Roses and Rot Book Review

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

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Blurb:

What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of?

Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn't imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program - Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize there's more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she's dreamed about as a child, but it's one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart's desire.

Review by Brittany:

This book was a bit different than I thought it would be. For some reason, I had in my head that this book would be a sort of horror novel, with Melete - the location of the arts program - being a haunted campus.

Instead, it's revealed about halfway through that the mysterious goings on at Melete are down to paranormal creatures - Faeries. This was a bit of a twist to me because I was expecting a very different type of book, although it fit in with what else was going on. Fae are my least favorite type of paranormal creatures, and I don't typically love stories that have them. However, this one did Fae extremely well. I loved all of the weird occurrences (leaves filling a room with now windows; birds that watch you only when you're not actively watching them) that were down to the Fae. I loved that they were beautiful and kind - as long as you gave them what they wanted.

I also like that this book does not have a happy ending, not exactly. As a writer, Imogen uses her time at Melete to focus on fairy tales and writing some of her own, which draws a connection between those stories and the one that Howard is writing. How does Imogen's own life compare to fairy tales? What about her time at Melete? It is an interesting way to tie it all together, and I thought it was well done.

I also liked the character dynamics in this book. Marin and Imogen have to learn to adjust to living with Helena and Ariel as roommates. Gavin and Evan, two men at Melete, become love interests for the sisters, and the story develops some of those relationships. Of course, there's a lot of focus on the relationship between the two sisters and how much of that relationship is based on their experiences with their mother.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it had beautiful imagery and great character dynamics. Relationships are developed, and the paranormal aspect of the book adds a great plot line. And, completely beside the point, I love the cover! Very well done!

Notable quotes:

If you survived, you always can, and so by pained, contorted logic, what happened to you wasn't really that bad.

But there are times that you don't speak, because silence hurts less.

But there are some truths that don't just cut you when you speak them, they also stab the person listening, too.

And I knew I shouldn't let it hurt, let it matter, but it did.

Hearing things actually spoken, even when you already know what's going to be said, makes them more real, more absolute.

The Short Drop Book Review

The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons

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Blurb:

A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard - the a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency - disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation's history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.

For legendary hacker and marine Gibson Vaughn, the case is personal - Suzanne Lombard had been like a sister to him. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the former head of Benjamin Lombard's security asks for Gibson's help in a covert investigation of the case, with new evidence in hand.

Haunted by tragic memories, he jumps at the chance to uncover what happened all those years ago. Using his military and technical prowess, he soon discovers multiple conspiracies surrounding the Lombard family - and he encounters powerful, ruthless political players who will do anything to silence him and his team. With new information surfacing that could threaten Lombard's bid for the presidency, Gibson must stay one step ahead as he navigates a dangerous web to get to the truth.

Review by Brittany:

I loved the characters in this book! Gibson Vaughn is totally cool. There's something about the way Fitzsimmons wrote this character that made me love him a little bit. He's a little bit snarky and quite an intelligent guy, as illustrated by his hacking skills. Jenn Charles is the token female agent who can kick some butt. I'm a sucker for women who can make things happen, and Jenn is exactly one of those characters. Hendricks is the lovable grump, also able to handle himself. And the villains in this one are so much like real people that they are the scariest types of monsters.

Because there are so many hackers in this book, there is a lot of computer hacker jargon that can be confusing for readers like me who don't understand squat about IT stuff, but it doesn't take away from the story any. The technology that is described is pretty cool and really opened my eyes to what is possible for those who have a good understanding of how to work computer systems.

About halfway through the book there's a slight twist that leads Gibson to realize that everything is not exactly how he thinks it is. While he's chasing Suzanne, the others involved might simply be chasing Suzanne's captor, a fine but important distinction. This alters the course of the story and temporarily calls into question some of the loyalties of the book.

The suspense of finding out what happened to Suzanne kept me reading. Was she abducted? Did she run away? In the end, the truth was a bit harder than what I thought it would be. It's sad what happened to Suzanne and all of the people involved in her disappearance.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and felt surprised enough by the climax to feel relief at finally understanding what had happened. If thriller/suspense novels are your thing, definitely pick this one up.

The Atomic Weight of Love Book Review

The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church

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Blurb:

For Meridian Wallace - and many other smart, driven women of the 1940s - being ambitious meant being an outlier. Ever since she was a young girl, Meridian had been obsessed with birds, and she was determined to get her PhD, become an ornithologist, and make her mother's sacrifices to send her to college pay off. But she didn't expect to fall in love with her brilliant physics professor, Alden Whetstone. When he's recruited to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to take part in a mysterious wartime project, she reluctantly defers her own plans and joins him.

What began as an exciting intellectual partnership devolves into a "traditional" marriage. And while the life of a housewife quickly proves stifling, it's not until years later, when Meridian meets a Vietnam veteran who opens her eyes to how the world is changing, that she realizes just how much she has given up. The repercussions of choosing a different path, though, may be too heavy a burden to bear.

Review by Brittany:

I requested a copy of this book through NetGalley because the blurb sounded intriguing to me.

I loved this book. There's something about the writing that really drew me in. I think it was really just smart writing with an easy flow that kept me engaged. Church covers a lot of ground in this book, but the events never feel rushed, and I never felt like I was missing out on anything important.

I loved that Church wrote such a smart female protagonist. Meri is an academic interest in ornithology, and her study of crows is what carries her through a large part of the story. Although her interest lied in academia, she gave up her studies in order to support her husband. I think that was an interesting view of what times were like in the 40s and 50s, and it really illustrated what the expectations might be for a woman during that time.

I also loved the way Church focused on Meri's relationship with Alden. This book gave good insight into their marriage, both the parts that kept Meri in love with him and the parts that really made her struggle to stick it out. There were times when Alden was so completely lovely that I could understand Meri's feelings for him, and there were others when he was so clueless that I found him just as frustrating as Meri did. I think all of these parts are pretty realistic to life, and it made the characters feel more real to me.

I think Meri meeting Clay and the development of that relationship was also well done. Although adultery is not everyone's cup of tea, I think that it was handled well in this novel. Clay offers Meri certain aspects of a relationship that Alden just doesn't seem to get. In the end, when Meri is faced with the choice between the two, it is hard to decide which one is the better option for her.

Overall, I loved this book. I thought it was well-written, interesting, and the characters were fantastic. I definitely recommend this book and am interested in seeing what else this author comes out with.

Notable quotes:

I didn't reveal the full breadth of my ambivalence, my sometimes disconcerting lack of any biological yearning for children.

We were all suddenly united in our need to forget the war, instead insisting on life and possibility.

We parted with me feeling tearful and angry, already regretful that I could not force myself to be more mature.

Maybe there is nothing more interesting than one's progeny. Maybe that's what I didn't understand.

I felt too eager, too giddy, and it wasn't right. But more than that, I was afraid Clay would sense those things in me, perceive me as ridiculous.

Flight is possible, but we have to take flight - it has to be a decisive action, a purposeful, brave act.

What I said was that relationships die a slow, incremental death of boredom, resentment, and lassitude.

I wanted a pain other than that of my heart. I wanted a pain that could be bandaged, anesthetized, and eventually healed.

Are we allotted a specific number of comebacks from heartbreak? Or is that what really kills us, in the end - not strokes or cancer or pneumonia - but instead just one too many blows to the heart?

I knew I had a hair trigger when it came to feeling insulted, criticized.

And it frightened me - that I needed him, that I cared, that I couldn't be in his world. That his boundaries were so permeable and that mine were so stridently defined. 

The Drowning Girls Book Review

The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard

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Blurb:

Liz McGinnis never imagined herself living in a luxurious gated community like The Palms. Ever since she and her family moved in, she's felt like an outsider amongst the Stepford-like wives and their obnoxiously spoiled children. Still, she's determined to make it work - if not for herself, then for her husband, Phil, who landed them this lavish home in the first place, and for her daughter, Danielle, who's about to enter high school.

Yet underneath the glossy veneer of The Palms, life is far from idyllic. In a place where reputation is everything, Liz soon discovers that even the friendliest residents can't be trusted. So when the gorgeous girl next door befriends Danielle, Liz can't help but find sophisticated Kelsey's interest in her shy and slightly nerdy daughter a bit suspicious.

But while Kelsey quickly becomes a fixture in the McGinnis home, Liz's relationship with both Danielle and Phil grow strained. Now even her own family seems to be hiding things, and it's not long before their dream of living the high life quickly spirals out of control.

Review by Brittany:

I requested a copy of this novel through NetGalley because the blurb intrigued me. This is my first book by this author to read, and I absolutely loved it.

I was drawn into the story from the very first page. The book starts out in the present time and switches back and forth between the present and the past. In the present, there is the body of a teenage girl floating in Liz's pool, and the chapters about the past fill in the blanks about Kelsey and her connection to Liz, Phil, and Danielle.

The book also tells the story from both Phil's and Liz's point of view, so the reader gets extra pieces of information. I like this style of writing, and it worked particularly well in this story. Liz and Phil end up at odds, with Liz believing a version of events that did not happen in the way she thinks. Having both perspectives gives the reader the truth, but it also outlines Liz's thoughts and shows how she came to those conclusions.

Kelsey's character is at the heart of the story, although the reader never gets to experience her point of view. She is clearly complex, showing multiple versions of herself throughout the story, depending on the audience at the time. She is a character who I sort of hate but also sort of love.

The ending of the book - the reveal of what happened to Kelsey in the pool - was not totally clear to me until I got there. I liked how I had an uneasy feeling about it but didn't know what had happened. There is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, leaving the reader to wonder how things will work out for the McGinnis's.

Overall, I loved this book. The suspense kept me reading and turning pages, dying to get to the end. This author sucked me in from the first page and kept me hooked, and I felt like her story really delivered. I definitely recommend!

Notable quotes:

For a long time, I'd wanted to go back, to pin our relationship to a wall and study it, like a specimen, from every angle. I wanted to  be able to say: Here. This is where it all went wrong. This was the point at which the inevitable was not yet evitable.

But she was still there, if only in my thoughts - like the black widow Liz had spotted in our house in Livermore. Once she knew it was there, she claimed she couldn't rest easy.

Phil and I found ways to talk to each other without really talking, to apologize without really apologizing.

This was the great trick that social media had played on us. Take any image, pair it with any language, and the two were linked.

I suppose she'd lived long enough to know that sometimes it wasn't better in the morning. Sometimes, in fact, it was worse.

I didn't believe a person could ever know another person wholly, inside out, and I was okay with that. Because inside, there were some ugly things, the blood and guts, the things that were better buried, better unsaid.

A Discovery of Witches Book Review

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

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Blurb:

Deep in the heart of Oxford's Bodleian Library, Diana Bishop - a young scholar and the descendant of witches - unearths an enchanted alchemical manuscript. Wanting nothing to do with sorcery, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery has set a fantastical underworld stirring, and soon a horde of daemons, witches, and other creatures descends upon the library. Among them is the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire with a keen interest in the book. Equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense, A Discovery of Witches is a mesmerizing and addictive tale of passion and obsession that reveals the closely guarded secrets of an enchanted world.

Review by Brittany:

As usual, I'm a little late coming to this trilogy. I wasn't sure about picking up yet another supernatural novel about witches and vampires out of fear that it would feel the same as every other one I've read before. But this one didn't.

First, the saturation of the novel with history (which may not be accurate but feels like it) adds a certain maturity to the book. These aren't lovesick teenagers; instead, the author has written about educated adults who are old enough to make their own choices and understand the consequences. I thought it was interesting that the entire draw of the lost manuscript is that each set of creatures simply wants to understand their existence. Not so different from humans. This is also why Matthew has studied many different areas of science, including genetics and evolution. The basis of this novel seemed to be about understanding existence and purpose, which I can get behind.

As for characters, I thought Harkness did a great job introducing and developing them. Diana is determined to stay away from her magic and has done so her entire life as best she can, but now she's beginning to lose control of the power that's in her. Her desire to earn her keep in life battles with her natural instinct to use magic. Matthew, a vampire, is constantly having to overcome his natural instinct to be distrustful of witches and to possibly attack them in order to keep Diana safe. Over the course of the novel, this develops into a romance that is forbidden by the Congregation - the governmental body that serves to uphold a treaty between vampires, witches, and daemons.

Minor characters were fantastic, too. Ysabeau, Matthew's mother, is an intense character who ended up playing a large maternal role for Diana, despite the initial feelings Ysabeau has toward her. Em and Sarah, Diana's aunts, are clearly strong witches with big hearts whose concern for Diana adds a needed familial pull to the novel. Miriam and Marcus, vampires who work with Matthew, add a bit of antagonism to the tale, adding to the conflict. Satu, Peter Knox, and Gerbert are all "enemies" of Diana and Matthew, and I'm curious to read more about their stories as the trilogy progresses.

One of my favorite parts of this novel was Sarah and Em's house. It becomes a character of its own because it's haunted. Ghosts hang around all the time, and the house reshapes itself in order to invite new guests. The house also slams doors and cabinets, sighs, and reveals secrets in due time. I loved the house playing the role of a character all its own and though that added a nice touch to the story.

The book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving me ready to read more. This first book did get complex at times as there's so much history and so many pieces to the large puzzle, but I'm looking forward to reading the next one. Diana's story is one that I'm definitely interested in continuing.

The Winter Rose Book Review

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

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Blurb:

It has been twelve years since a dark, murderous figure stalked the alleys and courts of Whitechapel. And yet, in the summer of 1900, East London is still poor, still brutal, still a shadow city to its western twin. Among the reformers is an idealistic young woman named India Selwyn-Jones, recently graduated from medical school. With the help of her influential fiance - Freddie Lytton, an up-and-coming Liberal MP - she works to shut down the area's opium dens that destroy both body and soul. Her selfless activities better her patients' lives and bring immense gratification, but unfortunately, they also bring her into direct conflict with East London's ruling crime lord - Sid Malone.

India is not good for business and at first, Malone wants her out. But against all odds, India and Sid fall in love. Different in nearly every way, they share one thing in common - they are both wounded souls. Their love is impossible and they know it, yet they cling to it desperately. Lytton, India's fiance, will stop at nothing to marry India and gain her family's fortune.

Fractious criminal underlings and rivals conspire against Sid. When Sid is finally betrayed by one of his own, he must flee London to save his life. Mistakenly thinking him dead, India, pregnant and desperate, marries Freddie to provide a father for hers and Sid's child. India and Sid must each make a terrible sacrifice - a sacrifice that will change them both forever. One that will lead them to other lives, and other places...and perhaps - one distant, bittersweet day - back to each other.

Review by Brittany:

This novel is the second in the Tea Rose trilogy, the first of which I absolutely fell in love with. This one was no different.

I always love books that are part of a series but do not require that the first be read, and this one fits the bill. Of course, reading the first in the trilogy will enhance the reading experience, but it is not necessary to the story as the book recaps enough to keep the reader up to date with what's happening now.

This book saw the return of many beloved characters from the first novel. Readers get to follow up with Fiona and Joe, and Fiona's youngest brother Seamus gets some development in this novel as he's now seventeen. Sid Malone is also a returning character, and the book follows up on the big reveal from the first one. Readers also get to meet some new characters, both wonderful and awful. Ella, a nurse who works alongside India at her first job, becomes a fantastic friend to India and dreams of having a free clinic in Whitechapel just like India does. Freddie Lytton is a new character to this book, and he's one of the best villains - the type you love to hate. Frankie Betts, Sid's right hand man, plays a huge role in this novel and alters the course of the book drastically.

I loved reading about India and her dreams of making life better for Whitechapel women. These stories were so well-written that I often found myself almost grieving for some of the struggling characters that India attempted to help. I also felt her anger at the male doctor for whom she works when he denies women anesthetic during labor and the option for birth control once they have a whole litter of children.

I also loved Freddie, in a morbid sort of way. Gah, what a cruel, cruel man. When Donnelly writes from his perspective, it is clear that his main drive is money only. He is conniving and manipulative, doing anything he can to remove people he sees as obstacles. His brutality was often shocking, and some of the most brutal scenes in the book are tied to Freddie.

Charlotte, India's illegitimate child with Sid, is a wonder of a character. She's written to be incredibly perceptive and often way more grown up than a child of her age should be. She asks the right questions to illustrate how much she notices, but there are also moments when her childishness poke through - such as when she gets overexcited to see the animals in Africa.

The story line does get a bit crazy sometimes - faking deaths, breaking out of prison, climbing Kilimanjaro, hyena attacks, and much more - but I loved the drama of it. Donnelly's writing and storytelling sucks me in from the first page, and I love rolling around in the Whitechapel that she writes about. I'm definitely going to be reading the final book in this trilogy.

Kaleidoscope Book Review

Kaleidoscope by Ryan Mullaney

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Blurb:

Awakened one morning with no memory of the past 24 hours, Keri Crawford finds herself running for her life, embroiled in a conspiracy linking her to the assassination of a high-profile senator campaigning to decriminalize KDS - the most popular new mind-altering substance.

An upstart investigator. Gun-toting mercenaries. A disgraced detective. Everyone wants to know what Keri Crawford knows. But what happens when Keri herself doesn't even know?

Review by Brittany:

This is Mullaney's third book, and I have read and reviewed all of them so far.

As is customary for this author, the reader gets dropped immediately into the action. Keri has no idea what's going on when she wakes up bruised and barefoot in an elevator in her apartment building. A man is chasing her and identifies himself as a detective, but Keri doesn't know whether to be afraid or comforted, so she continues to run and try to piece together what happened the day before.

The book is nonstop action all the way through. Keri is constantly on the run, either from the good guys or the bad guys. She can't tell the difference, and KDS has her feeling a little more paranoid than normal. As Keri struggles to remember what happened and tries to retrieve what she knows, the reader struggles along with her, piecing the story together. There were parts of the book that flashed back to the day that Keri can't remember. The time change in these scenes was a little confusing at first, but once I adjusted it fit nicely into the book.

One thing I loved about this book was Keri's relationship with her dog. Such a funny piece of info in a book like this, but it made Keri seem more like a real person to me. And in the midst of all the chaos of her life, she has this one piece of foundation - her love for her dog.

I also thought the concept of KDS was cool. It's a neat idea, a drug that can give or remove memories, and the way in which it is administered is novel and interesting. Even the packaging was intriguing - different colors indicate different moods. The whole concept of KDS was creative and well done, and I haven't read another book that created a drug in such an interesting way.

Overall, while this one doesn't quite take the place of my favorite of Mullaney's, I really enjoyed it. It's high action and suspense, and it would be a great read for fans of mystery/thrillers.