Tag Archive | medical

Stuff Every College Student Should Know, by Blair Thornburgh (book review) – handy advice for living

Jun22

book cover of Stuff Every College Student Should Know by Blair Thornburgh published by Quirk Books Do you know how to…
Cook without a microwave?
Take care of yourself when you’re sick?
Request a faculty recommendation letter?

No one gets to college knowing how to do everything, so Blair has compiled great hints and advice to get you through everything from roommates to homesickness.

Check out this handy, pocket-sized hardback book at your local library for your own personal education, or buy it at an independent bookstore for a graduation present or gift of encouragement to a current student.

What life skill tops your list of things to know?

**kmm

Book info: Stuff Every College Student Should Know / Blair Thornburgh. Quirk Books, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [author interview podcast] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: College brings new challenges and opportunities, but how can you learn the best way to accomplish things? This pocket guide gives you concise information about all aspects of your campus experience – from dorm living and personal care to academics and social life to money and the real world.

You can be a better roommate, cook without a microwave (yes, it’s possible), form a useful study group, and pass a test that you forgot to study for.

Learn how to deal with a long-distance relationship, stress, or homesickness. Know how to be smart with your first credit card and why you should interview the landlord of any apartment that you’re considering renting.

Scan through all the many entries, including how to pack for Spring Break, avoid going broke on textbooks, and good verbs to use on your resume, and you’ll be ready for many of the new situations that college life brings.

Cool reads for hot days

Jun20

I knew it would happen sooner or later – a long power outage, just as I was writing a post for Blogathon2014… and out here in the country, no power means no internet connection or cellphone signal booster either.

Faced with the choice of driving 15 miles to nearest town to get wifi at our library so I could finish editing my review in progress or staying home to enjoy a new book while waiting for the power to be restored, I chose the latter, of course!

If you’re in the mood for summer reading, too, check out these past BooksYALove favorites, and watch for my newest recommendation tomorrow at its normal 10 am CDT release time.

book cover of Dogtag Summer by Elizabeth Partridgebook cover of Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X StorkLast Summer of the Death Warriors,  by Francisco X. Stork: what’s harder – knowing that you’ll die young or not knowing if you’ll ever really be an adult? (my full review).

Dogtag Summer,  by Elizabeth Partridge: In 1981, 12-year-old Vietnamese-American orphan Traci questions why she’s in this small California town (my full review).

See y’all here tomorrow – I’m going to finish my book now that the A/C is running again!

**kmm

 

The Taking, by Kimberly Derting (book review) – aliens or the government: who’s the enemy?

Jun13

book cover of The Taking by Kimberly Derting published by HarperTeenAbducted by aliens,
Awakening in her hometown years later,
What’s different, except everything?

Kyra can’t remember anything about the past 5 years, except that flash of light. She’s stayed 16, everyone else has grown older – is that why the National Security Agency wants to take her away?

Read the first chapters of The Taking  here for free (gotta love publishers who do this!) and you’ll be itching to discover why Kyra was taken and what happens next.

**kmm

Book info: The Taking (The Taking, book 1) / Kimberly Derting. HarperTeen, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Returned to her hometown five years later but not one day older, Kyra struggles with changes in family and friends, but must flee when government agents try to imprison her.

Her high school classmates are now in college, her parents divorced, her mom remarried (a baby brother? after all this time?). No one truly believes that she can’t remember anything about the time she was gone, no one except her dad and her boyfriend’s younger brother; Kyra has stayed 16 for five years and Tyler has finally caught up with her.

The aliens took her memories, leaving her with super-fast reflexes, amazing strength, and ability to heal in mere moments – but did they leave her anything else?

On the run from National Security agents who want to experiment on her, Kyra and Tyler are trying to get to a safe place … if there is one. First in new paranormal/ sci-fi series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Expiration Day, by William Campbell Powell (book review) – created or birthed, what makes human?

Jun10

book cover of Expiration Day by WIlliam Campbell Powell published by Tor TeenI’m definitely human.
Wait! I’m not?!
But I feel human…

As a rare human child, Tania knows that her humanoid robot classmates will go back to the factory at age 18. Shocked to discover that she too is just a teknoid, she’ll fight to stay alive past her Expiration Day!

Tania addresses her diary (read free excerpt here) to alien Zog, whose observations surprisingly appear among her musings on playing bass guitar and doing a Shakespeare play with nearby boys’ school.

Rather eerie to discuss this book just after a computer passed the Turing Test for the first time, tricking researchers into thinking it was a real 13 year old boy!

**kmm

Book info: Expiration Day / William Campbell Powell. Tor Teen, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk:  In the 2050s when humans so rarely have babies, music-loving Tania suddenly discovers that she’s a robot and decides to fight to stay alive past her mandatory recycling date.

The global fertility crisis couldn’t end adults’ longing to have children to love,  so teknoids were created.Each is reused or reprogrammed by the Oxted factory at age 18.

For Tania, that means no more playing bass with her band, no more Shakespeare performances, no more helping Dad navigate their shared grief over Mum’s recent death…

But she feels so human, with burning philosophical questions in her heart and such a desire to study psychology at university!

Taking Oxted to court to break their “lease” of Tania to Dad is their only option – could their desperate ploy work?  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Orleans, by Sherri L. Smith (book review) – post-hurricanes, Delta Fever rules

Jun7

book cover of Orleans by Sherri L. Smith published by GP Putnam's SonsCategory 6 hurricane blasts New Orleans,
incurable blood disease rampant,
the Gulf Coast states excised from the USA.

In 2056, Fen tries to remember everything that her scientist-parents taught her before Delta Fever felled them, like countless thousands after Hurricane Jesus (which made Katrina look like a mild breeze) – but will it be enough?

Get a taste of Fen’s life in the free short story “Orleans: Carnivale” here, then look for the 2013 hardcover or recently released paperback to travel deep into dangerous Orleans, one of my #weneeddiversebooks 48-hour Reading Challenge favorites this year.

As Sherri wrote in my copy of the book, “Tribe is life” – it’s up to Fen to ensure her tribe’s survival now.

**kmm

Book info:  Orleans / Sherri L. Smith. G.P. Putnams’ Sons, 2013 (hardcover); Speak, 2014 (paperback). [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Carrying the hope of her tribe in 2056’s death-dealing Louisiana swamps, Fen will leverage any advantage to ensure their survival, including an outsider scientist’s misguided help.

In drowned New Orleans, descendants of mega-hurricane survivors live and die in tribes based on blood type to slow the incurable Delta Fever’s mutations. After an ambush, only Fen and Lydia’s baby remain of the O-Positive tribe. She must get that baby over The Wall before Delta Fever gets into her blood!

Scientists in the Outer States still seek a cure for Delta Fever; Daniel has found it. To test the cure, he sneaks into the Separated lands in a quarantine suit, hoping to survive long enough to see the results.

When blood farmers capture them, Fen and Daniel work to escape so they can get Baby Girl over The Wall… at least, that’s what Fen plans.

This ecological disaster adventure from the author of Flygirl  tests the boundaries of trust and humanity as surely as the soldiers guarding The Wall will shoot anyone trying to leave the Delta. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Here and Now, by Ann Brasheares (book review) – time travel to save humanity

Jun3

book cover of The Here and Now by Ann Brashares published by Delacorte PressTravel back in time to stop disaster, but
Don’t stand out,
Don’t be discovered,
Don’t fall in love… easy, right?

Yes, it’s *that* Ann Brashares of Traveling Pants fame, but this is no summer friendship tale – the entire future of mankind is at stake!

This April 2014 release should be easily found at your favorite local library or independent bookstore; if not, just ask for it!

**kmm

Book info:  The Here and Now / Ann Brasheares.  Delacorte Press, 2014. [author blog]  [publisher site]  [silly video interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Sent back in time to prevent ecological disaster, Prenna couldn’t imagine that the Travelers’ secrecy rules could endanger their mission or would be that difficult to follow – until she meets Ethan in 2012.

Just arriving the early 21st century might make their future worse, but the 200 youth and adults going undercover in their grandparents’ past to stop the blood plague must risk it.

Prenna tries to stay unnoticed at school, but Ethan recognizes her as the girl who fell from a strange storm cloud two years earlier, then walked away. His knowing comments to her plus subversive info from a homeless man show that the Travelers’ secret isn’t complete.

Why hasn’t Prenna’s father joined the group yet?
What do the numbers 51714 inked onto her arm mean?

When the teens discover that the first Traveler to the past is planning to doom the future world to total collapse instead of just widespread disease and disaster, they have to act, regardless of the consequences to themselves in this time-travel romance thriller from the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

After the End, by Amy Plum (book review) – what war? what secrets?

May6

book cover of After the End by Amy Plum published by HarperTeenIn World War III‘s aftermath,
only one clan survives,
deep in Alaska’s wilderness…
but it’s all a lie.

Told in alternating chapters by Juneau and Miles, this roadtrip adventure with paranormal underpinnings and dueling Big Pharma teams as pursuers is first in a two-book series by the author of Die For Me (my review of If I Die series volume 1 here).

Today is the book birthday of After the End, so ask for it at your local library or favorite independent bookstore and hit the road with two unlikely allies (don’t forget the PopTarts).
**kmm

Book info:  After the End / Amy Plum. HarperTeen, 2014. [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video introducing After the End] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When her clan is taken, Juneau must enter a modern world she thought was destroyed and convince a rebellious teen guy to help her find them while staying clear of the kidnappers.

Juneau can Read glimpses of the future through the Yara in everything, but now the 17-year-old sage in training must grapple with the lies her clan’s adults taught about fleeing World War III’s devastation by settling in the Alaskan wilderness 30 years ago.

Kinda-sorta hijacked into a road trip with this crazy survivalist girl, Miles plans to bring Juneau to Blackwell Pharmaceutical and get back into his dad’s good graces, but then…

Zigzagging from Mount Rainier to Salt Lake City, pursued by her former mentor and his dad’s goons, Juneau and Miles try to unravel cryptic prophecies in a race to find her father and her clan whose members never get sick, never grow old.  First in a two book series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Z is Zelia in Control, by Lydia Kang (book review) – future genetics, love & power

Apr30

book cover of Control by Lydia Kang published by Dial Books for Young ReadersGenetic differences are illegal,
the United States aren’t united,
welcome to 2150.

Two sisters with non-standard DNA somehow survive in a society where implanted fingertip IDs control access to public transportation and food delivery. The cartel which develops big money products using illegal genes from these non-persons can’t wait to get them following their doctor-dad’s untimely death…

Chilling sci-fi for our last AtoZ April Blog Challenge entry – first in a new series, filled with danger, science that’s almost here now, and romance blossoming amid the chaos.
**kmm

Book info: Control (Control, book 1) / Lydia Kang. Dial Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2013; paperback 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: After her father’s death and sister’s kidnapping in 2150, Zelia finds allies – and love – among genetically illegal teens being sought by a sinister syndicate.

Beautiful Dylia and medically fragile Zelia are accustomed to moving often with their doctor dad. But they’re not prepared to be orphaned, separated, and fought over by rival groups who claim they have special genetic traits.

Rescued by her Dad’s friend, Marka takes Zelia home to her other 4 teen adoptees – a girl with photosynthetic skin, a guy with 4 arms, and another with 2 active brains. What Cy’s trait is – besides surly sarcasm – remains to be seen. Why is Zelia, who looks like a child at 17 and needs help to breathe, in the safety of Carus when it’s Dylia who has special traits?

Dylia was kidnapped by Aureus group, which creates products using youth with illegal genetic differences – maybe Zel can sequence Dyl’s DNA in Cy’s lab to discover why and find a way to rescue her.

While trying to understand her dad’s connection to Carus, she’s secretly contacted by Q who promises information about Dylia’s whereabouts…for a price.

Can her new housemates help Zel find Dylia? Will they risk leaving Carus?
Is she willing to trade Cy’s growing fondness for this dangerous opportunity?

This medical sci-fi thriller is first in a series, asking tough questions about identity, differences, and society since our ‘now’ leads to our future. (One of 7,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

U is unsolved murder in Far From You, by Tess Sharpe (book review) – lies and lost love

Apr24

book cover of Far From You by Tess Sharpe published by Disney HyperionA bullet, so much blood,
one heart stopped, another heart broken,
and someone’s lies leave a killer on the loose.

The agony of losing Mina, her other half/dearest friend, far eclipses Sophie’s pain from the wreck 2 years ago leading to painkiller addiction.

But no one believes Sophie’s clean now, and the police investigation has stalled because the truth isn’t being told. Her own questions about the case start to make the killer nervous – can she find the answers before he decides to make her the next victim?

**kmm

Book info: Far From You /Tess Sharpe. Disney Book Group, 2014. [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through Edelweiss.

My book talk: At 14, death nearly took her body, leaving agonizing pain instead – drugs helped, too much. At 17, death took her beloved best friend and nearly took Sophie’s will to survive – she’s still off drugs, but not off the case – who killed Mina and why?

Everyone thinks Sophie took her along on a drug deal gone wrong, but it was Mina who detoured them to the remote woods where a gunman shot her and left Sophie heartbroken.

Despite testing clean, she’s forced into rehab again when drugs are found in her hoodie soaked with Mina’s blood. Her aunt believes Sophie, but her parents don’t and Mina’s family doesn’t either.

Mina’s internship at the newspaper, an old case of a missing teen girl, family ties that bind so tightly – something doesn’t add up in their small town.

If Sophie is going to have to live without her best friend/best everything, without drugs, and without her parents’ trust, she is not going to live without knowing who killed Mina and why… but the killer wants to make sure that she doesn’t live at all.

Told in alternating chapters dated a year ago and now, this strong debut novel is a mystery, a recovery story, and a love story, from start to finish.

T is Tokyo in When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney (book review) – love, loss, secrets

Apr23

book cover of When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney published by Little Brown Books For Young ReadersEmpty home,
full medicine bottles,
not enough information!

Did Mom’s doctor in Japan convince her to stop taking traditional cancer treatments? Why else would she have died just weeks before Danny’s graduation, her big goal during her five year fight?

Kana is like a big sister to Danny in Tokyo as they visit the clinics and temples that Mom frequented. If only he could figure out what went wrong between him and love of his life Holland, who now wears a necklace honoring Sarah, her friend who died at college…

“All the things my mom will never see and never know flash before me. She will never know what I will study in college, who I’ll marry… She will never learn golf or qualify for a senior discount at the movies. She will never grow old,” Danny muses. (p. 206)

Find When You Were Here  at your local library or independent bookstore, and walk Tokyo’s busy streets with Danny as he tries reclaim the joy that his mom found in her too-short life. (paperback comes out June 24, 2014)

**kmm

Book info: When You Were Here / Daisy Whitney. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013 (paperback June 2014).  [author’s Twitter]  [publisher site]  [author in Tokyo videos] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Bereft and angry, Danny travels to Tokyo after graduation, trying to discover why his mom gave up fighting her cancer just two months short of their shared goal.

Even though she was a year older, Holland was perfect for Danny, but when she left for college last fall, she broke up with him, never giving a reason.

His parents did business in Japan, Danny was born there, his dad died suddenly there six years ago. His mom spent her final cancer treatment time there, before returning home to enjoy the last days of her life.

When the young woman who helped his mom in Tokyo asks Danny what’s to be done about Mom’s apartment there, he decides to leave the empty, memory-filled California house (and not-girlfriend-now Holland, home from college) to spend time in Japan and find out what changed his mother’s mind about holding on until he graduated.

Secrets are powerful. Death is inevitable, but perhaps love and hope are possible in this strongly emotional novel where an unconventional Japanese girl and the scent of lilacs help an angry young man search for answers. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)