The Winter Witch

So here's the thing about Goodreads Giveaways. I don't enter all of them - I have this ridiculous mindset that if I enter to win ALL THE BOOKS by some twist of fate I'll only win the ones I don't really want to read. So I did legitimately want to read this book. I've been (really) meaning to read Paula Brackston's The Witch's Daughter for years and I keep getting distracted. So when I saw The Winter Witch I was excited because hey, distract myself with a book I've literally been meaning to read for years with a new one by the same author.

This book hits a lot of boxes for me - Historical Fiction, specifically Celtic History, Fantasy, Magic, Witches and more importantly, latent Witches. A part of life that anyone from that culture gets. It's also a YA book, and recently I'm loving them - part work related, part they're just plain good. I love the 500 Kingdom's books, and it wasn't until after I read them I found out they were a) YA books and b) put out by Harlequins' teen branch. I've touched on this before. Still baffled. Either way, so YA books. I like them.

So here's the good - I read a lot of Historical Fiction, I got my undergrad degree in it so I have a general at least latent knowledge of history and I like it. The book was spot on for where a historical fiction book should be - it was written in a way that didn't make it seem like Brackston was throwing in historical facts just because, the details were woven in beautifully and as a HF book, it was very well done.  Morgana was a lovely character, with depth and excellent character development. Cai was also well done and gave a fascinating prospective.  The writing itself was also generally solid, and it was a very readable book.

The less good is that I actually didn't love the book. The characters other than Morgana and Cai were slightly on dimensional and it felt like some of the details were a bit thrown together. I delayed writing this review because I wasn't entirely sure why the book didn't grip me and I think it's because (this kills me to say because I hate trilogies) but I kind of wonder if this should have been book one of a trilogy.  Brackckston is clearly a fantastic writer, with creative lovely ideas and fantasic plots.  I think if there had been a bit more character development for the other characters, and a little more time given to the ending it would have been an amazing read.

*** I was sent this book by the publisher - all opinions are my own.

The River

I am putting this out there right off: I am unsure how I feel about this book.  I've been sitting on this review a little, hoping I would figure it out, but no dice, so here's what you get. First off, since I picked this book up I had A Change is Gonna Come pretty much stuck in my head. So you're welcome for that. But really, the like "It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die" probably sums up where this book is at pretty well.

So here's the thing, I ditzed out when I first requested the book, and somehow I missed that this was a Christian novel. So I was being me, and updating my status on GoodReads to having it as 'read' and lo, I saw that it was a Christian > Inspirational book. So that kind of changed my framing of how I read the book because at the same time it makes more and less sense. So again, full disclaimer, I am not Christian, and didn't realize it WAS a Christian book. So basically my take away is this book can either be read as an adventure story, or an inspirational story. I read it as the former.

This book was... emotional. For lack of a better term. There were a lot of highs and lows and even though it was a bit of a slow read, I don't mean that in any negative way. The River makes a lot of promises that it will change your worldview and it fell a bit short on that to me. It was a good book, that draws you in and you don't want to stop reading it - even when you are a bit frustrated with the writing.  Basically, I think what I'm saying is I see why people loved the book, and I see why people were totally apathetic to it. This is probably  a horrible review, but it's actually not because I've recommended this book a few times, and I would recommend it again.

**I received a free copy of the e-book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Frozen

I heard about this book a while ago, and have meant to grab a copy for a while.  I don't know what took me so long (I know, a month after publication. Slacker.).  The premise sounded fabulous - based on the true story of a dead prostitute's frozen body found propped up at city hall when suffrage was in it's height, Casanova chose to tell the story through a fictional 16 year old daughter. The basic premise is that 16 year old Sadie Rose lost the ability to speak after her mother died 11 years ago.  She was taken in by a senator, and Sadie feels pressure to be who they want her to be, even if she isn't quite sure who she is. When she finds pictures of her mother, it unlocks memories and helps her find her voice.  That's as much summary as you get, because other better people write other better summaries.

The thing about this book is that I found it... pensive. That's almost the right word, but maybe quiet works better? It's not an action packed book, full of adventure and unpredictability, it's a coming of age story that more slowly takes you on a journey. But that's also not right because that makes the book sound boring, and it isn't. Casanova does a great job with the historical setting and the resulting social details - Google tells me Casanova wrote for American girls and I find that not at all surprising. Clearly historical fiction is an area she enjoys writing about.  Frankly, that's one of the problems - I wonder if Casanova is writing a touch out of her comfort zone in terms of age bracket, because the plot at times is a bit awkward, and some of the secondary characters are a little too shallow. That being said, Sadie Rose is a great character, pitched pretty spot on to her 13-17 age range (though I admittedly would lean more to 12-15 age range for recommendations, personally).

Casanova is generally a fantastic writer - the book is beautifully written and the premise is solid. I liked this book, I just didn't love it. But that's not a bad thing, because I will 100% suggest this book to some of the teens at my library. I think younger readers will find something very appealing about Sadie's rather rapid transformation - the identifiable nature of feeling the need to figure out who you are.  All this being said, it was a quick read and an enjoyable one.

*** Review is based on an advance copy from NetGalley. Blah Blah this didn't affect my review. Promise.

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success

It is absolutely no secret I have one of those mild fascinations with psychopaths - not the kind where I have books and books and books on the topic, and spend my life trying to understand the mindset, but the kind where I legitimately find the idea of having on/off switches that control how and what we define as our personalities - I don't get it, so I'm fascinated by it. This book makes the claim there are times when a "me" focused philosophy is beneficial to your well being, and to that I say obviously. It's no secret that for years people have been saying top executives have a climb their way to the top no matter what mentality and it works.  Personally, I found the author's use of the game of chicken as a time when being a psychopath is a good thing - the person who keeps going straight wins over the person who swerves.  .... .... ... yes.  In theory. That's a great example. In terms of real world applications, I'm pretty sure when there are millions of lives at stake we don't really want this to be something that's a thing.  One reviewer said "One Cuban Missile Crisis is enough" and yeah, that.

That being said, I genuinely really really really liked this book. It was fascinating. I loved the comparison between psychopaths and Tibetan monks in their mutual ability to detect deep emotions that are invisible to others - the sense of isolation and self-focus making people more adept at being aware of others is an enticing thought to base something out of. Tibetan monks spend lifetimes learning to be in a relaxed state of mind, and the fact that psychopaths are in this state without any sort of practiced state of mind, but rather a state of mind naturally aimed at being observant specifically of other peoples weakness' is just plain interesting.  Some things were obvious (if you watch any tv crime drama), such as psychopaths not feeling any sort of normal reactions when viewing horrifying images implies an almost baffling self-mastery of emotions. This being said Dutton points out that they seem to be born with this capacity to not feel and react, but his comparison to high performing CEO's, high-stress surgeons and military/rescue strategists results in a interesting discussion on the nature vs. nurture standoff. What makes some people serial killers and others at times heros?

So the long and the short is I think this book is fascinating, and really a compelling study of psychopaths for the layman.  Psychopaths may well be all around us, and arguably they're some of the most productive members of society. Dutton points out we don't recognize them because they have“…the consummate ability to pass themselves off as normal everyday folk, while behind the façade—the brutal brilliant disguise—beats the refrigerated heart of a ruthless, glacial predator.”

Dutton's writing was fantastic and verging on brilliant because he has a unique ability to make a non-fiction book interesting, accessible and informative in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're being talked down to. I've said for a while now that Normal is usually a lie, and damn if this book doesn't back it up.  That freaks me out a little more than I'm willing to admit.


*** Review is based on an advance copy from the publisher. Blah Blah this didn't affect my review. Promise.

Scent of Magic

So it's no real secret I like Maria V. Snyder. I blogged about her here and here and Scent of Magic didn't disappoint. I've said it before, and I'll say it again too: I'm constantly shocked and admittedly a lot impressed with what Harlequin MIRA and  Harlequin LNA are putting out on the market (no, they didn't pay me to say that. Actually I'm pretty sure they would pay me not to say that). I remember after reading the 500 Kingdom's books by Mercedes Lackey I was baffled that they were put out by Harlequin - so bravo Harlequin.  You should hire me to be a librarian, or something. So all that being said, Snyder is great, and her books are solid. Generally.

More specifically this is a great part 2 of the trilogy - character building is solid, there are the expected twists and turns and it's all in all a fun read. I really like where Snyder is taking the book - the whole Death Lily/Life Lily is a really interesting discussion point that it's entirely possible I'm reading too much into. Snyder's writing doesn't fall into the romance trap - a lot of the book is spent with the two main love interests apart from each other, and while Snyder carefully keeps them thinking of each other, they aren't wrapped up in a (usually tiring) "missing" of the other one. I was admittedly a touch annoyed at the alternating between Avry and Kerrick in the first and third person points of view - and that each portion ends with a cliffhanger gets to be a little overdone.  That being said, the adventure is exciting, and arguably most important the plot is plausible and realistic.  Blah blah blah it's fantasy-ish, but Snyder builds her books on a realistic fantasy. Is that a thing? My review, so yes. Yes it is.

As a bit of an aside, I think one of the things I like most about Snyder's writing is the attention she pays to the secondary characters - she really builds a world and it's clear she focus' on each character in a way that shows a lot of thought to their growth, change, and adaptability.

Overall thoughts: I really enjoy Snyder's writing, characters and plot development and this is pretty much exactly how I personally think a teen/YA romance/adventure book should be written. The cliffhangers? They were a bit much by the end.


*** Review is based on an advance copy from NetGalley. Blah Blah this didn't affect my review. Promise.

House of Leaves

I don't think I've been less able to write a review for a book than I feel I am for this book. And I mean that in a holy shit it was amazing way. I've heard it said that there's a cult following for this book, and I 100% ended up sitting in the woods, clutching this book and giving all my possessions to the leader. Leader is good ya'll. I don't know how I didn't read this book for so long, but my BFF is reading it and told me to pick it up. My BFF is finishing her phD in neurogenetics or *something* complicated like that, and reads a solid mix of amazing books, and romance novels (hey, similar to my reading a solid mix of amazing books and urban fantasy) (I suggest reading UF personally though).

So here's the thing. This book fucked me up. I'm sorry to swear, but there's no other way to say it. Usually I cope with books that disturb  me by taking forever to read them. I was done this book in two days, and I'm relatively sure this book should actually be classified as a category three narcotic because the dreams I had were not ok. I don't normally summarize books because I like to give my feelings - I feel it makes the review more of a feeling based review, I want to tell you why I think you should or shouldn't read the book. Or flat out tell you to go read it. The thing is I cannot summarize this book. Yes, I read it, but this book is basically the definition of metafiction. Have you read Raw Shark Texts? It's kind of like that but it takes it about 20 levels further in terms of making you want to talk about life, the universe and everything. 

So here: 

• It had footnotes. I love footnotes
• Played around with typography and colours. A+
• Metaphysical Space Time Continuum house? Maybe? Excellent.
• I actually said "Jesus" out loud while reading it.

I don't even know. I loved this book. In case that's not clear. It's probably not clear, because shut the front door what just happened. But I loved this book. I also hated Raw Shark Texts so take from that what you will. 

Touch of Power

So I generally hate reading the first book of a trilogy - something about how I finish and want to keep reading. Instant gratification at its best/worst.  The thing is I really really do like Maria V. Snyder. I couldn't put down Study series, it was fantastic and I really wanted something that was an easy read, but not a boring read (and I mean this in the best possible way).  Snyder reminds me a lot of Tamora Price - strong characters, solid plotlines, great pacing and romance that doesn't make you roll your eyes and go "Really?"

All that held pretty true to form for this book. For lack of a better term this is a lovely book. There are twists and turns and adventure and while there are a few gaps in the flow of some background information, I'm pretty sure that will come out in the next two off the series. There's also a lovely bit of whimsy - human eating plants make a surprisingly fantastic plot point. Who knew?  Generally it's just a very very readable story - I'm sparing you the summary because it's *everywhere*.  So here's the deal. I'm a librarian. I was turned onto Snyder by someone who works at a bookstore. So it's not that I know everything, or even that she and I know everything. But what we DO know is books.  With exceptions for personal tastes, two people who know books say go read this writer. I *personally* liked her Study series a bit more, but that being said I read the whole Study series, and not just the first book.

So go, read it. Trust me, I'm a librarian.

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

Full Disclosure I won this book as a Goodreads Firstreads. The thing is though, I entered the contest because I read the summary and immediately laughed because hand to god this book was almost exactly a conversation I was having with a good friend recently.  Basically we were talking about how we find the whole "self-help" thing boring.  My problems (not that I have any, obviously) do not stem from me not having any faith in my ability to get through things, so why do I need to wake up everyday and tell myself it will be a good day. Sometimes it isn't. You deal, and you move on.


... Anyways.

So the stars aligned and I won this book.  I was pretty excited, because you know, I wanted it.  Burkeman is a writer for The Guardian who (I believe?) (I should know this) (If not know, find out, since I'm a Librarian and it's what I do) explores psychology in his weekly column. The Antidote looks at finding contentment from different perspectives, moving your focus outside of yourself, not focusing on finding security, realizing your own mistakes and weakness and sometimes damnit realizing that being negative is actually the most positive outlook you can have. Basically this books is giving legitimacy to something we all kind of hoped - it's ok to not be perfect, it's ok to not be happy, it's ok to just plow through some things muttering to yourself about how this bleeding sucks and you just want it to be over so you just get. it. done. 

So long story short, I loved this book. It's funny, and smart and counterintuitive enough that it makes a whole damn lot of sense. What it's not is a self-help book. Well for me it almost was - it's one thing to have your friends agree with you - it's another thing when somebody wrote a whole book with actual facts about how it's ok to not force yourself to be happy.

So go. Buy a copy. Take out out from the library. Lend it to a friend (or few).  But make them buy their own copy after, because They should probably lend it to their friends.

The Witches of Chiswick

You can't even imagine how much I wanted to like this book.  The awkward thing is I say that EVERY time I pick up a new Rankin Book.  The thing is when Rankin is good, he's really shut the front door good. Funny, strange, ridiculous break the fourth wall hilarious, mildly eccentric blah blah.  When he's bad though (and please please cult following don't hurt me) he's basically unreadable.  This one oddly fell smack dab in the middle for me.  I was almost embarrassingly apathetic about this book. I started reading this APRIL TENTH. That's 5 months ago. It doesn't take me 5 months to ready ANY book. I just kept picking it up, reading half a chapter and then getting distracted.  When I read it, I could kind of get into it, but it didn't grab onto me, and by the time I finished it I was just left... apathetic.

I was mildly annoyed (and it's been echo'd on other reviews) that there were too many loose ends and that there was a little too much of the book aimed at people who've read every one of Rankin's other books. I've read a few (ok, more than a few) but apparently not enough because there were times I was left a little too confused... I don't even know.

I think it bothers me because I want to love all of Rankin's books. Like, I really really want to. I love the idea of the world he's built, with paradoxes, time travel, witches (non-existant, but still kinda there. I guess). I dunno. This is a terrible review. I don't even know.

Magic of Saida

I received this book as an ARC, sent to me by the publisher, and I finished it a few days ago and am still processing it. This will be a bit of an odd review (but really, most of mine have been recently). I think what's holding me back is I always want to write a review that lets people know what I felt about the book, and if I think they would enjoy it. I keep coming up empty, because all I can think is that this book was just lovely. 

In the best possible way, I don't quite know what to make of this book. The book is a soft tale of 20th Century Colonialism, something that's rare in almost all other books related to that topic. It felt real - lives lived and impacted but it wasn't the focus of the book - it was there, it was history and it was life, but it wasn't what the book was about. I put a quick summary from the publisher below because it doesn't flow with my review, but to me the book was about regret, longing and memory. It struck a chord because a recurring feeling the protagonist had was that he didn't know where he belonged, and he never truly felt a part of something. 

It's about finding your identity through finding the past. The book was brilliantly written, but Vassanji is a brilliant writer, one I have loved for a while. His brilliance lies in the subtleties of what he writes, the characters that he builds and where he takes the story - and above all I've always thought Vassanji is a storyteller. In all honesty I enjoyed this book more than I've enjoyed a book in a while. I broke my trashy Urban Fantasy kick to read this, and I'm incredibly glad I did. Absolutely go grab a copy, you won't regret it. It will leave you thinking and dreaming, and a feeling nostalgic for things you may have never known.

Summary: 
The Magic of Saida tells the haunting story of Kamal, a successful Canadian doctor who, in middle age and after decades in North America, decides to return to his homeland of East Africa to find his childhood sweetheart, Saida. Kamal's journey is motivated by a combination of guilt, hope, and the desire to unravel the mysteries of his childhood--mysteries compounded by the fact that Kamal is the son of an absent Indian father from a well-to-do family and a Swahili African mother of slave ancestry. Through a series of flashbacks, we watch Kamal's early years in the ancient coastal town of Kilwa, where he grows up in a world of poverty but also of poetry, sustained by his friendship with the magical Saida. This world abruptly ends when Kamal is sent away by his mother to live with his father's family in the city. There, the academically gifted boy grows up as a "dark Indian," eventually going to university and departing for Canada. Left behind to her traditional fate is Saida, now a beautiful young woman. Decades later, Kamal's guilt pulls him back to Kilwa . . . where we discovers what happened to Saida during a harrowing night of sinister rites.