Juliet

Juliet by Anne Fortier takes Shakespeare's story of Romeo and Juliet and turns it on it's head. This novel jumps between present day and 1340 and flows well between the two times and stories that mingle with one another.

Julie Jacobs has been taught the story of Romeo and Juliet since she was in the cradle and has been strictly forbidden from going to Italy when she was in that cradle. But after her Great-aunt Rose dies, she is given instructions in the will to find a magnificent treasure in Italy that her mother (who has also passed away two decades previously) was on the cusp of finding. When she arrives in Sinea, she finds the box that her mother left for her alongside stockers in the night and long standing family feuds riddled with knives in the back. In her mother's treasure box she finds the true story of Romeo and Juliet and just how wrong Mr. Shakespeare was in his depiction as well as evidence showing that Julie Jacobs is actually the great-great + grand niece of the original Giulietta Tolomei. ie Romeo's Juliet.

With the mix of finding out the true story of Romeo and Juliet and modern day Capulet's and Montagues', there are twists and turns everywhere. Shadows hide in shadows and no one is what they seem to be, ever. Even Julie's, supposed Romeo has many skeletons in his own closet and climbing in and out of balconies is a thing he's not afraid of doing. That being said, there were many hypothesis that were dashed to pieces because of the unexpected.

I really enjoyed this book. I listened to as an audio book and the narrator (Cassandra Campbell) did a fantastic job between the different voices. I originally got it to listen to while I was running and it made me want to keep walking so I could listen more. I was sitting at my kitchen table, in my car, or walking around with my headphones in so I could finish it and know what happened next. All in all I couldn't put it down.

The setting, historical and present day, made me want to go and visit Siena. I am sure Anne Fortier spent much of her time researching there in Siena, trying to get into different places because the descriptions were vivid and full. I hope she went there and enjoyed herself. A lot of research went into this story and her hard work shows.

Characters, like the setting, were vivid and complemented each other. Past and present characters felt very much alive. My heart ached at some points and at others I physically fist bumped the air while at the gym that wasn't originally part of the exercise. Things they did, squabbles and bickerings, cute and quiet moments were well presented and made me really feel for them as betrayals, misunderstandings, and a plethora of other Romeo and Juliet moments happened.

It was well done and one I would recommend if looking for a romantic thriller.

I will warn the reader, because I don't like it, that Janice is rather crass at points. If it was a book I would have skimmed through the dialog and moved on. I was just glad I wasn't listening to those parts while preschooler was in the car.

Hero at the Fall

Hero at the Fall is the final installment of the A Rebel of the Sands novels and, boy, was it great.

After finally escaping the Sultan's harem while spying for the Rebel Prince, she finds herself trapped behind a magic wall inside the city with only half of rebellions leaders. The others have been captured and somehow taken out of the city to an unknown location. Amani, being a Djinni's daughter and also somehow injured, she's had trouble grasping onto sands she once controlled. After kidnapping the princess that betrayed them and finding how to get out, they start a long trip to find their Rebel Prince. They end up encountering more Djinni, Shadowalkers, invading armies, and old family, not to mention the golden killing machines that can vaporize people who are being commanded by the Sultan and power by her Djinni father and that's before they even get to Prince Ahmed and the others. She is steps up, feeling very much inadequate to lead the rebellion against the Sultan that always seems three steps ahead and always moving forward.

My favorite thing of this whole series is the voice. Even after a year waiting for this book to come out, I instantly felt at home back on the sands with Amani and Jin. There are some books that it takes a while to get back into the groove of a story. Not here. Alwyn Hamilton's voice that she presents is distinct and memorable  making it easy to step back into Amani's shoes and pick up right where we left off.

What makes this book great too is every moment there is something going on. We don't have a fall interest though the action tempers when people talk and discuss. We see the internal debate that is fighting insider her: the feeling of inadequacy because she's just seventeen and getting people killed, not intentionally of course, as wells as the "gifts" the Sin Maker that would help people live. Then, of course, there are the amazing moments when she sails over the Sea of Sands or faces the Destroyer of the World, and that is even before she reaches the Sultan. There is constantly something happening that kept me engaged and wanting more.

The books is mainly about Amani and there isn't much conversation between her and Jin or her and Shazad. There isn't much dialog in general comparatively to internal thought and storytelling. But that is okay here. It is set up as a storyteller would have told it and it fits well here.

The relationship between her and Jin is rocky here because of the stress Amani is under and does rely heavily on the previous stories. So if the reader comes to this book first, they would probably be disappointed in the building of this relationship because in Hero at the Fall is isn't really there. It is told of, but not given the opportunity to be shown here and, again, I'm okay with it.  There reaches a point toward the end when Jin and Amani become intimate. The moment is descriptive of her feelings more than physical touches. It was modestly done while still getting the point across. So, if that makes you uncomfortable, you can easily skim through and read the dialog or skip to the next chapter. If it doesn't bother you so much, I think it was done well.

I also have nothing bad to say about the characters. They didn't change/flip flop on themselves or do something uncharacteristically them. They grew as people do. They had their virtues and vices. We were given the internal dialog for Amani and her struggles that change throughout the book. I enjoyed getting to know them.

It was great fun and I'd like to read them again. The books before are A Rebel of the Sand and Traitor to the Throne.

Herding Cats

Herding Cats is a from the "Sarah's Scribbles" collection, a comic series online that I find very funny. Her other books Adulthood is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy Lump and their reviews can be found here. I enjoyed them very much.

Much like her other books, these are full of one page comics about life. Sarah Andersen, I would assume, is an introvert and draws comics about her life as a human being. To me, many of her comics are relatible, not wanting to go outside, introverted-ness, artsy/creative-ish, a love of animals, slightly afraid of other people's children, etc. They are humorous and shed light on topics that are every day for her/us that others might just not get. I find them very accurate.

The particular thing I like about her books though is the writing at the end. In this book, she talks about drawing on the internet and how the internet has changed since she first started her career. She gives advice for young artists, but not only those who use paints or pen tablets. All artists, writers, and creators of any sort who are trying their craft will probably go through the things she discussing, I know I have. Your old stuff is probably crap and that's okay, knowing when to take it to heart and when to throw it in the trash, remember your human and feel things while taking criticism can be hard, you can get away from the interwebs and go outside to hear yourself think instead of getting bombarded by others opinions (that is probably healthy for everyone), and as always "Never give up. Never surrender" (from Galaxy Quest, not Sarah's Scribbles. Check it out anyway; it's a great movie.) keep going, you are doing great and always getting better. Sarah Anderson says more things, but these, I feel, are important.

I just really like her comics and hope she continues drawing.

Stitches

Stitches: A Memoir is a graphic novel of David Small and his time growing up, his hardships growing up.

David Small is a Caldecott Award winner for his illustrations for The Gardener, one of my favorite picture books while I was growing up. Everyone should read and enjoy it. He has gotten many other awards for the work that he has done over his 73 years.

Stitches begins with his experiences in hospitals. His father was a radiologist and his mother always seemed to be cranky. He was often sick as a child and because his father worked in the radiology department, he was able to have x-rays done to see what the problem was. As the years went on, as he grew alongside his brother, he found he had a growth on his neck. It grew until his family was finally able to do the surgery. However when he woke up, he found he was unable to speak. The surgeons cut out his thyroid and half of his vocal cords. As, again, years passed he was able to gain a raspy whisper, but his voice, of course, was never the same. He found solace in drawing and later illustrating children's books.

There is far more to the story than simply his voice, though it is a major part. But there are trials when it comes to the crazies of families. Deciding whether or not to continue on in family traditions and conditions or not. His story makes me even more grateful for my own mother. The way he drew his mother and grandmother reminds me of one of my grandmothers, not the temperament but the style. The round glasses and uppy hair. But the way he drew her instantly made her instantly one of those scary old ladies that I was afraid of when I was little. So to have her as a mom, I'd be almost scared my whole life.

I very much enjoyed the book. Very well done.

All Fall Down

Ally Carter has done it again in making a world of intrigue and deception. Unlike The Heist Society, though, All Fall Down is set at the international embassy in Adria. Here all of the world's embassy's live on the same street. Russia, Iran, Israel, and the USA bumping elbows and sharing the same paperboy can become rather hostile when someone sneezes in the wrong direction. One wrong move and it all falls down into WWIII.

But Grace has her own problems. Still trying to cope with her mother's death, she tries to be normal. She returns to the embassy where her grandfather resides as ambassador and where she spent many of the summers of her childhood. But she's not "normal," she's not "fine." Grace sees monsters everywhere still and conspiracy runs in every gutter. She feels like she can't trust anyone and for good reason.

The thing I like most about this book is how our narrator is unreliable. There have been few books where we are given an unreliable narrator and where you question, more than once, if she is actually sane. Grace has PTSD after seeing her mother murdered by a Scarred Man, but that is all she has to go on. Doctors and family say it was "an accident" "an accident" "an accident," but Grace knows that it's more than that. And more importantly she knows she's not crazy. But I came to times when trying to take the foreshadowed events and question if she really was crazy. Grace reminded me of Kat, from Heist Society, as the go-get-em kind of girl. The girl that would skulk into a secret tunnel after whom she thinks is the bad guy. (Do not try this at home.) She was different than most; the PTSD hangs over her heavily and I'm interested to see how much more she changes in the rest of the series.

I did like the world that Ally Carter set up. Making a new country, one neutral ground so then no one's toes were being stepped on was smart. I liked that Adria is a traditionalist place where balls can happen. It gave it that fantasy feel, at least for a bit, that I like. Making Grace feel like a princess in froofy dresses even though she actually feels like a penguin on stilts. I like that the kids on Embassy Row are really just that, kids. Letting crushes grow while others simply want to find a friend--all the while trying to not start an international crisis.

The writing itself is well done, though set for a mid-YA audience. For an easy, action book, this is what you'd want to read. If I had been dedicated and not sick for the last month and surrounded by crazy life, I could have finished it within two or three days.

I do want to see more of Grace and the other kids. Rosie was pretty cute and Megan's computer skills were pretty awesome, but I want more from them. I don't want the kind of romance Ally had in other books. I want more than just another Simon or Bagshaw brothers; they are great, but they had their book. I hope Grace and Alexei, Rosie and Noah have their own moments of awesomeness and that it's not just a reprise of Heist Society, good though it was. I want more, new awesomeness and I think I'm going to get it.