Book Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think I have ever read a book before that has made me more afraid of mosquitoes. Prenna is a 17 year old immigrant, who belongs to a community of fellow immigrants, all of whom live quietly and do their best to not interact with outsiders. Like other immigrants, Prenna watched TV to learn American ways of speech and pop culture - but unlike other immigrants, Prenna didn't come from a different land, but rather a different time. She and her community are refugees, really, from a time of Blood Plagues, ecological disasters, and food shortages - sent back in time because they were immune to the diseases of her time, and in hopes that the immigrants would be able to somehow fix what went wrong before it happened.

But in truth, that wasn't what was happening. Five years into her new life, Prenna sees that nothing is getting fixed. The immigrants have strict rules hanging over their heads - no outside medical care, no telling people where (when!) they are from, stay out of the public eye, no unnecessary fraternizing with outsiders - and people are being bullied and disappearing. Prenna is doing her best to keep her distance from Ethan, a school mate, but Ethan has no intention of staying away - and he knows much more than Prenna can imagine.

I really enjoyed this book. Once Prenna opened up and started describing what life was like in her natural time, and what had lead up to all the diseases and disasters, I was transfixed. It really wasn't too far into the future, and you can easily draw lines from where we are now to how Prenna's reality came to be. I found myself trying to tie the rules that subjugate the immigrants to what happened in their natural time, and not always making the connection (Why no organized religion? To take the temptation of confession away?). Prenna and Ethan's romance was both innocent and enticing, and the moments that they were together had me holding my breath and wishing the scenes was in slow motion. Their plans to fix the timelines and stop horrible things from happening seemed a bit incongruous and convenient at times, but I let that slide because I was too interested in finding out what was going to happen next.

I would recommend this book to young people age 15 and up. Now, off to buy myself some mosquito netting and DEET.

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Piper and Lucky Snuggling

IMG_1715, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Lucky has been a grumpy old man cat of late. We're not really sure if it is just him - we adopted him as an adult cat, and the vet said he could be as old as 13 years old now. Or, maybe it is just the comparison to having a teenage cat running around like a crazy girl. Once he is in a good spot now, he doesn't want to leave - even if it means having the three year old curl up next to him and pulling a blanket over him.

Book Review: Undone by Shannon Richard

Undone by Shannon Richard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say up front that I am giving this book 3/5 stars more because I would love to travel to Mirabelle, FL, than to give the rating because of the writing. I requested this book to read because I like fish out of water stories, and the fact that Paige was from Philly (where I am now) piqued my interest. Paige is a young artist who has experienced a series of setbacks - her best friend and roommate moved away for a new job, she lost her own job, her boyfriend broke up with her - and all of this has cumulated in Paige moving in with her parents, who have retired to a small town in Florida. Paige is miserable there; simply put, she does not fit in. She wears bright colors, goes running in short shorts, and spends so much time in her parents' shed-now-art studio that the neighbors think she is having illicit parties in there. It has come to the point that people in town are inviting her to job interviews just so they can laugh at her. She meets Brendan, a local man who has had own problems fitting in despite being from Mirabelle, and the two fall in love.

One of my issues with this book is that Ms. Richard has a grand vision for this series, and as a result the storytelling is not very tight. As this is the opening book, she has to introduce you to so many characters and places and events, that somehow the main characters get lost in the shuffle. So many times in the course of the story I found myself wishing there was a cast of characters listed so I could follow along with who was related to whom. There are many hints as to who will be paired up in future additions to this series, and I think maybe I would like those stories better, partly due to the characters up for pairing, and partly because the world and character building will have been established.

Another issue for me was the lack of closure with certain events, and I hope that these issues get resolved in future books. One of these issues was the local gossip blog - I don't understand how that character could get away with such flaming defamation and the local police say there is nothing they can do about it. Some characters were so downright nasty (Verna and Missy, I'm looking at you!), a reader really has to hope they get what is coming to them. My personal wish is that we find out that the two of them have been embezzling from the funeral home and they end up going to jail.

When I finished reading the book last night, I found myself feeling rather meh about Paige and Brendan. They were sweet together and good for one another, but I had a hard time getting excited about them. As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the location was another matter altogether. I think Ms. Richard did a fabulous job of imagining Mirabelle - the beaches, the boardwalk, the cafes, the festivals - even the funeral home!

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Pretty Hermione

DSCN1257, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Hermione is fitting in well with our family. She is having none of Lucky trying to assert dominance, and he has the scars to prove it. She loves snuggling in bed, and doesn't make a peep all night until the alarm goes off. She reminds me a bit of a dog my parents used to have - she likes nibbling on your fingers when you pet her.

Book Review: Heart of Stone by Christine Warren

Heart of Stone by Christine Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because I don't think I had ever read a gargoyle paranormal romance before, and the idea intrigued me (and as you can see by the lovely man on the cover, he isn't always in gargoyle form). A few pages into the story, I was doubly intrigued because the story takes place in Vancouver, and I always love reading about places I know. I think Christine Warren really knows the area, because she mentions places like the Peace Arch, the Sunshine Coast, and Sechelt that a casual reader may not know.

As you can see, I gave the story 4 stars - I enjoyed the story, even if there were a few nitpicky things had me questioning things and pulling me away from the story. Warren has done a good job of building a conflict between the Guardians (the gargoyles)and the Seven Demons of the Dark, and I am looking forward to reading future books in this series - especially since it looks like she is keeping the story in Canada for the time being.

I had issues with Ella, the heroine of the story - to me, her personality was all over the place. I understand there is a certain amount of growth when she receives long-neglected training and she finds out her role in the conflict - but the evolution seemed jumpy. I wanted to like her - and when I liked her best was when she would get angry and snarky - but overall it fell short. Kees Livingston (Ha! I did like that pun!) seemed emotionally stunted - and I had to keep reminding myself it was because he didn't have emotions!

What distracted me the most from the story were unrealistic situations with Kees. At the beginning of the story, he saves Ella, and takes her to her home when she gives him her apartment address. Does he have GPS? He admits himself that he has been in his stone form for 65 years. Vancouver has changed a great deal in 65 years! He explains that his slumber is light and he hears things while asleep, but I can't accept that the snippets of conversation he hears while people walk by his statue who fill in all of these blanks. This is even confirmed later in the story when Kees and Ella are looking for the Guild in Paris - Ella considers just getting the street address but then admits to herself that "Cities, especially major ones, had changed over centuries."

I would recommend this story to people who like paranormal romances and perhaps are tiring of vampires and shifters. The gargoyles are a different path, and I am interested to learn more about where the Guardians come from, and how that connects to where the demons come from.

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Book Review: Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas

Picture Perfect by Alessandra Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cat, a college student and former model, suffered a horseback riding accident, and was laid up for 10 months with surgeries, PT, steroids, and in that time, managed to gain 60 pounds. She is no longer comfortable in her skin anymore, and is suffering from some very emotional body dysmorphia. I started out with the book a little jaded - oh, boohoo - you are a gorgeous college student who is tall and a size 12. What drew me in was Cat's pain in her recovery - physical pain, not emotional. It wasn't just that she was now a heavier version of herself, but that her wounds, surgeries, and scars even prevented her from even trying to get back to her former self, so she needed to learn to love the body she has now. She starts seeing a therapist, who sets her on a couple of tasks of body acceptance, the first of which was to pose nude for an art class. She meets a young man with previous body issues of his own, and the two of them fall into a whirlwind relationship. I am not entirely happy with how the book ended - I felt the therapist's role in the story was sort of cut at the end, and it seemed to me the book ended abruptly. This book was a little difficult for me to read. As a plus size woman myself, some of the things that Cat went through in the book - especially that issue of someone only being interested in you when he is drunk, really struck home and I found myself crying at points while reading the book. I wished more of Cat's friends had been accepting of her new form - her friend, Joey, was a goldmine - but seems that many of her other sorority sisters stepped back and didn't seem to care what she was going through.

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Book Review: Ophelia And The Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was entranced with this book from the start. As soon as I started at the chapter title, Vanity Fair-esque with the hint of what is to come: "In Which Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard discovers a boy in a locked room and is consequently asked to save the world," I knew that I was going to devour this book. Ophelia is an eleven year old girl whose mother has recently died of a lingering illness, and she is grasping for connections. Her father is absorbed in his curator work, and has brought Ophelia and her sister, Alice to a foreign city so he could open an exhibition on swords. With her father busy and her sister emotionally distant, Ophelia spends her time wandering the immense museum, inspecting galleries, and it is during this time that she meets a boy in a locked room who needs her to release him, find a sword, and save the world. Ophelia is a very practical sort of girl - she belongs to the Children's Science Society of Greater London - and she needs proof, and has a hard time accepting the Marvelous Boy's stories and accounts of magic. She must go on a series of quests through the museum to find the items she needs to save the Marvelous Boy, each time testing her resolve and belief in science versus magic. Karen Foxlee completely drew me in with this story, and reading this story over Christmas was the best timing ever with the impending winter and incessant cold of the museum. My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that the story ends very quickly. I wanted to know more about the Snow Queen and what happened after the final conflict. I think Foxlee's writing compares very favorably to Lemony Snicket's, and I would recommend this book to readers 8 - 12 years old.

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Jo's Best Books of 2013

I read so many good books in 2013 - and if you look over at the right sidebar, you will see that I surpassed my Goodreads goal (and I might even be adding to that total before the night is through)! Here are the ten(ish) books I read in 2013 that I liked the best. When I was going through the list this afternoon, I realized that a few of these are multiple books in a series, and if that was the case, I listed them all together. So, in no particular order:

 1. Onyx, Opal, and Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Onyx

Opal

Origin


















 Daemon... sigh.  My book boyfriend.  I don't care that he's 18 years old and an alien.  If you haven't read these books yet, do it!  They aren't expensive, and are a fantastically additive series.  I also love that Armentrout has branched out to tell you bits of this story from the Arum's point of view in her book, Obsession.

 2. Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

Full Blooded















This book was such a cool take on the werewolf mythos.  Jessica is a private invesigator (and former cop) who comes from a family of werewolves and is used to the supernatural - but only men are werewolves.  That is, until Jessica has a really bad night and wakes up naked in the woods...  there are a few more books in this series as well, but they are so expensive for ebooks (I don't get why ebooks are $3 more than the paperbacks!).

 3. Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass

Crown of Midnight















 Oh my, did this series ever tear me apart.  Maas has created the most well-thought out fantasy worlds in a long time, and I still find myself thinking about the books from time to time, trying to puzzle out what is actually happening with the magic.  Celaena is a teenage assassin who is rescued from the sure death of the salt mines only to be forced to compete in a death match to see who will become the King's champion.  There are a few prequel novellas in this series that fill out Celaena's pre-salt mine days that I need to read.

 4. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh

Hyperbole and a Half


















 I had come across Brosh's blog a year or two ago on a friend's suggestion to read her posts about depression, and was so incredibly touched.  Such a sad subject, but she makes you see the stark humor and pathos in depression.  Don't sit down to read this book unless you have a few hours to go through it and laugh yourself silly and cry yourself dry.  I would recommend getting the hardcover or paperback versions of this book rather than the ebook because of the cartoon drawings.

 5. Dead Spots and Trail of Dead by Melissa F. Olson

Dead Spots

Trail of Dead















 I came across these books while I was on vacation this year - I had been storing up a few Kindle deals of the day to read in Canada, and the first book was one of those.  Scarlett is a null, meaning anything supernatural cancels out around her - and she is so rare there is only about 5 people with her ability in the world.  And she works as the clean up person for the triad of supernaturals - the vampires, werewolves, and witches.  The whole story had a neat set up - why she works for the supernaturals, and where each of them came from.  The mystery in the story was very interesting, too - so much so that I picked up the 2nd book at full price as soon as I finished the first one.

 6. Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Magic Rises















 I have to say up front that I do not like the artwork in the new cover.  All of a sudden it makes Kate look 10 years younger than she is!  Okay, petty comment aside, this is definitely a series that gets better and better with every book.  I cried, I laughed - and one of my favorite scenes in any book I read this year was Curran throwing a tantrum and tossing boulders at a mountain to vent his frustration with Kate.  I like how these books are treating Kate and Curran's evolving relationship in a real fashion - nothing is ever absolutely perfect and relationships need work - and happily ever afters are nonsense.

 7. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown















 I shouldn't have been surprised that I liked this book so much - I went through a faerie phase a few years back, and read Black's Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside - three novels that definitely put Tinkerbell out of your mind completely.  Tana lives in a world where vampires are very much a reality - and there are ghettos called 'Coldtowns' where the vampires and hanger-ons are kept walled in, and on 24 hour satellite feed where people can see everything that is happening.  Tana woke up from a 'sundown' party - where people lock themselves in at night to party in safety - to find everyone but herself, her ex-boyfriend, and a chained-up vampire slaughtered.  They go on a roadtrip to the nearest Coldtown to her ex can sweat out the virus - I don't want to spoil it - but I loved this book.  I had to gush about it to Andrew afterward!  Tana was such a resolute heroine and I loved her thought processes.

 8. Wait For You - J. Lynn

Wait For You















 Cam... another sigh.  As you can see from the cover, J. Lynn is a nom de plume for Jennifer L. Armentrout when she write her New Adult books.  I loved the interplay between the two leads in this book, and the scenes between Avery and Cam were so hot.  It was very interesting and sad to read Avery's backstory - she was a victim of a sexual assault, and her whole town and even her family had made it out to be her fault because of who the aggressor was.

 9. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood and Starlight















This is a series I get completely lost in.  Days of Blood and Starlight is the sequel to last year's Daughter of Smoke and Bone (another one of my year-end favorites).  The book continues with Karou's story, and goes into so much more detail of the conflict between the angels and chimera.  I also loved that Karou's friends, Zusana and Mik, have a much larger part in this story (and even have a novella of their own that I haven't read yet - Night of Cake and Puppets!).  The conclusion to this series, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, comes out this spring and I cannot wait.

 10. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me















 Shatter me did exactly that.  I was first attracted to this series by the cool artwork on all of the covers, but I was blown away by the story.  I will admit to being really confused by the story in the beginning, thinking that there was something wrong with the formatting of my ebook because there were so many lines where the text was struck-through - it took me a few pages to realize that was Juliette was redacting her thoughts.  This is a dystopian story where we have basically poisoned the world, and the absolute power in power is a scary thing.  There are a few sequels and novellas to this series I haven't read and am quite eager to read.

Wow.  It was hard to choose these books!  There are a few others I couldn't bear to leave out, even though they didn't make the top 10 - so I urge you to check out these ones as well!

 Honorable Mentions:
 Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Among the Nameless Stars by Diana Peterfreund
A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs
Faking It by Cora Carmack
Ever After by Kim Harrison
Fragments by Dan Wells My Unexpected Forever by Heidi McLaughlin

Merry Christmas

IMG_1478, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Book Review: Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas

Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas: A Perfect Fit Holiday Novella by Sugar Jamison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a sucker for Christmas romances – it doesn’t matter if it is paranormal, regency, or contemporary – and I really liked this one. I was originally a bit thrown off by the formatting of the book – some of the dialogue from different characters seemed to flow into single sentences which made following the conversation confusing, but I think I have to attribute to this being an ARC eBook and perhaps these things weren’t cleaned up yet.

Dina is a mother of a 10 month old boy, and she knows she was not a nice person before her son came along, and she wants to be a better person. Dina starts off the story trying to find the baby’s father to make him pay child support, but soon finds out that the father is no long around. Period. She instead meets Ben, her lover’s older brother, a man still grieving his wife’s death from cancer nearly 10 years prior. Ben sees an instant family in Dina and her son, and offers her marriage so that Dash, his nephew, can stay in his life. The character development in this story is wonderful – and one of my favorite parts is Dina’s verbal diarrhea when she gets nervous – everything gets blurted out all at once and it made me laugh out loud. The relationship between Dina and Ben, although it seems awfully quick at first (this is a novella), but is believable when you understand the emotional places that both of them are coming from. I love how the author wove Christmas into the story – Ben’s family had stopped celebrating Christmas long ago because of his mother’s death, and having him introduce Dina and Dash to all the things in his town and house that he loved about Christmas were very heartwarming.


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Ornament Painting Party

I keep a Pinterest board for Willow, and it is a hodgepodge of gift ideas, craft ideas, or just cute things I think she might like. A while back, I pinned this pin on painting glass ornaments as a possible craft idea for her. We invited her friends over, and had a ornament painting party this afternoon after the girls came back from watching Frozen. It wasn't an expensive craft - the glass balls were normally $5.99 for a half dozen, and I had bought 2 packages plus a few bottles of acrylic pain with my 40% off coupon on Black Friday a few weeks back - so I don't think the entire project even hit $10-12 for everything. Amanda's mom supplied the ribbon, so we were all set. Here are some examples of our handiwork:

 











 One of my friends who had done this craft previously suggested using the little coffee stirrer/straws to help guide the paint, and that helped immensely. Also, you have to use a lot more paint than the blog post I originally saw this on indicated if you wanted the paint to move inside the ball. I would love to try this craft again. I wasn't able to replicate the color striations in the originally pin, and I would love to try other techniques.  All in all, this was a great craft for 11 year old girls.

Willow's Winter Concert

Willow's middle school held its Winter Concert last night, and it was lovely go go and listen to the music. At first I hadn't intended to take video, but I wasn't really able to get any good still photos with the lighting and from where I was sitting. Luckily, Willow was within my view! You can see her in the lower right part of the frame.

 Video 1: Mozart Mania / Believe / Let it Snow / Winter Wonderland:

 

 Video 2: Let it Grow (from "The Lorax")

 

 Enjoy!

Throwback Thursday: Willow and Caddie

Willow and Caddie 1, originally uploaded by jochibi.

We were watching the dog show on TV while having our Thanksgiving dinner, talking about the dogs we would like to have and the NARDs (not a real dog). It was all in fun, but it made me think of Caddie - Willow's first friend and first dog. This picture was taken 6 years ago, and Caddie passed away a little less than a year later. We were so worried when we were pregnant because Caddie had never been around babies or small children except for short visits from the cousins. However, as far as Caddie was concerned, Willow was *her* baby and she rarely left Willow's side, even when Willow tried riding her like a horse as a toddler. Many nights I would wake up in the middle of the night with Willow crying, and Caddie would already be at her door, as if asking me what was taking me so long! On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful to have had such wonderful animals in my life.

I See You There

I couldn't find any of my point and shoot digital cameras this afternoon (I have 3 of them, so not knowing where any of them are is pretty sad!), so I tried taking a selfie of me and my new haircut and color with my DSLR camera... to mixed results:

My arm just isn't long enough to get the camera far enough to do anything other than get a close up of the side of my face.  I toyed with the idea of setting up the tripod... but that would have been too much work.  That and I am not entirely sure how to sure how to use the timer on the DSLR.  Yes, I have had this camera for over a year now.  Yes, I have a pretty comprehensive manual.  No, I have not read through it other than to figure out how to use the video function.

Then I remembered where my Nikon camera was (diaper bag!), so I pulled it out and snapped this one:

About 1.5" cut off, and dyed a coppery red color.  I'm really pleased with it.  The last time I had my hair colored in the salon was right before I went on vacation in August, and the colorist messed it up and my hair was really dark.  I much prefer it this way.  I think it is a bit brighter than in this picture - but today is a very overcast and rainy day.

Sometimes You Just Need

DSCN0634, originally uploaded by jochibi.

This Kid

IMG_0995, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Piper has been cracking me up recently. She has been fixated with the idea that she has a brother - I know what most of you are thinking - that she wants a baby brother (and trust me, that is not happening!) - but no... according to her, her brother is older than her. And he took her to the hospital when she was hurt at a soccer game. She also says she has a daughter. Who is a boy. This kid has some pretty wild thoughts and ideas - talking to her always makes me smile.

Saturday Solitude

IMG_1028, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Throwback Thursday: Thanksgiving 2003

DSCF0054.jpg, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I know Thanksgiving is still a week away, but if I wait for this one for Throwback Thursday next week, I may just forget.

Despite the Christmas tree in the background, this picture was taken around Thanksgiving when we went to visit our friends Gara and Asami. Willow was about 16 months old, and Gara and Asami's three boys weren't even a sparkle in their daddy's eye yet. I can't believe how young we all look!

My Favorite Part of My Day

 My days are busy. Up at 5:30am, shower, drink coffee, eat something, take Piper to daycare, work work work, come home, make dinner, get Piper ready for bed, spend time with Willow, knit... and then go to bed.

But it isn't sleep that is my favorite part of my day.  It's snuggling in bed with Andrew and having him sleep while read in the dark off my Nook HD+ until the wee hours of the morning.  Sweet blissful quiet.

And then morning comes again too soon.  

So... About This Daily Blogging Thing.

I've been so long out of practice that I have missed a day or two here. I'm trying! I started a new test knit last night, and I was all engrossed in the pattern and lost track of time.  I also tried one of these last night for the first time:



Seriously yummy!  I was a little hesitant because it is pear cider, and while I don't mind pears, they really aren't my favorite fruit.  My favorite hard cider to date has been Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Cider, but I think this Fox Barrel Pear Cider really gives it a run for its money.