The Invasion

The Invasion by Peadar O'Guilin

This is the sequel to The Call which I previously reviewed HERE.

If you haven't read The Call, and would like it to remain unspoiled, do not read this review. It will undoubtedly contain spoilers for The Call. Like I may already be planning on spending a little explaining on where we left off in The Call so we can get into the nitty gritty of the The Invasion. Just saying.

An amazon summary, "After so much danger, Nessa and Anto can finally dream of a happy life. But the terrible attack on their school has created a witch-hunt for traitors -- boys and girls who survived the Call only by making deals with the enemy. To the authorities, Nessa's guilt is obvious. Her punishment is to be sent back to the nightmare of the Grey Land for the rest of her life. The Sídhe are waiting, and they have a very special fate planned for her.

Meanwhile, with the help of a real traitor, the enemy come pouring into Ireland at the head of a terrifying army. Every human they capture becomes a weapon. Anto and the last students of his old school must find a way to strike a blow at the invaders before they lose their lives, or even worse, their minds. But with every moment Anto is confronted with more evidence of Nessa's guilt.
For Nessa, the thought of seeing Anto again is the only thing keeping her alive. But if she escapes, and if she can find him, surely he is duty-bound to kill her..." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

END OF THE CALL WRAP UP. Nessa is alive and fire proof, Anto is alive and has a giant, malformed arm that's super strong, Connor is dead, and their knowledge of the Grey Land has increased dramatically. They've known that the Sidhe want to reclaim Ireland, but they didn't know they needed a king to do it.

NOW, THE INVASION! At the beginning of the book, Nessa is being driven to see Anto, where they both dream of beginning their happily after nightmare, but Nessa is claimed by the government. She's taken off to jail as they're convinced she's a traitor. Anto is also taken by the government for a mission. He's assigned to a task force that takes down abnormalities that are caused by the Sidhe/Grey Land. While in prison, Nessa is thrown through a battery of tests with another prisoner who has reached the age of 25 without ever being called. Within the prison, they discover the government has been keeping a Sidhe on lockdown, which sets off a chain of events that makes the book a bit of a wild ride all through the end.

That's enough summary.

SO, I think I liked the second book even more then the first one because I was already in love with the first book. The characters continued to grow, the horrors kept mounting at a good place, each event, interaction, dialogue all served a purpose, and the world building only got better. It still laid bare the different traits of humanity in their weaker moments, and it still was fantastic to witness Nessa's sheer level of badassery. There was also more about the Nation in general which I found pretty fascinating.

THIS IS A SPOILER. The book does end in an epilogue, which is good on one hand because we kind of get some closure on what happens in the end to all the characters. It's also sad because it feels like there's not going to be any more books in this series. I SIGNIFICANTLY HOPE THERE ARE MORE BOOKS.

Like with most books I really, really loved, it gets a little harder for me to talk about because I don't want to accidentally ruin any bit of it.

So.

Happy reading!

Long Way Down

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

This is going to be an odd blog post. I recently saw Jason Reynolds speak, and I'm going to talk about that as well as this book.

First, I'll talk about the book. I read the book before I saw Jason Reynolds speak, so it kind of makes sense I talk about the book first. The book is also written in poems.

A kind of long amazon summary (but it's worth it, just stick with it; the inside cover of the book is much more succinct), "An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestseller Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

A cannon. A strap.A piece. A biscuit.A burner. A heater.A chopper. A gat.A hammerA toolfor RULE
Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES.
And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if WILL gets off that elevator.
Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

So, the book is written in poems, which I kind of loved. Normally, I don't leap towards books in that format, but this book came highly recommended. I think the poems really helped emphasize the story. It's a very tense situation, and I think the poems kind of drove the reader through it at an unrelenting pace, which matches the context of the story.

Before I get ahead of myself, the story is about Will. Will knows the 3 rules; no crying, no snitching, and revenge. Will's brother, Shawn, is shot when he was bringing skin ointment home to his mother. Shawn's girlfriend immediately tries to protect Shawn, but Will knows he's dead. He mourns, his mother mourns, his family and friends mourn, but Will is hell bent on revenge; the third rule.

He knows Shawn kept a gun in the middle drawer that didn't quite fit in the dresser right, he knows who killed Shawn, and he's going to follow the third rule, to get revenge. He enters the elevator, and as he starts descending from the 7th floor to the lobby, another ghost steps onto the elevator at each floor. 

That's enough summary. 

Something that stuck out to me a lot about this book, is the powerful imagery woven throughout the story. Even the middle drawer in the dresser that didn't quite fit, is kind of symbolic how violence shouldn't ever fit into a child's life. I also think the second ghost, Dani, is also symbolic of the moment Will lost his childhood innocence.

It's a powerful book because it establishes normals about Will's life that shouldn't be normal. He shouldn't know so many people lost to shoot outs in the street. He shouldn't have these three rules to operate by. He shouldn't have to live a life that is outfitted to survive, not to live.

NOW WE'RE GOING TO CHARGE FULL INTO SPOILER LAND. I'll make another big caps thing for when I talk about listening to Jason Reynolds speak, so you can skip ahead to that if you're curious.

At the end of the book, the last ghost Will sees is his brother Shawn.The last poem of the book is two words, "YOU COMING?" The pivotal moment of the book is asking if Will is going to follow through with rule 3 and actually seek revenge for his brother's death. Throughout the story we see how terrified Will is to shoot someone, he doesn't even really know how to use the gun. The ghosts kind of point out that if he kills the killer, he's only continuing the cycle of violence. Based on all of Will's other vivid emotions and kind of abject terror at killing someone, I'm going to argue that he chooses not to continue the cycle of violence, but it is choice that will haunt him for the rest of his life. I will say this book is definitely what I call a 'haunting' book. The story resonates on a deeper level, and I've been thinking about it even though I finished reading it three books or so ago. I suspect I'll think about it on and off for a while.

PEOPLE WHO WANTED NO SPOILERS BUT WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT JASON REYNOLDS TALK, NOW IS THE TIME TO COME BACK.

First, Jason Reynolds is a fantastic speaker. He had the audience actively engaged the entire time, and his speech was filled with passion. I kind of wish it was on Netflix. Anyways, he talked about his life and particular events that happened, but something really stuck out to me. Jason didn't read when he was going through school; it wasn't until college that he started reading. Then he went back and read everything. The biggest reason he chose not to read when he was younger, because none of those books were about him so to speak. He couldn't find a representation of himself within a story, so he didn't read the stories. It just really stuck with me. If you want to read more about Jason Reynolds, here's a link to the bio on his website: http://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/bio/

Happy reading!

Brightly Burning

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

I read an advance reader copy of this book. This book will be published on May 1, 2018. It is uncorrected proof.

And now, it is time, for a SPACE OPERAAAA!!! Are you excited? Get excited!

An amazon summary BUT skipping all the hype, "Stella Ainsley leaves poverty behind when she quits her engineering job aboard the Stalwart to become a governess on a private ship. On the Rochester, there’s no water ration, more books than one person could devour in a lifetime, and an AI who seems more friend than robot.
But no one warned Stella that the ship seems to be haunted, nor that it may be involved in a conspiracy that could topple the entire interstellar fleet. Surrounded by mysteries, Stella finds her equal in the brooding but kind, nineteen-year-old Captain Hugo. When several attempts on his life spark more questions than answers, and the beautiful Bianca Ingram appears at Hugo’s request, his unpredictable behavior causes Stella’s suspicions to mount. Without knowing who to trust, Stella must decide whether to follow her head or her heart.Alexa Donne’s lush and enthralling reimagining of the classic Jane Eyre, set among the stars, will seduce and beguile you." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

FIRST OFF, everyone is up in spaceships because there's an ice age currently happening on Earth. The entire planet is frozen, so some people were able to escape into spaceships in space, but not everyone. The planet has been frozen for a few generations and they're in space just waiting for it to be on earth again. No, they never bring up any ideas of colonizing the Moon or Mars. I should say, it's a romantic space opera.

SECOND OFF, it is a reimagining of Jane Eyre. If you've read Jane Eyre, there will be a lot of similar plot points between the two stories, but just remember SPACEEEEE, right? Space makes everything more exciting, or something like that. Eh?

THIRD OFF, the main character is an engineer but also a teacher. Which means, when the ships has repairs, she is involved with the process. However, there's not a lot of hard science going on, just kind of a general layout of what systems need to be repaired, and what they're general function is.

I think that's enough offs, right?

So Stella is a engineer/teacher on board the Stalwart, but she's been desperately applying for jobs on other space ships as she really just wants to be a teacher. However, her skills as an engineer are too valuable on board the Stalwart in order for her to be a full time teacher. However, however, she's also originally from the Empire, and was part of an orphan relocation program. She wound up on the Stalwart and became BFFs with George. They refer to themselves as the Empire orphans.

Anyways, Stella manages to land a job as a teacher aboard the Rochester. She leaves the Stalwart to join the eccentric crew on board the Rochester. There's a huge difference between the Stalwart and the Empire; the Stalwart carries a lot of people, has farming on it, and is kind of falling apart slowly but surely. The Rochester has maybe 10-12 people at most, doesn't seem to accomplish a particular task in the survival of the human race (it's a rich private ship), and is fully functioning. Stella has gotten a serious upgrade, but there's something kind of creepy going on aboard the Rochester.

That's enough summary...

So, despite some of the problematic things about the book, I kind of loved it until there was a turning point. Then the pacing of the book went full throttle rather than the great character development, relationship portrayals, and world building that was happening until this point. It's almost like the author was in such a rush to reveal a lot of the kind of mysteries going on, that they couldn't be bothered to do the rest anymore.

I also found the lack of crime super problematic about the book, especially when there was a lot of distinctions about the wealthy versus the poor and how they were treated. There was a lot of thinly veiled like, "Haha they'll just shove them out of the air lock if they're badddd" which only asks for more questions that are never addressed.

So while I enjoyed the lead up for the most part, there was a lot more aspects about the world I expected to be addressed, especially because it's set in space. Especially because they were shoved up there because of the ice age. Like how did the governing body form? Was it a power struggle? How did they manage to not fight amongst themselves? I suspect it was set a few generations after the freeze so these questions wouldn't be answered........but the main character is a TEACHER. There was ample opportunity to use some lessons to cover some of these basic questions, but Stella would think like, "The kids love it when I teach art!" ...and that's kind of it. I just needed a few more critical elements about the world to make more sense.

Happy reading!

One Hundred Spaghetti Strings

One Hundred Spaghetti Strings by Jen Nails

This book has a younger narrator than what I normally read (fifth grader) but it's such a fantastic, cute, and wholesome story told with such relentless honesty.

Plus it involved cooking and shared the recipes discussed throughout the story. YES PLEASE.

An amazon summary, "This brave and heartwarming middle grade novel will leave your belly rumbling and your heart full. Because when life hands you lemons, it’s time to get cooking! Perfect for fans of Sarah Weeks, Leslie Connor, and Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

Since Steffy was little, she and her older sister, Nina, have lived with their beloved Auntie Gina. But when the girls’ dad comes home to live with them, everything changes. So Steffy does what she does best: She cooks her way through the hardest year of her life.

Sometimes it feels like everything but the kitchen sink is being thrown at her—too many ingredients that don't quite work. And all Steffy wants is for her family to be whole again. Can her recipes help bring them back together?

One Hundred Spaghetti Strings also includes over twenty recipes—which Steffy cooks throughout the book—so aspiring young chefs can try them out when they’re done reading!" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Steffy and her sister Nina have lived with their beloved Auntie Gina since their Mom was in an accident. Their father took off around the same time, so Auntie Gina has been taking care of them ever since. As their father comes home, Auntie Gina moves out, and both Steffy and Nina are struggling to understand who their Dad and how to establish a new normal for them. Steffy is also a cook. She may have a hard time with finding the right words to say to people, but she often puts her best foot forward in trying to understand what kind of food they might like, and to serve them that.

Steffy also has an autobiography project to do where she needs to write about herself, but also have the people in her life write letters describing who she is as well. As her whole life has changed so drastically, she starts to struggle with who she is; is she defined by family?

There's also her mom. Her mom lives in "The Place" where every time Steffy and Nina visit, they have to remind their mom of who they are. Her mom had a traumatic brain injury in the car accident, and seems to be a fully functional human being in most senses except she cannot establish memories easily.

That's enough summary.

So what I really, really appreciated about this book was as the situations unfolded, Steffy was a brilliant narrator as she found her own way through her now tumultuous life. The biggest aspect that appealed to me was how much she tried to understand everybody else so she could talk (or cook) for them better. She just wanted to get to know you. There was also a good sense of the struggle a lot of fifth graders face going through their transition into a more independent place.

Steffy also seemed to fight a lot for what she thought a family should be; have meals together, talk to each other, hang out together, etc; basically just be part of each other's lives (like how it was when Auntie Gina lived with them). To get to that place with their father who they very rarely had contact with up until this point.

The more Steffy learns about her father, just how she processes everything as she learns, is so well done. Her character development, frustrations, and how she tries to cope with situations feels very authentic.

This book felt like a friend telling you a story. Just pull up a chair, grab a warm beverage, and settle in; you're in for a good story.

Happy reading!

Murder, Magic, and What We Wore

Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones

I loveeeee books that have women as spies running around in high society. Gail Carriger and Sarah Zettel are authors who have fun series in this genre (which I've reviewed some of their books on this blog). I get pretty geeked out whenever I stumble across another one, so good.

Complete sidenote on the cover. One day, I hope the young adult genre can move beyond putting headless women on the cover. Or headless people in general. It's freaking unnerving, please stop.

An amazon summary without all of the weird intro/review stuff, "The year is 1818, the city is London, and 16-year-old Annis Whitworth has just learned that her father is dead and all his money is missing. And so, of course, she decides to become a spy.
 Annis always suspected that her father was himself a spy, and following in his footsteps to unmask his killer makes perfect sense. Alas, it does not make sense to England’s current spymasters—not even when Annis reveals that she has the rare magical ability to sew glamours: garments that can disguise the wearer completely. Well, if the spies are too pigheaded to take on a young woman of quality, then Annis will take them on. And so she crafts a new double life for herself. Miss Annis Whitworth will appear to live a quiet life in a country cottage with her aunt, and Annis-in-disguise as Madame Martine, glamour artist, will open a magical dressmaking shop. That way she can earn a living, maintain her social standing, and, in her spare time, follow the coded clues her father left behind and unmask his killer.  It can’t be any harder than navigating the London social season, can it?" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Annis lives in London with her Aunt Cassia while her father constantly travels for work. Her mother died when she was quite young, which is why her Aunt lives with them (to look after Annis). Her father is due to return home soon-ish, but they receive word that he's died in a carriage accident. Annis and Aunt Cassia are thrown into the struggles of trying not to become destitute. Growing up, Annis figured out that her father was a spy, and she wishes to pursue his career path somehow. Annis contacts the war office and tries to launch her career as a spy, only to find that they are not wanting of her services. She also discovers that she may sew glamours and enchant certain qualities into clothing. She and her Aunt Cassia move out to the nearby country with their maid Millie, and Annis spends her time disguising herself as Madame Martine.

That's enough summary. The one thing that is unusual about this book within this genre, is that it lacks the humor that other books relish in, especially in this time period. The book is still very engaging, but I find Annis is rather vexing with how slowly she puts together clues. She's slightly an unreliable narrator with her lack of being able to put together some clear clues about the circumstances of her own life.

That being said, the story had great world building, great character growth, and a great sense to build relationships between characters. It also had the great sense to fill in the social expectations/norms of the time as they went along, rather than a one lump sum of world building in the beginning.

Most surprising to me, I really enjoyed Millie's character the most. She had the most surprising and quirky aspects about her, but it also kind of helped to break of Annis' very self-centered narrations (which got better over the course of the book - yay character growth).

All in all, I thought this was a pretty fun book. I wish more of the magic had been explained, but I suspect if there's a book 2 (which there should??? be), we'll probably get to see more of it there. I'm also kind of hoping this will be a series told from multiple narrators over the course of the books. So book 1 is Annis, maybe book 2 will be Millie, maybe book 3 will be Aunt Cassia. I don't know, but I have hopes for this to be a series.

Happy reading!

Before I Let Go

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Warning: This book has themes of suicide and bipolar disorder. If those topics do not interest you or you do not want to read about them, I would not read any further.

This book is also kind of creepy in general. I'm not a fan of books that are out to terrify me, but this read more along the vibe, "I always feel like someone is watching me. HELLO???" which I was mostly okay with.

An amazon summary, "Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town's lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she's a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter..." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Before I Let Go follows the journey of Corey returning to her hometown of Lost Creek, Alaska to mourn the death of her best friend, Kyra. Upon her return, the townspeople of Lost Creek start treating Corey like a stranger, and no one is really giving Corey any clear answers on Kyra's death.

....which is really enough explanation.

So the whole book is weird mash up of trying to figure out the circumstances surrounding Kyra's death, exploring the relationship between Corey and Kyra, and also dealing with the absolute weirdness of the townspeople of Lost Creek. It doesn't really do any of that well at all.

This also didn't feel like Lost Creek, Alaska. This felt like it could be any little town, practically anywhere. There were a few points made about the snow, cold, isolation, can be reached by plane, but they were so minor, I often forgot this was supposed to take place in Alaska.

The book was also broken up into small chapters, which helped build tension and suspense. It was an easy read...but I only made it to the end because I wanted to know what the twist was.

So we're just going to go into SPOILER LAND.

BEGIN SPOILER LAND.

I'm pretty disappointed in the mild LGBT+ theme. There's a moment between Kyra and Corey where Kyra is admitting she likes Corey, and Corey isn't interested in that way. But it's this little blip of a moment that felt more like asking a semi-friendly acquaintance, "how are you?". It felt very tacked in, like a desperate attempt to add more themes to this book, which really just led to diluting anything good about the themes already at play. Kyra and Corey very rarely fight, so there's no tension there either. But also, Corey is asexual or aromantic; it's not really crystal clear in the book. They're called asexual on the page, but it reads as an aromantic response/mindset.

I also found Kyra's bipolar disorder problematic. The other characters in the story know Kyra is more than her bipolar disorder (BPD), however, it also seems to be a crutch to explain any eccentric behavior Kyra exhibited. Almost like it's suddenly an ABNORMAL thing to enjoy painting, when painting is a pretty common behavior (wine and paint, anyone?). There was also a lack of balance between showcasing character development from Kyra (there was none) and how that played with her BPD. Kyra had more unique circumstances, personality traits, and conversation than Corey, but I still felt Kyra's character was woefully underdeveloped.

Corey is also bland as hell. It reminded me a lot of Bella from Twilight. The narrator is just kind of there, reacting to the situations, not making any unique choices or offering a different perspective, and the story just kind of drifts on.

There was also no suspense. The townspeople almost immediately started telling Corey it was Kyra's time, or Kyra's natural end from the moment Corey landed in the town. So when you find out towards the end of the book the townspeople literally stood around the frozen lake and watched Kyra go out too far and fall through the ice, killing her self, and the townspeople did nothing to stop her, it's not really that much of a twist. I find it very unnerving that Kyra's suicide has no intervention and also comes across as widely accepted by the townspeople (except for Corey). An entire town of people was fine with a young teenage woman, killing herself. By drowning in a lake. EXCUSE ME?! What exactly are you trying to say book???? Whatever lesson you're trying to teach or accomplish in that moment feels entirely misguided.

THERE WAS ALSO NO TWIST. GRAHHHHHHHH. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to work through the entire book, only to turn the last page and have the, "That's it?" reaction. It felt like there was a lot of lead up to a whole lot of nothing. Booo, booo!!!

Happy reading!

Seafood Udon Soup

Seafood Udon Soup

Surprise! It's a recipe!

This is something I've had at restaurants from time to time, and I had a craving for it the other day.

However.

Most of the recipes I was able to find online were an odd assortment of things (or perhaps I just suck at google, always a possibility). So I decided to do a combination of compare a ton of recipes, and analyze the common components before I arrived at this.

I also went kind of less is more as far as ingredient variations, but you could also easily add vegetables like carrots, cabbage, or whatever you want to this recipe too.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of raw (and thawed) shrimp
• 16 oz of scallops
• 16 oz of imitation crab, cut into bite sized pieces
• 8 oz diced portabella mushrooms
• 1/2 cup (approximately) diced scallions (aka green onions)
• 1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce
• 8 cups of less sodium chicken broth
• 14 oz udon noodles

Directions:

1. Prepare udon noodles per package instructions. Set aside.
2. In a 8 qt soup pot (or a very large pot that can contain a lot of soup), add chicken broth and soy sauce. Cook on low.
3. Add portabella mushrooms and scallions to soup pot. Stir.
4. Add shrimp, scallops, and imitation crab.
5. Cover pot. Continue to cook on low for 15-20 minutes or until shrimp is cooked (turns pink), stirring occasionally.
6. Add udon noodles.
7. Simmer soup for about 10-15 minutes, stir occasionally.
8. Serve warm.

That's it! Pretty easy, right? Like I said before, different kinds of vegetables could be easily added to this, and add them at step 3. I also prefer less crazy amounts of salts, hence the low sodium soy sauce & chicken broth. If you love salt, just use the regular soy sauce and chicken broth.

Happy cooking!