) and want a “bridge” to Prized, or if you just want a bit more backstory on The Enclave, look for O’Brien’s short story “Tortured” (free eBook at this time).

A mystery, a love story, a cautionary ecological parable.
**kmm

Book info: Prized (The Birthmarked Trilogy, book 2) / Caragh O’Brien. Roaring Brook Press, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [video book review]

My Recommendation: Gaia is afraid that her infant sister might not survive their escape across the wasteland, but the rumors hadn’t prepared her for the women-ruled settlement that rescues them. Staying in the Enclave would have enslaved them both; living in Sylum will give Maya to someone else to raise as the Matarch rules everyone. And once Gaia stays in Sylum for two days, she can never cross its borders or she’ll die.

So few females have been born in Sylum during recent decades that Gaia, with the birthmark streaking down her face, is accepted at once, and Maya is doubly prized. Now men drastically outnumber women, and they are forbidden to touch women or to vote in assemblies – a kiss means time in prison for assault. Men who have been tested as fertile have a chance to marry, if they impress a woman during the thirty-two games and the Matrarch approves.

When Gaia uses her midwifery skills to help a young woman in distress and won’t tell who, the Matrarch puts her under house arrest. Eventually, Gaia relents, stepping into the sunlight and a wealth of confusion as two brothers very delicately express their interest in her as a wife – and an intruder turns out to be Vlatir, who helped her escape from the Enclave!

As time approaches for the thirty-two games, Gaia gets strong hints that she’ll be the winner’s choice for chaperoned time together. Even prisoners can be chosen to play, so seeing Vlatir on the field is only a slight surprise. But the winner’s choice of companion shocks the whole community, and Gaia finds herself in a whirlwind of old secrets, new information, and terrible danger.

Can Gaia discover why so few girls are born here? Will the Matrarch let her act on any knowledge that she gains? Can she or Maya or even Vlatir survive in this strange place of marshes and lakes and women-archers who guard the assembly hall?

Readers who begin the Birthmarked Trilogy with this second volume will easily follow Gaia’s story as the author skillfully weaves in characters and incidents from the first book throughout the tale. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

O for Ollie in With a Name Like Love, by Tess Hilmo (book review) – truth, hate, and justice in 1950s Ozarks

Apr17

book cover of With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo published by Margaret Foster BooksSummertime in the 1950s south,
big revival tent pitched in a meadow outside town,
everyone welcome to sing gospel songs and listen to hopeful words,
three days here, then gone again, down the road to the next town.

But this time, Ollie knows that her singing, preaching family needs to stay a while longer, to help someone who can’t get out of a problem that he didn’t create. This hardscrabble Arkansas farming town had condemned Jimmy’s mom without a second thought. Never mind the impossibility of such a tiny woman beating up her big abusive husband and heaving him into the river…

You need to visit Binder for yourself and meet Jimmy, his wonderful collection of frogs, his gospel-singing neighbor Moody, and Mrs. Mahoney, who opened her home to the family With a Name Like Love – you’ll be so glad that you did.
*kmm

Book info: With a Name Like Love / Tess Hilmo. Margaret Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Ollie knows in her heart that Binder, Arkansas could use her daddy’s message of love, but some folks don’t see it that way. A revival won’t change people who jailed a woman just because her abusive husband vanished, will it?

As Ollie and her younger sisters are posting flyers about the revival in town, a boy watches them from behind trees and buildings. Jimmy is not welcome in the general store, whose owner is sure that his mother murdered her abusive husband and disposed of the body without a trace. Many in town agree, so Jimmy keeps to himself up in the Ozark woods, tending to his pet frogs and helping his elderly neighbor Moody. Soon the sheriff will come take his mother to the county jail where no one will speak up for the petite woman, where no one will testify that she and Jimmy were regularly beaten by her hulking bear of a husband.

When Jimmy quietly arrives at the revival grounds, Ollie introduces him to her father, hoping that the young man’s plight will convince Rev. Love to stay in Binder longer than 3 days to help him. The reverend knows that God’s love can help Jimmy, but isn’t sure that the Love family can help Jimmy against townspeople whose minds are convinced about his mother’s guilt.

A shadowy figure slinks through their camp, a fire torches the parents’ sleeping tent, sister Gwen leads them in praying for rain, and the raindrops fall, saving their revival tent and the girls’ bunkhouse on wheels. Who is trying to make the Loves leave Binder? Are Ollie’s questions about Jimmy’s mother getting too close to the real truth?

This mystery takes readers to that dusty Arkansas summer in 1957, when Reverend Love’s message could ease listeners’ sorrows and eventually the truth might be coaxed out of hiding. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

L for lamb to the slaughter? – Grave Mercy, by Robin LaFevers (fiction)

Apr13

Handmaiden to death.
Fair assassin.
Death’s own true daughter.

At the convent of St. Mortain in old Brittany, Ismae finds her calling, her gift. She can see the Dark Lord’s mark plainly on those guilty ones she’s assigned to kill…and she can communicate with souls after death.

Her training at the convent has molded her into a subtle instrument of Death’s justice, yet she is unprepared for the intrigues of Anne’s court. Will her skills be enough to protect the young duchess from traitors?

I studied in Brittany years ago, land of ancient standing stones and long-held traditions, living down the block from Nantes’ massive cathedral where Anne must be crowned to keep Brittany independent (and just found my apartment balcony on Google Earth – wow). Folks in the countryside still identify themselves at Bretons before they say they’re French…

First in His Fair Handmaiden series, you can find this exciting tale at your local library or independent bookstore now.

Do you believe that relationships can persist despite mere distance…or death?
**kmm

Book info: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, book 1) / Robin LaFevers. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Smuggled in boats and hidden in wagons, Ismae escapes a forced marriage to arrive at a remote convent. Here, the sisters of St. Mortain are dedicated to the Lord Death, a cadre of assassin nuns trying to keep Brittany and the old gods from being swallowed by France and its intolerant Catholic priests.

Oh, death has long whispered around her, born with long red scars claimed by the herbwitch as the mark that Ismae was fathered by the dark Lord himself. She trains with other novices in deadly arts both subtle and sudden, preparing for her first test as an assassin who can see Mortain’s dark sign on her target, a sure signal that the person’s guilt has brought Death’s final justice.

As the French regent pressures Brittany’s young ruler to marry him, Ismae is brought into Anne’s castle to carefully remove disloyal nobles who would betray the twelve-year-old duchess before her coronation. Her protector amid the royal protocols and complex alliances is Duval, Anne’s older half-brother, born to a woman not their father’s wife. Information travels back and forth to the convent by raven, but can hardly convey the wisps of rumors sliding along the castle corridors.

When the Reverend Mother orders Ismae to kill Duval, she searches for Lord Death’s mark to show her the method of assassination, but finds none. How can this be? Every other victim has displayed a clear mark. Is someone intercepting the secret messages? Is there a traitor at the convent? Are her growing feelings for Duval clouding her most important gifts? Could Duval truly wish harm to the royal sister whom he’s sworn to protect?

This first book in His Fair Assassin series takes readers into the complex world of duchies and alliances, to the days when Brittany’s old gods still wandered its woodlands and rocky coasts. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Illuminate, by Aimee Agresti (fiction) – H for Haven, Hotel, and Hell?

Apr9

Al Capone had his gangster headquarters at The Lexington Hotel,
President Benjamin Harrison enjoyed its luxuries as he dedicated Chicago’s famous World Columbian Exposition,
and now shy Haven Terra will be part of its gala grand re-opening.

She doesn’t recall applying for an internship in hotel management, but is glad for anything that will help pay for college…and she gets to live there full-time instead of enduring spring semester at her high school, too! Great!

But soon she and fellow intern Lance find flaws in The Lexington’s quest for perfection – a hidden agenda that will require guests to check their souls at the door, their beautiful bosses’ evil alliances, and mysterious messages telling Haven how to stop this devilish enterprise.

It’s up to her to find a way to Illuminate the dark secrets of this surface-bright world and to keep her friends from being lured into its depths…forever. First book in The Gilded Wings series and Agresti’s writing debut – it’s a thrill ride!
**kmm

(p.s. LAST DAY! Giveaway for ARC of Cat Girl’s Day Off continues here closes at 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 9, 2012.)

Book info: Illuminate / Aimee Agresti. Harcourt, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Haven was surprised to be chosen to intern with the successful young owner of the swanky Lexington Hotel – and get school credit, too. The suave and glamorous trainees there seem rather soulless, though, like being a member of “The Outfit” has polished away their own personalities…

It’ll be hard to give up working at the children’s hospital and living with Joan, the nurse who found her as an abandoned five-year-old and gave her a home. Nothing ever discovered about Haven’s past, why she had those terrible scars on her back, why she had been left in the frozen mud. But it’s only for the spring semester.

Shy, smart Haven sure won’t miss feeling like an outcast at her high school, especially since her best (and only) friend Dante will be shadowing The Lexington’s amazing chef. And Lance from their school will be there, working with handsome manager Lucien. Everything will be fine, especially when owner Aurelia gives Haven a great camera and charges her with filling the lobby gallery with large-format portraits of The Outfit for The Lexington’s grand opening.

Browsing the hotel library for more history about its heyday when Al Capone was a regular, an odd little book intrigues her. And later, the book starts to write messages to Haven in its back pages… messages that warn her to trust no one, to explore carefully, and to train her muscles and stamina for a future challenge.

As the hotel’s grand opening nears, The Vault basement club starts welcoming Chicago’s elite and famous to its “ring of fire” seating and exquisite cocktails. All the gorgeous young people of The Outfit spend their evenings there too, so Lucien and Aurelia ask Haven to take lots of publicity photos. Lucien particularly enjoys having Haven nearby…

When Haven sees Lucien open an iron basement door into a fiery pit, she knows that The Lexington is not just another fancy hotel. And surely it’s not coincidence that her own high school has scheduled its prom there!

Why are hideous distortions appearing on every photo of The Outfit that Haven takes? Why is Dante suddenly so distant? Can Haven and Lance stay clear of the hotel’s mysterious perils? Why is the book warning her to be prepared against evil? What’s this about Haven keeping souls from…extinction?

Agresti’s stunning debut novel is the first book in The Gilded Wings trilogy. Step into The Lexington with Haven, if you dare. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

G for Ghost Flower, by Michele Jaffe (book review) – missing heiress, ghostly best friend, forever?

Apr7

The resemblance is uncanny.
This no-money runaway looks just like a missing heiress,
the one who will inherit millions on her birthday this month.
What could go wrong with a short-time acting gig?
Oh, Eve, if you only knew…

With no roots and no need to be protected, Eve is even more like the desert’s ghost flower than Aurora was. Perhaps that’s why Bain and Bridgette chose her to fill in as their missing cousin, so it’s that much easier to sweep her away later and let The Family’s money flow to those who appreciate it and badly want it??

And why does Eve get such conflicting stories about Aurora’s best friend Liza? There’s something wrong about Liza’s suicide, something that Eve can almost figure out – when the phone calls start, from ‘unknown number‘ – phone calls from Liza, trying to warn Aurora about something, someone,
reminding her that they’re best friends… forever.

Grab this page-turner at your local independent bookseller as soon as it’s published on April 12, 2012 – and once you get to the halfway point, plan on staying up late to finish it.
**kmm

(p.s. Giveaway for ARC of Cat Girl’s Day Off continues here through 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 9, 2012.)

Book info: Ghost Flower / Michele Jaffe. Razorbill, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Oh, she looks just like their missing cousin! Two rich teens offer Eve a chance to break out of poverty. Just convince the family that she really is runaway Aurora, come home in time to collect her inheritance, then conveniently disappear again once she’s given most of the money to them. What has she got to lose?

Maybe it’s time for her to take a chance on a better future, one far away from Tucson and the troubling flashbacks to terrible times in foster care which have increased since she moved here.

Studying photographs of Aurora’s relatives and school friends, eating only her favorite foods, wearing only her favorite colors – Eve is being transformed into wild, crazy Ro under the exacting instructions of Bridgette and Bain, secluded in a desert hideaway.

Bridgette has Aurora’s return to Tucson society meticulously planned for the week of her high school’s graduation, just before the memorial to its two lost classmates – Aurora and her best friend Liza, who committed suicide on the night that Ro disappeared.

But the new Aurora has her own ideas for convincing everyone that she’s the real deal and jumps back in early, encountering a psychic medium with a chilling message at a graduation party séance, a police officer who believes her memory is gone but sees her sorrows too well, and eerie phone calls day and night – from Liza!

Glaring omissions in the detailed information that Bain and Bridgette provide Eve to study – do the cousins want Eve to succeed or fail in her attempt to convince her wealthy grandmother, the rest of the Sterling family, and Tucson’s high society that she truly is their wild, impetuous Aurora?

Ghostly phone calls from Liza – can the dead truly communicate with us?
Who is she warning Eve about?
Why don’t all the puzzle pieces surrounding her death fit together right?

The desert’s Ghost Flower only blooms where the spirits of the dead rest uneasy. Lock the door, turn off the cell phone, and venture with Eve into Aurora and Liza’s privileged and perilous world. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)