Conveniently, I had also just won a copy of Jeffe Kennedy’s “Ruby” from a giveaway during Armchair BEA.

Danielle Sosna is a type-A, ambitious young woman who coordinates photo shoots for magazines.  She’s just been offered a coveted job working for Vogue in Paris.  Her last job before she leaves takes her to New Orleans, where she meets Bobby Prejean, a famous Cajun chef.  A battle of wills in his restaurant leads to a whirlwind BDSM affair as Prejean shows Dani all that New Orleans has to offer.

Kennedy does a fantastic job building her setting, incorporating the flavors and aesthetics of New Orleans into her story.  Prejean’s dishes sound heavenly and decadent, and his dates with Dani are filled with masquerades and revelry.

I’m very impressed.  It’s hard to find romance or erotica that work for me, because I need to see characters that aren’t ditzy, possess a modicum of intelligence, and respect each other.  Here, the characters are smart, sexy, and self-possessed.

Prejean and Dani’s entire relationship is based on respect, both for each other and for their own limits.  The main conflict/drama in the story is related to the workplace and not the dynamic between the two lovers.  That’s refreshing, and absolutely necessary in a book that explores a kinkier relationship.  One of the (many) things that I was disappointed with when reading Fifty Shades of Grey was the fact that the characters had an inherently dysfunctional relationship, and Christian Grey didn’t seem like the kind of person one could fully trust.  Prejean is the opposite–he pays careful attention to Dani’s level of comfort and her limitations, and it allows both of them to fully explore their desires in a responsible way.  Oh, and the best part?  The two of them can actually hold a conversation with each other outside the bedroom.  I like the relationships between my fictional characters to be based on more than just mind-blowing sex.  Dani and Prejean’s personalities complemented each other perfectly.

When I started reading “Ruby,” I was looking for a quick and relaxing read that would help relieve some stress.  Jeffe Kennedy delivers, and I can’t wait to read the other books in the series.

I was going to wait to read “A Storm of Swords” till I was completely done with grad school, but then some assholes on Twitter said something about a Red Wedding, and I realized that I had to read it now or everything would be spoiled.

If you haven’t read any of the books in the series, stop reading now and instead go to Game of Thrones.  This review will contain spoilers from the first two books.

Normally I’d write a paragraph or two summarizing the book, but I can sum it up in two words:  Everyone dies.  Well, not everyone.  But if you’ve read the first two books, you know that nobody is safe and that if you get too attached to someone, he/she will die a brutal death.  “A Storm of Swords” is probably the bloodiest book in the series thus far.  Be warned.

One of the things that I found interesting in this book was the role that religion plays.  Each culture or group has its own religion–the Old Gods, the Seven, the Lord of Light, etc.  Many of the religions seem to contradict each other, and yet members of them have magical powers.  We’ve got Melissandre and her freaky dark magic that often calls for blood sacrifices, and it has been demonstrated to topple kings.  Her magic seems to be a part of the same system as the Wight-Walkers and the Others of the North.  Then we’ve got Bran and his wolf dreams, as he journeys North on a voyage of self-discovery, showing that not everything above the Wall is bad.  Then there’s the Wall itself, which seems to be imbued with the power of the Old Gods.  The list goes on.  There are a lot of seemingly conflicting mythologies, and I’m curious to see whether one wins in the end or if they are all part of a larger worldview that will be revealed as the story progresses.

As I’m reading, I’m never entirely sure who I’m rooting for.  I’ve always hated Catelyn Stark, because she has this holier-than-thou attitude while being mean to Jon Snow.  I can’t forgive her for that; you just don’t blame a child for his parents’ mistakes.  At the same time, she’s emerged as a major political player, which I didn’t expect.  Not a ruler, obviously, but still a force to be reckoned with.  Then there’s Stannis–much as Melissandre’s magic just reeks of evil, he’s the only one (aside from the Night’s Watch) that seems to give a damn about what’s going on in the North.  And, much as the Lannisters are annoying, their rule had an aura of stability to it before Renly, Stannis, and Robb decided to start a war.  It wouldn’t bother me so much if there were some sort of driving ideological difference between them, but there’s not.  And Daenerys?  Well, she’s off with her dragons, freeing slaves and building herself a kingdom.  That’s very noble, but I think staying where she’s at is probably better than uprooting her people and marching off to Westeros.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the first two books, you’ll definitely like this one.  Certain characters get their comeuppance, and it’s quite satisfying.  At the same time, you’ll be left with more questions than answers.  I’m going to wait a while before starting the fourth book (I haven’t caught up on sleep yet), but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

From the library:

I borrowed Susan Cain’s “Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.”  Normally I don’t read much nonfiction, but a friend recommended this after reading it in an airport on a trip to Tajikistan.  She claims that reading the book helped her to understand me better.  It looks quite interesting, and I should have a review up within the next two weeks.

From the bookstore:

I saw “Snow White, Blood Red,” a collection edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow, on a clearance rack at Barnes & Noble and just couldn’t pass it up.  It contains dark faerie tales from many of my favorite authors–Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, and Patricia McKillip, among others.  They shall make fantastic bedtime stories.

Review copies:

“My Education,” by Susan Choi, is the story of a graduate student who makes poor life decisions and sleeps with her professor.  It seems like it has potential.

“The Crown” and “The Chalice,” by Nancy Bilyeau, are historical fiction from the Tudor era.  There is a love triangle.  It involves a nun.  Enough said.

Have you gotten any new books recently?

Legion

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors of all time, and so when a Kindle version of his novella “Legion” was released, I purchased it immediately.  It’s not the next “Stormlight Archive” book by any stretch of the imagination, but it did help to tide me over until it comes out.

The opening lines immediately drew me into the story.

My name is Stephen Leeds, and I am perfectly sane.  My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.

Unlike most of the books that I read, “Legion” is set in today’s world.  It’s the story of a man who hallucinates, and his hallucinations help him to solve crimes.  When a woman named Monica asks for his assistance in tracking down a man who invented a camera that can take snapshots of the past, Stephen is intrigued.  The case raises many theoretical and philosophical possibilities, including what the world would be like if there was proof of the veracity of any modern religion.

Even though the book is relatively short, it challenges readers to think about the world today and to question prejudices and assumptions.  For instance, the main character talks to characters that he hallucinates, but at the same time, he is able to lead a functional life and to support himself.  He considers himself to be more sane than people with dysfunctional careers/marriages/etc., even though is brain functions differently than the norm.

Stephen’s hallucinations (called aspects) were quirky, to say the least.  They range from J.C., a crazy right-wing gun nut, to Ivy, a therapist who treats other aspects’ own mental illnesses.  When they travel to Jerusalem, Stephen hallucinates an interpreter to guide them, and as such is able to communicate.  It’s brilliant.

While I loved the story and the concept, I wanted a bit more from “Legion.”  It was the tale of one specific case that Stephen and his aspects take on, and it felt as if it were merely an episode of a larger story.  I don’t want to see that story left untold.  For example, there was a woman in Stephen’s past who taught him to use his powers and then disappeared.  What happened to her?  Who was she?  Will he find her?  The ending of the story left me with more questions than answers.

Sanderson’s website says that “Legion” was a story that he wrote while on a plane to France.  He stated that because he was working on other projects, he didn’t have the time to expand it into anything larger.  I wish that he had.  It’s a good story, and I would still recommend reading it (the e-book edition is only $2.99, which is worth it for a quick read).  At the same time, it had so much unfulfilled potential, and I expected better.

*drumroll*

Tallulah Scribbles (@madhoydenish)

Congratulations!  I’ll be in touch via e-mail in a few moments.  If the winner doesn’t get back to me within 3 days, I will draw a new one.

While browsing around the internet, I finally re-discovered it, after many years of searching.  *Happy Dance*

The story is none other than Ray Bradbury’s “Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed,” a tale about a homesick colonist and his family who are abandoned on Mars after a nuclear war grounds all spacecraft from Earth.  As the colonists are changing Mars, Mars is changing them, morphing them into something completely alien from their former selves.

Lying abed, Mr.Bittering felt his bones shifted, shaped, melted like gold. His wife, lying beside him, was dark from many sunny afternoons. Dark she was, and golden, burnt almost black by the sun, sleeping, and the children metallic in their beds, and the wind roaring forlorn and changing through the old peach trees, violet grass, shaking out green rose petals.

Bradbury’s imagery is gorgeous.  More than fifteen years later, the story is as lush and vibrant as I had remembered.

I love the concept.  The dragon is both adorable and fierce, and he (or she) will be a welcome addition to my blog.  For now, I’m going to display the mock-up as a header so that the artist can get a sense of spacing and see how much room the title will take up before starting the final version.

“Beautiful Creatures” isn’t the type of book that I’d have found on my own.  There’s a blurb on the back saying that Twilight fans would love it, which almost always sets of alarm bells in my head.  At the same time, one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and I’m glad that I decided to give this one a chance.  It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a fun read on a relaxing weekend.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Ethan is a normal teenager growing up in a rural Southern town.  It’s the kind of place where everybody knows everybody, and people generally spend their entire lives there.  Ethan’s on the basketball team, and outwardly fits in with his peers, but he also loves reading and dreams of leaving Gatlin once he graduates.  Ethan’s life is forever changed when a new girl named Lena Duchannes moves into town.  As the two teenagers fall in love, they discover that not everything in Gatlin is what it seems.  There’s an obvious supernatural element, but I’m not going to get into it here, because the gradual introduction and revelation of the magical elements were part of what made this book fun to read.

Gatlin is the perfect setting for this novel.  The authors pay close attention to detail, from the Civil War reenactments, the DAR ladies, and the town rivalries and superstitions.  It makes a wonderful setting for a Gothic/paranormal novel, and it was one of the things that sucked me into the book.

I wish that the book had a little bit less emphasis on high school, but at the same time, I give the author a lot of credit for their perspective on it and for getting it right.  Gatlin reminded me a lot of the town where I grew up (albeit slightly less extreme).  It’s the kind of place where everybody’s known everybody since preschool.  Lena’s the new girl, and she’s different.  She wears the wrong clothes, the wrong shoes, and doesn’t interact like a normal person.  That’s why Ethan likes her.  At the same time, Ethan sets himself up for the same alienation when he begins hanging out with her.  The authors capture all the awkwardness and alienation that you get for being yourself instead of following the unspoken rules of high school.  I liked that the drama wasn’t a love triangle, but rather the conflict between following one’s convictions and fitting in with the crowd.

My favorite character in the book is Marian, the librarian, who runs both the public library and a secret magical library.  In the struggle between the forces of light and darkness, she takes a strictly neutral position, and doesn’t get involved except in the context of her work as a librarian.

Even though the book did a lot of things right, there are still a few things that annoyed me.  Just basic typical YA book/movie tropes, like the supernatural significance of the 16th birthday, or a curse that seems oddly specific for no reason whatsoever.  Also, the ending didn’t really make sense, and could have been thought out a lot better (Really?  The moon is obscured so she doesn’t get Claimed and gets to be both good and evil?  Have there not been clouds for the past 150 years?).

Despite its problems, I did enjoy “Beautiful Creatures.”  It reminded me a bit of late 1990s Disney Channel movies, so there was definitely a nostalgia factor at work, even if some parts did make me roll my eyes a bit.  It makes good beach or vacation reading, where you don’t want something that involves too much thinking, but are still looking for a book that will make you forget about the world for a while.  At the same time, I don’t feel the need to read the sequels.

Here’s a quick recap of my posts:

• Armchair BEA Day #1: Introduction
• Armchair BEA Day #2 – Blogger Development and Genre Fiction
• Armchair BEA Day #3 – Giveaways and Literature
• Armchair BEA Day #4 – Ethics and Nonfiction
• Armchair BEA Day #5 – Keeping it Real and Children’s/YA Literature

Here are some of the highlights of the week that you won’t find in my blog posts, as they happened on Twitter or other friends’ blogs:

• Discovering that Oh, Chrys! and Nancy share my addiction to The Sims.
• Bitches With Books made a manga-style avatar after seeing mine, which prompted me to update my own.  I’ve worn glasses since January, but hadn’t gotten around to adding them. 
• After reading discussions on “Keeping it Real,” I decided to update the look/feel of my blog to make it look a bit less dated.  I also added social media buttons in my sidebar to reduce clutter and make it easier for people to find me.  I’m commissioning my little sister (who creates fantastic digital artwork) to create a header for me sometime in the near future.
• I signed up with two other book tour companies – Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and France Book Tours after discussing books with Words And Peace.  I used to read a lot of historical fiction, but then tapered off.  I’d like to start reading/reviewing more of it on my blog, as it’s one of my favorite genres (aside from SF/F).

Overall, I’m glad that I decided to participate in Armchair BEA.  I’m hoping that next year I’ll be able to attend Book Expo in NYC again, but this was a nice way of being able to network with other bloggers without physically being there.  I really liked that there were both genre-themed and blogging-related discussions, as I got to meet and interact with a lot of bloggers that I normally wouldn’t visit.  It was nice interacting with bloggers who prefer different genres, but who had valuable advice and insight about book blogging as a whole.

Now that Armchair BEA is over, I’m looking forward to more reading and blogging.  I feel a bit silly, but I just realized yesterday that Carl’s Once Upon a Time Challenge is underway.  I’m hoping to read at least a couple fantasy-themed books before it’s over.

I’m also participating in a blog tour later this summer of “The Chalice,” by Nancy Bilyeau.  Since it’s the second book in a series, I’ll be reading and reviewing the first book sometime before the tour begins.

What are your reading plans for the upcoming month?

What exactly does “keeping it real” mean?  The meaning lays in keeping.  How do you not only grow an audience, but how do you keep them coming back for more?  If you have been around for years, how do you keep your material fresh?  How do you continue to keep blogging fun?

One of the main things that I like to remember when blogging is that if it stops being fun, I’m doing it wrong.  Generally the combination of reviewing books and participating in the occasional event has worked well for me.  I’ve also started participating in book tours, because I like being able to discuss a book that I’ve read with other bloggers.  It’s the discussions and overall level of excitement that I see in the blogosphere that keep me coming back for more.

One thing I plan on doing in the near future is a slight re-design of the look and feel of my blog.  While it currently works for me, I noticed since I came back to blogging that WordPress has added more themes that have a sleeker look and better social media integration.  I’d also like to re-do my avatar, because I got glasses back in January and wanna make her look as close to what I look like as possible.  I always wonder though when I update the look/feel of my blog whether I’m making it harder for people to recognize.  Thoughts?

Our final genre focuses on the younger crowd:  children’s picture books and young adult literature and everything in between.  What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf?  If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more?  If you are not a reader of these books, think back to your childhood and share your favorites from your younger years.

I was lucky as a child, because my mother valued reading.  She used to read me bedtime stories every night, even when she was exhausted and really ought to have been in bed herself.  It’s something that I’m grateful for.  Some of our favorites, in no particular order, were:

1.  “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle – I’m still enchanted by the Murray family of Madeline L’Engle’s Time Quartet.  As a child, they showed me that it was okay to be different, that it was okay to want to learn, and that religion and science didn’t have to be mutually exclusive.

2.  “Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney – Beautiful illustrations, and a theme of making the world a more beautiful place.  It inspired me to plant lupine seeds all over my neighborhood.

3.  “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – A sad story, but a reminder of the power of a child-like perspective on the world.

4.  “Mary Engelbreit’s The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen – A gorgeously illustrated edition of the classic fairytale.

5.  “The Story of May” by Mordecai Gerstein – A little girl travels to visit each of the personified months of the year.  I was saddened to discover that it’s out of print.

Moving on to the subject of young adult novels…

I’ve got a love/hate relationship with YA.  There are a lot of brilliant YA novels out there, but there are also a lot of duds.  I have a hard time finding the good ones, and it irritates me to no end when an otherwise good story is ruined by love triangles and teenage angst.  Even when I was a teenager, that kind of drama annoyed me.  Sometimes it makes me want to swear off YA for good.  But then, books like Seraphina, Bitterblue, and Katya’s World remind me that I’m being unfair, and that young adult novels can contain imaginative new worlds populated by strong and resilient protagonists.

What are some of your favorite childhood or YA novels?