The Billionaire Takes a Bride

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The Billionaire Takes a Bride (Billionaires and Bridesmaids #3) 

Jessica Clare

Intermix: 2015, 256 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

While this book is the third in the Billionaires and Bridesmaids series (which itself is a spin-off series from her Billionaire Boys Club series), readers do not have to read the books in order.  This story focuses on Sebastian Cabral, a billionaire whose family is obsessed with being famous and filming everything for their reality show, The Cabral Empire.  Sebastian wants nothing to do with it and needs a way out of it.  Chelsea is a soap-making roller derby gal who has suffered a severe trauma in her past.  She hates being alone and now her best friend is moving away.  Chance throws them together but Sebastian and Chelsea agree to enter into a marriage of convenience in order to help them both.  But as time passes, Sebastian and Chelsea both wonder whether their sham marriage is more real than fake.  Normally Clare's books are fun, sexy (note: there is strong sexual content) reads but this one is a little different.  Readers should be aware that certain conversations could be possible triggers for those who have experienced sexual assault but there is more humor than sadness in the book.  

Landline

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Landline

Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Press: 2014, 310 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Georgie and Neal's relationship was never easy.  While they loved each other deeply, her career as a writer for television comedies was always at odds with Neal's more reclusive nature.  But when Georgie had to forgo the family's annual Christmas visit to Neal's parents in Nebraska to focus on a new pilot she was pitching, she was devastated when Neal packed up their two daughters and went without her.  While spending the holidays at her mom's house in her childhood bedroom, Georgie discovers an unexpected way to reflect on the Christmas many years ago when Neal had proposed to her, and she wonders if maybe Neal wouldn't have been better off if it had never happened.  Landline provides an honest and genuine look at how relationships (and the people in them) change while still remaining the same.

The Blue Castle

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The Blue Castle

L.M. Montgomery

McClelland and Stewart: 1926, 218 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

A 29 year old girl, afraid of never being loved or married, has a total transformation due to a health diagnosis.  Valancy has lived with her overbearing mother her whole life, she decides to break out of her shell and do whatever she wants to make the most of her life.  Her story is nice and has a good twist at the end.  I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for light and happy reading.

Nimona

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Nimona

Noelle Stevenson

Harper Collins: 2015, 272 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Nimona is a graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson, which started as a web comic.  Nimona is a young girl who also happens to be a shapeshifter and she has a knack for causing trouble.  She becomes the sidekick to the villain Lord Ballister Blackheart.  Blackheart is out for revenge against Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics.  As Blackheart spends more time with Nimona, he begins to realize that her powers are more dangerous than he imagined.  Can he prove that the Institution is actually up to no good, finally exact revenge against Goldenloin, and keep Nimona in check?  

An Ember in the Ashes

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An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1)

Sabaa Tahir

Razorbill: 2015, 446 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

An Ember in the Ashes is the first of Sabaa Tahir's epic series.  The author switches each chapter into the point of view of Laia, a slave, or Elias, a soldier, who live under the rule of the brutal Martial Empire (which was inspired by Ancient Rome).  Laia just wants to survive, living simply with her grandparents and brother.  But when her brother is arrested for treason against the Empire, Laia agrees to spy on the Empire at the military academy for the rebels in return for her brother's rescue.  

Elias just wants to graduate from the military academy and run away from the cruelty he's been surrounded by since he was six years old.  His plans of desertion are put on the back burner as he is chosen to compete in the Trials, a brutal series of test in which the winner not only lives but is either crowned the new Emperor or his right hand man.  It is during this time that he meets Laia and their stories begin to intertwine.  Readers should be aware that the second book in the series will not be available until the end of April 2016.

My Cousin Rachel

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My Cousin Rachel

Daphne du Maurier

Doubleday: 1951, 352 pages

Reviewed by Sheryl Walters

**Warning - this review contains spoilers!

Philip Ashley is heir to his older cousin, Ambrose.  They both live simple lives until Ambrose marries an Italian woman named Rachel.  He dies suddenly and Philip is set to inherit his estate when he turns 25, in less than a year.  Philip had received mysterious notes from his cousin and had went to check on him in Florence.  He was too late and Rachel was gone as well.  Upon his return to England, Rachel came to his house.  No arrangements had been made for her to have any property or money.  She stays with Philip and over time, he falls in love with her and eventually gives her everything, but she does not return his affection.  The story had the reader wondering if she is sincere or if she possibly murdered Ambrose and is money-hungry.  The question is never fully answered as she has an accident in the end, and dies, and all the property and money revert back to Philip.  I enjoyed the thrill of the book, but did feel that it dragged on and the story could have been told in much less time.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

Balzer + Bray: 2015, 303 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a great young adult book.  It focuses on 16 year old Simon, who's gay but in the closet.  He has an email correspondence with another boy in his school who is also gay but they both keep their identities a secret.  Simon's world is turned upside down when another boy at school not only finds out about the emails but uses them to subtly blackmail him to play matchmaker, since the blackmailer has a crush on one of Simon's more attractive female friends.  Simon has to figure out how to navigate through this all while dealing with changes in his friendships and family and his newly emerging crush on Blue, his email pen pal.  Albertalli does a great job creating realistic fiction that is actually real.  Readers should be advised that there is some strong language but no explicit sexual content.

Boneshaker

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Boneshaker 

Cherie Priest

Tor Books: 2009, 416 pages

Reviewed by Salina Bush

During the Civil War, a rumor of gold in the Klondike sweeps the nation and Russian prospectors set up a contest for anyone that can build a machine that can cut through ice.  Leviticus Blue creates the Boneshaker to do just that but something goes terribly wrong.  Without warning, the Boneshaker rips through downtown Seattle, destroying everything in its wake and worse yet, releasing a gas that turns humans into zombies.

Sixteen years later, Briar, Leviticus's widow, is trying to eke out a living to support herself and her son, Zeke, on the outskirts of the great wall built to contain the blight gas and the living dead that still roam the ruined city.  She has been able to keep them alive this long but all this changes the day that Zeke decides to go beyond the wall to find out what actually happened the day the Boneshaker turned everything upside down.  This means it's up to Briar to go in and bring him back out.

I really enjoyed reading about the world the author had created, and how people would live in a world not only with zombies but also covered in poisonous gas.  It was very interesting to see this alternative take on U.S. History.  Also, the characters were very likable and capable, it never felt like they were making stupid decisions just for the sake of keeping the plot going like some other books do.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable read and I will be picking up the others in the series soon.

Auggie & Me

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Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories

R. J. Palacio

Corgi Childrens: 2015, 303 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Auggie & Me is not a sequel to Wonder, written by the same author, R. J. Palacio.  It is a parallel to Wonder and offers the perspective of three characters from the original book: Julian, Christopher, and Charlotte.  Julian is the main antagonist and bully and his chapter answers some lingering questions that readers may have had while reading Wonder.  Christopher is Auggie's childhood best friend who moved away and Charlotte is one of Auggie's classmates and original "welcome buddy" who showed Auggie around the building before the school year began.  Again, readers gain insight as to how Auggie's presence effected those around him in numerous ways while also focusing on their own issues that seemingly every middle schooler goes through: changing friendships, family problems, worrying about popularity, and just trying to fit in and be liked.

Wonder

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Wonder

R. J. Palacio

Corgi Childrens: 2013, 315 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Auggie is about to start 5th grade after being home-schooled all his life - not because his parents are wary of the education system - but because of his rare medical issues.  Auggie was born with Treacher Collins syndrome and a cleft palate; even after enduring many surgeries, his face is still noticeably different than those around him.  Wonder switches between different narrators, such as Auggie, his sister, and his friend, Jack.  The different narrations are awesome snippets into how all these characters are somehow effected by their relationship with Auggie, whether it's for the better or for the worse.  Wonder provides readers with great insight into kindness and empathy and I recommend it for all ages, late elementary and up, even though its target audience is middle school readers.       

Dead Witch Walking

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Dead Witch Walking 

Kim Harrison

HarperTorch: 2004, 416 pages

Audiobook published by Tantor Audio

13 hours and 14 minutes

Reviewed by Jessie Park

In an alternate reality, humans live side-by-side with the paranormal entities (called Inderlanders) such as witches, vampire, werewolves, and pixies after a terrible bio-disease wiped out half the human population.  Rachel Morgan is a witch bounty hunter with the Inderland Runner Services but she's stuck in a rut.  She decides to quit and somehow ends up starting her own runner business and partnering with the Service's best runner, Ivy, a living vampire.  But the IRS does not like it when employees break their contracts and Rachel soon discovers that there's a bounty on her head!  The hunter becomes the hunted in this delightfully entertaining and funny first book of the Hollows Series.  Narrator Marguerite Gavin does a great job creating unique voices for each character.

A Star for Mrs. Blake

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A Star for Mrs. Blake

April Smith

Knopf: 2014, 352 pages

Read by Michelle Croy

A Star for Mrs. Blake is a novel set in the 1930's about five American women - Gold Star Mothers - who travel to France to visit the graves of their sons who fought in World War I: a pilgrimage that will change their lives in unforeseeable and indelible ways.  The women meet for the first time just before their journey begins: Katie, an Irish maid from Dorchester, Massachusetts; Minnie, wife of an immigrant Russian Jewish chicken farmer; Bobbie, a wealthy Boston socialite; Wilhelmina, a former tennis star in precarious mental health; and Cora Blake, a single mother and librarian from coastal Maine.  In Paris, Cora meets a journalist whose drug habit helps him hide from his own war-time fate: facial wounds so grievous he's forced to wear a metal mask.  This man will change Cora's life in wholly unexpected ways.

-Provided by Publisher

Fledgling

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Fledgling

Octavia E. Butler

Grand Central Publishing: 2007, 320 pages

Reviewed by Salina Bush

This book is not your typical vampire book and I loved it for that reason.  It tells the story of a girl who wakes, gravely injured, and has no idea who or what she is.  She must figure out what happened to her and, more importantly, how to live with the inhuman abilities and needs that she possesses.  It was wonderful learning with the main character how to navigate the world she finds herself in and the book was a very unique take on the mythos we are all familiar with.  It was also very bittersweet reading this book.  This is the final book that Octavia Butler published before her untimely death in 2006, which made it all the more special to me.  It is a fitting capstone to a wonderful career.