Book Bites

• I have been so excited about The Reckoning (see review below) that I somehow missed the release of the second Kelley Armstrong charity book, Tales of the Otherworld. The book is the follow up to Men of the Otherworld, both were anthologies from her web novellas mixed with some new stuff, all proceeds go to the World Literacy of Canada charity. You can order the book here. It's on my list!


• Harper Connelly is becoming a comic book! I'm not a huge fan of comics. I'm too impatient to read the story in small bits and pieces, I always want to read the whole thing at once–I'm still waiting for Buffy season 8 to become one big omnibus. Either way, I'm really curious to see how Harper and Tolliver are portrayed and I'm definitely going to take a look.


• Countdown to Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris: 13 days! I've got to remember to pre-order it, last year I didn't do it in time and had to buy it full price at the bookstore–which I almost never do :S The last Sookie book was a bit of a let down and way more disturbing than necessary, I'm hoping that this one brings it all back and from the name of the title it seems like it could do just that.

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

This is the final book in Kelley Armstrong's first YA trilogy. It picked up right where the action of the last one left off. Fast-paced, yet detailed, with characters that are so well-drawn not one word feels off. There's no doubt that Kelley is one of, if not the best, fantasy/sci-fi/horror writers out there. I enjoyed the book so much that I stayed up late desperate to find out what happened.

Chloe Saunders and her friends are still on the run from the evil Lyle House, a school for "special" kids, which turned out to be more of a laboratory for creating super-powered supernaturals rather than a safe haven for troubled teens.

The final book deals with the Chloe-Simon-Derek triangle and creates a "Bella/Edward" couple out of Chloe and Derek, that I'm sure hundreds of teen girls will love (I loved it!). The difference is that Chloe and Derek are equals and their relationship is actually realistic and (thank god) HEALTHY.

It's a testament to the book that the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I was left wanting more...this can't be the end of Chloe, Derek, Simon and Tori. The journey, in a lot of ways, seemed to just be beginning. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, Kelley said that her next YA book "The Gathering" is going to be about two teens who are in the same world as Chloe's...knowing how Kelley does things I'm crossing my fingers that these teens are going to run into Chloe and the gang and we'll get to find out what they've been up to.

Was it worth the read?

Yes. Make sure you read the entire trilogy in order and then read all of Kelley's other Otherworld books!

Don't you want me? by India Knight

I actually read this book five years ago. I had spent the summer in Greece on a small island where any book you came across you read (and loved) just because they were so hard to come by. I was packing up to go home to Toronto knowing I had a long trip ahead of me (a ferry, a bus, another ferry, a train and then a plane) and nothing to read. My British friend pulled a tattered copy of Don't You Want Me out of her bag and put it in my suitcase. I became so engrossed with the chick lit book on the bus that I ignored the very cute guy sitting next to me who wanted to chat...for the entire four hour ride! The markings of a very good book.

At first glance it looks like a low-grade chick-lit novel not worth a second glance, but India Knight's story about 38-year-old, single mother Stella, her baby daughter Honey and her ginger, artist roommate Frank is hilarious and scrumptious--the total chick-lit treat!

It was just as good now as when I read it on that Mediterranean bus ride five years ago. I've looked India Knight up to learn she's a British journalist/author who had an earlier novel that got rave reviews. I'm going to have to check it out!

Was it worth the read?
Yes, please find it and read it! So much fun and totally delicious.

Night's Edge by Charlaine Harris, Maggie Shayne and Barbara Hambly

I'm normally not into short stories, but I've been trying to catch up on all of Charlaine Harris's Sookie mini stories so I had to check this out.

Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris
At first I didn't put two and two together to realize that the dancers featured in this short story are the same dancers Sookie met at the ball in New Orleans. I remember being intrigued by them when I read the book and wondering if they were going to play a bigger part later on...well they got their own prequel and it is definitely a treat!

Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne
Kind of cheesy, felt more romance novel like, but the story definitely picked up the pace. Journalist Kiley Brigham buys a house dirt cheap only to realize it's haunted, she ends up consulting psychic Jack McCain who she (of course) falls in love with as they investigate the mystery. The story was fun and spooky, as far as short stories go it was pretty entertaining.

Someone Else's Shadow by Barbara Hambly
This was the final story in the book and it was definitely not a case of saving the best for last. For a short story there sure was a lot of rambling and the characters didn't make any sense--it was a total skimmer, if that.

Was it worth the read?

For Harris and Shayne, yes! If you have to read Hambly, maybe do so first? I think I was so disappointed because I'd been so pleasantly surprised by the first two that I expected a lot by the time I got to the third entry. Another success for Charlaine!

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

After reading and really enjoying the Time Traveler’s Wife, I was excited when my friend leant me another of Audrey Niffenegger’s books, Her Fearful Symmetry. The story centres around Valentina and Julia, 20-year-old American 'mirror' twins who are wandering through life aimlessly and still living with their parents in the suburbs of Chicago. Their life takes an exciting turn when they inherit an apartment in London from their estranged aunt (the twin of their mother). From here the novel gets pretty complicated, but to sum it up their new life in London is filled with eccentric neighbours, ghosts and deeply buried family secrets. The novel starts off promisingly, and it’s undeniable that Niffenegger has a certain way with words, but I found that the story just got a bit out of control and was too unrealistic. In The Time Traveler’s Wife, Niffenegger was able to take a science-fiction concept and portray it extremely realistically, but she fails to do the same with Her Fearful Symmetry. I felt that it was a lot harder to connect with the characters and a lot of the plot twists were just a bit absurd. It seems like she tried to cram too much into one story and in the process lost a lot of the human emotion and connection that made me love the Time Traveler’s Wife. There are still some poignant passages and an enjoyable sub-plot but the story as a whole just never quite came together for me.

Was it worth the read?

I would have to say no. It’s definitely an interesting story, and the ridiculous plot is what kept me reading, but I was left unsatisfied and a bit disturbed in the end.