Eclectic Reader Challenge 2015 Wrap-Up Post

The Eclectic Reader Challenge, hosted over on Book'd Out, challenged me to read 12 books in different categories, many of which I don't normally read at all. I completed it on the 10th of October, and while it was interesting, I really don't think I have the energy to go again this year. I need to cut down on the challenges, and this is one of the ones that will have to go.

Categories: 
1. Retellings (of fairytales, legends or myth)
Uprooted - Naomi Novik

2. A book set in a country starting with the letter S
Populærmusikk fra Vittula - Mikael Niemi (Set in Swedish and originally written in Swedish)

3. PI Crime (fiction featuring a private investigator)
Veronica Mars: Mr Kiss and Tell - Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

4. A Novel published before you were born
Daddy Long-Legs - Jean Webster

5. Contemporary romance
Trade Me - Courtney Milan

6. Fiction for foodies (fiction featuring food/food related business)
All for You - Laura Florand

7. Microhistory (Non-fiction)
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach

8. Science fiction set in space
Honor's Knight - Rachel Bach
Heaven's Queen - Rachel Bach

9. Sports (fiction or non-fiction)
The Hook Up - Kristen Callihan

10. Featuring diversity
The Darkest Part of the Forest - Holly Black

11. Epistolary fiction (fiction written in the format of letters/e-mails/diary entries)
Dear Mr. Knightley - Katherine Reay

12. Middle Grade/YA adventure       
The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

#CBR7 Book 109: "Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex" by Mary Roach

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

I don't read a whole lot of non-fiction. What little I do read is usually in the celebrity biography genre. But for my Eclectic Reader Challenge, I needed to read something qualifying as Micro history. I didn't even know what that was, but the internet was very helpful in clearing up my confusion. Goodreads even has a lot of useful suggestions of what I could read. As Bonk had a fairly high average rating, and was very highly rated by several of my like-minded book friends, not to mention that I was curious about the subject matter was handled.

I really wasn't sure what to expect, as I mentioned, this is pretty much my first foray into micro history, but Ms. Roach is a very entertaining writer and covers the topic from a number of angles. She writes about famous researchers like Kinsey, Masters and Johnson who worked diligently during the 20th Century, but also goes back earlier, looking at the way sex was viewed historically and how the research of it developed. She's clearly travelled all over the world for her answers, interviewing pig farmers in Denmark, doctors in Asia and on occasion, she even volunteers herself (and on one occasion) as a research subject.

Some chapters were absolutely more fascinating than others. I must also confess that my reading of this book was interrupted by the release of Carry On, and having to read the last third of this book with one heck of a book hangover after a book about gay wizards probably meant that I was no longer really in the right frame of mind for scientific facts about sex and sexual research, no matter how entertainingly it was written. I may try to re-read the book at a later date, when I can give my full attention to it.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 72: "Populærmusikk fra Vittula"(Popular Music from Vittula) by Mikael Niemi

Page count: 224 pages
Rating: 2 stars

Matti grows up in a tiny town in the remote north of Sweden in the 1960s and 70s. The chapters in this book are more like little short stories about different aspects of his childhood and adolescence, chronicled with humour and the occasional forays into strange, magical realism-inspired fantasy sequences. The inhabitants of his town and the surrounding areas seem to be either deeply puritanically religious or Communists, not caring for the trappings of religion at all. The gruff and peculiar inhabitants are set in their ways and far too prone to alcoholism.

There's the story of Matti's near-mute best friend Niila, whose father, a lapsed preacher, is so domineering and abusive that neither of the many children of the family speak much, and Niila first learns to speak in Esperanto, through lessons he overhears on the radio in Matti's house. We hear about Matti and Niila's childhood discoveries of rock music, with the hits of Elvis Presley and the Beatles making a huge impact on their lives, inspiring them to form a band. There's the friendly rivalry of adolescent boys, and the organised warfare with airguns that the teens orchestrate in the neighbourhood. There's the summer when Matti is trying to make enough money for a guitar of his own, and engages in devious and gory rat extermination to keep the cabin of a visiting German author vermin free.

Because the book is occasionally a straight-forward coming of age narrative about boys in a rural area in the 60s and 70s, but then all of a sudden veers into some dreamlike sequence where a boy gets trapped in a furnace for a winter and starts growing roots, or there is a cross-dressing witch in the woods who can exorcise ghosts, it's hard to pinpoint what the book is actually trying to be. As such, I found the book more frustrating than satisfying. The jumps in narrative, where the story will in one chapter talk about Matti's childhood, then his teens, then back again to earlier in his life, in very strange, seemingly unconnected episodes (all with the common denomination that they're set in Vittula, where he comes from) made the book confusing and while I appreciate the writer's skill, this book just didn't really work for me.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 71: "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Page count: 369 pages
Rating: 5 stars

Six days into the first manned mission on Mars, there is a huge dust storm, forcing most of the crew to evacuate, earlier than anticipated. Mark Watney, the crew's botanist and mechanical engineer is impaled on an antenna and believed to have died. He wakes up alone, stranded on Mars with no way of signalling Earth that he is still alive. The next manned mission to Mars is scheduled in four years' time, and even if he were able to send a signal to announce his miraculous survival, he doesn't have enough supplies to last him long enough for a rescue mission to reach him. Even if he could use his botany skills to grow food enough to last him, none of the equipment he has with him is designed to last for years in the unforgiving environment of the red planet. Mark Watney, one of the first men to ever walk on Mars, is very likely to be the first man ever to die there too. He's not going down without a fight, though? With his boundless optimism, his education and his creativity, he's determined to survive until the next crew of space explorers arrive, when he will hopefully be able to go home at last.

I was given this book as a Cannonball gift exchange present from the lovely Beth Ellen, but first heard about it in August last year, when my friend Erica, who usually can't stand science fiction books, read it in less than 48 hours and then rated it five stars. Since then, so many people all over the interwebs have read and reviewed it and absolutely loved it, to the point where I started getting scared of reading it at all, convinced I was going to be the first person I knew, in real life or online, who was going to think the book was just ok. So I kept putting it off, and finding excuses for why I couldn't read it yet, until the trailers for the upcoming film starring Matt Damon started being released, and I realised that unless I wanted to get spoiled, I was going to have to just read the book already.

I discovered very quickly that I wasn't going to hate the book, and as I tore through the pages (annoyed that I actually had to do work, even with the summer holidays quickly approaching), it was really obvious why so many different people in my friend sphere had rated the book so very highly. I've seen it described as Robinson Crusoe meets MacGyver several times, and as a super-brief summary, that makes a lot of sense. Mark Watney is a great protagonist. He's funny, charming, self-deprecating, resourceful and smart. He keeps his head cool in a crisis (and being stranded on Mars is a hell of one) and his education, training and background make it believable that he'd be able to actually do the things he ends up doing to survive. I will admit I skimmed quite a few of the explanations of the mechanics and physics of what he did, because science is so far from what I cared about, but it all seemed realistic.

The chapters are short, the tension is high and Mark is a character you really root for. You want him to make it, you are invested in his survival and while I assumed he was going to be ok in the end, this was not a guarantee and actually told my husband (who, is coincidentally also called Mark) off for asking me questions while I was reading the final parts of the book. I needed for it to be only me and the book. So yes, you can add me to the long list of people who loved this book and have added Mark Watney to my list of favourite fictional characters. Now I'm one of the many who hope Ridley Scott doesn't screw up the film.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 69: "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik

Page count: 448 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I got this as an ARC through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review.The book is available now.

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its power at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman to be handed over to him every ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows - everyone knows - that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things that Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

While this remarkable novel by Naomi Novik isn't actually a retelling of some traditional fairy tale, it feels like it should be. The book moves slowly, thoroughly establishing the sleepy little environment Agniezka and Kasia live in, with the terrors of the slowly encroaching Wood so close by. Once someone disappears in the Wood, they will hopefully stay lost. Should they return, they are like creatures possessed spreading its malevolent influence. It's because the dangers that threaten them constantly that the villagers accept having to sacrifice a young woman to the mysterious and reclusive wizard who lives in the tower nearby. He keeps them for ten years, when they return to their families briefly, apparently unharmed but inevitably changed. They never seem content to stay in their home villages, usually going to the capital, rarely to return.

The Dragon always chooses the most promising and accomplished of the women, and so everyone in the area are expecting Kasia to be the next young woman to be taken. It's a huge surprise to everyone, not least Agnieszka, when she is the one selected to go with the wizard. She barely gets time to say good bye to her loved ones before the Dragon sweeps her away. Now, terrified and confused, because while the women who return from the Dragon's service always appeared healthy and unmolested, there were always rumours. They lived alone with a man for a decade after all. The impatient and surly wizard seems completely uninterested in her physically though, and after finding a note from a previous occupant of her room, Agnieszka is relieved that she won't be molested in any way. She tries to follow the orders of her new master, but because the Dragon isn't exactly very clear in what he actually wants, it takes her quite a while to understand that he's trying to teach her magic, and his lessons are not going as expected. It's only when she finds the dusty spell book of a legendary witch that she seems to get the magic to work for her.

At first the Dragon doesn't believe that Agnieszka's brand of magic could have any effect. Only after several attempts does it become clear that his way of using magic is more intellectual and book based, while Agnieszka's is more emotional and intuition based. As the threats from the Wood become greater, it's clear that they need to find a way to work together. One terrible day, when the Dragon is called away to deal with a crisis, Agnieszka receives word that her village is being threatened as well. When she discovers that her dearest friend Kasia has been taken by the creatures of the Wood, she risks everything to rescue her. Now she needs to find a way to free her friend from the Wood's influence, even if such a task has always been believed to be impossible.

To begin with, Agnieszka seems like one of those women who only seem to exist in fiction, too clumsy for words and completely out of her element. We are told that while Kasia is all that is beautiful, talented, graceful and accomplished, Agnieszka can't go through a single day without getting her clothes torn or stained or in some way screwing things up. No one expects her to be the next woman to go with the Dragon. She is terrified and confused, unclear about her duties and feels absolutely horrible from the simple spells the Dragon makes her do. Because he's more than a century old, used to girls with more aptitude for magic (because that's what he does, he trains them in magic so they can help him keep the Wood from taking over more of the area), he's not used to having to explain his methods or motivation. He is also appalled when Agnieszka explains to him what everyone in the surrounding villages believes is his ulterior motive for selecting the girls.

Because Agnieszka has always been unfavourably compared to Kasia, and is so completely unable to grasp the tenets of the Dragon's magical spells, she, like everyone else underestimates herself greatly. It takes time for her to realise that she has value and gifts of her own and that she is has a gift for magic, just not one that has been seen in the country for a long time. She truly begins to find her strength and powers when her best friend is threatened. Doing the impossible, she rescues Kasia from the Wood and refuses to give up on her. In the process, she is also forced to examine her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy towards her dear friend, because even best friends aren't always charitable in the ways they think of one another, and there will always be times when we are jealous, insecure and petty. Moving through and past this, Kasia and Agnieszka's friendship is changed, but stronger as a result.

In the second act of the book, so to speak, Agnieszka has to leave the world she's always known, as well as the safety of the Dragon's tower and go to the capital, to deal with political intrigue, other wizards and discovers that the sinister forces that control the Wood are present even there and bent on causing destruction and havoc not only in her home country of Polnya, but also the neighbouring country. Because of Agnieszka's miraculous rescue of Kasia, the youngest prince of Polnya is determined to reclaim his mother, the missing queen, who allegedly ran away with her lover nearly twenty years ago. They both disappeared in the Wood. Is what they rescue from the forest, at terrible loss of life, truly the lost queen, or something much more sinister?

The last third of the book got a bit wearying, with what felt to me to be unnecessary and repetitive violence and finally a rather puzzling explanation of what the motivation behind the terrifying force of the Wood actually was. I can't stress enough how creepy and sinister I felt the Wood and its many "minions" was. It's such a great villain, for all that it's not one thing, but this seemingly unstoppable and relentless force, with feral wolves, giant preying mantises, evil trees and other monsters at its disposal. Still, I got a bit tired and confused towards the end, just wanting things to wrap up.

Overall, this is such a great read, with Agnieszka as a wonderful heroine at its centre. Her friendship with Kasia is heartwarming and her slowly developing powers and confidence feels empowering in all the right ways. The medieval style kingdoms felt extremely real and the whole story feels as if Naomi Novik found some treasure trove of old Eastern European fairy tales and just reinterpreted them. There is a romantic subplot in the book as well, and one of my other complaints, along with the dragging last third of the book, is that the romance isn't more fully developed. It has so much promise, damn it, and I felt cheated that there wasn't more of it. The only thing I'd read by Novik before this, was Temeraire (or His Majesty's Dragon, as it's also known). While that didn't appeal to me that much(even with dragons, there was too much military history, not my thing), this was great. For anyone with an interest in fairy tale narratives with strong, female friendship at its core and some real horrors to be overcome before there is a chance at a HEA, this is a book for you.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 58:"The Friend Zone" by Kristen Callihan

Page count: 309 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

Gray Grayson does not have female friends, he has former and future conquests. The closest thing he has to a female friend is his best friend Drew's new girlfriend. That's it. So no one is more surprised than he, when he seems to be developing a close relationship with a woman he's never even met, via text message of all things. When Gray has to lend his own car to Drew for a while, he's left with no other options than to borrow the bubblegum-pink car belonging to Ivy Mackenzie, the daughter of his sports agent, whose studying overseas. She's none too happy that some jock is in control of her car, and sends him all manner of ominous texts about what she'll do to him if he damages the car in any way. Soon they are texting each other at all hours of the day, about much more than the car.

So when Ivy comes back home to the States, and Gray and Ivy finally meet, neither are wanting to risk their close friendship, even though they both find the other smoking hot. To add to the tension, Gray is one of Ivy's father's top clients, and Ivy isn't any more interested in getting involved with one of them than Gray is interested in ruining his chances with a future career. So it's best if they just stay friends...right?

Gray is the tight end (and yes, there are lots of jokes to that effect) on the same college team that Drew from The Hook Up is the quarterback of. They are best friends, and really more like brothers, considering Drew is orphaned and Gray's father and brothers were less than supportive to him growing up. Gray was a nice supporting character and he's a good protagonist as well. Not ashamed of his past sexual exploits, Gray is nonetheless aware that what he shares with Ivy is something special and shouldn't be taken lightly. Ivy, in contrast, hasn't really dated a lot, and has trust and commitment issues due to her sports agent father's lack of presence in the lives of her and her younger sister, as well as fidelity to their mother.

The friends to lovers story is a common trope in romance, but for it to work, the friendship needs to feel real and established. If this part is hurried, the romance doesn't feel as earned, in my opinion. Here, while Gray and several of his friends are surprised, he really does make a genuine connection with Ivy. This is possibly because the only visual reference he has of her is a photo of her as a young teenager displayed in her father's office, while they get to know each other though their in-depth text conversations. By the time they actually meet, and realise that the person they've been texting with is someone they find very physically attractive, they are both very invested in making their platonic relationship work.

Of course, the more time they spend together, the more staying platonic proves to be a challenge. Unlike in The Hook Up, where Drew and Anna start having sex quite early on, and Anna at least doesn't even want to like Drew, so they build the rest of their relationship slowly from there, the unresolved sexual tension between Gray and Ivy continues for a fair bit of the book, and when it's finally broken, it's quite explosive. Once they do give into their feelings for one another, the issue of their future becomes a serious question, as Ivy has been studying and working in London with the intention that she will take over one of her mother's successful bakeries, while Gray is obviously on his way to a hopefully successful sports career.

I really liked this book, and based on these two books, I really do need to check out more of Kristen Callihan's Steampunk paranormals, of which I've only read one so far. I wasn't blown away by the first one, but I've enjoyed her New Adult books so much that I'm going to give her paranormal historicals another chance.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 57: "The Hook Up" by Kristen Callihan

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Anna was either bullied or completely ignored in high school. With the exception of a few loyal friends, she was pretty much a social outcast. She has worked hard to become comfortable with herself and her body image. So when her college's star quarterback addresses her as "Big Red" in one of their shared classes, he instantly earns her animosity. Drew Baylor is tall, gorgeous, extremely athletic and popular in all areas of college life. As Anna just wants to keep her head down and finish college without attracting undue attention, he's pretty much her polar opposite. She's unsure why he even spoke to her, but they are from different worlds and she sees no reason why she needs to fawn over Drew, like everyone else.

Drew knows how lucky and privileged he is. He's a star on the football field, but works equally hard to excel in his other academic subjects, knowing that the chances of injury for a professional football player are high. Having lost his parents in a car accident, his team mates are pretty much his family. As the star quarterback, he has women constantly approaching him, but the only one he's interested in is the imperious and stubborn Anna, who won't give him the time of day. He watches her in class, wondering how to get a second chance to impress her, as it's quite clear she's completely unfazed by his prowess on the football field.

When Anna's room mate drags her to a frat party, Anna and Drew meet in a new arena. Sparks fly, turning absolutely scorching. In the coming days, they keep finding excuses to hook up. Anna is very clear that she doesn't want it to become official, and would prefer them to keep it only about the physical. Drew quickly determines that Anna is the only one he wants, he just needs to work diligently to win her over.

A lot of the New Adult books out there seem to be about a studious, often shy and sexually inexperienced young woman falling for some sort of emotionally scarred bad boy. The only previous book in the sub-genre I've genuinely loved is Trade Me by Courtney Milan. In that as in this, both protagonists have emotional baggage, and neither is exactly virginal. As in Milan's first foray into the sub-genre, the guy is the one who's the most emotionally committed, with the girl being reluctant to commit long term. With the exceptions of his team mates and coaches, Drew has no one and is ready to make a deeper connection with someone. Unlike several of his fellow football players, he's not really interested in the casual hook-ups with the many beautiful, but frequently fame-hungry women throwing themselves at him.

In addition to a whole host of confidence issues because of being bullied when she was younger, Anna also has severe trust issues. Her father abandoned her and her mother when she was little, and her mother seems to be a magnet for douchy guys who take advantage of her and frequently make Anna feel uncomfortable. Most of them end up cheating eventually. Anna's room mate is dating the captain of the lacrosse team, who pretty much treats her like dirt. So Anna's view of men in general is not great, and her trust issues are understandable. Drew is the most popular guy at their college, and she's aware of how much attention he gets at all time. She doesn't believe that there is anything about her that could hold his interest for very long. Of course, her resolve to keep everything in their relationship about the purely physical starts to erode the more time they spend together.

The book alternates between Anna and Drew's points of view, frequently letting the reader see the scenes through both protagonists' eyes and because Callihan lets us inside both parties of the romance, it's really clear how they feel about each other at all times. Drew is instantly smitten with Anna, and curses himself for making such a bad first impression on her. Anna is wholly uninterested in sports, and having been a social outcast in the past, disbelieving that any guy as gorgeous and popular as Drew could actually have any real and lasting interest in her. Of course, as it turns out, it's her being so reluctant to really commit that ends up really endangering their future relationship.

Once both parties acknowledge that they're crazy about each other and Anna works through her trust issues, an additional complication is thrown in their way. Suddenly Drew's insecurities come into play, and Anna needs to prove her commitment to him, in order for the couple to find their ultimate HEA. For those of a pearl-clutching disposition, be aware that there are a lot of steamy sex scenes in this book. More so than I am used to in contemporary romance. I didn't really feel that it got in the way of the characters' emotional journey, but if you like your romances lighter on the graphic sex (who are you and why are you reading my blog?), then you may want to give this one a miss.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 51: "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan

Page count: 577 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Jason has amnesia. He wakes up on a school bus on the way to the Grand Canyon with what appears to be his very confused girlfriend (Piper) and a bemused, slightly disbelieving best friend (Leo) who both seem very surprised that he can't remember spending the last few months together at the "Wilderness School", a boarding school for juvenile delinquents. Not that the field trip to the Canyon makes things better. One of the other school kids sprouts wings, and tries to kill Jason and his friends. The coach turns out to be some sort of half-goat-man and to top it all off, Jason appears to be able to fly, as he discovers when he has to hurtle down into the Grand Canyon to save, Piper, his supposed girlfriend.

By the end of their VERY eventful day, Piper, Leo and Jason find themselves in upstate New York at Camp Half-Blood being told that they are demi-gods and the reason that Piper and Leo can remember a whole semester with Jason is because the magical mist that clouds the minds of mere mortals from the existence of the supernatural basically rewrote their memories when Jason appeared out of nowhere. In short order, Leo Valdez, whose been an orphan since his mother died in a mysterious fire in her mechanical workshop, discovers that he's a son of Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire, whilst Piper McLean, a tomboy if ever there was one, discover that her long lost mother is Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, and that the cabin she belongs seems to consist mainly of Barbie and Ken-doll-alikes. Jason's parentage takes longer to be revealed, but a lot of people get very flustered by his arrival at Camp Half-Blood and this is clearly connected with his sudden amnesia.

Camp Half-Blood's most famous demi-god, Percy Jackson, is missing without a trace, and his girlfriend Annabeth is not happy. When there is a prophecy revealing that Hera, wife to Zeus and queen of the Greek pantheon has been kidnapped and that she needs to be rescued before the Winter Solstice or all hell will pretty much break loose (someone is opening the doors to Tartarus, the Greek underworld), it seems impossible that the two events are not connected and that Jason's amnesia and sudden appearance on the school bus with Piper and Leo is not coincidental either. Piper and Leo get called to go on the quest with Jason, whose father is revealed to be none other than Zeus himself.

Leo realises from a vision of Hera that she's been appearing to him since he was a child, and that his half-blood heritage is the reason his mother died. Piper goes along on the quest, even though she believes herself doomed to betray her friends, as she's keeping a secret from them. Her father, a famous movie star, has been kidnapped as well, and is being held hostage. If Piper doesn't trick Leo and Jason to their deaths, her father will be killed instead.

While Jason's friendship with Piper and Leo may have been a mist-conjured illusion, as they fight a number of mythological challenges on their way to complete their quest, they learn to trust each other and work as a team very fast indeed. Will they manage to save Hera before it's too late? Will Jason recover his memories and figure out why to him it seems more appropriate to refer to the gods by their Roman names?

Oh Rick Riordan, not content with one series of books where you utilise absolutely everything relating to Greek myth, followed by one where you do the same with the Egyptian pantheon, now apparently you're introducing the Roman pantheon, while deviously explaining why it's close to, but not quite the same as the Greek. There's a formula here, and it may not work for everyone, but I find that it does for me. More like the Kane Chronicles with the alternating POVs than Percy Jackson's first person narration, this book switches between Jason, Piper and Leo, usually giving them a couple of chapters in a row before switching to one of the others. It allows us to get to know all three characters better.

Because of his amnesia, Jason is absolutely the character that's the hardest to get a handle on. We don't really know who he is, any more than he does. He's clearly had rigorous training his entire life though, and seems very skilled with a number of weapons. Being the son of Zeus, or Jupiter, he seems to have the ability both to fly and call down lightning. This comes in handy when fighting vengeful mythological giants determined to incite some sort of massive-scale conflict with the Greek pantheon. It becomes clear that his amnesia is caused by Hera stealing his memories and she claims to have a very good reason for it. He's also most likely grown up in a place not dissimilar to Camp Half-Blood, if a lot harsher on its recruits.

Piper McLean was at the Wilderness School because she asked a car dealer for a BMW and he agreed. She's always had the power to get people to give her things and persuade them into doing what she wants, and discovers at Camp Half-Blood that this is called "charm speaking", a gift from her mother. Unfortunately, once the people who've given stuff away wake up from their compulsion and contact the police, Piper would end up in trouble. Piper has Native American heritage on her dad's side, although her father seems to try to distance himself completely from it. She desperately wants to be home schooled, so she can spend time with her famous dad, but he mostly seems far too busy for her. Nonetheless, she's desperate to save him, even though doing so may put her friends in terrible danger instead.

Leo Valdez was diagnosed with ADHD at an early age and has always had a knack for fixing things. Fiddling and constructing things when he's nervous, even before he discovered that he was a demi-god, he knew he wasn't like other kids. Jason not only appears to be completely fire-proof (the clothes he wears as well, conveniently), but can actually summon fire if he concentrates. Hera, who he thinks of as a sort of demented grandma, kept appearing to him as he was growing up, making portentous comments about his future, but he always just thought she was a nut. Now he discovers that not only is he the son of a god, but that there's clearly some sort of grand destiny in store for him.

The first book in a series of five, it's clear that these books are going to reunite readers with some of their favourite demi-gods from the Percy Jackson books (because I have no doubt that while he's missing in this book, he'll turn up before too long), while introducing a bunch of new demi-god teens to root for, some of whom appear to have parents from the Roman pantheon as well. It seems that the Roman gods are more warlike, serious and business-like than their raucous Greek aspects. I like a good YA adventure, and will probably blaze through the rest of these over the summer.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 46: "Heaven's Queen" by Rachel Bach

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is the third and final book in the Paradox series. It really won't make a whole lot of sense or be particularly satisfying if you haven't read the first two books in the trilogy. Start at the beginning with Fortune's Pawn. It's a really fun, action-packed series with great world building., so if you like space adventure, you are unlikely to regret it. It also goes without saying that there may be spoilers for the previous books in the series in this review. Proceed at your own risk if you're not caught up.

All Deviana "Devi" Morris wanted was to be a Devestator, one of the elite guards of the Paradoxian God King who she reveres and worships. Since signing on with Captain Caldwell on Fortune's Fool, she's nearly died countless times, she's had her memory wiped and restored, she's fallen in love and fought the man she fell for nearly to the death to retain her freedom and independence. She's infected with a mysterious and highly dangerous virus, hunted down by two powerful alien species. Several human organisations want to capture her, take her into custody and basically weaponize her. In addition, after a slightly botched jump out of hyperspace, Devi and her companion has been missing for eight months and most of the people close to her thought she died.

The possible future of the human race is hanging in the balance, and Devi needs to figure out a solution to eliminate the phantoms, free Maat and the daughters, preferably without being killed herself in the process. Yet Devi's never been afraid to go out fighting and if she has to die, which it's looking more and more likely she might, she's going to make sure it has a lasting impact.

While Honour's Knight was so action-packed it nearly exhausted me while reading it, Heaven's Queen has a slower opening third, with Devi and Rupert on the run, trying to keep Devi safe from all the various factions who want to get their hands on her. While there is some nice further character development in this section, it did nonetheless drag a bit, and because Bach has done such a great job fleshing out and establishing the supporting cast of the Paradox series, spending time with only Devi and Rupert got a bit boring after a while.

I needn't have worried, however, because the last two thirds of book pick up nicely again, while the story hurtles towards its action-packed and inevitable conclusion. We get more quality time with the crew on the Fortune's Fool, meet a few new characters and re-visit some previously established individuals. Some are interested in aiding Devi, others would rather just capture her and use her to further their own ends.

Over the course of the trilogy, Devi has gone from a fairly self-centred and purely career-oriented warrior, only concerned with advancement as fast possible. Through the dangers and adventures she's survived, she's had her horizons comprehensively widened, forced to re-evaluate her opinions and pre-conceptions time and time again. Some of the characteristics that could make her rather exasperating in the first book, have been polished and refined through her hardships and challenges  and now help her in choosing her final course of action, crazy and reckless as it may seem to others. Devi has so much agency in this book, and I cheered her along every step of the way, even as I worried what was going to happen to her in the end.

I really liked that for all that Rupert is a nearly indestructible fighter himself, he's realised that what Devi needs from him is just for him to watch her back, not to control or restrict her actions. I saw some complaints on Goodreads that he's been reduced to a boring wimp meekly trailing in Devi's wake in this book, I strongly disagree. Devi has proven time and time again that she's more than capable of taking care of herself, even though she may seem dangerously impulsive on occasion. Her risks pay off and it's one of the reasons she's become such a skilled warrior. The last thing she needs is a man who tries to make her decisions for her. While he's clearly not always very happy about the choices she makes, Rupert has learned the hard way that Devi needs to choose her own path, and if he wants to be with her, he needs to respect her choices - which he does.

Having discovered that Rachel Bach is actually a pseudonym for Rachel Aaron, who also writes historical fantasy novels, I can't wait to check out more of her writing. If her fantasy is half as fun as her science fiction adventures, I will be very happy indeed.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 42: "Honor's Knight" by Rachel Bach

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is the second book in the Paradox series, which begins with Fortune's Pawn. While I'm sure you could start with this one, there is really rather a lot of set-up and introduction of characters in the first one that makes this one easier to enjoy, so you really should start at the beginning. It's also impossible for me to review this book without spoiling some of the stuff from the first book, so go away until you're caught up.

Deviana Morris is deeply confused. She knows there was a battle onboard Fortune's Fool, the ship she works on, as she can see the signs of damage all around her. Her fellow security guard, Cotter, died in the attack where something caused Devi to lose her a whole load of her memories. She can find no record of the attack in any of the security recordings on board or in the feed or backup feed from her power armour. Now the sole security onboard, she's determined to do her job to the best of her abilities, but strange things keep happening that distract her. When she gets angry, she sees black smudges on her hands. She can't seem to remember the name of the ship's cook, and every time she looks directly at him, she's hit with revulsion so strong she nearly throws up. She has a very strange dream where Ren, Captain Caldswell's creepy and mysterious little girl takes her to a warehouse where she sees herself, pleading with the cook, declaring her love, only to be shot in the head. She sees strange glowing bugs that no one else appears able to see.

As the danger keeps mounting, Devi's memory are returned to her, and with them, the staggering betrayal that led to them being wiped. When she finally remembers Rupert again, she also remember that he invaded her mind and took her memories, without even asking her, and that's not something that's easy, if at all possible, for a girl to forgive. She discovers more about the Eyes and who Ren actually is. The truth about the lengths the Eyes will go to to defeat the phantoms is terrifying and Devi is not at all sure she wants to help them, no matter how important their quest to save the universe is. She discovers what the black stuff infecting her is and needs to ascertain exactly who she can trust and whether she's ready to sacrifice herself and everything she's ever dreamed of to help save the universe.

Fortune's Pawn was the Vaginal Fantasy book club pick for March, and since I'd already read that, I decided to read the sequel instead. The first book really does all the heavy lifting with regards to world-building and introducing you to the characters, establishing relationships and getting you interested. By the end of the book, if you're anything like me, you think Devi is great and while you're devastated that a lot of her memories are being taken from her, to save her life, you are also convinced she'll restore them and go on kicking the asses of all the people who did her wrong. Of course she does, but it does take a while. Because it had been nearly a year since I read the first book, I shared Devi's confusion of what had happened towards the climax of the first book (I was on vacation, and did not have the first book available on my Reader to allow myself to quickly refresh my memory, either). In some ways, I think that added to my enjoyment.

From pretty much the time when Devi's memories (and then some) are restored to her, the book doesn't slow down. Because most of what you need to enjoy this world has been set up in the first book, Bach can pretty much amp up the action massively and keeps throwing Devi into increasingly more dangerous and action-packed situations. The black stuff on Devi's hands is a virus, which is deadly to the phantoms, but quite likely also to Devi herself. Both the Eyes and those have gone rogue from the Eyes want to use Devi as a weapon, and she's not intending to be used. She's none too happy about Caldwell trying to have her killed and her former feelings of love towards Rupert are now naturally tainted with betrayal, distrust and anger, while she's still fighting her attraction to him. Not that it stops her from fighting him like a demon when he's tasked with trying to capture her.

Devi's such a wonderful heroine, who is forced to constantly reevaluate everything she thought she knew over the course of this book. The action pretty much took my breath away several times. Over the course of the story, it becomes clear just how much is at stake and what sort of threats the universe is facing. There are no good solutions and while the Eyes are clearly willing to kill, manipulate and exploit to reach their ends, it's difficult not to sympathise, considering what they are trying to stop. Devi, being stubbornly independent and refusing to go down without a fight, keeps trying to find a better way through things, though, and it's going to be very interesting indeed to see how she's going to manage to save the universe (because I have no doubt she will) without compromising her moral principles.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 35: "Daddy Long-Legs" by Jean Webster

Page count: 249 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Jerusha "Judy" Abbott is a Canadian orphan, who at 17 is still living in the orphanage, mainly because they are using her as free help. She is frequently told that she needs to keep her strong opinions and overactive imagination to herself, or nothing will come of her. She dreams of becoming a famous author and when a wealthy benefactor of the orphanage offers to send her to college on a scholarship, she is closer to achieving said dream. She doesn't know who he is, having only seen his shadow as he left the matron's office, but she knows that he is tall, and his shadow resembled a daddy long-legs. Hence, when she is told that she needs to write letters to her benefactor detailing her progress, she addresses each one to "Dear Daddy Long-Legs".

Having never had a family of her own, Judy (as she reinvents herself at college. Who can blame her for wanting to be rid of the name Jerusha?) starts imagining that Daddy Long-Legs all the relatives she's been missing. Going to college and receiving an education, Judy thrives. She loves learning, she loves improving her writing and making new friends. She never gets any replies to her letters, but the occasional gift (sometimes quite extravagant) proves that her anonymous rich benefactor reads her missives and doesn't want her to feel left out among the other girls at the college. Very occasionally, Judy will get written instructions through her benefactor's secretary, who among other things, helps find her places to spend her summers, while the other girls go home to their families.

As she grows older and her education is coming to an end, Judy becomes more and more curious about the identity of "Daddy Long-Legs" and tries to use her prodigious imagination to figure out who he might be.

I picked up this book both because Dear Mr. Knightley, which I really liked, was inspired by it (which meant that I wasn't really surprised by any of the major story beats, as they are pretty much the same) and because Forever YoungAdult and the Book Smugglers, both review sites I trust and often agree with, rated it 5 stars and called it a must-read classic. Written in 1912, I'm sure this is a beloved book to many, but whether it's because I'd just read modern book with a very similar plot, or whether I just found some aspects of the book a bit disturbing, it just didn't entirely work for me.

While Judy is rather delightful, smart, opinionated and a bit too prone to speaking (or writing) her mind before she thinks about what she's actually saying, there was something very off-putting to me about her addressing most of her letters to "Dear Daddy". Especially as based on the reviews I'd seen, I knew that there was a romantic subplot, and it was clear that she was actually going to fall in love with her benefactor, without knowing who he really was. When "Daddy" starts dictating where she spend her free time, obviously to prevent her from spending more time with her college friend's brother, it left a bad taste in my mouth. The reviewer on Forever YoungAdult points out that Judy frequently disregards the attempts at manipulations from her benefactor, and once she wins a scholarship due to her writing skill, she insists on being allowed to start paying back the money she's been given so far, not wanting to be in debt for any longer than necessary.

I don't think it was just because of just having read Dear Mr. Knightley that I figured out quickly who "Daddy Long-Legs" was. While the character seems perfectly pleasant, and has very socialist leanings for a rich person of the time, I just couldn't get over the inappropriate way he keeps trying to direct Judy's life. Judy herself, as I have already mentioned, is great. She, like the precocious orphan girl ever, Ms Anne Shirley is the reason I liked the book as much as I did. It's really not going to be a book I revisit though, and the hero, if he can be called that, did little but skeeve me out.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 34: "Dear Mr. Knightley" by Katherine Reay

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I got this from NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. 

Samantha Moore has spent most of her life in foster care. Having tried to hold down a job on her own, she reluctantly accepts a scholarship offered by an anonymous benefactor, to Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The scholarship will only be available as long as she completes her degree, and writes about her progress to the foundation, care of the CEO, who hides behind the name Mr. Knightley. Samantha has always had trouble relating to people in the real world, hiding away in classical literature, where she finds solace. She has trouble making connections with others, since she speaks more in literary quotations than actual words, afraid to really be herself or let anyone close to the real her.

Because George Knightley is such an admired hero of Sam's, she accepts the stipulation, and begins to write regularly. Mr. Knightley never responds, but Sam knows her missives are beign read, as very occasionally, she receives a note from the CEO's assistant, responding if it is required. To begin with, Sam finds journalism extremely difficult, wanting instead to focus on a career in creative writing. Because of her difficulties in opening up and properly communicating with other people, her journalistic work is stilted and impersonal. As well as in her many books, Sam finds escape through running. On the running track, she slowly starts bonding with Kyle, one of the other foster kids, but as they are both wounded and slow to trust others, their friendship is difficult to really build.

As she struggles to discover who she really is and overcome her academic challenges, Sam gradually manages to emerge from behind her affected literary personas and make genuine connections. She makes a couple of female friends at college and through a series of coincidences befriends her favourite author, the crime writer Alex Powell. She gets a boyfriend for the first time, and her letters to Mr. Knightley become more like a personal journal than reports on her academic progress. Will she ever find out the real identity of her mysterious benefactor, and how will she react when she does?

I get a fair amount of books through NetGalley, mainly because I can't stop myself from requesting everything that looks even vaguely interesting to me. Sadly, I am really not as good about reviewing the books I am granted ARCs or review copies of, frequently forgetting about them unless they're by an author I especially love (and even then there are so many other shiny books out there to distract me). This is one of those books I forgot about completely and only remembered again when I was looking for epistolary novels for my Eclectic Reader challenge. The fact that it also fit into my key word challenge for March was just a bonus.

While I can see on Goodreads that quite a lot of people (at least of the reviews I browsed) found this book disappointing, and a pale copy of the children's book that it's inspired by, Daddy Long-Legs, I found it very sweet and it reminded me a lot of another book I really like, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It also features a heroine with a long history in the foster care system, who is wounded and needs to learn to find her place in the world. I can absolutely understand why readers may find Sam annoying. I'm fairly sure she's supposed to be. The entire premise of this book is that she is so guarded and distrustful that she's unable to make any real connections, seeking refuge in books and hiding all her true feelings and ineptly channelling fictional characters when forced to talk to others. She's a complete train wreck, but there are good reasons for that. While the book starts when she is 23, this book is clearly a coming of age narrative, and Sam needs to grow up and learn to face reality, both the painful and the joyful parts.

As far as I can tell, the epistolary aspect of the book, where she has to write letters to the mysterious Mr. Knightley is to make it as close to the premise of Daddy Long-Legs as possible. I'm sure I'm not the only reader of the book who started suspecting the true identity of her benefactor fairly early on, because really, I'm not even sure if it's supposed to come as a surprise to anyone who's read more than a couple of books in their life. There are only so many people it could be. It didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book, although I think said person could have come clean sooner instead of continuing to deceive Sam. It still didn't ruin my suspension of disbelief.

Reading and enjoying this book has also made me decide to check out the book that it's based on, and that so many Goodreaders are enthusing about. I'm very glad I re-discovered this book in my NetGalley pile, and will happily seek out other books by this author in future.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 17: "Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell" by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer! I was given an ARC of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review.

Readers should be aware that this is the second book of Veronica Mars mysteries. Readers should probably watch the movie (it's on Netflix) and read the first book before reading this. If you're not caught up, there will be spoilers in the review below.

Veronica Mars is hired by the insurance agents for the Neptune Grand, to prove that one of the hotel's staff members didn't assault a young woman and leave her for dead. The investigation is complicated by the fact that the crime happened several months earlier (around the same time Veronica was busy trying to locate kidnapped girls in The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line), the victim claims not to remember the events clearly and refuses to reveal who she was at the hotel to meet the night of the attack, the hotel refuses to share their reservations list and the accused attacker has been deported to Mexico. Never one to back down from a challenge, Veronica nonetheless throws herself into the case with her customary determination.

While Veronica is being recruited by high profile clients, Keith Mars and Cliff McCormack are trying to hit the Neptune Sheriff's Department where it hurts by helping Eli "Weevil" Navarro with a lawsuit. As Sheriff Lamb is busy trying to get himself re-elected, and there's a promising new candidate running against him, so the victory isn't automatic, the case building against the department could be very damaging.

On the home front, Veronica is trying to get used to living with Logan, who is home on shore leave. While she's firm in her decision that she wants to be a P.I., not a lawyer, she's having more trouble accepting that the US Air Force seems to be where Logan has really found his calling. He's taking Arabic lessons and all signs point to him wanting to go back on active duty, a prospect that scares hell out of Veronica.

If I can't have more Veronica on my TV, I'm really happy that the Kickstarter funds helped get these books created. The characters feel just as real as they were on the show, and Neptune is as authentic a location on the page as it was on my screen. I've seen several reviews complain that while the previous book barely had any Logan, this book was very light on Wallace. That complaint is a fair one, but as Wallace pretty much stole every scene he actually did get to be in, I still felt he played an important part and as always provided Veronica with much needed support in her mystery solving.

With Veronica and Logan's relationship being so passionate and stormy, and frequently quite toxic in TV show, it's both strange and wonderful to see that both characters have matured and grown up and now finally seem ready for a stable life together. I very much enjoyed the scenes of their domesticity, and while I can sympathise with Veronica's fears and worries about Logan going back on active duty in the Gulf, the book very clearly explains why being an Air Force pilot isn't just some adrenaline kick or game for Logan, but something that saved him when he was spiralling out of control. It's a vocation and something that gives his life meaning and purpose, just as Veronica's detective work is a vital part of who she is.

I really liked that the mystery takes Veronica several months to solve and the book clearly showed that it requires a lot of leg work, frustrating investigation, countless dead ends, patience and determination to solve a case like this. As always, spending time with the established cast from the show is great. The new sheriff's candidate, with her ties to Keith's past was also an intriguing additon to the cast. I really hope we get many more books about everyone's favourite tiny blonde P.I.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

Reading Challenges 2015: The Eclectic Reader Challenge

As I'm sure you've realised by now, I'm a sucker for an interesting reading challenge, especially because so many of them overlap. When looking at websites late last year to see if the ones I'd enjoyed taking part in throughout 2014 would be continuing, I also found a whole bunch of new ones. I am weak, and at some point, I'm sure my sad addiction for reading challenges will abate. This is not that year. Book'd Out is hosting the Eclectic Reader Challenge, which looks like it will be a lot of fun.

The goal is to read 12 books from 12 different categories. The books can be print, e-book or audio. You can choose the books as you go (that's me) or plan the list in advance (although I will probably make up a list of potential candidates for each category). Where a book is identified by more than one genre, like historical romance, it may count as either historical fiction or romantic fiction, not both. You can read the titles and categories in any order, as long as the challenge is completed by December 31st, 2015.

Categories: 
1. Retellings (of fairytales, legends or myth)
2. A book set in a country starting with the letter S (eg. Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Slovakia - you get the drift)
3. PI Crime (fiction featuring a private investigator)
4. A Novel published before you were born
5. Contemporary romance
6. Fiction for foodies (fiction featuring food/food related business)
7. Microhistory (Non-fiction)
8. Science fiction set in space
9. Sports (fiction or non-fiction)
10. Featuring diversity
11. Epistolary fiction (fiction written in the format of letters/e-mails/diary entries)
12. Middle Grade/YA adventure