Review: In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Cat Winters. New York: Amulet Books, 2013. 410 pp.
Rating: Striking

"They've closed down the city to try to keep the flue from spreading. They quarantined the soldiers sooner than the rest of us, but now it's the churches, theaters, moving picture houses, bathhouses, and dance halls—all closed."

    "Schools?" I asked with hope in my heart.

    "Closed." (15)

The year is 1918, World War I is raging, and the Spanish influenza is spreading rapidly claiming the lives of men, women, and children without prejudice. During the midst of this harrowing time, sixteen-year old Mary Shelley Black's life is turned upside down. She finds herself on a germ-packed train fleeing her beloved Oregon home—the only home she's ever known—to her aunt in San Diego, California after her German father is accused and arrested for treason. Mary Shelley arrives in San Diego to discover her young, widowed aunt working in a shipyard, her sweetheart dead, and her image used to entice grieving individuals to spirit photography by her love's unscrupulous brother. Being a young lady of science, Mary Shelly is skeptical of the spirit world, but will her position shift when she's thrust into its mystical wonders.

Mini Review: Lucky Us by Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom. New York: Random House, 2014. 256 pp. 
Rating: Don't Bother

Please be advised: Mini review contains slight spoilers.

What did I just read? Like really, what did I just read? I have so many questions and no answers. What's up with the father? Is he an alcoholic? What happened to all of his dead wife's money? Why is he stealing money from Iris? By the end, I still hadn't figured out if Edgar had a breakdown after Charlotte died.

Although I love historical fiction, I loved nothing about Lucky Us. The book cover hinted at something good and the blurb promised a wonderful treasure within its pages. Oh, I was going to love this book. Not! I couldn't have been more wrong. What started out as a pleasurable reading experience quickly soured. The book didn't make any sense to me. There is little to no plot as everybody is all over the place. Plus, I held no affinity for any of the characters. Lucky Us is a dismal story with depressing characters and gloom leaping off each page. 

*Click on the book cover or title link for book summary. 
**I won a complimentary ARC in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

Cat Winters. New York: Amulet Books, 2014.  352 pp.
Rating: Striking 

"Think of your future sons and daughters. Think how much better your childhood would have been if your mother had accepted her place in the world and ignored her selfish dreams." (60)

Oh, the cover, the cover! (squeals loudly) Love, love, love! I'm lucky to have scored a poster of the cover during TCfD Book Tour. The imagery is fantastic! The cover sets the atmosphere of what lies between the pages. The cumbersome garments, the strings tied around Olivia's skirt, and the buttons of her boots represent the bondage, the stagnant station of womanhood—the result of being born of the fairer sex. 

Where is a woman's place? Is it inside or outside the home? Is it both? What is a woman's role in the world and who decides her fate? 

Review: Interrupted: A Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker

Rachel Coker. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012. 247 pp.
Rating: Worthy

In rural Tennessee, ensconced in a world of Emily Dickinson, mythology, and piano lessons, thirteen-year old Alcyone "Allie" Everly cares for her cancer-stricken mother. Without a friend, save the irksome Sam Carroll, the boy who's always around, Allie is confined to her mother's introverted, fantasy world; until disaster strikes tearing it apart. Allie is then shipped off to Maine to the home of Beatrice Lovell leaving everything she knows behind only hours after the funeral. Forewarned by her mother to, "...look out for yourself and don't let your guard down. Don't ever forget your roots or your common sense," Allie subconsciously creates thick walls barring anything of her new life to creep in, especially her adoptive mother. Yet, it isn't until Sam's unexpected arrival in Maine that Allie's defenses begin to unravel. 

Review: '89 Walls by Kate Pierson

Kate Pierson. Minneapolis: Wise Ink, 2015. pp. 264.
Rating: Decent + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Goodreads Summary: College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. 

Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.

Review: In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason

Bobbie Ann Mason. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005 (originally published 1985). 246 pp.
Rating: Decent + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

"My mother never told me much about him, what he was like or what his favorite food were or anything. I don't even know how tall he was or what kind of personality he had. He's just a face in a picture, but now I'm getting real curious." (64) 

To eighteen year-old Samantha Hughes, the Vietnam War is everywhere, but nowhere. Surrounded by her Uncle Emmett and his war buddies and with the blood of a Vietnam soldier running through her veins, Sam is on a mission to piece together the Vietnam War. Devouring every book, newspaper article, video report, and personal story she encounters, Sam attempts to reconstruct the life of a Vietnam soldier traipsing through the dense jungles of Vietnam. Although she's searching for answers to understand her Uncle Emmett's behavior, she hopes to learn about the father she never knew, and in the process find herself.  However, the road to truth means making peace with the past.

Mini Review: Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1) by Gail Carriger

Gail Carriger. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2013. Ebook. 
Rating: Decent

Goodreads Summary: Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

Review: I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

Erin Lindsay McCabe. New York: Crown Publishers, 2014. 304 pp.
Rating: Striking + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

In an era devoid of modern day technology, you are newly married and a war is raging. The trickle flow of information sets all on edge. Hoping for news from loved ones, each mail delivery breeds both fear and anticipation.

Spirited, hand-on-hip Rosetta Edwards refuses to become a spinster. Persuading her sweetheart, Jeremiah Wakefield, to marry her before he joins the Army, Rosetta enjoys two weeks of marital bliss. Unable to bear a year without Jeremiah, Rosetta secretly follows him; temporarily shedding her identity for that of Private Joss Stone, soldier of Company H of the Ninety-Seventh Volunteers. Recovering from the shock of Rosetta’s audacious presence, Jeremiah, failing to convince Rosetta to return home allows her to stay. What follows is a poignant story of love, friendship, and war. 

Review: Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Clare Vanderpool. New York: Delacorte Press, 2013. 308 pp.
Rating: OMG (Oh My Greatness)

How do I begin to describe Navigating Early? Well, I guess this is as best a start as any. Years ago when I was preparing for the LSAT, I enrolled in a preparation course at Georgia State University. The course was taught by a math professor who reduced all words to numbers or letters in a math equation; in which he would then proceed to solve. I sat stupefied, inwardly shouting, I read words! WORDS!  My bibliophilic mind could not grasp this alpha to numeric metamorphosis. Needless to say, my brain never converged with the professor's tactics on the best approach to the Logic Games and Analytical Reasoning sections. 

Review: Nightshade (The Poison Diaries #2) by Maryrose Wood

Maryrose Wood with The Duchess of Northumberland. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2011. 280 pp.
Rating: Worthy + 🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

**Review contains minor spoilers from the first book**

Enter, once again, the lyrical world of Maryrose Wood. The enchanting poison garden sits, beckons, and waits ready to wreak havoc. 

At the end of The Poison Diaries, Jessamine awakens from her feverish condition without Weed at her bedside. Devastated by his sudden disappearance, Jessamine, no longer the blooming wildflower loses all faith in the world's beauty. Believing Weed lost hope in her recovery, she assumes the life of a healer devoid of feeling. Upon discovering that her father sacrificed her mother's life, as well as, risked her own in the name of research, Jessamine is determined to seek revenge.

Review: Black, White, Other: In Search of Nina Armstrong by Joan Steinau Lester

Joan Steinau Lester. Michigan: Zondervan, 2011. 222 pp.

Rating: Striking

Identity is a concept familiar to all, something people struggle with daily and not easily defined. We all ask, “Who am I?” Our gifts, talents, experiences, and ancestors make us who we are. For most, adolescence is the first attempt to piece together the puzzle of ourselves. Grappling with identity is frightening, but even more terrifying is being a biracial teen struggling with this issue when the world familiar to you crashes down.

In Black, White, Other, Nina Armstrong, a product of a white mother and black father, seeks to regain her identity once her parent’s divorce completely alters the life she has always known, forcing her to view her surroundings in a manner alien to her. Rejected by friends for refusing to pick a side and live in a world that is either black or white, Nina stands alone. Feeling a connection to a dead ancestor, Nina sets out to explore how her life is akin to her enslaved great-great-grandmother. We follow Nina Armstrong on her tumultuous journey as she attempts to answer the elusive question, “Who am I?”