#CBR11 Book 77: "The Vagina Bible: The vulva and the vagina - separating the myth from the medicine" by Jennifer Gunter

Page count: 432 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Official book description:
Does eating sugar cause yeast infections? Does pubic hair have a function?
Should you have a vulvovaginal care regimen?
Will your vagina shrivel up if you go without sex?
What's the truth about the HPV vaccine?

So many important questions, so much convincing, confusing, contradictory misinformation! In this age of click bait, pseudoscience, and celebrity-endorsed products, it's easy to be overwhelmed-whether it's websites, advice from well-meaning friends, uneducated partners, and even healthcare providers. So how do you separate facts from fiction? Obstetrician Jen Gunter, an expert on women's health-and the internet's most popular go-to doc-comes to the rescue with a book that debunks the myths and educates and empowers women. From reproductive health to the impact of antibiotics and probiotics, and the latest trends, including vaginal steaming, vaginal marijuana products, and jade eggs, Gunter takes us on a factual, fun-filled journey.

Discover the truth about:

· The vaginal microbiome
· Genital hygiene, lubricants, and hormone myths and fallacies
· How diet impacts vaginal health
· Stem cells and the vagina
· Cosmetic vaginal surgery
· What changes to expect during pregnancy, after childbirth, and through menopause
· How medicine fails women by dismissing symptoms

Plus:
· Thongs vs. lace: the best underwear for vaginal health
· How to select a tampon
· The full glory of the clitoris and the myth of the G Spot

... And so much more. Whether you're a twenty-six-year-old worried that her labia are 'uncool' or a sixty-six-year-old dealing with painful sex, this comprehensive guide is sure to become a lifelong trusted resource.

Even before my good friend Rochelle/Emmalita gave this a glowing review over on the CBR blog back in July, I sort of vaguely knew about the book, as I follow the author on Twitter (and what an informative and refreshing presence she is there). Emmalita's review of an ARC of this just made it all the more obvious that I would have to add the book to my TBR list. I didn't love it as much as she did (I possibly should have dipped more in and out of the sections that seemed the most interesting to me, rather than reading it cover to cover like I would a fiction book), I can absolutely see why this is such an incredibly important book for anyone who identifies as female (or has ever met one) to read.

Turns out that even though we have the parts, most women are not very well informed at all about how our genitals work and a lot of what we think we know is blatant falsehood and misinformation (thanks patriarchy!) So much of the world seems designed to make women feel guilty and ashamed about themselves, preferably so we'll buy things or spend tons of money surgically altering ourselves, to fit into some fictionalised ideal that is just impossible to achieve. This goes for everything from makeup, hair products, clothes, shoes and food, but hoo boy, is it extra true for anything to do with our lady gardens, our reproductive health or our periods.

It's doubtful that every chapter in this book will be relevant to each and every reader (as I mentioned, I suspect I would have found bits of the book less dull if I hadn't forced myself to read each and every page even in the sections that were less relevant to me), this is a goldmine of scientific facts and research, presented in a very no nonsense way. Of course the title has forced Gunter and her publisher to get rather creative about advertising it on social media, but the book is apparently selling very well, and I'm very happy about Dr. Gunter's success.

Judging a book by its cover: While the cover image is very striking, I really don't like the idea that the vulva is likened to a zipper (as it has neither jagged "teeth" on either side, nor can it be zipped shut). I understand that with the rather bold title, they couldn't really choose anything more anatomically correct, but I nonetheless wish something else had been chosen as a symbol for our lady parts.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 76: "Sangen om en brukket nese (The Ballad of a Broken Nose)" by Arne Svingen

Page count: 207 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Bart is about to turn thirteen. He's named after Bart Simpson, because it seems his mother wanted him to be tough and clever and able to handle himself. This is also why she's signed him up for boxing lessons. He dutifully  goes to practise several times a week, and one of these days, he may actually start hitting. His boxing coach suggests he may want to try out for some other sport, which Bart can understand, as except for having a pretty good guard, Bart is pretty dreadful at boxing. He refuses to give up, however.

What Bart is actually rather excellent at is opera singing. The downside is that he can only sing well without an audience. This means he mostly sings locked in his tiny bathroom, since Bart lives alone with his morbidly obese, mostly unemployed mother (who is clearly an alcoholic) in a tiny one-room flat, where privacy isn't easy to come by. Bart and his mother live in an old building where the hallway floors are covered in old rubbish, broken syringes and other unpleasant things that make it very clear that Bart can never actually make any close friends, because God forbid one of them ever wanted to come round to his after school one day. He's not exactly a bullying victim, but pretty firmly on one of the lower rungs of the social ladder.

Bart's life takes a turn for the more dramatic when Ada, the pretty, popular and persistent girl he sits next to at school (it's not that she likes Bart THAT way, she has a boyfriend in another town, besides, she's so well-liked and popular their differing social statuses pretty much span a galaxy) figures out that not only does Bart enjoy listening to opera, but he sings it as well. Since he's unable to sing in front of others, he makes her a recording, but forgets to make her promise not to share it with anyone else. It turns out that Ada is pretty bad at keeping secrets. First, she shares the recording with the entire class, and Bart's enthusiastic teacher won't stop nagging until he agrees to perform at the end of year school performance. Then, she unexpectedly shows up on his doorstep and stays for dinner. Sadly, the next day, most of the school knows that Bart lives in a terrible wreck of a building and his mother is an overweight shut-in.

Then, on the very day he turns thirteen, Bart wakes to find his grandmother bearing sad news. His mother, who went out the evening before, has been hospitalised and needs an operation to get better. His grandmother will have to stay with him until his mother recovers. It's at this point Bart break down and tells his grandmother the truth (which she's been pretty aware of for a long time) about his rather dismal living situation, and having unburdened himself, immediately feels like things might actually start looking up. Ada keeps wanting to spend time with him, trying to figure out ways to help him overcome his stage fright (including managing to sneak him into the hotel room of his music idol, Bryn Terfel, when the opera singer is in Oslo about to perform). Bart may even have managed to track down the man who might be his father, after all these years.

This is a book my colleagues and I decided to read out loud to our eighth graders this term. I have read other books by Arne Svingen, a hugely popular YA and middle grade Norwegian author before, but this book is by far my favourite. It's impossible not to love Bart fiercely, because he stays so achingly optimistic despite all the sad and horrible things in life. His mother is dangerously obese, clearly partially disabled, barely works and comes home drunk several nights a week. They live in a tiny, crowded one-room flat in a building full of junkies and society low lifes. He makes very sure to keep everyone at school at a safe distance, desperate to hide his dismal home situation.

Bart and his mother constantly lie to his grandmother about the true state of affairs, claiming his mother has a steady job and healthy finances. His mother refuses to take any handouts from the grandmother. Opera singing is his secret escape, but after just a few weeks of getting closer to Ada, all his secrets are out in the open and unless he overcomes his stage fright and puts on the performance of a life time at the school performance, he'll go from anonymous nobody on the fringes of the school yard to favoured bullying victim for the whole school.

Bart spends much of his free time searching the web for the father he never met. Unfortunately, all his mother would tell him is that the man is called John Jones, and that he's an American. It's obvious that his parents didn't spend long together, and naturally, there are a LOT of search results for such a common name. However, Bart steadfastly keeps searching, occasionally sending off e-mail enquiries in the hopes that THIS time, he's found the right man, the John Jones who is missing his Norwegian teenage son.

As someone who grew up with an alcoholic father (who thankfully gave up drinking more than 30 years ago now), parts of this book hit very close to home for me, and I had to actually read the last few pages of the book to assure myself that everything was going to turn out well in the end. Very perceptively, one of my students observed yesterday, when I was asking them how they thought the story would continue and end (we're now about halfway through), that the book has to end on a happy note, because what we've read so far, has been really rather sad and bittersweet and the story won't work unless things turn around and get better for Bart in the second half of the story. While I have read the whole book, my class as of yet have not, and I thought that was a very mature (and entirely correct) observation, which shows this kid has a very good grasp of how narratives are structured. I'm honestly not sure I was as insightful a reader (or in his case, listener) when I was in my early teens.

All the way throughout reading this book, I kept comparing it to About a Boy by Nick Hornby. I remember being surprised at how much darker and more serious the book was to the delightful movie adaptation. Bart, unlike the Marcus of the book (and film) doesn't befriend someone as cool as Will (Hugh Grant's character), although he does strike up a friendship with one of the heroin addicts who live in his building, and who mobilises many of the fellow residents to show up and take part in a day of volunteering to clean up the hallways and back yard of the building in honour of Bart's birthday. They even get him a bike (with the serial number neatly filed away) and a brand new bike lock they actually paid money for(!). It's not exactly the same as the expensive trainers Will gifts Marcus, but in many ways, a lot more touching.

I'm so glad we decided to read this to the students this term, and I'm also happy that my class seems to mostly be enjoying the book as much as I do. This book has now been translated into a number of different languages and has been nominated for multiple awards, both in Norway and internationally. So if you're looking for a quirky, bittersweet and very heartwarming read, I can very much recommend this one.

Judging a book by its cover: This book comes with several different covers, but this is the one we use on one of the editions we're reading to the pupils in y school, and thus seemed appropriate. The boxing gloves and the microphone are both very relevant to the plot, and nothing on the cover gives too much away about the story.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 75: "Wayward Son" by Rainbow Rowell

Page count: 416 pages
Audio book length: 8 hrs 57 mins
Rating: 4.5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is the second book in a series, and this review will contain spoilers for the first book, Carry On. If you haven't already read it, you should do yourself a favour and do so.

Simon Snow was the Chosen One, destined to bring an end to the threat to all magic. Of course, it turned out that he himself was in fact the thing that was threatening the magic in the first place, and his mentor/father figure (and actual biological father, although none of the characters in the story ever found out that part, only the readers did), the Mage, died in the process. As did Ebb, one of Simon's only true friends. Saving the world also meant Simon losing all his previously unlimited reserves of magic, so now he's just a normal human, albeit one with big red wings and a devil's tail. Dealing with the aftermath of saving the world is not going well for Simon. He spends most of his days on the couch, drinking cider and not really engaging with his boyfriend Baz or Penelope, his best friend and flatmate. He's not entirely sure why they bother with him anymore, considering how powerless and useless he is right now.

Basilton "Baz" Pitch spent most of his time growing up loving his roommate Simon in secret, hiding the fact that he was a vampire and mentally preparing to probably have to face Simon in some cataclysmic battle. Instead, he and Simon became boyfriends and he helped Simon stop the Mage. Unfortunately, Simon no longer seems to want to talk to Baz, or even be touched by him. He's clearly pulling away and in serious need of help in some way, but Baz really doesn't have the faintest idea how to help.

Penelope Bunce was so relieved when she, Simon and Baz managed to save the world without any major casualties (except poor Ebb, of course, and the Mage, but he was the villain, so he probably deserved to die). She couldn't really face going back to Watford for her final semester, but nevertheless graduated with top marks, and is really enjoying her time at University. It's a terrible shame that Agatha, Simon's ex-girlfriend and Penelope's sort-of friend, abandoned her wand and swore off magic and moved all the way to California, where she now pretty much refuses to answer Penny's calls or texts. Penelope also can't help but observe how miserable both Simon and Baz are, and desperate measures are clearly required to snap everyone out of their funk. She breaks multiple laws of magic to secure them tickets to the USA, and even magically forges a passport for Simon.

Agatha Wellbelove did indeed travel about as far away from Britain and her former life as she was able. Now she's enjoying her time as a college student in San Diego and trying to forget all the times she was kidnapped and/or threatened as a result of being Simon's girlfriend. She wishes Penelope would just take the hint and just leave her alone. Agatha's managing fine without magic, and has human friends now, like Ginger. It's not even like Agatha will be home when Penelope and the others are planning to visit, she's going with Ginger to some exclusive corporate retreat in the desert, along with Ginger's tech mogul boyfriend Josh. There will be yoga, and vegan cupcakes and all manner of chances of 'levelling up'. Agatha is doing just fine, she doesn't need any ties to her old life.

Penelope's plan is that they go visit Agatha, to ensure that she is actually doing as well as she claims she is. They'll start their journey in Chicago, so Penelope can catch up with Micah, her long distance boyfriend of many years. Of course, everything starts off badly (Micah has in fact tried to break up with Penelope for ages, and even has a new girlfriend already) and just keeps getting worse. Our three young wizards (as Penelope says, Simon is still a wizard even if he can't do magic anymore, just like an air plane doesn't stop being a plane just because it's on the ground) have absolutely no idea how magic really works in the USA, they don't really have a lot of money, and they are completely unprepared for just how vast the country is. All three of them are shocked to discover just how long the trip from Chicago to San Diego will be, although Simon is excited about the road trip.

They slay vampires at a Renaissance Faire, they get cornered by mysterious supernatural creatures with big guns in a magical dead spot, they have a rather tense run-in with an actual honest to God-dragon and discover that Penelope may have been right about Agatha, she really IS in trouble. Our intrepid trio also Shepard, a human with an all-consuming curiosity about magic and magical creatures of all kinds. He's not as easy to ditch as they were hoping, and comes to be an invaluable ally to them. Will he be able to get them to Agatha before it's too late, and she's turned into a vampire by corporate tech-vamps?

Carry On was my favourite book of 2015, and remains (with heavy competition) my favourite of Rainbow Rowell's novels. So Wayward Son is by far my most anticipated book release of 2019. Since it came out in September, I have now read it once in e-book, and re-listened to it in audio format (Euan Morton's interpretation of the various characters is now how I hear the voices in my head). When I greedily started devouring it, I had no idea that the book isn't just a long-anticipated sequel (four years is a long time), but in fact a bridging book, the second part in a planned trilogy. The book starts with an epilogue, and ends with a prologue. This made me very hopeful, and only a few days after the book's official release, Rowell announced the title of the third (and probably final book, Any Way the Wind Blows). Re-reading the book, knowing that this story isn't meant to be the end point for Simon, Baz, Penelope, Agatha and now also Shepard means that a lot of the questions and misgivings I had about the pacing and plot of Wayward Son were put to rest.

With Carry On, Rainbow Rowell wrote her own very clever take on the Chosen One story. Of course, we rarely, if ever, find out what happens to the Chosen One, and his allies and sidekicks afterwards. I can't really think of any other author who has explored the aftermath of surviving the big, cataclysmic events at the end of such a story, and what it would do to the characters left standing. So much of this book is exploring PTSD, and depression, uncertainty and fear. Anyone who was hoping for sunshine and kittens and Baz and Simon living happily ever after will have been disappointed.

While it was exciting and romantic and lovely that Simon and Baz got together during Carry On, there is no denying that their history prior to suddenly kissing and holding hands was a very fraught one. They believed themselves to be destined enemies, and even ignoring that, the sort of trauma Simon was put through throughout his childhood had to cause damage, even before he was forced to confront the fact that the only father figure he'd ever known was evil and had in fact murdered several people to get into and maintain power. As Baz observes at one point during Wayward Son, Simon is a warrior, a blunt instrument. He was never allowed to be anything else, trained by the Mage to fight and kill any threat. Simon was never particularly intellectual, but he didn't need to be, because he was so tremendously powerful, with inexhaustible magical reserves.

Simon never needed to really fear injury or death when facing off against terrible creatures, because his magic always allowed him to pull through. Of course, he discovered that he never ran out because he was literally sucking the magic out of everything around himself, and that would obviously have to stop. Simon Snow has completed the task he was chosen to do, now he has no magic anymore, no purpose and absolutely no idea what he's going to do with himself for the rest of his life. Now he feels like a burden, and is constantly reminded of what he's lost, because Baz and Penelope are both such powerful and effortless magicians.

Baz was only spoken of, but didn't appear until a full third into Carry On. He's by far my favourite character (Rainbow Rowell doesn't really hide the fact that he's her favourite too) and steals pretty much every scene he's in once he actually shows up, having escaped a kidnapping.  In Wayward Son, not only do we get him for the whole of the book, he is probably even more of a protagonist than Simon is. Baz is that incredible and forbidden thing, a vampire who can do magic. The mages of Britain hate vampires and hunt them down. In the USA, Baz discovers that not only do the wizards really mainly keep to themselves, in parts of the country, vampires pretty much rule whole cities. Having been bitten and turned as a child, Baz has always had to hide who he is, and feared and loathed the part of himself that needs to drink blood to stay alive. He only ever drinks animal blood, and he always kills the animal, terrified he may accidentally turn the animal otherwise. He comes to discover that he knows very little about what being a vampire actually means, and that in America, the furtive way he's been forced into hiding his true self may not be necessary.

My fellow Cannonballer, Jen K, found Penelope especially insufferable and annoying in this book. I can see where she's coming from, but I disagree. Penelope, even in Carry On, was always a bit self centred and oblivious to the true state of affairs. It takes her the longest time to actually catch on to the fact that Simon and Baz' relationship has changed and she has truly staggering capacities for denial if there is something unpleasant she doesn't want to face up to. She refuses to stop contacting Agatha, despite all hints and signs suggesting that Agatha has no wish to maintain a friendship. She impulsively decides they all need to go to the USA for a change of pace, breaking any number of magical laws to do so (despite the fact that her mother is the current head of the Coven and would be beyond appalled if she discovered what her daughter had done).

Penelope has been used to being the brains to Simon's brawn and thanks to a lot of luck and Simon's magical powers, they clearly got through a lot more scrapes than they should have. In America, she is completely adrift, with nothing working out the way she has planned and society functioning in entirely different ways to what she's used to. While she tries for the longest time to avoid it, Penelope needs to take a good hard look at who she is and take steps to change, because the person she was makes terrible decisions and ignores the well being of others. She needs to stop being selfish and so blindingly sure of her own rightness, and start listening more to those around her.

I very much liked the introduction of Shepard, the "normal" who thanks to kindness, politeness and a healthy curiosity has discovered all manner of magical secrets. Through him, it becomes obvious just how arrogant, prejudiced and unaware of their own privilege the British magicians are. Seeing Simon, Baz and Penelope through his eyes was fun, and he's quite obviously being set up as a new, better love interest for Penelope. She took Micah entirely for granted and has hopefully learned that she needs to be a bit more present in a relationship to actually make it work. There are a lot of loose threads surrounding Shepard, but I have no doubt they will be tied off nicely in book 3.

In Carry On, Midwestern Rowell takes on the UK and boarding schools and does a truly excellent job at writing characters that feel properly British, complete with class differences, snobbery and the like. In Wayward Son, she gets to expand her world building and show how the magical system she has created works in a large, decentralised country like America. Baz' list of things he hates about road tripping through the Midwest is comedy gold, and I really liked the idea of magical dead zones in places too far away from humans for magic to work.

Discovering that of course all the other magic-possessing creatures and beasties don't much like the "speakers", as the magicians are known, because of their arrogance and their belief that their control over and ability to do magic is the only one that really counts. Getting to read about the various different attitudes of vampires, and how sheltered poor Baz has been. Penelope seems shocked that Shepard knows so much about magic and the supernatural, and that there are internet message boards discussing these things. Wizards and magical abilities are topics that should be totally secret, she cannot imagine that normal humans might be fascinated by it and want to learn more.

This book is a lot shorter than Carry On, but also moves at a much quicker pace, since it doesn't need to spend as long setting the stage as the first book. Jen K complains that the ending is rushed, and I agree with her, but I still liked that against staggering odds, mostly disillusioned and deprived of their magic, our intrepid heroes still banded together and did their best to rescue their friend, even knowing they might all die in the attempt. I can't wait to see what the third book holds, and desperately hope that having set her various characters on a path of self discovery and gradual healing, we get a more hopeful tone as the series wraps up. This turned out to be a very different book than I was expecting, but since it turns out that there's more Baz, Simon, Penelope, Agatha and Shepard in my future, I'm happy.

Judging a book by its cover: This book has been released with a huge variety of alternate covers, depending on which country it's coming out in, or what book store is selling it. All of the covers feature amazing artwork by the very talented Kevin Wada, and I absolutely love both Simon and Baz' looks here. My only complaint is that the little car at the bottom doesn't seem to contain Penelope, although I suppose the scene could be from when she was lying down in the back seat of the car, all depressed and gloomy.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 74: "Locke & Key, vol 6: Alpha & Omega" by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Page count: 192 pages
Rating: 4 stars

#CBR11 Bingo: Not My Wheelhouse (horror)

Spoiler warning! This is the sixth and final volume in the Locke and Key series. It is absolutely NOT the place to start. This review will probably contain spoilers both for earlier and this collection, so don't read it unless you're completely caught up. The first volume is Welcome to Lovecraft. 

In this final volume, the Locke kids have to confront the evil that has been haunting their family for over a generation. If there was any doubt that it was going to have a heavy cost, even the first few pages dispels that notion. So much death, so much horror, some truly noble sacrifices, and so many emotional scenes, really f*cking me up. I ugly cried through parts of this, because while I only read one volume a year (I don't think I can handle the intensity otherwise), Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez have really made me care about these characters.

For anyone wondering, is this a good ending to the series, the answer is a resounding yes. All the various story strands established in previous volumes are given attention and are given a conclusion, some adressing situations and characters I had almost forgotten. I started reading Locke and Key back in 2014, and I really haven't been able to read much more than a volume each year, because the horror that Joe Hill conjures up and Gabriel Rodriguez so cleverly illustrates really does freak me out so much, I can't read too much of it in one go. So this series has been part of my life for a long time. Obviously, when I started the series, I had no children of my own. I genuinely don't know if my extra strong emotional response to this final volume is because now that I have a little boy of my own, reading about children in peril (even teenage children) affects me so much more. As someone suffering from anxiety, I have to constantly force myself not to run through all the horrible things that could potentially happen, and Locke and Key presents some pretty terrifying what ifs?

I don't regret waiting this long to get to the end. This final volume has literally been waiting on my shelf for more than two years, but I really wasn't ready to read it until now. I'm glad the wait was worth it, and the ending was a worthy one, even if it made me feel all sorts of painful feels while reading it.

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is one of the simpler in the series, and pretty much black on black, with the details sort of embossed. The dark and gloomy colour scheme fits for the concluding volume of the series, when all the things come to a head and evil must be confronted.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 73: "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 3.5 star

Official description:
The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.

I'm not sure it would come as a surprise to anyone reading my reviews that I am an introvert, and even before I had a child, who now requires me to spend a lot of time at home, I would tend to prefer curling up on the sofa, either binge watching something or reading. While I work as a teacher (which works fine, because I know and am comfortable with my colleagues, and I am in control of the interactions in my classroom), I also suffer from social anxiety and find going out and meeting new people faintly terrifying. Frankly, going out and spending close friends requires a lot of mental preparation, trying to interact with strangers can be quite the ordeal for me.

Nevertheless, most of my real life friends are either very busy raising their own little humans, so we don't get to hang out much, or they live far away in other countries, sometimes on other continents, and that can lead to me feeling lonely on occasion. So my father in law, who is also an introvert with even worse social anxiety than me, set me a challenge and gave me "homework" the last time he and my mother in law visited us. I was to socialise with someone I hadn't really spent much time with before, and I needed to go out and join something new, without the support of my husband or an existing friend.

Step one, I managed by going to dinner with my new work team, where most of my colleagues are either new to the school entirely or ones I've never worked closely with before. It was lovely, even though I was nervous before going. My second, and scarier step, was joining something new. The fantasy/sci-fi/comics/nerd stuff shop in Oslo has a monthly book club, which has been running for years now. I've followed their Facebook page on and off, occasionally considering joining, but have always found excuses as to why I couldn't do it. Now, needing to find a new thing that didn't terrify me too much, I determined to finally go to a meeting. After all, hanging out with nerds who like books, even if all of them are strangers, couldn't be too horrible, right? The book of the month for September was this one, The Goblin Emperor, which had been on my TBR list for years. It was pretty much a sign from the universe.

Of course, by the time the book club met, I had, thank to a series of complicating factors in my life, only read the first twenty percent of the book or so. I forced myself to go anyway, and had a great time, discovering that I wasn't even the only new person there and that the veteran members were really happy about new recruits. Everyone was very welcoming and according to them, this was the first book in as long as anyone could remember they actually spent the whole hour discussing, without fairly rapidly digressing into other nerd topics, like comics, TV shows and movies.

Now, having sat in on a discussion of the book before I was even halfway through it, probably didn't exactly help motivate me to then pick the book back up and keep reading. I already knew the major beats of the plot and as several people in the book group pointed out, there's a lot of complicated court stuff going on, with the reader not really getting all the information they might want, since we only get the point of view of Maia, our young and deeply inexperienced protagonist, who has lived most of his life exiled to a small rural estate, only accompanied by an alcoholic, abusive, bullying cousin. Neither Maia, nor anyone else, ever expected him to become emperor, and he is wholly unprepared and has never received any of the training or education required. In one way, it's a good way of explaining to the reader, we know as little as Maia. But it is also inappropriate for him to have in depth conversations with his new servants, bodyguards and subjects, we are restricted in our knowledge about everyone else in the plot.

There is also a huge cast of characters in the book, who are difficult to tell apart because they are frequently referred to by different nicknames or titles in different scenes, making it really confusing and sometimes frustrating to keep track. There is a comprehensive guide to characters and a pronunciation guide at the start of the book, but as everyone is listed by full name, not necessarily title or nickname, it's not as helpful as it could have been.

I had a lot going on both at work and at home while reading this book, and a rather slow and intricate description of court life, spanning hundreds of pages with long stretches of not much happening (except descriptions of ceremonial garb, jewelry, courtly etiquette etc) failed to hold my attention. Seriously, every so often, there will be something very exciting happening, like a kidnapping, or an attempted coup, or an assassination attempt, but for the majority of this book, this is an exploration of a young man trying to learn to be a good ruler, in a very complicated and tradition bound society.

I suspect that if I read this at another time, my rating of it would be higher. Maybe I'll give it a re-read in a while to see. The principal characters were all very enjoyable and the world building is fascinating, so I'll be very excited to see what Katherine Addison does next.

Judging a book by its cover: I really like this cover, where the elaborate palace is also the crown on the goblin's head (possibly hinting at just how heavy the weight of responsibilities is for our young and inexperienced new ruler). The airship to the right hints at the sort of steampunky elements of the story. I think this whole design works.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 72: "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Page count: 400 pages
Audio book length: 12 hrs 10 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Earlier this year, Taylor Jenkins Reid published Daisy Jones and the Six, which has generally been very well received critically and keeps popping up on "Must read" lists. In several review of that book, I saw this, Jenkins Reid's previous release, from 2017, highly recommended. Several people who were so-so on Daisy Jones and the Six claimed to prefer The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and as movie stars seemed more intriguing to me than rock stars, I decided to give it a try.

There are multiple narratives in this book.There's the framing story of magazine journalist Monique Grant who is pretty much hand selected by legendary movie star Evelyn Hugo to come interview her and write her life's story, despite not having written much of worth previously. Neither Monique nor her editor understands entirely why Ms. Hugo is so adamant she will only speak to Monique. Then there's obviously the long and intricate story of Evelyn's life, broken up occasionally by glimpses into Monique's life outside of the interviews.

Living alone and heartbroken, after her husband left her to move to another city, Monique doesn't really feel that she's living her best life. Acclaimed and aging movie star Evelyn Hugo is donating some of her most famous gowns to a cancer charity, and the magazine Monique works for would like an interview and an accompanying photo shoot. Ms. Hugo refuses to speak to anyone but Monique (for reasons no one, least of all Monique herself can understand). It also turns out that she has no intention of posing for pictures or being portrayed in an interview. She wants to give Monique the exclusive rights to her life's story, to be sold to the highest bidder with Monique enjoying the subsequent profits. The catch - Monique can't publish the book until Ms Hugo is dead, and if she refuses the job, then Evelyn's long and juicy life's story will remain untold.

Monique realises that she may end up fired if she takes the job, and it could be years before she's allowed to publish the book, yet she doesn't feel she can say no either. So she keeps making excuses to her editor and comes daily to listen to Evelyn recount her biography.

While currently widowed, Evelyn Hugo famously had seven husbands during her long life, and both she and Monique knows that this is one of the many things the reading public will want to know about. Who exactly was the love of Evelyn's life? How did she go from being a poor young girl in Hell's Kitchen to becoming an award winning and critically acclaimed international movie star, with a career spanning about half a century.

Evelyn is clearly a fascinating and deeply driven individual, who has used every resource available to her to achieve stardom. More than once, she trades sexual favours for advancement. She plays on her stunning looks and bombshell body, yet clearly possesses a razor sharp mind and frequently uses the preconceptions people and the movie industry have about her to become a star and further her career. Some of her marriages were made from genuine affection, others were highly practical affairs. Some lasted years, some mere days. Yet her winding narrative contains several secrets that ensure that the book that Monique has the potential to write will be an instant bestseller.

The mystery at the heart of the book, which isn't answered until the very last part of the book, is exactly what the connection between Evelyn Hugo and Monique Grant is, and why Evelyn was adamant that she would only tell her story to this particular younger woman. By the time it was revealed, I wasn't all that surprised, or that I cared all that much about the answer.

While I liked this book quite a lot more than Daisy Jones and the Six (films and the movie industry was always going to be more my wheelhouse than the music business), there is no denying that the sections of the book with Monique were a lot less interesting to me than the sections about Evelyn and I kept speeding up the audio book to get through them faster. I simply didn't care why she broke up with her husband or whether they'd get back together, nor was I particularly worried about her career. Evelyn, while not necessarily "nice", had a long, complicated and fascinating life and was infinitely more enjoyable to me.

Judging a book by its cover: There are two covers for this novel, both featuring what I'm assuming is Evelyn in her signature green. I much prefer this version of the cover, with Evelyn lying down, only her lips and a tiny bit of her hair showing. The one where she stands up is more traditional and not as evocative, in my opinion. This cover is sexier, and for a book that involves so many details about a star's love life, that seems appropriate.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 71: "The Unkindest Tide" by Seanan McGuire

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 13 in a series, and really not the place to start. The first book is Rosemary and Rue, that's where you want to begin, if you're interested.

Official book description:
Hundreds of years ago, the Selkies made a deal with the sea witch: they would have the sea for as long as she allowed it, and when the time came, she would call in all their debts at once. Many people assumed that day would never come. Those people were wrong.

When the Luidaeg—October "Toby" Daye's oldest and most dangerous ally—tells her the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of the bargain, and that Toby must be a part of the process, Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else. They will travel to the fabled Duchy of Ships and call a convocation of the Selkies, telling them to come and meet the Luidaeg's price...or face the consequences.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When Dianda Lorden's brother appears to arrest Dianda for treason against the Undersea, when a Selkie woman is stripped of her skin and then murdered, when everything is falling apart, that's when Toby will have to answer the real question of the hour.

Is she going to sink? Or is she going to swim?

The Luidaeg, or Sea Witch, may be feared across Faerie, but to October "Toby" Daye, she is her crabby aunt, and very much considered an important part of Toby's ever growing family. It's  also an undeniable fact that Toby would have died more than once without the aid of the Luidaeg, not to mention mourning her dead daughter. Toby owes the Luidaeg several tremendous debts and couldn't refuse if she wanted to when the sea witch shows up on her doorstep and announces that it's time for the Selkies to come to an end, and the Roane (a nearly extinct faerie species) to be born again, through the aid of Toby's unique magic. Since Toby's half-human, half-changeling daughter is now a Selkie herself, Toby is concerned about what is to happen, but has no choice but to accompany the Luidaeg to the Duchy of Ships.

Not that she will travel alone, that would never do for a legendary hero and faerie knight. Her fiance Tybalt, King of Cats, refuses to leave her side, and she can't really go anywhere without her loyal squire, Quentin. It turns out that others have an interest in this momentous event, so there are representatives from the Kingdom of the Mists as well.

Even if this wasn't a fraught and dangerous magical event on its own, it's not like Toby can go anywhere without getting into trouble. While at the Duchy of Ships (where they meet a new and unexpected Firstborn - the Luidaeg isn't Toby's only living aunt!), Toby not only has to ensure that the coup to seize the throne of the Undersea fails, in addition to solving a murder. As luck would have it, the two cases turn out to be connected, but before all the guilty parties have been brought to justice, Toby faces terrible danger and loses frightful amounts of blood. I'm assuming Seanan McGuire has some sort of spreadsheet where she logs how many different ways she's brought her heroine nearly to death's door now. When your protagonist is nearly invincible, you can take such liberties, but it's still just as gruelling as a reader to anticipate how Toby's going to find most of her insides on the outside at some point in the book (and then get all better).

The books in this series sometimes have very high stakes and move the arc forward considerably, while others are more "episode of the week", in a way. This one, book 13 in the series, is one of the ones where nothing too monumental seems to happen and it's not like the entire status quo shifts once more. It was still a very comforting read (the dangers to Toby notwithstanding). Seanan McGuire clearly has a lot more in store for Toby and the others populating the series, she's contracted for at least four more novels, and I for one, couldn't be happier about it.

Judging a book by its cover: Unlike most of Ilona Andrews' books, Seanan McGuire really tends to have great covers. I really like pretty much all of the covers in the October Daye series, and this is no exception. Toby looking out over the waters from the side of a ship, looking pensive, yet dangerous. I like the warm tones and light surrounding her.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 70: "Record of a Spaceborn Few" by Becky Chambers

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

From Goodreads:
From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope

Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat.

Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened.

Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it.

Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong.

When a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question:

What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?

Having now read all three of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers novels, I think I can confidently say that the first one, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is still my favourite one. This third novel is the one it took me the longest to really get into, and I kept putting it down and getting distracted by other things because it's a lot slower than her other two books. For a while, I wasn't really "feeling" it, and was wondering if I was just in the wrong head space for the story. Concerning itself with the different points of view of a number of individuals living on an aging space station, populated by Exodans (the descendants of the humans who first left Earth to live on ships among the stars), and also the observations of an alien scientist there to study their way of life. With a lot of the characters, I didn't really see why I should care about them, and it took me quite a while to see how all the point of view characters' stories fit together.

Once the book entered its final act, so to speak, and it all became clear to me, this book had me in tears and I suddenly understood exactly why Chambers had chosen to tell the story the way she had. The emotional payoff simply would not have been as powerful if I hadn't stuck with the story and gotten the various back stories, eventually woven together to a beautiful conclusion. To anyone reading this review, who may be doubting whether they should keep going with the book, even through the slow start - stick with it, it's very worth it in the end.

Judging a book by its cover: This may be the first of these books where, while I think the cover is pretty, I don't necessarily think it really fits with the book. The silhouette looks like a person sitting on the ground looking up at the stars, someone clearly planet-bound. Yet all of the people in this book are on space stations, born and raised, it's an important part of the story. I think another image might have suited the book better.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 69: "Sapphire Flames" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is the first book in a new trilogy, so it will work fine to anyone new to the authors or this fantasy world, but readers may want to have read at least Diamond Fire, a novella which introduces the heroine and bridges the completed trilogy and this new one.

In a world where magical abilities bring wealth, power and possibly even fame, Catalina Baylor has reluctantly become the head of House Baylor and the main investigator of her family's detective agency, after her sister stepped down, because she's married to the Prime of another powerful House. While Catalina's sister Nevada has the very rare ability not just to tell when someone is lying, and can also able to coerce the truth out of someone (convenient if you're trying to solve cases), Catalina's powers are almost unheard of and have been kept under wraps by everyone around her for a good reason. .

If she doesn't shield herself, she has the ability to make people love her unquestioningly, an emotion which quickly turns to obsession and madness. A nurse tried to steal her from the hospital when she was a baby. She was home schooled after her little class mates tried to steal parts of her clothing or even tear bits of her hair out. Catalina has spent most of her life tamping down her powers, and only after her family declared themselves a house, with all of the three Baylor daughters as Primes, has Catalina needed to learn how to properly use her abilities. It also means that while she has a supportive and affectionate family, she doesn't really have any close friends and she's even considered any romantic possibilities (because how can she trust that they're not just ensnared by her?)

A few years ago, Catalina worked closely with another Prime, Runa Etterson, in investigating who was trying to sabotage Nevada's upcoming wedding. At the start of this book, Catalina is asked to help when Runa's younger brother is threatening to jump off a building, mad with grief because their mother and sister just died in a fire. Catalina uses her powers to persuade the boy not to jump, and even though she's warned that taking the case of investigating the deaths is a terrible idea, which will probably endanger the Baylors, she can't turn away someone who could actually become a friend in their time of grief and desperation.

It quickly becomes clear that it was no accidental fire that killed half of House Etterson, and the reason is probably connected to the mysterious ways in which Runa's mother had been earning money for the past decade. Catalina is also shocked to discover that Alessandro Sagredo, handsome Italian nobleman and playboy (and her erstwhile teenage crush) is somehow connected to the case. He's one of the many who tells her to keep safe and stay away from the case, but with every new warning, Catalina just becomes more determined to uncover the truth. She just wishes she could keep a clear head around the handsome Alessandro.

The first Hidden Legacy trilogy introduced the readers to the Baylor family and focused on eldest sister Nevada and her developing relationship with super-Prime Connor Rogan. In Catalina's first book, the authors have wisely decided to keep Nevada and Connor off page, in Europe, allowing the readers to properly get to know Catalina and her point of view. It helps that while this book introduces a few new characters, the majority of the supporting cast are the same. While Catalina is the new head of the family, her mother, grandmother, younger sister and cousins all help out with the agency. I am always impressed with how well Ilona Andrews manages to write well-rounded, supportive and loving families. It's one of my favourite things about their books.

The most important new character introduced is obviously Catalina's love interest, Alessandro Sagredo, Italian count and international playboy. He and Catalina met briefly during the Baylor sisters' trial to prove that they had Prime status. Alessandro's Prime power is that he can nullify the magic of others, but even he was briefly overwhelmed by Catalina's Siren lure. If his social media accounts are to be believed, Alessandro's life involves racing fast cars, dating beautiful women and posing handsomely in any number of glamorous international locations. Catalina comes to realise that this is a carefully calculated smoke screen, and that Count Sagredo is in fact very dangerous, utterly lethal, and despite them barely having spoken, strangely protective of her. It took the writers about a book and a half to make me really like Rogan, I think they won me over with Alessandro by the second scene he showed up. I can't wait to see what secrets he's hiding, and how he and Catalina will eventually find their HEA over the course of the series.

Sadly, the next book is unlikely to be out until August next year, at the earliest. I suppose I'll have to content myself with re-reading this one and the earlier Hidden Legacy books while I wait.

Judging a book by its cover: Do I like the pose of the cover model Avon's design department has chosen to portray Catalina? Not really. She looks super awkward, yet also as if she's thrusting her chest out in an exaggerated manner. It brings to mind bad comic book art. Do I like her dress, and that it looks about the way a dress Catalina actually wears at an important scene in the book? Yes, I do. The cover model who's supposed to be Alessandro looks like a budget secret agent. The blue glowing stuff and the runes swirling all around the couple. Kinda cheesy. But in the grand scheme of Ilona Andrews covers, which are far too often just really bad, this is fine. This does the job.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.