Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard

Mare Barrow struggles for survival in a world where there is a ruling class, the Silvers, who proudly proudly display their superpowers in order to make the powerless Reds feel belittled. The Reds are forced into poverty and are slaves to the Silvers’ war. All Reds who don’t have any special skills (like sewing, fishing, etc.) by the age of 18 are forced to fight and die in the war. Mare is approaching the age of 18 and is becoming increasingly disobedient to the laws of the Silvers. But she has a few lessons to learn.

This is one of the better teen dystopias I’ve read in a while. The world-building is unique and the characters are engaging. It’s unlike many of the dystopias lately in that it gives you the opportunity to see how the bad guys aren’t all bad. But it does also has some typical aspects of teen dystopias with female main characters. I’d like to see more teen fantasy/sci-fi with male characters these days, as I find them more to the point and less about messed up romance.

Overall, if you like teen dystopia, you’ll like this book. If you don’t, you won’t.

I emerge from Hibernation (again)

Well, it’s certainly been a while, hasn’t it. I haven’t been blogging lately because I fell into an interviewing / reading / blogging funk. Interviewing is such a draining process! But the good news is that I got a good job at a major dialysis company and have been training there for about two months. So it’s time to re-emerge. That’s my big news for over the last couple of months, so I’ll just settle down to a weekly update now:

It’s been quite the week! I came down with some sore throat / cough illness early in the week, and it’s just lingering on – so I won’t be able to donate platelets as planned on Labor Day. (I know, I get sick a lot, don’t I?) 😦 Also, I’ve run into problems with the police. Remember how I bought a new car in March? Well, I traded in my old car, but something went wrong with the transfer of the title or something illegal happened because I’m now being investigated for a hit-and-run on top of notifications that the car has been impounded! They’re threatening citation and reports to collections, which would affect my credit. On top of that, I wanted to order flowers for my friend’s mom’s surgery, and I kept running into problems and 1800flowers called me up and canceled the order, and said they refunded me. But I’ve got TWO (not just one) charge on my bank card, so I need to call them up and figure THAT out. Also, I went to back up my computer and found that my back-up hard drive was shot! I lost some stuff. Luckily, I have a back-up back-up, so most of the stuff is still on there – I lost a few things because people made fun of me for having a back-up back-up, so I stopped using it recently. 🙂

Today I’m going to the Renaissance Festival with my friend and boyfriend, though to be honest I’d rather be sleeping off this illness. Hopefully it’ll be fun, anyway. I’ll probably perk up once the morning blues have worn off. 🙂 Tomorrow I’m going to the AMC theater showing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factor AND Blazing Saddles. I have two tickets and hoping my friend will be able to join me, but her mom gets out of the hospital tomorrow and we’re not sure she’ll come. So I might have two tickets but go alone if I can’t find anyone. I’d still enjoy it. 🙂

On the reading front, I finished two books this week: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling (for fun book), and Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard (book club). Reviews to come. As far as I remember, I haven’t watched anything worth mentioning.

I’m currently reading: The Ear, the Eye, and The Arm, by Nancy Farmer as my fiction (for fun book); Stiletto, by Daniel O’Malley as my audiobook (book club book); and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert M. Sapolsky for my fiction (for fun book).

Holding Smoke, by Elle Cosimano

Holding Smoke, by Elle Cosimano
I received a copy of this book from Disney Press via NetGalley
in exchange for a fair and honest review

John Conlan is in juvie for double murder, but the bars can’t hold him like they hold the other inmates. John is able to leave his body behind and travel around as a “ghost.”

I read Holding Smoke for two reasons: 1) I like teen fantasy, and 2) I like realism about teens in difficult situations. The second one is a bit of a stretch, since fantasy and realism are generally considered opposites, but I had high hopes for the realistic setting of this book because the author was the daughter of a prison warden.

As far as realistic settings go, Cosimano did a fantastic job. She managed to show the type of anger and violence that occur in a prison, without making it unsuitable for teens. She also wrote likable main characters with flaws. I’m always interested in reading what teen books say about prison, since I think it is important for teens to realize that “this could be you under different circumstances.” No, I don’t think of every teen as a potential prisoner so much as every prisoner as a human being with a story. This book did a good job of showing that John was a human being first, and a prisoner second.

Of course, the realism had to stop somewhere – it is, above all, a fantasy novel. I enjoyed the fantasy/romance side of the story, too. In fact, it’s the unique prison setting that makes this such a good fantasy story. Also unlike most teen fantasies these days, it’s about a male character – making it appeal to kids of both genders.

Recommended for teens 12 and up.

In which Rachel has been interviewed

Ever since getting my EMT certification about 3 weeks ago I’ve been applying for jobs like crazy. In fact, one morning I woke up to discover that I’d actually applied to several jobs in the middle of the night and totally forgotten about it! This week, I’ve had two interviews. Both jobs seem very interesting. We’ll see what happens.

I also went to the confirmation of my boyfriend’s brother. It took place in the Cathedral of Saint Paul, and was a beautiful ceremony.

And there was a little emergency that happened in our family too. My sister called me around midnight on Tuesday to say that she was in the ER with her 2 year old son. He’d had a “bad” seizure. It turned out to “only” be a febrile seizure – when a young child gets a high temperature sometimes they seize. It was very scary because it was the first seizure my sister had ever seen – and to see it in her own son! We spent several hours in the ER, but he turned out to be ok in the end. Phew!

Currently Reading

I changed the books I am currently reading because I remembered that Doing Dewey has a monthly non-fiction book club, and they’re reading Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. With my interest in the justice system, I couldn’t pass this book up. Even though I promised myself I’d focus on mental health for my own Mental Health Blog Hop (for which I’m reading Ten Days in a Mad-House). I’m also reading Roots, by Alex Haley for the read-along hosted by True Book Addict.

Watched this week

Acquired this week

Book Blogger Hop question of the week: Why did you start your blog?

My Answer: I started my blog because I enjoy writing reviews about books. I’ve always wanted to be an author (I know, join the club), and I thought this would be a good way to practice writing and figure out how to market. But I never started marketing on my blog, I just enjoy reviewing books too much.

This update is posted to Book Blogger Hop @Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer, Stacking the Shelves @Tynga’s Reviews, Sunday Salon, Sunday Post @Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and It’s Monday What are You Reading @Book Date

Unfair, by Adam Benforado

Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice
Written by Adam Benforado
Narrated by Joe Barrett

In Unfair, Adam Benforado discusses the injustices of the American justice system with historical, current, and scientific evidence. In his historical musings, he discusses the idea of justice as it evolved with time. For instance, he brought up witch trials (including the ridiculous ones where they throw the unlucky defendant in a lake and to see if she floats) and trials of animals that had killed humans. He pointed out that our concept of justice will continue evolving so that in 100 years our own criminal system will seem as preposterous and horrific as a witch hunt.

His current information included a lot of discussion of people who had been wrongly convicted due to misapplication of “justice.” Personally, although I think wrongful convictions are horrible, I believe they are so rare that he should have spent more time focusing on other injustices – like the fact that a drug kingpin, once caught, can provide names of everyone beneath him so that those people have no one to snitch on. Such miscarriages of justice mean that the kingpin gets a greatly reduced sentence and the people below him get regular-to-maximum sentence. That’s the type of thing I wanted to hear about, so I could complain about the justice system in a more informed manner. 🙂 Benforado also spent a lot of time discussing natural human bias – such as the fact that a person’s appearance, history, socioeconomic background, etc. affects the jury’s perception of guilt.

In his scientific discussion, he told the reader about current breakthroughs in lie detection (such as brain scans), which, although promising, need a lot of work. The author pointed out that jurors are much too likely to accept this “scientific evidence” as truth just because brain scans seem to be indisputable.

Overall, Unfair was interesting, despite focusing too much on the rare cases of wrongful convictions. The book was well-paced, interesting, and intelligent. It leaves the reader plenty to think about.

The Corinthian, by Georgette Heyer

The Corinthian
Written by Georgette Heyer
Read by Georgina Sutton

The ridiculously wealthy Sir Richard Wyndham has just been bullied by his family into proposing to a cold-hearted mercenary woman whom he does not love. They day before his proposal, he goes on a drunken walk through the night-time city, and a boy climbs out of a window into his arms. But the boy turns out to be Penelope Creed, a young heiress who is likewise being pressured by her family to marry someone she doesn’t love. Penelope is about to set out on a journey, and Wyndham feels obligated to escort her.

The Corinthian is a fantastic adventure for both the characters and the reader. This is only my second Georgette Heyer book, but it’ll probably end up to be my favorite. The characters made lovably silly choices all the way through the book, with humorous outcomes. The book remains light-hearted while sticking to a believable story-line. I can’t wait to read another Heyer book – in fact I almost went ahead and picked up another right away. I’ll definitely read another within the next few months.

Persuasion, by Jane Austen

Persuasion, by Jane Austen
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson

Anne Elliot has lived with regret over being persuaded to reject the love of her life when she was very young. The objections to this match – money – were quickly assuaged when the man went to war and earned his fortune. But, until now, no contact had been initiated. To her horror, Anne now has to live in close proximity to Captain Wentworth and watch him woo other women.

Anne is the most mature of Austen’s characters. Partly because she’s the oldest, but also because she has accepted the mistakes she has made in the past, and forgiven herself. She handles tragedy and awkwardness with an aplomb which makes even Captain Wentworth believe nothing is amiss in her feelings. Sense and Sensibility has always been my favorite of Austen’s books, but Persuasion comes in a close second because of the maturity of Anne’s character and Austen’s exquisite representation of pain endured for years.

I also watched two versions of the movie. I’d never been a fan of the earlier one (on the right) because I couldn’t really understand what was going on, but after watching the more recent version – which did a beautiful job of catching the mood of the book and managed to explain Anne’s discomfort through her journaling – I was better able to understand the plot of the first movie. Now, having read the book I enjoyed both movies immensely, but still preferred the more recent version for quite a few reasons – including the passionate ending.

Shadow Magic, by Joshua Khan

Shadow Magic, by Joshua Khan
This book was provided for free by Disney Press through NetGalley
in exchange for a fair and honest review

While on a quest to find his father, Thorn is caught by slavers and sold to the executioner of Gehenna – a land where darkness and death are highly revered. There, he meets Lilith Shadow, the ruler of Gehenna, who, through ill-wrought diplomacy to end a war, is being forced to marry a disgusting, sniveling, bully of a prince. Meanwhile, an evil necromancer is haunting Gehenna, threatening everything Lilith holds dear.

Shadow Magic is a magical fantasy adventure from a debut author, Joshua Khan. Meant for 4th – 6th graders, I’d put Khan’s writing on par with Brandon Mull and Jonathan Stroud’s earlier series – as with Mull’s and Stroud’s earlier writing, there’s room for improvement to become an amazing rather than “just” a great middle-grade fantasy author. I was highly impressed. I can tell already that Khan will be another favorite author.

I loved the world-building, characters, and plot of Shadow Magic – all were creative and fun. Bonus points for being able to wrap up all the loose threads so that there’s room for a second book, but no need or expectation for one. Khan is working on the second one now, and I am eagerly awaiting it to see how the characters grow.

In which Rachel buys Peptochrome

Another good week has passed, though again with very little reading or corresponding with blogging buddies. Hopefully this silence will pass soon! I’ve just got to pass my NREMT exam and I’ll be back in the blogging world with a vengeance. This week I celebrated Easter twice – once with my boyfriend’s family and once with my own. I went to the park with my 1.5yo nephew a couple of times and found that he’s able to ride the zipline all by himself! I should have gotten a picture for you. AND I bought a new car. The old one was having “break problems.” That is, it shook violently when breaking. They’ve been telling me “break problems” for years, but I keep fixing the breaks and it never fixes the shake. I have brand new (like within the last three months) breaks and rotors, and had some rust filed down in there. None of it helped, and none of that stuff helped years ago when I first started having the problems. It’s like they simply can’t fathom that my car might shake when I break if the rotors and breaks have been put in properly. It’s always blame-it-on-the-last-guy. Finally, the shake got bad enough that I had a choice – get my next big 15k maintenance on my car, or just get rid of it before I crash and die. So I bought Peptochrome.

Currently Reading

Completed this week

Watched this week

Completed in March

In which Rachel passes her EMT practicum

This was a good but busy week. I passed my EMT practicum and got an A in the EMT class. Now I’m all ready to sign up for the NREMT (national registry exam for EMTs). I hear is the hardest test I’ll ever take in my life. I thought the MCAT would be the hardest test I took in my life, so we’ll see if the NREMT beats that. I’ll keep you updated. Otherwise the week was pretty uneventful. Filled with studying, going to my part time job at the nursing home, training for my part-time job as a medical scribe, volunteering, and tests. The highlight of the week is that it was the birthday of a good friend of mine and we went on a couple of adventures to celebrate.

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate!

Currently reading

This hasn’t changed since last week!

Completed this week

It’s tempting to rush and read some kiddie book real quickly so I’ll have something to put here.

Watched this week

Again, nothing.

Acquired

The Five Kingdoms book is Death Weavers – the fourth book in the series. I purchased it for a palate cleanser since my reading motivation is going down, but I didn’t actually start it. Ha! Low motivation.

The other book is a medical terminology book which I will be using in my class this summer. I got it now so I can start studying for my medical scribe job as well.