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The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die. – Goodreads

So, you might not know this about me, but I am very much “that person” who judges a book by its cover. I am drawn to beautiful covers if it doesn’t immediately catch my eye, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll actually read it. That all changed with this book though – I really didn’t like the cover at all but I started it anyway!

I was desperate to read SOMETHING, anything really, and nothing at all was keeping my attention until I pulled up The Bone Season. It is by far the most jargon-filled book I’ve ever read – usually the author gets you used to the jargon before filling every page with it – but that really didn’t deter me (surprisingly enough). I looked past all of the jargon and was really, deeply interested in what the heck was going to happen.

I always, always, always try to guess the plot of the book I’m reading, and a lot of the time I’m actually right (love triangles, secret royalty, ultimate betrayals, you name it) but I really just couldn’t figure this one out. The Bone Season really had everything I was looking for – it was suspenseful and kept me on my toes, and it was completely different than anything I’d ever read before which is hard to come by these days.

Lately it’s been really hard for me to read, let alone read quickly, but I devoured this in less than 24 hours. The time that it took me from start to finish, I literally did nothing else but read (I honestly don’t remember even going to the bathroom, TMI, I know) and it was so worth it! I’m super anxious to get started on the next in the series.

I rated The Bone Season 4/5 stars on Goodreads – it would’ve been 5/5 if it weren’t for the insane amount of jargon that starts right off the bat. Definitely recommend this one if you’re looking for something different!

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Warning: once you let books into your life, the most unexpected things can happen…

This is a book about books. All sorts of books, from Little Women and Harry Potter to Jodi Picoult and Jane Austen, from to Stieg Larsson to Joyce Carol Oates to Proust. It’s about the joy and pleasure of books, about learning from and escaping into them, and possibly even hiding behind them. It’s about whether or not books are better than real life.

It’s also a book about a Swedish girl called Sara, her elderly American penfriend Amy and what happens when you land a very different kind of bookshop in the middle of a town so broken it’s almost beyond repair.

Or is it? – Goodreads

I’ve never read a book about books. In fact, I was nervous—partly because of the mixed reviews, partly because, well, it’s about books. Intimate, familiar objects and adventures that would be odd to read about in, well, a book. Bookception?

Sara is a book lover from Sweden. Through an online book transaction she befriends Amy, an old book lover living in a tiny town in Iowa. They become pen pals, and after a while, decide to meet. When Sara shows up, she learns that Amy passed away days prior to her arrival. She ends up staying at Amy’s house and opening a bookstore in her honor.

Side note: I highlighted so many passages in this book. I could relate to so many things and wanted to quote so much in this blog post…so get ready for a deluge of bookish quotes from The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.

It must have been a frightening realization: so many books she would never get to pick up, so many stories that would happen without her, so many authors she would never get to discover. That night, Sara sat in Amy’s library for hours, thinking about how tragic it was that the written word was immortal while people were not, and grieving for her, the woman she had never met.

If it wasn’t clear already, I love books with every fiber of my being. They are old friends, new friends, old adventures, new adventures, emotions, experiences…so much is wrapped up in a few hundred pages and a bound cover. I can remember where I was at in life when reading a particularly good book.

This book captures the emotion and life changing power of books. Broken Wheel is a broken, dead town with few residents with little hope for its future. Sara rolls into town, and, using books, breathes some life back into it. People begin to read, to experience new adventures. They come together. There is death, life, love, laughter, sadness. This book captures the difficulties of being a single mother, racism, homophobia, an affair between an older woman and a younger man, bisexuality, alcoholism, being alone, losing your family, religion, poverty.

Sara smiled. Hardback and paperback books smelled different from each other, but there were also differences between English and Swedish paperback editions. Classics, for example, had a smell all their own. Textbooks had their own unique aroma, and university texts were different from those used in schools. Interestingly, adult education books smelled just like schoolbooks, with that familiar scent of classrooms, restlessness and stuffiness.

It was a slow, leisurely read. In fact, I docked a half a star because it was a tad too slow in parts. I never felt like I NEEDED to pick the book up and finish it. I would pick it up, read some, set it down. It was slow and relaxed, just like the pace and feel of the story.

The characters were great—I fell in love with everyone in Broken Wheel.It’s peppered with Amy’s letters, which allows the reader to get to know her even though she’s gone. I could identify with Sara quite a bit, and loved her as a quiet, unassuming main character. She could have had a little more depth—but I truly think she lived her entire life with her nose in a book and didn’t develop other hobbies. Hell, I can identify with that.

I rated this a 4.5/5 and added it to my favorites shelf. There’s something about this sweet little read that made me fall in love with it. I know it’s not for everyone—but isn’t that the beauty of books?

A huge thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs

For every case Temperence Brennan has solved, there remain innumerable unidentified bodies in her lab. Information on some of these is available online, where amateur sleuths sometimes take a stab at solving cases. One day, Tempe gets a call from Hazel “Lucky” Strike, a web sleuth who believes she’s successfully connected a body in Tempe’s lab to a missing persons report on an eighteen-year-old named Cora Teague. Since the bones in her lab do seem to match Cora’s medical records, Tempe looks into the case, returning to the spot where the bones were originally found. What seems at first to be an isolated tragedy takes on a more sinister cast as Tempe uncovers two more sets of bones nearby. When she then learns that the area is known as a viewing point for a famous unexplained light phenomenon with significance for a local cult, Tempe’s suspicious turn to murder by ritual sacrifice—a theory thrown into question when Hazel herself turns up dead. Still reeling from her mother’s diagnosis and the shock of Andrew Ryan’s potentially life-change proposal, Tempe races to solve the murders before the body count climbs further. – Goodreads

I have to hand it to Reichs—you know what you’re going to get when you crack open the cover of a Temperence Brennan novel. A body will be found, surrounded by curious circumstances. Tempe is called. Tempe finds some things with the bones but not all. Tempe uncovers some sort of complex drug or gang or cult related connection. Tempe attempts to apprehend suspects alone and gets into trouble. Rinse and repeat.

The thing about predictable books like this is that you know what you’re getting into. This isn’t a negative thing, not at all. Sometimes I want to expect something from a book without having to read something I’ve already read. Sometimes I crave the familiarity with some intrigue. Reichs fulfills that.

I digress.

Let’s hit the two things that piss me off the most about Tempe:

How she can’t make up her mind about Ryan.
Every time she runs off by herself to apprehend a bad guy…and then ‘realizes’ it was a bad idea when it’s too late.

So those things are obnoxious but expected in every book.

Overall, this installment was fast-paced and interesting. The plot took some interesting and surprising turns which I appreciated…in fact, this is my favorite Bones book yet. I also loved the bits about the internet sleuths who watch too much CSI/NCIS/Bones/etc.

I will say that the references to the show Bones were very startling and confusing, especially because I get confused when the show Tempe refers to the book. So odd.

Overall, I rated this one a 3.5/5. I will continue to read and enjoy this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Relaunch Update

Coming Soon!

Look out—-Life Between Reads will be back August 1st and better than ever. We’re still reading, but we’re also working out how we want our blog to look and feel. Between a new house, new dog, vacations, weddings and holidays, we’ve been feeling a little burnt out. Stay tuned for big changes 🙂

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .

When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife-her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.

Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve-a husband, a young son, the perfect home-and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.

After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be. – Goodreads

Okay, I actually read this a few weeks ago…but the whole house thing hit and I never wrote my review.

Also, Kiesha and I talked today…this summer is nuts. We will probably take a break for July (except for my Netgalley and Blogging for Books reviews…so really, posting will just be very spotty).

Anyway, to the review.

I’m a big Weiner (heh) fan. Loved her Carrie Shapiro series, and several others. This one…this one was…very boring to me. I had a hard time reading it and found it very slow (Kiesha informed me I’m crazy because she loved this book—to each’s own!)

It follows three storylines: Sylvie (the mom), Lizzie (the delinquent daughter who has turned herself around) and Diana (the other daughter….the perfect one).

I couldn’t really identify with any of the characters. There was lots of cheating involved and lots of terrible decisions (ie, not wearing a condom…it was just one time!)

Some characters were more complex than others. Sylvie definitely fell flat, but Diana and Lizzie were intriguing. As always, Weiner’s writing was good. Again…I just wasn’t feeling it.

If you’re looking for romantic chick lit, this is not it. If you’re looking for an emotional story about family of the female variety, this is your ticket. I think those who liked In Her Shoes would like this one. However, it didn’t do it for me. I rated it a 2/5.

Sorry for the hiatus!

I have literally read 10% of one book in the past three weeks. 10%.

My husband and I just bought a house (a fixer upper, mind you) which has sucked away all free time. I’m so exhausted by the end of the day that I slip right into sleep. My Kindle is collecting dust.

On the bright side, coffee and books on the porch will be a thing…after July 1st.

I have several fabulous books in the chute (Thrive by Huffington, the newest Princess Diaries, etc) and can’t wait to hit them and get my reviews up.

Thanks for the patience! ❤

Cracked by Eliza Crewe

Meet Meda. She eats people.

Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.

They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.

Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.

The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it. – Goodreads

Hot DAYUUM. I don’t even know where to begin. Meda is a freaking badass?

Meda eats souls. She rips humans apart and eats their souls—think vampire, but minus the blood. She’s inhumanely strong and nearly indestructible. She’s super fast, too.

Things are going great until she’s rescued from a sticky situation by a Crusader, one of the elite who are trained from a young age to hunt and kill demons and halflings.

This book, I can’t even.

First off, it was witty as hell.

Cue innocence! My sweet lashes flutter against my helpless cheeks, my useless hands wring the edge of my guiltless, blood-soaked nightgown. My lovely lips quiver over my pearly white teeth.
Jo isn’t buying…Damn, that gimp bitch is a hard sell.

I was constantly cracking up at the humor. Sometimes it was a little forced and offputting, but for the most part, I loved it.

Second, I loved the characters. Not only was Meda complex—the dynamics between her, Jo, Chi, and Uri is fantastic. They complement each other so well.

The worldbuilding and concept was also great. I could clearly picture everything—dilapidated buildings, the insane asylum, demon headquarters. Even details down to demons in business suits.

Basically I can’t rave enough about this one. Do yourself a favor, go get it. Now. It’s super cheap on Amazon. I rated it a 4.5/5 and added it to my favorites shelf. Love it! On to book two.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace.

But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck’s death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck’s reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea’s past has become shrouded in mystery, and it’s only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle – curious, disguised and alone – to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.

Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . . – Goodreads

After Graceling, I couldn’t just skip the chance to read another Cashore book. So, I had a sample of Fire sent to my Kindle (because I’m learning to get free samples before dropping an hour’s worth of wages on something I’ll slog through). And you know what? I didn’t love it. Not because it was bad—because I was hung up on the characters from Graceling and didn’t care about the kingdom beyond the mountains.

So I got Bitterblue instead, because Fire was just a companion—I can read that later. #noragrets

I couldn’t put it down. I looked forward to every quiet moment I had to sneak away and read it. I lost track of time more than once.

It was dark. Emotional. Deep. Heartwrenching. Violent. Gruesome. Graphic. It was so complex and deep…I can’t explain it. For a young adult book, it was intense. It follows Bitterblue, the daughter of King Leck, a terrible man from Graceling who used his Grace to force people to do his bidding. He had a “thing” for little girls and animals—abusing them physically and sexually.

Queen Bitterblue is in her twenties and at an age where she realizes that her advisers are ruling for her, she has no idea what is going on in her kingdom, and that she doesn’t really know what kind of ruler she is.

Throughout the entire book, I felt so, so connected to Bitterblue. I felt sick with her when she learned of her fathers heinous deeds, I felt her adrenaline when she slipped out at night to go to story houses, I felt the love she felt for her close friends and family, I felt her frustration at her advisers regarding her marriage.

Because it’s a sequel, I won’t give anything else away. It was a beautifully written book and I hope Cashore writes more…I’ll definitely be picking Fire up soon. A 5/5 on Goodreads.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight – she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po’s friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace – or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… – Goodreads

I love, love, love fantasy. So much. Sometimes I’ll throw a little somethin’, somethin’ between fantasy books to confirm my love (and make sure I don’t get tired of it), but I always enjoy these the most. Dragons? Yes. Courts and monarchs? Yes, please. Magic? Absolutely. Quests and journeys? Bring that sh*t ON.

There were no dragons in Graceling, but definitely plenty of corruption, intrigue, magic (of sorts), adventure, blood, and action.

Gracelings are rare people—with two different colored eyes, a Graceling may be Graced with any ability, whether it be something useful such as fighting or speed, or something such as eating a whole cake without getting indigestion. The useful ones are owned by the king. The others are sent away.

Katsa is Graced with killing, which makes her the king’s thug. He sends her on missions to kill, chop off fingers, break bones, and generally teach people a lesson who have crossed him.

After a secret mission, she meets Prince Po, a prince from another kingdom who is Graced with fighting. She doesn’t expect to befriend him—she’d never befriended anyone, as everyone was terrified of her Grace—but she does. And then other shit hits the fan, but I’ll let you read this and find out for yourself.

It took a chapter or two to really get into it, but I was stuck on a plane and had no choice. So I read. And read. And read until I finished it.

The description of places is alright. I had a rough time picturing the castle and grounds, but I got by with other images from other books. The best part of the worldbuilding was that of the Gracelings—it was very unique and unlike anything I’d heard of before.

I also loved the character building. Katsa, for one, came a long way throughout the course of the book, both physically and emotionally. She learns how to foster and nurture friendships, a skill she never had before. It was awesome to see her go from the strong person she thought she was to a stronger woman.

I also loved Po, who was sweet and good-natured, despite the hand dealt to him.

Overall, this was a fantastic read, and I’m already almost done with Bitterblue (Book Three—I wanted to learn about what happened to Princess Bitterblue, so I skipped Fire). I rated this a 4.5/5 on Goodreads.