Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she's grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop. Add in a complication with an ex, a deal with the stores hunky, nerd and you've got a romantic teen comedy!

Wow this was the perfect novel to read after something deep and heavy.  If you geeky at all, want a little nostalgic throw back to your high school days and just love a plain ol' budding romance then this book I cannot recommend enough! 

Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey

The seventeenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows Amelia Stonehold and Serena Meleva as they navigate property acquisition, marriage proposals, and other ancient horrors in Regency England, but with the help of elemental magic

The year is 1815, and an American, Miss Amelia Stonehold, has arrived in the Devon town of Axminster, accompanied by her "cousin" Serena Meleva. She’s brought with her a list to tick off: find a property, investigate the neighbors, bargain for and purchase the property, staff the property and...possibly...find a husband.

But Amelia soon finds herself contending with some decidedly off-list trouble, including the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower, whose eyes are fixed on her fortune. Little does Amelia know that his plans for her wealth extend far beyond refurbishing his own crumbing estate — they include the hidden Roman temple of Glykon, where something very old, very angry, and very dangerous still lurks. But Roughtower isn’t prepared to reckon with the fact that neither Amelia nor Serena are pushovers. And he certainly isn’t ready for the revelation that he has an Earth Master and a Fire Mage on his hands — or that one of them is a shapeshifter.

I am and always have been a HUGE fan of Mercedes Lackey's elemental masters series so upon release I immediately cracked it open.  This one felt different from her other novels in the series however.  It felt like a regency, Jane Austin type novel with the elemental twist of course.  I did enjoy and would recommend. 

The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi

Third book in the series follows Radha.  She is 32 and living in Paris with her husband and 2 daughters, working as a perfumiest.  She has long since pushed down the feelings of leaving the baby boy she gave birth to a lifetime ago but once a year on his birth day, she cannot.  Her work consumes her and she finds great joy in the gift of scent and creating them for clients and she is very good at it.  But her husband does not understand her need to work and her oldest daughter is the very spitting image of her temperament when Radha was younger too, which Radha doesn't understand as she has given her daughters a life so very different from her upbringing.  Tasked with her first major project, she travels to India for inspiration and to make her stand out as a perfumiest.  However when she is there something will happen that will change her life forever - her past will finally meet her straight in the eye.

Had to finish this trilogy.  And while I am glad I did and have gained the insight of Radha from a grown up perspective, I can't say that I was blown away with this last novel.  I might have enjoyed her second one more.  I don't regret reading this however as I enjoyed revisiting characters and watching them in the grown state.

Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman

This book is the true story  of the most remarkable escape tunnel under the Berlin Wall.  Named Tunnel 29 because 29 people successfully escaped, this book draws upon not only the interviews of those students who devoted 5 months to digging it but also interviews with the survivors, thousands of pages of Stasi documents and the American News crew who documented the whole thing.

I've fallen into an obsession with the Berlin Wall.  It happened in my time and I remember the wall coming down but have never delved into it before now. Out of all of the books, documentary's, movies, interviews etc that I have gone through I would say if you read nothing else, read this one.  Helena captures the very essence of what those at the time period experienced - not just those involved in this tunnel escape, but how live was like on each side of the wall, how people had to make everyday decisions to survive in a paranoid society and if they made it over the wall, how the structure and everyday things in life they took for granted were challenging things in the free East.  Its a fascinating look into Communism - what works, what doesn't, what it does to people and how for 30 years people existed in it.  It makes you wonder about areas now that are experiencing it and how they are coping.  It makes you grateful for the things we take for granted.  

Not only would I recommend this novel but I would also follow it up by watching the documentary the book talks about.  You can find it easily for free online.  But read the book first.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Dawn of the 50th Hunger Games and in District 12 Haymitch Abernathy's whole life is about to change.  The Quarter Quell has different rules and after 50 years the games have changed considerably.  Haymitch just wanted to make it through reaping and be with the girl he loves.  But reaping day had other plans in store for him.  Voluntold he's one of the 4 from District 12, he unwittingly becomes the leader of the Newcomer alliance and the head of the rebellion.  How will Haymitch navigate all this when he his only goal is to get back to District 12 to be with his girl.

Out of all of her books I was most looking forward to this one.  Haymitch's story fascinated me and I so wanted to read what her brain told.  I was not disappointed.  She weaves the dark, broken and heart breaking story she is very good at.  In the Hunger Games novel Haymitch says that no one wins the hunger games, there are only survivors and this pretty much sums up Haymitch in a nutshell.  His story is worth reading and then going back and reading (or watching if that's your thing) Katniss and Peeta's story again cause it adds such a different dimension when you know Haymitch's past.

Read it.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse. After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .

This one seemed so adorable but it surprised me a bit.  For being such a narrow book (only 500 ish pages!) it was incredible deep and an interesting perspective of our modern day projection on printed books.  I've always enjoy Japanese literature and the way they view the world - you can see so much of their honor as a people and view on how they see things as valuable and always lessons.  This book was no exception to that and the translators captured that essence which I appreciated very much. This book is also a journey on grief and sorting out feelings of losing a loved one.  I would 1000% recommend this short read because of it's depth, journey and lessons.

Belgarath the Sorcerer - David Eddings

When the world was young and Gods still walked among their mortal children, a headstrong orphan boy set out to explore the world. Thus began the extraordinary adventures that would mold that youthful vagabond into a man, and the man into the finely honed instrument of Prophecy known to all the world as Belgarath the Sorcerer.

A continuing/history of Belgarath from David Eddings series The Belgariad & The Mallorean.  The story spans Belgarath's whole life until after the events of the Mallorean series told from his point of view, his thoughts, interactions and conversations.  

I've said it before, David Eddings creates a extremely rich and thoroughly developed world and people and this book encompasses all that he endevoured to created.  Love the book and would absolutely recommend.

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

A vampyre bride and a alpha wolf - can an alliance this far off base work in a world so torn between 3 factions?  Misery Lark is the only daughter of the most powerful vampyre councilman of the southwest.  She has spent her life as a sacrifice for her people - first as a trade to the human contingent during her child hood and now as an adult she is once again to be one for the weres.  But will it be enough?  And what of the human childhood "sister" who has gone missing and the only clues Misery can find point to the weres?

This is a far cry from her STEM novels and her first foray into fantasy.  You can feel Ali Hazelwoods touch here but it is such a delicious detachment from STEM.  Misery is a very dry character but it works as a soul sucking vampyre.  I'm used to her male characters being more...visceral and I don't get that here despite him being the alpha were.  But it also works with his upbringing and how he rules his pack.

All in all I did enjoy reading this one but was it because of my current obsession with Ali Hazelwood?  Would I have enjoyed it if it was by another author?  I honestly can't say.

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur - Alka Joshi

Second book from Alka Joshi.

Lakshmi is now married to Dr Jay Kumar and directs the Healing Garden in Shimla.  It's the spring of 1969 and Malik is a 20 year old young man, finished his schooling and sent to apprentice in the Pink City of his childhood as an apprentice to learn architecture with some old faces from the first book.  But he leaves behind a widow whom he has been stepping out with.  Political intrigue, money and old battles still roam the streets and Malik will have to navigate them all to sharpen his old skills.

I enjoyed this one, maybe not as much as the first one but enough that I could finish this one fairly quickly.  You do still read quite a bit of Lakshmi but the bulk of the story is from Malik and his love interests point of view. I will say I was very pleased that the author noted but did not go into great detail important points from the first book that related to this story.  They were short reminders to the reader on those points and if you haven't read the first book, then good little short points to bring you up to speed.

Recommend.  Can almost read as a stand alone.

Polgara the Sorceress - David Eddings

Daughter of Belgarath and Poledra, Polgara in her own right has lived for 3,000 years and has experience and gone through all that life has to offer. Here is the legendary life story of a woman of wit, passion, and complex emotions, a woman born of two majestic parents who could not have been more unlike one another. Ordained to make peace and make war, to gain love and lose love, Polgara lives out her family's rich prophecy in the ceaseless struggle between the Light and the Dark.

This book has been my penultimate pedestal I've held every fantasy book series too ever since I read it. I've revisited it repeatedly throughout different phases in my life and still find something enjoyable about it.  This book is in my top 3 if not the top spot and I will forever be in love with this character so a whole book from start to finish from her perspective...hell ya.

Recommend, recommend, recommend.  But I also would say to read the Belgariad & Mallorean series first.

Loathe to Love You - Ali Hazelwood

 STEMinist novella collection of 3 stories but all sort of interconnected as the women are all good friends. UNDER ONE ROOF is about environmental engineer Mara who after loosing a close friend/mentor was gifted a house.  Well half of a house.  The other half comes with a very tall, handsome and soul sucking lawyer who works for the worst company on the planet defending their oil refining ways. STUCK WITH YOU follows civil engineer Sadie who gets stuck in a elevator late on a Friday with brawny, blond Denmarkian Erik whose recently broke her heart. And BELOW ZERO follows NASA aerospace engineer Hannah who is injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to make the rescue journey is her longtime rival Ian.  

All of these stories are relatively short - a snapshot - quick build or your already tuning in half way through.  The reviews for these are brutal.  People do not like them.  In some ways I can see what/why they don't like them (honestly it says a lot about the intelligence level of the world) but I also enjoy this kind of relationship - banter, witty, sarcastic and hot.  I read each one and my only complaint was that they were short stories - I wanted more flushed out, dragged on story with the characters. I think my favorite of the three was the first one. I am still a stalwart Ali Hazelwood fan and really enjoyed these.

Magician: Apprentice - Raymond E. Feist

On a forest shore of the Kingdom of Isles, an orphaned named Pug lives. His story begins with this book and spans his whole life, through strange worlds and vast empires.  Pug is taken as an apprentice by the magician Kulgan but cannot seem to master the most basic of magics however complex, unknown magic comes easy.  His life takes a turn when a rift opens between worlds and he is taken far from home.  He learns and is taken in by the world and it changes the course of not only his life but the world he comes from and the world he's adopted into

Pug's story is one of growth, discovery and the ultimate fight of good and evil and the grey area in between.  This character's life currently spans 31 novels and touches on various characters, all rich and well rounded.

It's a deep dive, and all encompassing series but a great escape and so different from any other series.  I appreciate Raymond D. Feist writing and have read quite a few of  books.  He has a new series out and while that's a review for another time, he's definitely an author I would recommend.

The Berlin Apartment - Bryn Turnbull

Berlin 1961: When Uli Neumann proposes to Lise Bauer, she has every reason to accept. He offers her love, respect, and a life beyond the strict bounds of the East German society in which she was raised — which she longs to leave more than anything. But only two short days after their engagement, Lise and Uli are torn violently apart when barbed wire is rolled across Berlin, splitting the city into two hostile halves: capitalist West Berlin, an island of western influence isolated far beyond the iron curtain; and the socialist East, a country determined to control its citizens by any means necessary. Soon, Uli and his friends in West Berlin hatch a plan to get Lise and her unborn child out of East Germany, but as distance and suspicion bleed into their lives and as weeks turn to months, how long can true love survive in the divided city?

This book was a roller coaster and a history lesson.  Now this will date me but I was a child when the wall came down and I live in Canada so living through it's tumult wasn't something I experienced.  History in school doesn't completely cover it, only touches on it and as a teenager lets face it, do any of us truly or fully comprehend or understand the effects something like this would have of people or nations?  Reading this book has prompted me to look further into it and read more about it.  Horrible and life altering aren't even the best words to describe it.  But this book does a very good job in capturing the helpless, trapped and stuck between a rock and a hard place decisions that some had to make in those years.  This book is heartbreaking and had me aghast at some of the decisions Lise made but finishing the book and reading up on the history, I am beginning to understand that East Berliners had no choices.  No freedom.  No chance to decide anything and had to live in conformity to where they ended up.  

Would 1000% recommend but it's an emotional roller coster so buckle up.

The Henna Artist - Alka Joshi

1950s, a 17 year old Lakshmi escapes an abusive marriage and makes her way to Jaipur.  Over time she becomes the most highly respected henna artist but not just that to the wealthy women of the upper class, a confidante and secret keeper. She dreams of nothing more than an independent life and a home of her own but her past comes back to haunt her in the form of not only her husband but also a sister who she never knew she had.  Suddenly everything in her carefully cultivated world is threatened, and she will have to tread carefully.

Beautifully written and rich characters.  So much confusion and misunderstand when communication isn't there and the author captures these intricate feelings and interactions very well.  I appreciated the rich beauty of Jaipur and the cultural conveyances that I never knew about. I felt that I was drawn in to this special woman's world and went through and felt everything Lakshmi experienced and at the same time could understand not only where she was coming from but also the other women.

Would absolutely recommend!

One Month Boyfriend - Roxie Noir

Faking dating my sworn enemy to make my ex so jealous he can't see right.  What could possibly go wrong what with social anxiety, new-in-town status and my sworn enemies golden boy status...

This was a short, lite read with the typical troupe enemies to lovers.  There was a little post war PTSD glimpse for the guy and a social anxiety glimpse for the girl.  Very modern, very typical.  Alright read, something I would say better for a beach read.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood

 A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives.

As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold.

By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy's family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. A powerful novel you wont soon forget, Bryn Greenwood's All the Ugly and Wonderful Things challenges all we know and believe about love. 

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

 

Book 3 or five of the Empyrean series.  18 months at the Basigiath War Colloge finds Violet Sorrengail with no more time.  War is upon them and enemies are closing in.  She must solve the mystery of the other dragon race and travel beyond the wards to do so, seeking allies in unfamiliar lands, testing her strength, will and luck.

Well this was...a bit of a slog.  Not sure if it's because I found out after I started reading that this is only book 3 or because it was...a lot of rise and repeat. I mean how long can you drag out the slow demise of a way of life.  Oh right we are slowly living it in real life.  And how many times will people continue to lie and then put their life in each others hands once that trust will be broken.  Or how many times can you repeat a sex scene after two books.  I didn't feel like there was character movement, it felt static and like this was just filling pages.  Sure there were some "surprises" or twists that weren't completely out of character or weren't foreshadowed.

All in all if your already invested and read the first two, well it's up to you if you want to continue on.  I'm most likely going to finish the series at some point. 

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Peter rescues a kit fox, Pax, after his family is killed.  When war approaches, Peter's father voluntarily enlists, forcing Peter to move in with his grandfather and thus forcing Peter to give Pax up in the wilds again.  But Peter knows his made an error and sets out to reunite with Pax on a journey against all odds for both.

This has got to be one of the most sweetest, well written books I have read in awhile.  The story jumps back and forth between Pax & Peter's viewpoints and their journeys/adventures finding each other and what they go through.  The beginning is heartbreaking and the end is no less so but the love and connection these two have for each other is the best part of the story.  Making this my most recommended book of this year.

Sassinak - Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon

 Born on a colony world, Sassinak was no stranger to a life full of discipline and the dangers of the universe.  But learning about it and living through it are very different things.  When she was twelve, the slavers came and her world was completely turned upside down.  But her spirit would not be broken and she would learn what true grit she had in her.

This book spans almost the whole life of the character Sassinak.  From her early childhood and being taken to growing up as a slave, freedom and changing into adulthood and "making it" as a fleet officer.  In true 70's/80's sci-fi style, this book has a little bit of everything, grit, fighting, political intrigue and coming of age in space.

I enjoyed this one.  I have a soft spot for Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon and surprisingly hadn't read this one yet even though it's been collecting dust on my self for decades. It's book one of a trilogy and I look forward to digging into the next ones.

We'd Know By Then - Kirsten Bohling

A monochrome world where everyone sees in black and white until you meet your soulmate.  Brighton Evans however has seen in color since the day she was born, so meeting her soulmate isn't so easy.  Which has led her to live a life of "happy enough".  However meeting Cain Whitaker - handsome, cheeky and a little to colorful in personality has her questioning her life.  

This book hooked me from the premise before I even cracked it open.  As an artistic person, this spoke to me on a different level.  Thrown in tall, dark, handsome AND CHHEEKY...well let's just say that I was done.  This was my Ali Hazelwood before I knew Ali Hazelwood.

100% recommend!