Nancy Drew Movie, School For Psychics by K.C.Archer, The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding,Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre and Soundless by Richelle Mead

I read Nancy Drew mysteries when I was 6 through 8 years old, and I remember thinking that they were simplistic, but fun. I think this movie should be fascinating, considering these books are 88 years old, and still being read today.

Movies: Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Sophia Lillis will play the title character in Nancy Drew and the

Hidden Staircase

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36792654,

based on the popular book series. Deadline reported that the Warner

Bros. project, which has Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Kleeman and Chip Diggins

on board to produce, is expected to begin filming soon. Wendy Williams

will serve as executive producer.

The Hidden Staircase, initially released in 1930 as the second volume in

the Nancy Drew series, was written by Mildred Wirt Benson under the

pseudonym Carolyn Keene. WB made a film adaptation of the book in 1939.  

I have four good books to review this time around, so I will get right to them.

School for Psychics by K.C.Archer is a new series of paranormal mystery that reads like a YA novel, though there is some adult hook ups going on. The prose if clear and clean (with the exception of a couple of typos) and the plot a real page-turner that moves at lightening speed. Here's the blurb:

An entrancing new series starring a funny, impulsive, and sometimes self-congratulatory young woman who discovers she has psychic abilities—and then must decide whether she will use her skills for good or...not.
Teddy Cannon isn’t your typical twenty-something woman. She’s resourceful. She’s bright. She’s scrappy. She can also read people with uncanny precision. What she doesn’t realize: she’s actually psychic.
When a series of bad decisions leads Teddy to a run-in with the police, a mysterious stranger intervenes. He invites her to apply to the School for Psychics, a facility hidden off the coast of San Francisco where students are trained like Delta Force operatives: it’s competitive, cutthroat, and highly secretive. They’ll learn telepathy, telekinesis, investigative skills, and SWAT tactics. And if students survive their training, they go on to serve at the highest levels of government, using their skills to protect America, and the world.
In class, Teddy befriends Lucas, a rebel without a cause who can start and manipulate fire; Jillian, a hipster who can mediate communication between animals and humans; and Molly, a hacker who can apprehend the emotional state of another individual. But just as Teddy feels like she’s found where she might belong, strange things begin to happen: break-ins, missing students, and more. It leads Teddy to accept a dangerous mission that will ultimately cause her to question everything—her teachers, her friends, her family, and even herself.
Set in a world very much like our own, School for Psychics is the first book in a stay-up-all night series. Publisher's Weekly:In this earnest, naive paranormal thriller, a group of psychics in training slowly learn that misdirection can be as dangerous as mind control. Teddy Cannon, unsuccessful card shark, is recruited to study at a secretive foundation’s academy intended to prepare people with mental gifts for careers in security and law enforcement. It’s hard to believe that Teddy and her fellow young adults—some of whom have done police work or had run-ins with the law—would so blithely sign up for a militaristic training program without some skepticism about its motives. After a series of mysterious thefts and disappearances at the academy and a sabotaged obstacle course Teddy barely survives, she decides she wants answers. She convinces some of her fellow students to break into an FBI facility to uncover just who is out to get them, egged on by a jailed psychic connected to Teddy’s birth parents. The book has the brio of a first novel, with sudden swings of emotion and outrage that would do a hormonal teenager proud. The pages turn at a rapid pace, but it takes a bit longer than necessary for a veteran poker player to realize that, if she can’t spot the sucker at the table, it’s her.

I agree with PW that these students, who are old enough to know better, seem rather blind or willfully naive when they start at the school, and they also have motivations that seem particular to teenagers, ie identity, finding one's 'real' parents, having affairs with each other and their teachers, and dealing with jealousy and competitive scenarios that pit their talents against each other, or one group against another (the popular kids against the misfits/nerds). Still, the characters are well drawn and the action non stop. I'd give this book a B+ and recommend it to anyone who is interested in psychics of all varieties. 

The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the best burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding is a gay YA story that virtually sings off the page with enthusiasm and spunk. The protagonist is a chubby fashion blogger named Abby whose mother wishes she were not a lesbian or fat, as her mother is building an empire on "healthy eating" (ie no carb raw food diet) cookery and is disdainful of her daughters lifestyle and self esteem. Abby gets a summer internship at Lemonberry, a local clothing store, and discovers that she's sharing her internship duties with Jordi Perez, a fashion photographer who also happens to be gay. There ensues an immediate crush on Abby's part, and a lot of fumbling attempts to discern Jordi's interest in dating. Meanwhile, a friend of a friend, Jax, has a father who has asked him to help launch an ap that rates the best burgers in LA,and he's tapped his son and Abby to cruise all over LA and taste and rate all the burgers in town. Here's the blurb:

Seventeen, fashion-obsessed, and gay, Abby Ives has always been content playing the sidekick in other people’s lives. While her friends and sister have plunged headfirst into the world of dating and romances, Abby’s been happy to focus on her plus-size style blog and her dreams of taking the fashion industry by storm. When she lands a great internship at her favorite boutique, she’s thrilled to take the first step toward her dream career. Then she falls for her fellow intern, Jordi Perez. Hard. And now she’s competing against the girl she’s kissing to win the coveted paid job at the end of the internship.
But really, nothing this summer is going as planned. She also unwittingly becomes friends with Jax, a lacrosseplaying bro-type who wants her help finding the best burger in Los Angeles, and she’s struggling to prove to her mother—the city’s celebrity health nut—that she’s perfectly content with who she is.
Just as Abby starts to feel like she’s no longer the sidekick in her own life, Jordi’s photography surprisingly puts her in the spotlight. Instead of feeling like she’s landed a starring role, Abby feels betrayed. Can Abby find a way to reconcile her positive yet private sense of self with the image others have of her?

There's a great deal of humor and fun in this book, which comes off as a rom com romp, until the serious issues of dealing with betrayal and ambition come into play. I loved Abby's voice and was glad that the story was told from her POV. I was also engaged in the search for the perfect hamburger in a town the size of LA, where the choices are endless.This is a book that would make a fantastic beach read, and I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who loves stories about quirky young women who are at home in their bodies, no matter the size, and yet still struggle against parental expectations.

Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre is a truly innovative science fiction/romance/YA novel. I've read other books by both authors, so I was excited to read this first book in a series they're collaborating on. Here's the blurb:

Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell.
Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.
Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight. Publisher's Weekly: In 2042, sentient spaceships called the Leviathan saved Earth from ruin by sharing their technology. In return, humans agreed to provide crew to assist with research and maintenance while imparting their knowledge and culture. A century later, it has become customary for the Leviathan to tap 100 skilled individuals, known as Honors, every 12 months for yearlong deployments. Homeless teenager Zara Cole isn’t good at anything but fighting and stealing, so she’s shocked when she’s selected to tour the stars with a Leviathan named Nadim. The experience proves transformative: the previously hard-bitten Zara befriends Beatriz Teixeira, the other human on board, and forms an ineffable bond with Nadim. Still, Zara can’t shake the feeling that the Leviathan are hiding something. This series opener from Caine (the Great Library series) and Aguirre (the Immortal Game trilogy) is both a thrilling SF novel and a deeply philosophical examination of the nature of love. Keenly wrought characters, imaginative world-building, and an inventive plot engage and gratify while urging readers to stay curious, question authority, and fight injustice.

I was thrilled to read that Zara was a person of color, and that her coworker Bea is Hispanic, because there needs to be more diversity in YA and Science Fiction genres. But the scintillating prose and beautifully-rendered plot, along with these marvelous characters, are what kept this reader up until the wee hours, reading just one more chapter! The living ship Nadim is reminiscent of Moya, the ship from TV's Farscape, and he also reminded me somewhat of Orac, the annoying computer from the 70s British science fiction TV series Blake's 7. There are also echoes of Anne McCaffrey's "Ship Who Sang" series, which I loved reading back when I was in my late teens and early 20s. Nadim is a fully realized character and Zara's relationship with him is tender and beautiful. I loved watching Zara transform and blossom with Nadim. I'm was so enamored of this novel that I'm hotly anticipating the next book in the series. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys well-written social science fiction.

Soundless by Richelle Mead is an amazing folktale/fantasy based in feudal China. The prose is elegant and evocative, and the plot flows like watered silk. The characters are well drawn and their environment, a village at the top of a mountain, fascinates. I read this book in one sitting because I could not put it down. I was riveted by Fei's heroic journey to save her village, and uncover the secrets of the people who have a stranglehold on their food supply who live down at the bottom of the mountain, where none of the villagers dared go, until now, when Fei's people are in danger of starvation. Here's the blurb:  

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.
When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.
Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever. Publisher's Weekly:
Fei lives in a mountain village whose inhabitants have been deaf for generations, relying on artists like her for their daily news. Isolated by rockslides and unable to descend the mountain, the villagers depend on food supplied via a pulley system from the kingdom below. The price of survival is the mountain's gold and silver, and the majority of the population works in the mines. But now Fei's people, including her beloved sister, are starting to go blind, which will mean their extinction. After a vivid dream, Fei wakes with the gift of hearing and struggles to comprehend the new sensation of sound. She and her childhood friend Li Wei embark on a desperate effort to avert her people's horrifying fate. Like her heroine, Mead paints with a delicate brush (when Fei sees brightly colored silk for the first time, readers feel it as an explosion of the senses), creating a fablelike story that melds folktale, sacrifice, romance, and the stark realization of humanity's capacity to exploit others for profit.

To actually find a book with disabled characters who are also Asian is a rare treat,and one that I cherished for it's diversity. I also felt echos of some of my favorite "wire-fu" movies of the past, such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Heroic Trio" (with Michelle Yeoh) that had Asian actresses portraying strong warriors who kicked rump and worked to protect their family and friends from the forces of evil. But to find a novel in which every page was a delight is also fairly rare. I cannot praise this book enough, and giving it an A and a resounding recommendation for anyone and everyone to read it still seems to fall short. Truly, if you have any interest at all in China or Asian folklore, you can't go wrong by picking up a copy of this brilliant novel. 

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Mary Shelley Movie, The Remains of the Day on Stage, Gormenghast on TV, Head On by John Scalzi, Taste of Wrath by Matt Wallace, The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin and Defy the Worlds by Claudia Gray

I have been procrastinating on writing reviews, partially because I have had pneumonia this month, and partially because my Crohns has been very active and I've been having to struggle with all of that, which wears me out enough so that I am only able to do a couple of things a day. So this post is going to be long, fair warning. Below are some tidbits about movie and stage and TV adaptations of books that I would love to see.

Movies: Mary Shelley

Elle Fanning (Super 8, The Beguiled) "offers a new spin on the author of

Frankenstein in the trailer for Mary Shelley

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36727561,"

according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film, directed by Haifaa

Al-Mansour, also stars Douglas Booth (Noah) and Maisie Williams (Game of

Thrones).

"We wanted to portray a strong woman who is willing to step out of line

and find her own voice," said Al-Mansour, who is best known for her 2012

film Wadjda--the first-ever feature from a female Saudi Arabian

director. IFC Films' Mary Shelley hits theaters May 25.

On Stage:  The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro will collaborate with playwright and novelist Barney

Norris on a stage adaptation of The Remains of the Day

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36727565,

the Guardian reported. The production will tour the U.K. after its world

premiere at Northampton's Royal & Derngate in February next year.

Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson starred in a 1993 film version of

Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning novel.

"Norris has exactly the right theatrical understanding and delicate

sensibility to turn this engaging and highly political love story into a

moving and dynamic piece of theatre," said Christopher Haydon, who will

direct. "One of those stories that appear every now and again which

seem, almost as soon as they're written, to belong to the world. It has

entered the bloodstream of our culture. To work with such extraordinary

material is a great gift."

TV: Gormenghast

Neil Gaiman and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) will adapt the

"sprawling novel series" Gormenghast

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36629078

by Mervyn Peake as a TV series, Deadline reported, adding that

FremantleMedia North America "won a hotly contested battle to option the

five books in the series.... It is the latest FremantleMedia project for

Gaiman, who already exec produces Starz fantasy drama American Gods and

signed an exclusive multi-year deal with the producer last year." Gaiman

will be a non-writing executive producer on the project alongside

Oscar-winning writer Goldsman.

"There is nothing in literature like Mervyn Peake's remarkable

Gormenghast novels," said Gaiman. "They were crafted by a master, who

was also an artist, and they take us to an ancient castle as big as a

city, with heroes and villains and people larger than life that are

impossible to forget. There is a reason why there were two trilogies

that lovers of the fantasy genre embraced in the Sixties: Lord of the

Rings, and the Gormenghast books. It's an honor to have been given the

opportunity to help shepherd Peake's brilliant and singular vision to

the screen."

Dante Di Loreto, president of scripted entertainment, FremantleMedia

North America, commented: "Nothing combines a dark atmosphere with humor

and intrigue the way that Gormenghast does. It's one of the most

eccentric and vividly imagined universes ever created. We're excited to

continue our relationship with Neil and the producing team assembled for

this project is ideal to explore the series' perfect mix of humor,

pathos and tragedy."

Fabian Peake, son of Mervyn and executor of the Peake estate, added: "We

are tremendously excited by the prospect of seeing the Gormenghast books

realized for television. This venture presents a unique opportunity to

explore the imagination of a multi-faceted artist."

Head On by John Scalzi is the sequel to his fantastic speculative fiction book, Lock In, but it's also a stand alone novel set in the same world as Lock In. There's a great deal of mystery/thriller territory in this book, as well as some fantastic science fiction that doesn't seem too far away, time-wise. As with the first book in the series, it's a roller-coaster ride that you will not be able to put down once you start reading it. Here's the blurb:

John Scalzi returns with Head On, the standalone follow-up to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed Lock In. Chilling near-future SF with the thrills of a gritty cop procedural, Head On brings Scalzi's trademark snappy dialogue and technological speculation to the future world of sports.
Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent’s head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are “threeps,” robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden’s Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real and the crowds love it.
Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.
Is it an accident or murder? FBI agents and Haden-related crime investigators, Chris Shane and Leslie Vann, are called in to uncover the truth—and in doing so travel to the darker side of the fast-growing sport of Hilketa, where fortunes are made or lost, and where players and owners do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.

As usual, Scalzi's prose is saucy, witty and engaging, while his plot moves along at lightening speed. And once again, I fell in love with Chris, the Haden protagonist who works for the FBI, though because he is from a wealthy and influential family, doesn't have to work at all if he doesn't want to. There's a crap ton of political machinations and plenty of money being used and misused, but for me, that's all peripheral to how well Chris and Vann work together like a well oiled machine to figure out who killed several people connected to the sport of Hilketa. I also loved Donut the cat's part in the mystery, and I enjoyed meeting up with Chris' roommates, who are quite the collection of weird people (and therefore much more interesting than your average person.) I'd give this enjoyable novel an A, and recommend it to anyone who likes social or political science fiction, but also enjoys a good mystery, solved by dogged detective work with a brilliant, disabled detective.

Taste of Wrath by Matt Wallace is the 7th and final book in the Sin Du Jour series (one for each of the 7 deadly sins) and I have to admit that while I was looking forward to reading the final book, I was also dreading it, because there will be no more slender volumes with these fantastic characters to read.  Here's the blurb:

Bronko and his team of crack chefs and kitchen staff have been serving the New York supernatural community for decades. But all that could be about to change.
The entity formerly known as Allensworth has been manipulating Bronko and his team from Day One, and the gang at Sin du Jour have had enough.
Old debts are called in, and an alliance is formed with the unlikeliest of comrades.
Publisher's Weekly: All-out war is nigh in the bittersweet, superb seventh and final installment (after Gluttony Bay) of Wallace’s series of novellas featuring Sin du Jour, caterers to the supernatural. Allensworth, Sin du Jour’s otherworldly former patron, has revealed his long game: using Sin du Jour as a cog in his plan to take over the world. With a heavy heart, head chef Bronko Luck gathers Lena Tarr, the newly recovered Darren, and the rest of the gang to ask them to fight for the tight-knit family they’ve built. They must summon every weapon in their motley magical arsenal to defeat a horde of presidential meat puppets, murderous gnomes, demon warriors, and more. Not everyone will survive, and some will prove that the greatest strength can come from the most unassuming souls. Humor, horror, absurdity, and a sharp eye for pop culture drive this series, and, in the midst of considerable chaos, Wallace brings emotional resonance to each of his singular characters. He opens his distinctly imaginative bag of tricks to deliver an epic finale that will break readers’ hearts while filling them with hope. Fans will be sad to see this series end and eager to learn what Wallace will come up with next.

So though we only lose 3 of the main characters, there's still more than a few good scenes that let fans of the series know that these deaths are not in vain. Wallaces prose is funky and fun, and his plots are unstoppable, fast and furious and often hilariously profane. I was glad to see Lena come into her own in this installment, and glad, too, to see the creator of the universe show up again for some scritches behind the ears at the end. There are about 60 more pages in this finale than there are in the previous books, but I still was left yearning for more. I can't really comment on much without providing huge spoilers, so I will just say that I loved the entire series. I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who has gobbled up any of the other Sin Du Jour novels and is ready to see the crew kick some major supernatural butt.

 

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (managing editor of Barnes and Noble.com) is a "dark urban fantasy" aimed at the YA market. I found it to veer far enough into the horror genre to be uncomfortable to me, (I dislike horror novels), yet it was well written enough that I was compelled to finish it. The plot is somewhat labyrinthine, and it at times feels like a darker version of Alice in Wonderland, but the fairy-tale world is well drawn here and makes more sense, in the end, than most deconstructed and/or retold tales. Here's the blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away—by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began—and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong. NYT Book Review: The Hazel Wood starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as you'd hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. It's a captivating debut.

I have to say that I was very disappointed that Finch had an ulterior motive and that he basically used Alice to get to the Hinterland so he could explore it. I had assumed that there was a real romantic connection with Finch and Alice. I was also surprised about Alice's origin story, and her bravery in being determined to find her mother and lead a "normal" life. The grandmother was pure evil, I felt, and I was glad she was actually dead by the time they found her. Unrelenting and unforgiving, this was a fast read, but one I would not have read if I would have known how far into the horror genre it would go. Still, it deserves a B-, and a recommendation to anyone who loves the scary/spooky side of fairy tales.

The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin (who is an ER Doctor in real life) was a huge surprise to me. I wasn't expecting to be so engaged in the life of a doctor and her best friend, (also a doctor) and I wasn't expecting the expert prose or fast-paced, heart-pounding plot that kept me turning pages long into the night. How Dr Martin found the time, being a wife, mother and physician, to add fiction author to her resume is beyond my understanding. She must never sleep. Here's the blurb:

A debut novel set against a background of hospital rounds and life-or-death decisions that pulses with humor and empathy and explores the heart's capacity for forgiveness...
Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're happily married wives and mothers with successful careers—Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years.
As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie's life—both professionally and personally—throughout a tragic chain of events in her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick's unexpected reappearance during a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.

I loved Zadie and loathed Emma pretty much from the third chapter on, because I could see that Emma was going to turn on her friend and then hide it, because she is one of those evil people who think that they somehow get a pass for shitty behavior because they were born to poor and abusive circumstances.(Sorry, I don't buy the "I've known hunger, therefore I can crap all over anyone who loves me in the future" shtick...there are plenty of people out there who grew up in poverty who managed to turn their lives around and not take out their childhood anger on others...my best friend was one of them). I also had no time for Nick, "Dr X" who uses his residents for sex and seems to have no qualms about doing so, or about lying to them. That said, Zadie is just a bit too kind and forgiving and pretty stupid when it comes to dealing with the people she loves, and her "klutzy" demeanor only adds to a somewhat immature vibe on her part. I felt Dr X should have faced major consequences for his actions (jail time would do him some good, smug asshat that he was) and Emma should have never been allowed to see or speak to Zadie ever again. She should have been more than ashamed of herself. She should have realized that her ugliness was her fault, (and the suicide of her boyfriend was also on her) and staying away from Zadie was the best thing to do, after telling her the truth, that is. At any rate, as you can see, the book sparked serious questions and made me think, which is what all good art does. It touches you in ways that you will never forget. Queen of Hearts deserves an A, and a recommendation to anyone who is interested in a behind the scenes peek at medicine and the training of physicians and surgeons.

Defy the Worlds by Claudia Gray is the sequel to Defy the Stars, which I read not too long ago. Gray's prose is sterling, and her plots are twisty and full of unexpected turns, but she still manages to tell a cohesive and fascinating story. Here's the blurb:  

An outcast from her home — Shunned after a trip through the galaxy with Abel, the most advanced cybernetic man ever created, Noemi Vidal dreams of traveling through the stars one more time. And when a deadly plague arrives on Genesis, Noemi gets her chance. As the only soldier to have ever left the planet, it will be up to her to save its people...if only she wasn't flying straight into a trap.

A fugitive from his fate — On the run to avoid his depraved creator's clutches, Abel believes he's said good-bye to Noemi for the last time. After all, the entire universe stands between them...or so he thinks. When word reaches him of Noemi's capture by the very person he's trying to escape, Abel knows he must go to her, no matter the cost.
But capturing Noemi was only part of Burton Mansfield's master plan. In a race against time, Abel and Noemi will come together once more to discover a secret that could save the known worlds, or destroy them all.
In this thrilling and romantic sequel to Defy the Stars, bestselling author Claudia Gray asks us all to consider where—and with whom—we truly belong.

This novel was a long 465 pages, and though I loved the characters, it seemed to be riddled with redundant scenarios in which Abel and Noemi were always trying to save one another by sacrificing their own lives. They seemed to come together, only to be ripped apart again and again. Now that the plague that was brought to Noemi's world by the evil forces on Earth (to subjugate those on Genesis, so Earth can take over) the hunt to find the cure and bring it to her planet becomes paramount, and Abel is tasked with uncovering the hidden planet conspiracy of his creator, who wants his mind and everyone else's transferred into cloned cybernetic beings who are part human, part machine. So there's plenty of the "evil scientists" vs "one good cyberbeing and his beloved soldier" stuff going on, while there's also the theme of the wealthy vs the vagabonds of society interwoven into the plot at the same time. I was entertained, though I felt the plot slowed down a couple of times, briefly, and since the book ends on a cliffhanger, I will anxiously await the third book in the series. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction/romance hybrids, or those who "shipped" Data and Tasha Yar on ST Next Generation, or Spock and any of the women he romanced in the original series.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society film, The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed,Volatile Bonds by Jaye Wells, The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale, Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt and Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

I've got five books to review today, so I don't have a lot of space for tidbits from Shelf Awareness, but this particular bit caught my eye because I loved this book, which I read with my book group years ago, and I've been looking forward to a film adaptation. Hopefully it will be released in the US shortly after it's released in the UK later this month. 

Foyles bookstore also has a role

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36629028

in the film version of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, the Bookseller reported.

The film stars Lily James, Michiel Huisman, Penelope Wilton and Matthew

Goode, is being directed by Mike Newell and is being produced by Paula

Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan from the Mazur/Kaplan Company (he is the owner

of Books & Books in southern Florida and the

Cayman Islands), along with Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin from

Blueprint Pictures.

The original Foyles flagship shop on Charing Cross Road in London is "a

main location in the film, as writer Juliet Ashton--played by

James--promotes her first novel in post-war London," the Bookseller

wrote.

The film will be released April 20 in the U.K.

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed was a book I read about on a list of female protagonist lead YA fiction that was supposed to be ground breaking and exciting. Fortunately, Nowhere Girls lived up to the hype, and I read it through in a day. The prose I'd liken to holding a sparkler, it's bright and entertaining, but also stings when the sparks land on your skin. The plot moves at lightening speed, and the characters are well drawn and realistic.Here's the blurb:

“Cuts straight to the core of rape culture—masterfully fierce, stirring, and deeply empowering.” —Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be
Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.
Who are the Nowhere Girls?
They’re every girl. But they start with just three:
Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.
Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.
Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android.
When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.
Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.

I agree with Amber Smith, in that this book cuts right to the heart of misogynist high school rape culture, where girls are objectified and vilified and preyed upon by boys who see them as nothing but disposable animals to use to assuage their own sexual desires and need for dominance and power. Though the three main girls don't really have a solid plan of what to do after they hold a meeting to try and change things, the fact that they meet with other girls who have experienced rape and sexual harassment at the school brings about a change in itself, especially in the main characters, who have to face their own fears and step up to change their own lives as well as trying to get justice for the girls who had been raped.  Other than a couple of 180s on the part of Rosina's mom and Erin's mom, the former of whom was ready to toss her daughter out on the street for being a lesbian and a rebel, and the latter of whom was smothering her daughter with fear and a really strict ridiculous raw food diet, there wasn't much of anything to criticize about this page turner of a novel. I was happy that justice was served in the end, but I was, as I always am with a good book, sad that the novel was ending at all, because I wanted more. A well deserved A, and I would recommend this to every teenager on the planet, especially the girls (though it would be great if the boys read it and became allies of the girls, instead of looking at them only as sexual beings). Bottom line, please read this book, it is well worth your time.

Volatile Bonds by Jaye Wells is the fourth book in the Prospero's War series of urban fantasy novels. I have, of course, read the other three, Dirty Magic, Cursed Moon and Deadly Spells, and I have to say that I was thrilled that in this book, Kate seemed mature enough that there was markedly less swearing and flapping around trying to find a good way to parent her younger brother. She set boundaries, made reasonable decisions and was willing to compromise and apologize when she was wrong. All of these things moved her character forward and helped her grow as a person. Wells prose is delicate and tough at the same time, while her plots zing along with alacrity.  Here's the blurb:

Magic is a drug. Dirty Deals Lead to Deadly Ends.

When the Magic Enforcement Agency is called out to the scene of a dirty magic lab explosion, a body with a bullet wound is found in the smoldering ruins. As Detective Kate Prospero and her partner, Special Agent Drew Morales, hunt down the killer, they uncover evidence that a dangerous new coven may be operating in the Cauldron.
It's not long before the bodies start piling up, and the heat is on for the team to make an arrest. Solving the murders will require unraveling dangerous alliances between the city's dirty magic covens. And if they're not careful, the new complexities of Morales and Prospero's own partnership threaten to make a volatile situation downright deadly.
So the new "super Viagra-like" drug, supposedly created by the Chinese (turns out that they're being set up) ends up killing people, and Kate and Morales have to figure out a way to find the people responsible for cooking the drug and diluting it, as well as reigning in the head of the sex magic coven, Aphrodite, a hermaphrodite who wants to marry herself and become immortal. One of the new characters, a Chinese coven member, actually has a unicorn horn that makes her immortal, and her interactions with the team were especially amusing and fascinating. Kate's relationship with Morales and with hottie mayor Volos is also scrutinized, and Morales is found somewhat wanting. At any rate, this was a book that I just could not put down, and I read it in an afternoon, and found myself thirsting for more. I gather that another Prospero book is due out this year, so I plan on being first in line to grab a copy. Another well deserved A with a recommendation for those who like female detectives with a paranormal bent in an urban fantasy environment. 

The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale is a unique fairy tale fantasy with horror elements that is written in old fashioned "fairy tale" style prose with a twisted plot that will keep you reading into the wee hours. Here's the blurb:
A girl with a secret talent must save her village from the encroaching darkness in this “achingly poetic” (Kirkus Reviews) and deeply satisfying tale.
Alys was seven the first time she saw the soul eaters.
These soul eaters are twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly grew into something not quite human. And they feed off of human souls. When her village was attacked, Alys was spared and sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think he is. And neither is Alys.
Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul. Publisher's Weekly: Alys was only seven when soul eaters killed the adults in the village of Gwenith. She was then taken to nearby Defaid, where she made a life with new parents. It isn’t much of a life, though: when soul eaters attack Defaid, a “great wooden Gate” is built around the village, and the children of Gwenith must guard the Gate through the night. Theirs is a colorless existence, and Alys feels the pull of the dark “fforest” surrounding the village, and the beast that lives there. From the sorrowful opening that introduces the soul eaters, van Arsdale’s lyrical debut spans about eight years, revealing the growing darkness Alys feels inside and the weight of the secret she carries. When Alys is accused of a terrible crime, she’s forced to leave the village and confront her destiny. Atmospheric and immersive, van Arsdale’s eerie fantasy keeps its focus on Alys’s struggle to reconcile who she is with what she wants to be as it builds toward a poignant and satisfying conclusion.
There is some of the same elements as Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" about The Beast is an Animal, and the book makes several excellent points about how Christianity (though the religion in the book is never called that, it bears a striking resembalance to Amish Christianity with it's rigid insistence on black and white rules and demonizing anything that is different or not "normal") has been used to force mediocre norms on anyone and everyone, so that the minister or pastor can rule his flock of "sheep" with an iron fist and fearof the "devil," herein called "the beast". The fear of others, of things they don't understand and therefore seek to destroy eventually destroys their entire village and many of the people in it, just as Alys learns that bitterness and hatred and anger at these fearful people also destroys the soul eaters and the great hole they've created out of that pain and fear. Love is the only way to heal the great hole, just as acceptance and love are what is needed to create a family that will grow and thrive, instead of wither and die. There is a ton of symbolism and metaphor in this novel, yet it also works on the level of a dark fairy tale with an HEA ending. It deserves an A, and a recommendation to anyone who enjoys folklore and myths and legends.

Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt is a mass market paranormal mystery with a female protagonist/sleuth that I picked up for a song at the Sequel Bookstore in Enumclaw. I was looking for some fun and light reading for inbetween the more serious fiction and nonfiction books I've been reading for book group. This breezy little tome fit the bill to a T. Here's the blurb: While her boss becomes entranced with a beautiful armoire at the countywide craft bazaar, Maggie can't help noticing the Amish craftsman who made it. Though his clothes may be plain, he himself is more handsome than a man sporting a jawline-only beard has any right to be. And he seems pretty aware that the ladies love his...furniture. But when the hunky craftsman turns up dead with a strange hex symbol near his corpse, Maggie wonders if the craft involved is the witchy kind.
The prose is crisp and cool, and the plot just intricate enough to keep you guessing, though most readers will solve the mystery by at least halfway through the novel. The romantic elements are done with a light touch, and they don't distract from the mystery itself, or from the interesting peek into the lives of the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish who populate the book. I'd give this story a B+, and recommend it as an airplane/airport read, or just a book to keep in your purse for long lines or waiting rooms at doctors offices. It's a nice distraction and a cozy read.

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston is a science fiction YA novel that has a steampunk flavor to it and an interesting young female protagonist whose love of a robot is reminiscent of the reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Here's the blurb:
An action-packed tale full of romance, royalty, and adventure, inspired by the story of Anastasia. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows, Cinder, and the cult classic television show Firefly.
Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.
Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.
When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.
What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?
Ana is found to be the lost Ironblood princess (who proves her identity by holding the iron crown and not having it rust in her hands, as it does in everyone elses) and the man who created the "metals" turns out to be an evil mastermind and fanatic who created a malicious computer virus that turns metals into killers and slaves to his evil ambitions. It seems no one wants Ana alive except for her pirate outlaw family, who still love her though she's gotten three of them killed during the course of the book by her reckless actions. I didn't really love Ana, I found her to be an immature idiot a lot of the time, but I wasn't terribly fond of her AI, nicknamed DI, either. Yet somehow, with all the other characters, they made a well plotted story with lyrical prose come alive. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reboots of old tales, like Cinder or Robin McKinley's Beauty.

RIP Anita Shreve, A Gentleman in Moscow on TV, Lake Silence by Anne Bishop, To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear, You Might As Well Die by JJ Murphy and Sea Of Memories by Fiona Valpy

RIP Anita Shreve, whose book Fortune's Rocks was one of those rare novels worth all the hype surrounding it. I sincerely believe that her books will indeed be read for generations to come.

Obituary Note: Anita Shreve

Bestselling author Anita Shreve

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36559488,

"who was beloved by fans around the world for her novels and for

encouraging other writers," died March 29, the Boston Globe reported.

She was 71. "Setting book after book in New England, Ms. Shreve used

prose that was both thoughtful and unsparing to offer intimate glimpses

of the emotional landscape of her characters and, not incidentally, the

region's topography," the Globe noted.

"I used to marvel at her research that was seamlessly integrated into

each book," said Elinor Lipman, a friend and fellow novelist. "The

research that she did showed, but not in such a way that you felt the

index cards being shuffled and flapping. It was all about the right time

and the right fact."

Shreve's career received a significant boost in 1999 when Oprah Winfrey

chose The Pilot's Wife for Oprah's Book Club. The novel was adapted for

film, as were Resistance and The Weight of Water. Shreve wrote some 20

books, including  Eden Close, Fortune's Rocks, Stella Bain, Strange Fits

of Passion, Testimony and Sea Glass.

Jordan Pavlin, her editor at Knopf, which published her final work, The

Stars Are Fire, said: "Anita's writing has touched the lives of millions

of readers around the world, and she did some of her most elegant, rich,

and unforgettable work in the last years of her life. Her body of work

is extraordinary, and her books will continue to be read for

generations."

My fellow Sagittarian Kenneth Branagh is going to be on another adapted novel turned TV show, which should be good. 

TV: A Gentleman in Moscow

Kenneth Branagh will re-team with Mark Gordon of Entertainment One on a

TV adaptation of Amor Towles's bestselling novel A Gentleman in Moscow

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36589924,

Deadline reported. They recently worked together on the film version of

Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. For the new project,

Branagh is attached to play Count Alexander Rostov and produce Tom

Harper's adaptation.

"A Gentleman in Moscow is a life-affirming book full of humour and charm

that brings together the profound, the political and the personal,"

Harper added. "I am thrilled to be working with Ken, whose masterful

talent will allow us to bring this extraordinary story to life."

Towles tweeted: "I'm thrilled to announce that Kenneth Branagh has

signed on to star in the TV adaptation of A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW to be

directed by Tom Harper @tomharps. Up the stairs of the Metropol he'll go

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz36589925 two steps at

a time, as has been his habit since the academy!"

April has been a mixed bag of a month so far. I've been sick with pneumonia for the past 10 days, so I've had a lot of time to sit in bed and read and cough. Hence the four books I'll be reviewing here today. 

Lake Silence, by Anne Bishop is not a direct sequel to her Others novels, its a story set in the same world as the Others, but with a different set of characters in another town. I've read all of Bishops Others novels, which are very well written and plotted, otherwise I would eschew them for their divergence into horror fiction territory (all the humans in the novels are considered prey/meat by the terra indigene, or Others who basically own the entire world). Here's the blurb: In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, an inn owner and her shape-shifting lodger find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.
Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others—vampires, shape-shifters, and even deadlier paranormal beings. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget....
After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns such as Vicki's don't have any distance from the Others, the dominant predators who rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what is out there watching you.
Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe—one of the shape-shifting Others—discovers a murdered man, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, ancient forces are roused by the disturbance in their domain. They have rules that must not be broken—and all the destructive powers of nature at their command.
As with the later books in the regular Others series, it's bad, greedy humans who are trying to seize and despoil the land for their own gain vs the Intuits and the good humans who just want to get along with the Others and Elementals and Elders who populate their world, and live in peace, side by side. One of the bad humans is Vicki's abusive ex-husband and a group of grifters who go by the Tie Clip Club, collectively, who want to take the Jumble, which Vicki gained during her divorce, and turn it into a huge resort with a private beach on Lake Silence, which is populated by several watery elementals and an elder. Because she was abused Vicki is something of a wimpy woman who blames herself for her abuse and has panic/anxiety attacks around domineering men. Of course, all the good males, even Other males, rally around Miss Vicki and do their utmost to protect and defend her when the going gets rough and the TCC and her husband try to force her to get the Others in line so they can build their resort. The result of this is many dead bullies, though unfortunately, Vicki's ex Yorick, isn't one of them. (The character names are fairly weird in this novel, but believe it makes the atmosphere seem even more alien and exotic to use names that are not common). Though I do not like "childish" female characters reduced to constantly being the damsel in distress, rescued by the males of any species, here I believe that Bishop was trying to make a point, in a ham-handed way, that women who are abused suffer mental illness long after the abuse is over. Noted. I'd give this chunky novel a B+, and recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed her Other novels. 

To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear is the 15th Maisie Dobbs mystery, all of which I've read and enjoyed. The one takes place in 1940, during the early part of WW2, in England, and Maisie is set to solve the mystery of what happened to a teenage boy who died under suspicious circumstances. Here's the blurb:
Maisie Dobbs—one of the most complex and admirable characters in contemporary fiction (Richmond Times Dispatch)—faces danger and intrigue on the home front during World War II.
During the months following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, Maisie Dobbs investigates the disappearance of a young apprentice working on a hush-hush government contract. As news of the plight of thousands of soldiers stranded on the beaches of France is gradually revealed to the general public, and the threat of invasion rises, another young man beloved by Maisie makes a terrible decision that will change his life forever.
Maisie’s investigation leads her from the countryside of rural Hampshire to the web of wartime opportunism exploited by one of the London underworld’s most powerful men, in a case that serves as a reminder of the inextricable link between money and war. Yet when a final confrontation approaches, she must acknowledge the potential cost to her future—and the risk of destroying a dream she wants very much to become reality.
I was glad to see Maisie get back to solving cases with her intuition and grit, and I was also glad to read about Billy Beale and his family and their son who only had a shoulder wound after the battle at Dunkirk. Priscilla was particularly annoying in this novel, however, sticking her nose in where she shouldn't, being hysterical and being a bother about her son, which helps no one in the end. I felt like smacking her at least twice, and was amazed that Maisie was able to keep her cool throughout Priscilla's flapping around. Her middle son seemed just as stupid, haring off on a rescue mission that cost him his friend and his arm. Still, Maisie's attempts to adopt a little war orphan and to keep her business going without putting her workers in danger was brilliantly rendered by Winspear's magnificent prose. A solid A, with the recommendation to anyone who likes wartime mysteries set in England.

You Might As Well Die by JJ Murphy is billed as an Algonquin Round Table Mystery that features the inimitable Dorothy Parker, writer and witty New York journalist, as the main detective, along with her fellow round table wits Benchley and Woollcott. Here's the blurb: When second-rate illustrator Ernie MacGuffin's artistic works triple in value following his apparent suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge, Dorothy Parker smells something fishy. Enlisting the help of magician and skeptic Harry Houdini, she goes to a séance held by MacGuffin's mistress, where Ernie's ghostly voice seems hauntingly real...
The prose was lackluster and the wit seemed forced and cliched, along with the easy-to-figure-out plot, which became boring and plodding. I found myself counting pages until the end, which is never a good sign when I am trying to be engrossed in a novel. I think Dorothy's estimation of Kate Hepburn's acting (which was something to the effect of "she had the entire range of emotions, from A to B") applies here as well, with the lack of range in this bizarre, ridiculous and stunted little mystery. I would give it a D, and only recommend it to those who are huge fans of Dorothy Parker or the Gonk. 

Sea Of Memories by Fiona Valpy is, I believe, a self published novel that takes place in the years leading to, and during WWII. Though the prose is at times amateurish, the plot sails along on calm waters, and the characters are fairly sturdy. Here's the blurb:
When Kendra first visits her ailing grandmother, Ella has only one request: that Kendra write her story down, before she forgets…
In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella’s life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful Île de Ré and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe. They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free.
But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré. Can she ever find her way back? And does she want to?
From the windswept Île de Ré to the rugged hills of Scotland, Sea of Memories is a spellbinding journey about the power of memory, love and second chances.
A real page-turner that is more historical romance than any other genre, I enjoyed Valpy's use of the conceit of the grand daughter writing down her grandmas memories so that her mother, who is estranged from granny, will understand what really happened all those years ago with Christophe on the coast. I did feel that Angus using her innocent love as a teenager of Christophe as an excuse to have an affair was completely unjustified, and the fact that he seemed to feel no remorse made me even angrier at him, and I felt he should not have been given a pass for this shoddy treatment of his wife and children at all. I also felt that Ella should have told her children about their fathers affair straight out, instead of trying to protect their image of him, while damaging her own. Still, there was something of an HEA ending, and I enjoyed the journey of the book tremendously. I'd give it an A, and recommend the novel to anyone who likes historical romances set in exotic locales.