Intraterrestrial

Adam Helios is a bully magnet without many friends. When he starts hearing a voice that claims to come from the stars, he fears he’s losing his mind, so he withdraws even further. On the way home from a meeting at the school, he and his parents are involved in a horrible car crash. With his skull cracked open, Adam’s consciousness is abducted by the alien who has been speaking to him for months.

After surviving the wreck with only minor scratches, Camille Helios must deal with her guilt over the accident that left her husband badly injured and her son in a coma. When the doctor suggests letting Adam go, Camille refuses to stop fighting for her son’s life.

Lost among galaxies, Adam must use his imagination to forge a path home before his body dies on the operating table. But even if he does return to Earth, he may end up locked inside a damaged brain forever.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Nicholas Conley takes readers out of this world and into the imagination of a young boy who is dying from a massive brain injury in his novel, Intraterrestrial. After a car accident leaves Adam in a comatose state, an alien race contacts him in hopes that he'll be able to help them beat the Destroyer by traveling through space. 

Adam Helios is the adopted son of Camille and John Helios who has run into a little trouble with bullies at his school. Though Adam is intelligent, a good friend, mechanically inclined, and imaginative, this doesn't help him stay out of the bully's line of sight. However, Adam's intelligence, imagination, and desire to do good will help him face the battle of his life, or rather the battle for his life. Readers will instantly align with Adam's character as he is represented as the underdog who stands up for others. When he's put into a coma after a brain injuring car accident, readers will feel even more connected to him. Yet, it's during this time that readers really see Adam's inner strength, persistence, and determination as he must battle the Destroyer if he wants to save an alien race and return to his earthly body. 

The creativity of this novel is wonderful and fresh, even in the midst of tragedy. I have wondered what is happening to people who are in a comatose state and Conley uses that curiosity to spark interest throughout this book. As Adam battles the Destroyer in his mind, or in outer space (whichever way you choose to look at it), his mother and father are trying to make the right decisions for him in reality. This creates a suspenseful situation where both the reader and the characters are in a sort of limbo. I also think that Camille's evolution of character also adds to the connectivity that readers can feel with this novel. Though I was kind of annoyed with her attitude and personality early on, the events that transpire push her to change into the kind of person she wants to be, which is nice. 

The only downside of this novel was that it was a bit predictable. There was a kind of obvious set-up of events and the book follows them almost exactly. I would have liked a few more surprises, but I don't think this takes away from the overall enjoyment of the book. I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy science fiction. However, there was some adult language so I wouldn't recommend it for all ages. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (101)

•  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...

Fallout Girl by Katie Rose Guest Pryal. I'm excited to start this one because it's a psychological thriller and I really enjoy reading those. But, I am getting ready for my last term of grad school so... who knows how many books I'll be able to choose while I'm finishing up. That means I have to make my choices great! And I think this one fits the bill as Miranda struggles with trust and constantly needing to escape to save herself, or so she thinks... 

Teaser Tuesday (312)

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 French Adventure (Kindle 21%)

    - Lucy Coleman

Bit by bit I can work my hand further inside to scoop out the loose debris surrounding the object. Finally, a piece of stone that seemed to be wedged in front of the object releases and suddenly there it is in my hand -- a small wooden box.

In a Jam

Andie Carson has to do three things to inherit her grandmother’s lottery winnings—sober up, spend a month running her grandmother’s Georgia coffee shop, and enter homemade jam in the county fair. If she can’t meet those terms, the money goes to the church, and Andie gets nothing. She figures her tasks will be easy enough, and once she completes them, Andie plans to sell the shop, take the money, and run back to Boston.

After a rough breakup from his crazy ex-fiancée, Officer Gunnar Wills decides to take a hiatus from women. All he wants is to help make his small town thrive the way it did when he was a kid. But when wild and beautiful Andie shows up, Gunnar’s hesitant heart begins to flutter.

Gunnar knows that Andie plans to leave, but he’s hoping to change her mind, fearful that if her coffee shop closes, Main Street will fold to the big-box corporations and forever change the landscape of his quaint community. But convincing her to stay means getting close enough to risk his heart in the process. Even though Gunnar makes small-town life seem a little sweeter, Andie has to decide if she’s ready to turn her world upside down and give up big-city life. One thing’s for sure—it’s a very sticky situation.

*May Contain Spoilers*

In a Jam by Cindy Dorminy was exactly what I wanted it to be! The book is a love story that's easy to slip right into and stay until the end. It was a perfectly enjoyable romance that I read in a single day. The characters were flawed but likable, while the plot was steady and interesting. 

Andie is a lonely woman who mistakes drinking buddies for real friends. She has a problem and, even though she knows it, she doesn't see a reason to change. Like many of us in this world, she craves connection. Her grandmother offers that with Andie's inheritance stipulations. However, it takes a while for Andie to see it that way. Andie is a woman with a beautiful heart and giving spirit. She's nice and accepting to everyone she meets, but she also knows how to stand up for herself. With the rules of the inheritance in place, Andie's grandmother is determined to give Andie the chance at a better life through her own death. All Andie has to do is follow the rules for six weeks and then she can do whatever she wants. But, through the trials that accompany her relocation, Andie realizes that what she thought she wanted, isn't actually what she desires. Readers will have multiple chances to connect with Andie throughout the novel whether it be emotionally or through her personality. 

Gunnar shares the role of narrator with Andie and offers readers another main character to connect with. Gunnar is a recovering playboy who had his heart broken by his ex-fiance. As he keeps an eye on Andie, he quickly realizes that he's falling for her and wonders if she would ever consider permanently relocating to his small town. I think readers will connect with his personality and quick wit at the beginning, but soon realize that there are more layers to Gunnar than it first seems. Through his past, that threatens to come back and wreak havoc, readers will feel invested in Gunnar's character and want him to win over Andie for a chance at happily ever after. 

With these two characters and a fun supporting cast, I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of romance and those readers who enjoy a book that keeps them turning pages. This book pulls you in from the beginning and, as hurdles keep popping up, the urge to keep going just becomes stronger and stronger. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (100)

•  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...

The French Adventure by Lucy Coleman. I'm hoping to add this one to my reading list because it sounds like such an easy and delightful read. A summer love story sounds perfect while waiting for warmer weather and lots of sunshine. Especially when these days are filled with to-do lists and errands and the need to spring clean. 

Teaser Tuesday (311)

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.

Intraterrestrial (Kindle 23%)

   - Nicholas Conley

"I need some kind of info, doctor, or I'm going to go nuts."

Dr. Blake nodded, consulted his chart, then awkwardly crouched down to her eye level. "Mrs. Helios, I have news about your husband."

Norwegian Wood

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is probably one of the strangest yet intriguing books I have ever read. Murakami utilizes a variety of themes to explore the love life and coming of age story of Toru. However, most of these themes are weighed down with the theme of death. As several characters in the novel commit suicide, I think Murakami uses the looming nature of death to highlight the difficulties of life. 

Toru is the main character and the narrator of the novel. He's a young college student who is learning to navigate the world of love, sex, and being an adult. His young adulthood has been heavily influenced by the suicide of his best friend that occurred a few years earlier. When he reconnects with his deceased best friend's former girlfriend, Naoko, Toru falls in love with her but must help her and recognize that she struggles with depression and (perhaps) other mental illness. 

Toru is a semi-likeable character as he's intelligent, morally guided overall, and mostly supportive of the few friends he has. I say 'mostly' because he does poke fun at his roommate and remains friends with a playboy, even participating in some one-night stands of his own. The main thing about Toru is that he is flawed so that makes him both relatable and influenced by the story's action. However, in that flawed nature, he isn't a very reliable narrator. He constantly doubts his memory which then transfers doubt to the reader. Within that doubt, readers still feel connected to Toru based on both his experiences and the emotions he evokes. Toru is a hopeful young man who is caught between a love of the past and a chance for love in the future. 

The entire story is a told as a flashback, as Toru relives the days of knowing Naoko because he hears a cover of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood." While Toru tells the story, he seems to get lost and the present becomes the memory while the past fully takes over. Though this book is interesting and pulls the reader in from the beginning, it is incredibly sad with no real conclusion. For as much emotional investment the book requires, it seems that the payoff would be bigger. Or at least, the conclusion more clear. Overall, I was dedicated to this book and kind of disappointed with how it ended. I almost felt like I was being punished for making it to the end. I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone and definitely not just anyone. In terms of literature, this book is interesting in the way it presents Westernization and cultural influences. However, I don't think everyone would be a fan. It's a book that requires contemplation and analysis to even begin to unpack everything that Murakami tackles. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

 

Everything She Lost

After suffering a mental breakdown that nearly destroyed her marriage, Nina Taylor works hard to maintain her tenuous hold on sanity and be a good mother to her two young daughters. Despite her best efforts, she questions the possibility of a full recovery.

Single mom Deja Johnson struggles to overcome her troubled past and raise her young son. But her friendship with Nina brings more complications. What Deja is hiding could not only destroy relationships but endanger lives.

One traumatic night threatens to shatter Nina’s mind. With Deja’s help, she strives to maintain her mental balance. But as events spiral out of control, the women must find out if Nina is losing her sanity or if someone is plotting against her.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Alessandra Harris creates a confused and creepy web of deceit in her novel, Everything She Lost. Splitting the narrative between two main characters, Nina and Deja, give readers two sides of the same story... but one is untrustworthy while the other is mentally ill. This creates a story that readers doubt from the very beginning. 

Nina is a woman who is still recovering from a mental breakdown. As a reader, I liked Nina for her persistence, her focus, and the love she has for her children. She truly wants to be healthy so she can take care of her children. However, the situation she is in is not conducive to mental health. Her husband, Rodney, is cheating on her and she isn't aware of it. What makes it worse -- he's cheating on Nina with Deja, Nina's only friend. This sets up readers to immediately dislike Deja and it worked for me. Though I can see that she's trying to make a better life for her and her son, Miles, she's going about it the wrong way. When a person from her past threatens her, she reverts back to her previous way of handling things. 

Both of these characters do elicit sympathy from the reader, creating a connection from the beginning. Though as the story continues, readers can see the confusion mounting and a feeling of wrongness seeps from the pages. Suddenly it's Nina against reality and she doesn't know who to trust or who is telling her the truth. This is how Harris takes her novel to the next level, making the book suspenseful and the reader a little afraid to know the truth. The only downside was that the outcome was a bit predictable. There are only so many characters and once the reader starts narrowing it down, then there's only one solution that makes sense. 

The plot begins by introducing the relationships between the characters: Nina and Deja are friends while Deja is having an affair with Rodney, Nina's husband. A single text message prompts Nina to burst into Deja's house where she's being attacked by an ex-lover. In an effort to help, Nina accidentally kills the man. And all sorts of trouble follows layered with various side-plots and supporting characters. I think readers who enjoy suspense, thrillers, and unreliable narrators will enjoy this book. (It even has hints of a mystery.) I would definitely recommend for an entertaining read. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (99)

•  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... 

Reading more books that aren't on a Grad School reading list! :) (Not that those books have been bad.) 

And that starts with Intraterrestrial by Nicholas Conley. This book combines the medical world and the world of outer space with a young man in a coma and the alien who takes over his subconscious. I can't wait to get started on this book because it is such a unique and fresh story idea. 

Teaser Tuesday (310)

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.

Everything She Lost (Kindle 69%)

    - Alessandra Harris

"I didn't go to the police because you said you didn't want to be an accomplice. You helped me hide the body then told me to keep my mouth shut. We are both guilty now."

Love in the Time of Cholera

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Love in the Time of Cholera is another example of a classic book that I never picked up without good reason. I've always wanted to read it, but there was also always another book that I needed to read first. Finally, with my current grad school class, I read this amazing novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 

The main characters, Florentino and Fermina, were secret teenage sweethearts in Latin America until Fermina's father found out about the connection and took Fermina away on a trip that would force her to realize that what she needed in adulthood was not love, but stability in all forms. With her hopes dashed and the crushing reality that life does not revolve around love, Fermina marries another - the serious yet quirky Dr. Urbino. More than fifty years later, the day of Dr. Urbino's death, Florentino reappears with the same promises that he loves Fermina and wants to be with her. But, Fermina still isn't sure. She's ruled by the dictations of society and the opinions of others. Through these characters, Marquez shares, with heavy doses of beautiful prose and magical realism, the story of a love that has lasted more than fifty years and now, near the end of life's cycle, has another chance. 

Though I didn't exactly like Fermina, I did understand her reasoning. Her motives and decisions make sense in a society that doesn't let anyone be who they really are. So, although I wanted her to choose love, I didn't blame her for rejecting Florentino. Though, Florentino's dedication to her was incredibly surprising. I still struggle to understand why he never moved on. He had other relationships with women and in reality, Florentino and Fermina didn't have that much time to really get to know each other's personality. So although the relationship is one that is difficult to understand, the feelings between them last nearly a lifetime. And in their old age, they get to be reunited. But then they struggle to accept the judgment that undoubtedly comes from their connection. The novel asks now that they're older, shouldn't they have grown out of falling in love? 

The plot of this novel begins with the death of one of Dr. Urbino's closest friends and the secrets revealed with it. As death becomes a reality for Urbino, it comes calling just hours later. Through flashbacks and memories, Marquez shares the story of the love that blossomed between Florentino and Fermina as young people, the rejection of Florentino by Fermina, the meeting of her and Dr. Urbino, their marriage, including their struggles, and Florentino's life without Fermina in it until they can be reunited through her widowhood. My favorite part about this book was the weight of the magic that hung on each page. Marquez writes of ghosts, feelings, and omens as if they were physical objects that could be touched. Though the novel and the details did become a little heavy at times, this book forces the reader to take it slow or risk missing an important detail. Though the characters were complex and not easy to like, or truly connect with, they were realistic and flawed. With an important focus on character and the amount of detail and subtlety in his writing style, I know for sure that I will definitely be reading more of Marquez's work and recommending him to anyone who hasn't read his books.

Rating: 4/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (98)

•  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...

In a Jam by Cindy Dorminy. As I've enjoyed this author's previous books, I am super excited to start this one soon! Andie is set to inherit money from her grandmother... but there are a few stipulations. One is that she has to stick around a Georgia town long enough that she just might fall in love. That's the stipulation I'm most excited about. I might have to carve out a whole day to assign to this book! Then I won't have to put it down. :) 

Teaser Tuesday (309)

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.

Everything She Lost (Kindle 16%)

    - Alessandra Harris

After what had happened, Rodney was scared for his life, for the girls, and for the future. So he'd changed the locks and told Nina that she was no longer welcome in their house..."