Leaving Blythe River by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Fiction

Seventeen year old Ethan and his mom are planning a trip to South America but when they arrive at the airport, an error sends them back home. When they arrive at their New York apartment, they find Ethan's dad with his secretary. Ethan storms off and eventually gets mugged on the streets; his mom also leaves.

In a few months, it's a whole new living arrangement. Ethan's dad has moved in to a cabin in the woods and he and his mom stay in New York, only to find that his grandmother has suffered a serious medical condition and needs help. Ethan's mom sends him to stay with his dad. The two aren't talking to each other so it's going to be an uncomfortable situation. Add on top of that, Ethan is not an outdoors person.

Eventually, when Ethan's dad goes missing, Ethan needs to become what he doesn't think he is: brave. This is the story of a young man pushing himself to the limits to find his father, but also find himself.

This story pulls you in and makes for a very easy read. But I found all the scenarios that lead up to Ethan's being out in the wilderness too coincidental. His dad cheats, for some reason decides to move out to the middle of no where (why? how does this fit his character? what is he doing about work?), and then Ethan's grandmother gets sick and his mom must leave to take care of her, without Ethan. The entire purpose of the book is for Ethan to be out in the woods but the story leading up to that didn't feel entirely flushed out.

I enjoyed his journey out in the wilderness with his neighbours. The fights they had between them, the animals they travelled with, how they were sore and where they camped. This was the most enjoyable part of the book. The lessons that Ethan learned about himself were a little stereotypical but the book did end realistically.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour!

First Line: "Ethan remembers the shaking most clearly."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

About the Author Catherine Ryan Hyde is author of many books, taker of many pictures, and rider of one horse. She likes to hike and kayak and plans on trekking the lower Himalayas of Nepal. Find her on Twitter, Facebook and at her website.

Win a copy of Leaving Blythe River by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Lost Kin by Steve Anderson

Historical Fiction

In Post-WWII Munich, the Americans and German police have control of the city. Anyone associated with Nazis or SS officers are being jailed. Those that have different nationality are being repatriated back to their country, whether they want to or not. Harry Kasper is an American officer who hasn't heard from his brother, Max, who was a German officer. Irina, a Cossack refugee asks specifically for Harry stating that she knows his brother and leads him directly to a dead German officer, dressed as an American. Harry finds himself involved with a bunch of Cossacks being hunted by the Russians, but not friendly with the Allies. If the Russians find them, they will be killed. If the Allies find them, they'll be sent back to Russia because of the repatriation agreements. Harry looks for his brother and a way to save these people.

I've read quite a few fiction books that focus around WWII. I've never read about post-WWII and the repatriation efforts. I had no idea this happened and I'm glad to have been educated on it. Anderson obviously did his research on this and the description of the politics behind it I'm sure will make anyone frustrated. There wasn't too much description of those caught in the middle since the story focused more on the characters trying to help these folks out. But the descriptions that were given made me believe it would be terrifying.

The book was a slow go. In my opinion, the main point of this book is for Harry to work with his brother to help save the Cossacks. Yet we aren't even introduced to that problem until half way through the book. The first half of the book felt like it was about almost nothing. It introduced a few characters, but didn't do a good job of keeping my attention.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour!

Rating:
(3/5)

About the Author Years ago, Steve Anderson planned to become a history professor. He landed a Fulbright Fellowship in Munich. Then he discovered fiction writing — he could make stuff up, he realized, using history and research to serve the story. Now Anderson writes novels that often introduce a little-known aspect of historical events, mixing in overlooked crimes, true accounts, and neglected underdogs. Find him on Twitter, Facebook and at his website.

Lamb by Christopher Moore

Humour

We know a lot about Jesus's birth and his 30s when he starts to spread the word of God. But what about his time as a kid and teenager? What was he like? Enter Biff, Jesus' (or Joshua) childhood friend. Biff follows Josh around as he searches for what it means to be the Messiah. Biff invent sarcasm, the two make a tradition of eating Chinese food as Jews on Jesus' birthday, and they figure out that coffee tastes much better with milk.

This isn't an easy book to write a review for. I enjoyed how smart this book was. Moore did a good job of coming up with things that Biff and Josh discovered, created, or were part of starting traditions for. His descriptions of these events made complete sense in the context he wrote them and were entertaining.

I've read quite a few Moore books now and think this ranks up there in the top 3.

First Line: "The angel was cleaning out his closet when the call came."

Rating:
(4/5)

Plane Insanity by Elliott Hester

Memoir

Elliott Hester is a flight attendant for a major American airline. He flies all kinds of routes, though many of his stories seem to include routes to South America. He lets us know what it's like to be a flight attendant and all the quirky stories that go along with it. The stories range from funny to gross. It's an interesting look in to this life, which you would normally only see for a few hours at a time.

Having just finished a book that looked inside the world of waiters (Waiter Rant), it's hard not to draw comparisons to this book. And unfortunately for this book, I found Waiter Rant better. There were a couple of reasons for this.

First, I found like Hester had no passion for what he was doing. He worked this for a job and then expected us to care about what he did in his job. As a result, you only care about the stories but not much about Hester himself. Some of the responses he gave customers I would consider unprofessional given the industry he's in. Sure, some of the customers are jerks and deserve worse, but in the service industry you still need to be polite to people (up to a certain point, I guess). Hester seemed snippy with most everyone and it just made me glad that I've never been on a flight with him before.

The second is Hester's continuous negative description of people. For example, there was an incident on one of his flights where a flyer has a heart attack so they call for a doctor. There is a doctor, but apparently he's fat. So Hester says the doctor waddles down the aisle like a pregnant lady and then every time this doctor is mentioned again, he's called some form of fat. Why? The doctor wasn't even a major player in the story, nor had he treated anyone poorly.

All in all, I think Hester's a bit of an ass himself, which made it hard for me to like this book.

First Line: "I never wanted to be a flight attendant."

Rating:
(2.5/5)

Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica

Memoir

In another blog-to-book, Waiter Rant examines the operations at the front of the house for a restaurant. Steve finds himself out of work in his thirties and not knowing what to do. His brother gets him a waiter gig at the restaurant he's working in and Steve carried on in this career for many more years than normal. He eventually becomes the head waiter at a restaurant he calls simply 'The Bistro'. It's an upscale Italian restaurant. There are many tales: funny, horrifying, sad, uplifting, I could go on. This book has been billed as the waiter version of Kitchen Confidential, which I haven't read so I can't compare to. But I get the feeling it doesn't quite measure up.

If you start this book with the understanding that you're going to be reading fluff, you'll be ok. It's fun fluff. There isn't too much substance. There's a little bit of self-righteousness. You have to let it slide. This waiter does try to tell you how you should act at a fine dining establishment. As someone who is pretty certain I have never caused problems for a restaurant, it did annoy me a little. But I let Dublanica's preachy parts just slide on by and enjoy the juicy bits. I enjoyed hearing about some of his stories and it was an interesting look in to the restaurant business, but it was still just fluff.

First Line: "'So, you take it up the ass?' Benny asks me."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Once Upon a Lie by Michael French

Fiction

This is the story of two teenagers from completely different backgrounds. The first is Jaleel, an African American from a small town who witnesses his father kill his mother and then himself. The police decide that Jaleel is the murderer and rather than trying to clear his name, he flees. He meets a man on the bus who helps him out, providing him a new identity so we can start a new life in LA. Jaleel is a smart kid with a knack for baseball, which allows him to carry on in school and get accepted to a top tier university.

Then there's Alex. She comes from a privileged family, in a wealthy neighbourhood of LA. Her dad is a successful criminal lawyer, her mom a socialite that likes to put on the best party. Having an adventurous nature, Alex happens in to Jaleel's neighbourhood and they start talking. They hit it off and Alex wants to return as soon as she can, but she finds out that her mom is having an affair with her dad's best friend and eventually her dad finds out too. Alex convinces Jaleel to help her warn off her dad's friend, which puts them all in a bad situation.

French does a great job of writing these two teens. Alex felt particularly real to me. She had a great head on her shoulders for a teen, but she wasn't so mature or insightful that you couldn't believe her age. She was worried about some things that teens worry about, which added to her realness. Jaleel was a bit of a harder nut to crack because of how guarded he was from all the horrible things he had been through. I liked him, but it felt like there was less time dedicated to him so I couldn't get as much a feel for him.

The adults are another story. All of them are pretty pathetic. Alex's dad has no ethics or values, Alex's mom is the most selfish person in the world that completely abandons her kids, all the cops are blind to the clues in front of them and the lawyers are no better.

This interesting mix of characters makes for a page-turning novel. There are unexpected twists and turns through the whole thing and a very realistic ending. The only thing this book needs is a cover worthy of the story inside!

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour!

First Line: "Sunday, July 6, 2014."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

About the Author Michael R. French graduated from Stanford University where he was an English major, focusing on creative writing, and studied under Wallace Stegner. He received a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He later served in the United States Army before marrying Patricia Goodkind, an educator and entrepreneur, and starting a family. French’s work, which includes several best-sellers, has been warmly reviewed in the New York Times and been honored with a number of literary prizes. Find Michael on Twitter, Facebook and at his website.

Win a digital copy of Once Upon a Lie!

Liberation Day by Andy McNab

Thriller

Nick Stone agrees to one last operation in order to get his papers for the USA and be with the girl he loves. His mission is to travel to France, meeting up with two Egyptians that will help him. They are to track a boat to one of the ports and then follow the men when they leave the boat to collect three payments. These payments are being sent back to families from terrorists that are planning something in the Western world. If they capture the men the money is coming from and blow up the money before it makes it back to the Middle East, they can stop the terrorists and also learn who they are.

Everything is incredibly methodical with Nick. He scouts out locations days in advance, removes wrappers from food so they don't make noise, and takes anything with him that might leave a clue that could lead back to him.

This is the 5th or so book in the series and the previous books have been great for being action packed and believable. This one is my least favourite in the series. It was mostly prep work which made it a rather slow go. Nick and the team spent all their time getting ready and then when the team finally arrived, the action was crammed in the last few pages of the book. The end was exciting but it would have been nicer if some of that replaced some of the beginning to weigh the book better between set up and action.

First Line: "The submarine had broken surface ten minutes earlier, and its deck was still slippery beneath my feet."

Rating:
(3/5)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Classic Fiction

This classic novel tells the story of the four March sisters in 1860s New England. Their father is off at war so it's just the four of them and their mother, trying to make the best of everything. Christmas is tough and instead of buying things for each other, the girls buy for their mother and give their lunch to a family that has little to eat. Their neighbours hear about their good deeds and send over treats. This sparks up a relationship between the boy Laurie that lives beside them.

I've seen the movie for this book and really enjoyed it. I had started and stopped the book a few times but this time stuck with it. I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but wow was this book boring! It's hardly about anything and hardly anything happens. Three of the four sisters have boring personalities. Jo is the only redeeming factor of this book but even she isn't enough to save it.

First Line: "'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug."

Rating:
(2.5/5)

The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie

Historical Fiction

This is the second book in the Mistress of Versailles series by Sally Christie. The first book, The Sisters of Versailles, was fantastic and you can read my review here.

This book picks up right after the first in the series, though can be read as a standalone, and is told from the perspective of a few of Louis XV's mistresses. After the Nesle's sisters are no longer part of court, Louis' next mistress is Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson. Jeanne is naive and not popular at all because she's middle-class; the court looks down on her and suspects she won't last long. But Jeanne has staying power and survives for much longer than anyone expects. Other women come in and out of the picture. Some faster than others. Louis XV seems to have an insatiable appetite for sex and the court has to stoop to finding prostitutes.

Since Jeanne is a long-term mistress of Louis XV, we learn much about her perspective. What she has to do to appease the king, what she tries to do to make friends, and how the court entertained themselves back in the 1700s. The characters are shallow, which I'm sure is true to the time. And yet I'm amazed by how these shallow, naive women seem to so easily dally in the world of royalty and, for the most part, survive. It's a game of chess and all about playing the right move at the right time. This is where the intrigue is in the novel; how these women survive and thrive in this environment.

The book reads a bit like a soap opera at times, though less cheesy, and would make for a great summer read.

I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this.

First Line: "The gypsy's hair is as red as blood, I think in astonishment."

Rating:
(4/5)

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

Fiction

This is a "between the numbers" book within Evanovich's number series. Stephanie Plum, the unlucky bounty hunter is back. There's also a guy name Diesel who I don't ever remember meeting in the number series, though it says these two have met before. Anyways, Grandma Mazur happens to find a huge bag of money on the street and when Stephanie finds her, a short man in bright green pants is trying to steal it from her. It's St. Patricks day, which could explain the green pants, but this guy actually thinks he's a leprechaun. Soon, Grandma disappears so Stephanie and ex-ho Lula chase her to Atlantic City where she's trying to make even more money, but losing it quickly.

This is a quick, fun read which is true to all other books in this series. Grandma and Lula always make me laugh. There was no romance in this, like there would be in a usual full number series book, but the story didn't lack for it.

First Line: "My mother and grandmother raised me to be a good girl, and I have no problems with the girl part."

Rating:
(3.5/5)