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Ranking The Turners
Courtney Milan’s Turner series follows a trio of brothers who come from a gentry class and thoroughly impacted in different ways by their religiously-mad mother. All grown up they have suffered her mark and hold quite a bit of bagge within themselves and in their relationships with each other. All grown-up, the eldest brother, Ash Turner has procured a fortune and a dukedom to set them for life. But riches cannot prevent the complexities of falling in love, especially with similarly desperate woman, all to remember they are not as alone in the world as they think.
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Wild Rover No More Review
We have come to the end of the line as Meyer presents the last adventure of the cork-like Jacky Faber. But will her fate end at the gallows as she so direly predicted back when she was a young street urchin in London?
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Boston Jacky Review
Jacky is back in her beloved Beantown and while she does not burn the place down as she did in her first stay, she still brings about plenty of trouble. She is “ever so hard on her friends,” as well as one Jaimy Fletcher but we’ll get to that.
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Viva Jacquelina! Review
The inodimatble Jacky Faber is back, blackmailed by the British Intelligence into a new mission where she is sent over the hills and far away to the plains in Spain to be exact. . . And Portugal but that doesn’t fit the rhyme. Anyway, being Jacky her mission to spy on the French as they invade the Iberian penninsula doesn’t quite go as plan.
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Book Highlight: Extraordinary Mothers and Daughters
This is the perfect book for Mother’s Day as if the title wasn’t clue enough. The beautiful collages by Natasha Cunningham highlighting black and white portraits overlayed with flowers adds to the theme.
Split into six chapters by Emily Freidenrich shows the warmth, love and osmetimes complex bonds of twenty five famous mother-daughter figures even ones spanning three generations like Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd.
It’s a bit flowy but I think it adds to the more thoughtfeel it is supposed to inspire as the first chapter delves into duos that step into the same career as their elder to make their own way most notebly with Diana Ross and Tracee Ellis Ross.
Chapter 2 discussess the impact of mothers that have died when the daughters are young and how their presence and lessons they learned or heard help them with the loss like Pheobe Ephron and Nora Ephron.
Chapter 3 details the ample support and biggest fans for each others work such as the Williams women.
Chapter 4 touches on the shadow that one might feel in the face of an ubertalented parent or spouse like Linda McCartney and Stella to their husband/father, Paul.
Chapter 5 talks about vulnerability and communication as a way to deepen that connection such as the Smith’s Red Table Talk.
The final chapter details the strength and importance of having your mother during your toughest moment like Chanel leaning on her mother, May May Miller after her assault.
These are short bios of two-three pages but their message comes across poignantly as Freidenrich uses their own words from interviews to portray the warmth and genuine love between all these women. I also learned a bit about celebrities I never knew like the chef Alice Waters and Bollywood star, Sridevi Kapoor.
So a lovely mother-daughter book that will inform and possible spark some conversation about the strength and complexity of the bond.
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The Lunar Chronicles: Stars Above Review
With this lovely anthology of stories, Meyer returns to the world of the Lunar Chronicles, filling in the gaps, revealing angst, sweetness and turning point moments in their lives.
(more…)#aftersunshinepassesby, #anathology, #carswell'sguidetogettinglucky, #fairytale, #feiwel&friends, #glitches, #macmillan, #marissameyer, #rachelreads&reviews, #scifi, #somethingoldsomethingnew, #starsabove, #thekeeper, #thelittleandroid, #thelittlemermaid, #thelunarchronicles, #themechanic, #theprincessandtheguard, #YA -
The Lunar Chronicles: Fairest Review
Meyer does it again with this prequel to her popular Lunar Chronicles series. Fairest is technically a prequel as it sets up events years before Cinder but it was released between Cress and Winter. But since it’s such a stand-alone you can read it before, after or in between. The main point is to give insight to the mysterious Lunar queen, Levana before she became the fairest and most manipulative ruler in the realm.
When Levana was princess, she was ugly and invisible.
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Thoughts on The Eldest Curses
I can’t quite do a full trilogy overview as the third book has been pushed back till next year so I can’t but I thougth I’d share my thoughts so far.
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Insomnia and other stories
Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough
I figured I should have just one more spooky book to close out Halloween. Well technically it’s more thriller than horror but it has several hallmarks such as crazy killers, superatural threat and the prevailing theme that seeps through ever horror and thriller, who can you trust and can you ever trust yourself? That’s what successful attorny, wife and mom, Emma is dealing with as her fortieth birthday approches. She isn’t able to sleep which normally wouldn’t be caused for concer but that’s exactly what happened before her mother went insane and tried to kill her family. Emma can’t possibly be following her mother’s maniac footsteps? But as things begin to not add up, she starts to suspect just that. Well actually she has her doubts about her sanity but she also suspects there’s a bigger threat trying to frame her. Her first suspect, her dead mother is back.
So yeah, it gets freaky as the mundane domestic drama twists alongside the blurred lines of Emma’s sanity. It may not have the gore but it will send chills down your spine.
I have literally said that the Valient Ladies of Potosi should be a movie. But a book is a nice second, it has everything you could want. Action, secret identities and criminal gangs running loose through the city which Grey uses to full effect.
For those who don’t know the legend, Eustaquia de Sonza was a refined lady from one of the most important families in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Ana Lezama de Urinza was born on the streets and a vagrant until Eustaquia took her in as a sister. They were best friends, some believe they were lovers, either way they had all their lessons together including sword lessons from Eustaquia’s brother. Which they quickly applied to become vigilantes at night.
It’s the perfect recipe for heroism and Grey takes the predictable beats with Eustaquia, nicknamed Kiki bringing the distrustful Ana to the fold, learns a little about the other side, Ana warms up to the girl she saw as rich and naieve but conflict, Eustaquia is engaged to the scion of another noble family. Meanwhile, there are mysterious murders targeting lower class women. The two Valient Ladies of Potosi are on the case, delivering some lessons on feminism to patriarchial men. Like I said, it’s a bit cliche and freely anachronistic at parts which Grey admits in her author’s note. I don’t care, it’s fun. As long as more people learn of these awesome ladies.
Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth
This could be subtitled Les Miserables as that is the feling of many here. Wulff is raw as she writes about the 16 year old Marguerrite who just wants to get out of the shit-hole that is Idaho Springs where everyone has problems. Her Dad is an abusive alcoholic, her mother won’t leave him, her cousin, Jake and she deal pot in order to create a small get-out-town fund, all her friends are in similar situations and foster homes on and off the rez. Poverty, hopelessness and drugs are rampant. Then she meets Mike who seems to be a bright spot of hope in it with his love of reading and broody Holden Caulfield demenour that splices through the shithole life. But he turns out to have his share of issues too. A real dick as the book says because even if men are good they always manage to fuck it up somehow.
It’s a pretty much a cycle of helplessness as it seems like the system is against Marguerite, her friends and family right from the start and how do you keep on going if you know it’s just not worth it? But there is some hope mixed in there too. Mundane moments of beauty and happiness peek through in her day to day grind for survival and hoping to be better than her parents and her teenagehood.
(more…)#abbyjimenez, #astrophilpress, #bunnydrop, #contemporaryromance, #crazyhorse'sgirlfriend, #erikatwurth, #feiwel&friends, #foreverpublishing, #harpercollins, #historicalfiction, #indigenousYA, #insomnia, #macmillan, #manga, #melissagrey, #partofyourworld, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #romance, #sarahpinborough, #thefriendzone, #thehappilyeverafterplaylist, #thriller, #valiantladies, #YA, #yenpress, #yumiunita -
Boxers, Saints and Little Women
This historical saga by Gene Luen Yang imparts the history of the Boxer Rebellion from the people in the rebellion rather than the dusty old textbooks focusing on the Europeans views of things. Filled with tragedy, magical realism and some humor with expressive visuals that keep the story moving.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 