What's Next, Wednesday (90)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

A Tycoon's Jewel by Avery Laval. Switching gears a bit with this book in the number two spot on the current reading list. It's time again for a bit of romance and this book promises that and more! Down-on-her-luck Jenna has no other choice but to ask her old frenemy, Grant, for a job in the bustling city of Las Vegas. Sparks fly and the rest is his-and-her-story, but I'll still have to read to find out. :) 

Teaser Tuesday (300)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

The Council of Souls (Kindle 75%)

    - Jen Printy

"We might be Death's children, but we're human, too. And that part of us isn't made for gathering the ones we love." 

What's Next, Wednesday (89)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to... 

And Then I am Gone: A Walk with Thoreau by Mathias Freese. This book is an exploration by the author to live a more simple life. As I'm always thinking about simplifying various aspects of my seemingly crazy life, I think this book might give me a little perspective. Or maybe it'll just offer some peace. :) 

Teaser Tuesday (299)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Council of Souls (23% Kindle)

    - Jen Printy

"Mind control is good for more than the art of gathering. It's a needed skill in a family such as ours."

My brow furrows as I push myself off the floor. "Protection?"

Artagan nods. "You don't want her to become anyone's puppet."

Ragtime

Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century & the First World War. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, NY, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. Almost magically, the line between fantasy & historical fact, between real & imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud & Emiliano Zapata slip in & out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family & other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler & a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow was an assigned reading for me, which sometimes don't start off very fun. However, I really got into this book after just a few chapters! With the combination of historical figures, some I recognized and a few I didn't, and an anonymous American family, the book's plot and connections came to life. 

There were several characters that I felt a connection with and other characters I felt an interest in. Harry Houdini was one historical figure that I felt both with. I've always found Houdini to be an interesting person and have even watched a couple of biographies about him. This book definitely hit on my interest and expanded it as Doctorow shares Houdini's feelings and experiences. Other historical figures like Emma Goldman, I hadn't heard of, but I still felt a pull toward her character as she took on the role of female immigrant revolutionary. I think readers of this book will find the depictions of historical people quite imaginative and interesting. 

The fictional family that works to unite all of these historical figures remains anonymous throughout the entire book. Mother, Father, Younger Brother, and the Little Boy all play their roles while introducing the evolution of those roles that the turn of the 20th century was challenging. What's even more interesting is the connection readers will feel emotionally with these anonymous beings, as if the reader takes them and assigns them an importance subconsciously. I personally connected, and respected, most with Mother because she challenged the gender roles of the early 1900s by taking part in her husband's work, caring for people without regard to their race, and following her heart to find happiness. Though this book isn't just about those sort of connections, it also speaks to the need for change, like in the case of Coalhouse. Coalhouse, a dignified black man, is the victim of a hate crime and demands retribution. Though he suffers for it, he eventually does witness that retribution symbolizing the evolution of equality. 

I don't know if everyone would like this book. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have picked it up had it not been assigned. However, it is sadly still relevant to what is going on in politics and society today. Therefore, I would recommend it to readers interested in history, society and politics, and the evolution of the views within each. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

River Rising (Carson Chronicles #1)

Weeks after his parents disappear on a hike, engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret web site and learns his mom and dad are time travelers stuck in the past. Armed with the information he needs to find them, Adam convinces his younger siblings to join him on a rescue mission to the 1880s.

While Greg, the adventurous middle brother, follows leads in the Wild West, Adam, journalist Natalie, and high school seniors Cody and Caitlin do the same in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Like the residents of the bustling steel community, all are unaware of a flood that will destroy the city on May 31, 1889.

In RIVER RISING, the first novel in the Carson Chronicles series, five young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they experience America in the age of bustle dresses, gunslingers, and robber barons.

*May Contain Spoilers*

River Rising begins another time travel series by John A. Heldt, but one that promises a little more action with characters that are constant. I always enjoy time travel novels because they give me history with the facts mixed into the fiction, which I love. This novel is no exception as Heldt takes a family of five back to the 1880s in search of their parents. With five main characters, there's a character for any kind of reader to connect with and plenty of circumstances that demand it. 

Adam is the oldest and the 'leader' of the Carson clan. He's intelligent but haunted by an old wound. His romantic history remains a mystery for most of the novel but is eventually revealed. As he falls in love with a woman from the 1880s, readers will enjoy his triumph over loss and feel connected to him emotionally. 

Natalie was my favorite character as she is witty, smart, and likes to challenge the males around her. It was enjoyable to read her chapters and she even kept me on my toes at times. She also gains a love interest (like most of her siblings) but her story is much sadder than Adam's. Her story will offer a connection through empathy and understanding as well as through her personality. 

Greg is sort of the wild sibling as he is the only one who stirs up trouble in the 1880s. Though he is also quite intelligent and an outdoorsman, the role he plays is mainly doing the actual searching for the Carson parents. He does much more traveling than anyone else and introduces readers to other places in 1880s besides Pennsylvania. 

Caitlin and Cody are the youngest siblings and are also twins. They attend school in the 1880s and provide a younger perspective. Caitlin is kind of a bookworm, which I loved, while Cody tends to slip up and spout off clues to their time traveling status. He is also the youngest to fall in love with another high school senior which causes some teenage angst to enter the novel. 

With something for everyone, this time traveling novel is bound to please. I really enjoyed all of the characters and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next installment. The series follows the plot of the five siblings looking for their time traveling parents who they thought were dead in different historical settings. Next up: the year 1918. The only thing is, Tim and Caroline Carson are also looking for them as they eventually returned to the future and saw that their children had 'disappeared.' So with more danger and intrigue lurking, the next book in the series already seems to be pulling me in. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

What's Next Wednesday (88)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to... 

Beloved by Toni Morrison. Can anyone even believe that I've never read this book?? After studying creative writing for four years and nearly two years of grad school, I'm finally reading it. I'm very surprised that it hasn't popped up in any of my syllabi before now. But! Better late than never! I'm really excited to start this book. I've heard amazing things about it and am ready to dive in!

Teaser Tuesday (298)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

River Rising (Kindle 76%)

     - John A Heldt

"Something tells me your dilemma involves more than a desire to return to Arizona."

"It does," Natalie said. "It involves something I've been afraid to talk about for months, something that would test the limits of your imagination." 

Cane

First published in 1923, Jean Toomer's Cane is an innovative literary work-part drama, part poetry, part fiction-powerfully evoking black life in the South. Rich in imagery, Toomer's impressionistic, sometimes surrealistic sketches of Southern rural and urban life are permeated by visions of smoke, sugarcane, dusk, and fire; the northern world is pictured as a harsher reality of asphalt streets. This iconic work of American literature is published with a new afterword by Rudolph Byrd of Emory University and Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University, who provide groundbreaking biographical information on Toomer, place his writing within the context of American modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, and examine his shifting claims about his own race and his pioneering critique of race as a scientific or biological concept.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Cane by Jean Toomer is a book unlike anything I've ever read before. This piece of literary modernism combines prose, poetry, song, and drama into a whole that is held together by theme. Though none of the characters in the novel are present all the way through, often only included in one chapter, Toomer presents them with reasons to like them, hate them, understand them, pity them, and even hope for them. In this way, the novel is almost like a set of introductions from which meaning can be taken only after meeting everyone present. 

The vignettes that Toomer offers are interesting, heartbreaking, and include themes of racial tensions, discrimination, magical realism, allusions to the bible, framed with beautiful imagery. After reading this book it's obvious why Toomer was called a writer before his time as his experimentation with style is incredibly unique and was probably a put off in the 1920s for most readers. Though this book does not have a unifying plot, the entire piece can be taken as a study of the way people treat people in the 1920s. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy reading something they've never read before, but are not afraid of controversial topics and historical viewpoints.

Rating: 3/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (87)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to... 

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. This is another book I have to read for class and it sounds interesting enough that I'm excited to start it. With the interweaving of fictional characters and real-life historical figures, this book promises to blend history with fantasy. I'm most looking forward to the characters of Houdini and Freud, to see how they're represented fictionally. 

Teaser Tuesday (297)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

River Rising (Kindle 37%)

    - John A Heldt

Natalie pondered the many ways she could reply. Since traveling through time to the 1880s, members of the Carson clan had flooded the market with tiger's eye, struck up romances with local girls, reported on a restless rodent, secured an exclusive interview with Mark Twain, and survived a 'violent encounter' in Arizona. 

Dhampir (The Noble Dead #1)

Magiere has earned a reputation as the most formidable vampire slayer in the land. Villagers far and wide welcome her with both awe and disdain — grateful to her for ridding their towns of the undead menace, but finding themselves made poorer for their salvation. Magiere knows she’s dealing with simple folk, who only wish to have their superstitions silenced, and sees nothing wrong with exploiting them for profit.

Now, tired of the game, Magiere and her partner, the half-elf Leesil, are ready to hang up their weapons and settle down in a place they can finally call home. But their newfound peace will not last — for Magiere has come to the attention of a trio of powerful and dangerous vampires who know her true identity — and fear the birthright that flows through her veins. And they will stop at nothing to keep Magiere from fulfilling her destiny.

*May Contain Spoilers*

I always enjoy an interesting fantasy novel with vampires so I'm not surprised my friend gave me Dhampir by Barb and JC Hendee after she had finished reading it. Though she warned me it started slow, it was almost too slow. Therefore, it became the book I read between other books so it took me quite a while to finish it. 

The main characters of this book are Magiere and Leesil. Both of them were interesting and well-developed characters with room for improvement and further discovery. Magiere is a dhampir, half-vampire, and half-human, that isn't aware of her mixed heritage at the beginning of the story. In the past, she's used a facade of being a vampire hunter to make money, but when real vampires (or Noble Deads) learn of her existence, they decide to put a stop to her 'hunting.' This is when she finds out she was actually born to hunt vampires. Magiere is the quiet sort who swindles but doesn't want to make a lifetime career of it. She wants to settle down and live a quiet life by the sea. I think readers will like her, but may not connect with her due to her serious nature. Though, I think many readers will like Leesil a bit more as he offers a balance to Magiere's formidable seriousness while also having a secret, shameful past that gives him a haunted air. 

Leesil has elven heritage and adds to the fantasy details right away. Not only is he Magiere's trustworthy sidekick, he also is quite caring and intelligent. Though it's a bit scary how intelligent he is in killing... due to his secret past. I enjoyed Leesil's character more than Magiere's, but I think for those who decide to continue reading the series, the revealing of Magiere's past will create a firmer connection with readers as they discover more about her at the same time she does. 

The plot of the novel was very enjoyable, though slow, like I previously mentioned. Magiere and Leesil decide to quit swindling townspeople with their little game after Magiere saves enough money to buy a tavern in a little seaside town. Though their ruse of being vampire hunters has already reached three Noble Dead who live in that same seaside town. Now they believe Magiere is after them and decide to kill her before she kills them. This gives the story a back and forth plot as the Hendees switch points of view to include the three Noble Dead: Rashed, Teesha, and Ratboy. Even though I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to readers who enjoy fantasy, vampires, and a plot line that has just as many secrets as the characters, I don't think I'll be continuing the series.

Rating: 2.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (86)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Cane by Jean Toomer. I'm reading this book for a class discussion next week and I'm mainly excited because of the blurb on the back. I don't think I've ever read anything part drama, part poetry, and part fiction before. It makes it seem like it's going to be a fun read while tackling some serious modernist issues. 

Teaser Tuesday (296)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Dhampir (p. 289)

    - Barb and J.C. Hendee

There was no need for fear. When powerful people had secrets, they would pay handsomely for silence. 

2018

2018 is here! I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating the arrival of the new year. I have lots of plans already for this year and I'm excited to get started! I'm not really setting resolutions this year, but I am setting a reading goal of 80 books! Last year (that sounds weird already) I read 83 books and my goal was 90, so I missed it by only 7 books! :( With so much going on this year, I'm dropping my goal by ten... we'll see if I can do it! Anyone else have reading goals they want to hit this year??

Cheers! 

-Tracy