The Last Equation of Isaac Severy

Just days after mathematician and family patriarch Isaac Severy dies of an apparent suicide, his adopted granddaughter Hazel, owner of a struggling Seattle bookstore, receives a letter from him by mail. In it, Isaac alludes to a secretive organization that is after his final bombshell equation, and he charges Hazel with safely delivering it to a trusted colleague. But first, she must find where the equation is hidden.

While in Los Angeles for Isaac’s funeral, Hazel realizes she’s not the only one searching for his life’s work, and that the equation’s implications have potentially disastrous consequences for the extended Severy family, a group of dysfunctional geniuses unmoored by the sudden death of their patriarch.

As agents of an enigmatic company shadow Isaac’s favorite son—a theoretical physicist—and a long-lost cousin mysteriously reappears in Los Angeles, the equation slips further from Hazel’s grasp. She must unravel a series of maddening clues hidden by Isaac inside one of her favorite novels, drawing her ever closer to his mathematical treasure. But when her efforts fall short, she is forced to enlist the help of those with questionable motives.

Author: Nova Jacobs

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4.25/5

"Hazel didn't take her eyes from the man as he continued his recitation, but her hand had wandered to her right pocket. She slid her fingers inside, over the crispness of the envelope, and before she knew it, she was running a fingernail along the lip until she could feel a thin sheet of paper within. Almost without thinking, she had broken the seal, and now there seemed to be no retreating from Isaac's letter."

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy was a masterfully done mystery. Somehow a relatively light read despite the dark subject matter, the book was really enjoyable and kept me guessing throughout. Jacobs' clues are perfect—some you pick up on right away and others are harder to spot—and I felt like I caught on exactly when she wanted me to.

Hazel, who was adopted as a Severy along with her brother when they were young, is one of the only family members not brilliantly gifted in mathematics. Yet Isaac, an award-winning and truly genius mathematician, has chosen her. The day before he died, he mailed her a letter that matter-of-factly stated his upcoming demise and provided clues and a call to action: secretly destroy what's in room 137 and give my last equation to my trusted friend.

At first, she's overwhelmed and confused, but once she grabs hold of the first clue, she is thrown into the scavenger hunt head-first. Her other family members are quirky and—sometimes—mysterious. A long-lost cousin, who also happens to be a mathematician, appears and wants to help. But is that a good idea? After all, Isaac told her to share his note with absolutely no one.

Hazel's story is woven together with that of her brother, Gregory (a police officer), and her uncle, Philip (Isaac's son and a brilliant mathematician himself). Together, their thoughts and actions paint a complex picture of the few weeks over which the story takes place.

I loved how human all of the Severys were, and I really started to fall in love with their family. I was also a big fan of the fact that Hazel didn't magically jump from clue to clue, picking apart the mystery on her own. So many mystery novels unfold that way, but it's a little unrealistic. Instead, Hazel had many moments of confusion, things that luckily fell into place just right, a ton of self-doubt, a little bit of help, and just the right amount of curiosity.

I blazed through this one and enjoyed every second. I highly recommend as a fun, engaging, and intriguing weekend read!

School for Psychics (School for Psychics, #1)

Teddy Cannon isn’t your typical twenty-something woman. She’s resourceful. She’s bright. She’s scrappy. She can also read people with uncanny precision. What she doesn’t realize: she’s actually psychic.

When a series of bad decisions leads Teddy to a run-in with the police, a mysterious stranger intervenes. He invites her to apply to the School for Psychics, a facility hidden off the coast of San Francisco where students are trained like Delta Force operatives: it’s competitive, cutthroat, and highly secretive. They’ll learn telepathy, telekinesis, investigative skills, and SWAT tactics. And if students survive their training, they go on to serve at the highest levels of government, using their skills to protect America, and the world.

In class, Teddy befriends Lucas, a rebel without a cause who can start and manipulate fire; Jillian, a hipster who can mediate communication between animals and humans; and Molly, a hacker who can apprehend the emotional state of another individual. But just as Teddy feels like she’s found where she might belong, strange things begin to happen: break-ins, missing students, and more. It leads Teddy to accept a dangerous mission that will ultimately cause her to question everything—her teachers, her friends, her family, and even herself.

Author: K.C. Archer

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3.25/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for making this title available as a digital advanced reading copy.

School for Psychics is your typical story featuring a girl who has lived her life as a misfit, was adopted when she was young because her parents "died in a car crash," doesn't realize she has superpowers, gets to school to discover she has SUPER superpowers (hmmm...about those parents?), bands with a group of other misfits to solve a giant mystery...you know the type. That being said, as far as those stories go, this one was pretty good. So if those are your usual jam, you'll probably enjoy School for Psychics.

In the story, Teddy has lived her whole life believing she was epileptic, doomed to be a screw-up forever, and cursed with an uncomfortable (even disruptive) ability to tell when someone was lying. She's channeled that ability into poker and gotten herself into some serious trouble. A man shows up, demonstrates his psychic abilities, and tells her that she's psychic, too. He convinces her to come to school, the Whitfield Institute, and give herself a second chance.

The rest of the book is devoted to Teddy's first year at Whitfield. She struggles in her classes, with her new friends (which she has never really had before), and with her super-rare, super-impressive, super-hard-to-control powers in astral telepathy. She's also headstrong, impulsive, and extremely curious, especially when it comes to her parents—which leads her down a path that quickly careens out of control.

The premise of the book is intriguing, even if the execution was occasionally a little bit off. There were a lot of major plot points that were almost frustratingly clear to the reader, but Liz didn't see any of them until the end. I think this is because the author wrote certain scenes just to drop hints rather than working the hints into aspects of the broader plot. In real life, the pivotal moments would have been easy to miss, but when a whole chapter occurs just so that moment can happen, the reader catches on pretty quickly.

The end moved pretty quickly, though. I do want to know what will happen next and how it will all resolve. If all of the books in this series were already published, I'd probably pick up the next one right away.

The Night Masquerade (Binti, #3)

"***Description is spoiler for Binti #1 and #2***

Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse.

Far from her village when the conflicts start, Binti hurries home, but anger and resentment has already claimed the lives of many close to her.

Once again it is up to Binti, and her intriguing new friend Mwinyi, to intervene—though the elders of her people do not entirely trust her motives—and try to prevent a war that could wipe out her people, once and for all.

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4/5

"Even back then I had changed things, and I didn’t even know it. When I should have reveled in this gift, instead, I’d seen myself as broken. But couldn’t you be broken and still bring change?"

The Night Masquerade concludes the Binti trilogy, and I couldn't wait to read it. The first two books were engaging, entirely unique, and full of sociological depth. I was not disappointed by the third. It was an ending that I couldn't have predicted, although now it makes perfect sense. I felt like I grew alongside Binti, understanding her struggles and learning her lessons.

The story starts where the second book left off: Binti has learned that her family is in danger. She has just had an ancient, advanced capability of her DNA activated, and her preconceived notions about the people whom she did not know were hers have only just begun to crumble. A member of that community named Mwinyi accompanies her back across the desert as she tries to reach her family before it's too late. The journey back tests her even more than the journey out.

When they finally arrive back in Binti's world, her home is burned and her community is on the brink of war. As a master harmonizer and the person who is easiest to blame for the discord, Binti knows she must convince everyone to set aside ancient, forgotten transgressions in order to save countless lives.

I wish I could tell you more without ruining the book, because there is so, so much more.

“'Ah, that explains why you’ve never seen an Icarus,' he said. 'They’re large green grasshoppers who like to fly into fires. Then they fly out of the flames and dance with their new wings of fire and fall to the ground wingless. The wings grow back in a few days. Then they do it again.'"

There are so many great themes and layers to this book. Among them are a sense of self, identity, and home; prejudices and learning to be open-minded; culture and belonging; duty to your family and heritage; and so much more.

I particularly loved the symbolism of the otjize (a clay mixed from the earth) and Binti's struggle with it. The women in her culture cover their skin and hair with otjize at all time, and it is considered shameful and indecent to be seen without it. Throughout the book, Binti has it on, then off, then on, then off. Part of her wants to set it aside, and part of her can't let it go. There's so much to unpack there, especially from a gender perspective; if you've read these books, I'd love to talk about it with you.

"My rage stayed and I was glad."

I also loved that Binti really began to accept—even embrace—the rage that had become a genetic part of her body and mind. She really reclaimed her anger as a piece of herself, her whole self. It became something that just was, something that could be directed or ignored or used a fuel for good. I am all about reclaiming things that are "supposed" to be negative and showing that it is always possible to create good from something you inherently are.

Nnedi Okorafor's style is different from everything I've read before. There were some moments in which she'd explain the characters' reactions before describing what caused them, which threw me off a little, but I always found my way back. But her writing is always powerful, unashamed, engaging, and purposeful.

Highly recommend, my friends.

The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles. 

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. 

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences. After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for . . .

Author: S. A. Chakraborty

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4.5/5

"He was looking for her. Nahri was the one who had called him.”

The City of Brass has absolutely everything you're looking for in the first book of a fantasy trilogy: a beautiful AU with rich history, languages, politics, magic systems, and longtime oppression; a willful female lead who comes from nothing to rise to badass-ness; a devilishly handsome, super strong warrior love interest who is maybe not the greatest person ever but oh gosh you love him; a corrupt but genius and conniving king who is hard to outsmart; and a young rebel prince who knows what's right and is bound to bust out of his shell soon to help save the world.

The story is of Nahri, who starts as a street rat in Cairo before accidentally summoning Dara, the swoon-worthy djinn warrior. Pursued by ifrit (the bad guys/creatures), he whisks* her off to presumed safety in Daevabad, the city of her ancestors—it turns out she is 50% djinn. Not only that, but she is possibly the last living descendant of a very powerful and magical family that ruled the djinn race for thousands of years before being wiped out by the current regime. (Her lineage is a mystery that will absolutely become way more important in later books, I'm sure.) But Dara has a lot of secrets and an extraordinarily complicated history, and the ruling family is not very happy to see either of them.

All this overlaps with a very complex political situation: the shafit (those who are half-djinn and half-human) have been not only oppressed but persecuted for millennia, and an uprising is bubbling below the surface. There are five different djinn tribes—all with their own cultures, religions, and languages—none of whom get along very well, if at all. The king's eldest son...oh boy. I'm not going to ruin that one for you. And his second son is young but smart with spot-on morals and a lot of skill with a weapon.

*I asterisk the word "whisks" above because their journey to Daevabad takes a tad bit longer than I would have liked. It's important for world-building, but it's the slowest part of the book. Also, this book was highly anticipated because it is by a Muslim author and features aspects of the Islamic faith and traditions. I have read the reviews of a healthy number of Muslim friends and fellow reviewers who were very disappointed in the execution of this cultural focus. Truthfully, it is not much of a focus at all.

However, as far as stories go, I really loved this one. I literally read the last few chapters on my hands and knees because I was so excited and couldn't contain myself or read quickly enough! I really should have known better than to start another trilogy that's not fully published yet. What am I going to do with myself while I wait?

The Woman in the Window

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times...and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems. #IknowwhatIsaw

Author: A.J. Finn

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3.75/5

"Watching is like nature photography: You don’t interfere with the wildlife."

This book was not what I had expected; it was no Girl on the Train. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was more than cliffhangers and suspense; this is a thriller/mystery that also deals with the poignant topics of PTSD, mental illness, alcoholism, loneliness, grief, and more. I chose it as my Book of the Month February selection, and I don't regret it!

Anna Fox was a successful child psychologist with a small, happy family until a terrible ordeal caused her to have to abandon her career—her life—and heal, both physically and mentally. She stays locked in her home in Harlem, alone, passing the time by playing online chess, watching old films, drinking a ton of wine, and using her camera to keep up with her neighbors' lives. She knows (or, in some cases, pretends she knows) all of them, but when a new family moves in across the park, she becomes particularly attached to them. It's strange and a bit unhealthy, as you might imagine.

Then one day, when she is particularly intoxicated and overly medicated, she witnesses violence in that house. But the next day, there's no evidence to be found, and no one believes her. She is determined to get to the truth of the matter, but her inability to leave her home makes that hard. As we progress through the story, we begin to question everything we'd assumed from page one.

"Some nights I haunt her room like a ghost. Some days I stand in the doorway, watch the slow traffic of dust motes in the sun. Some weeks I don't visit the fourth floor at all, and it starts to melt into memory, like the feel of rain on my skin."

The Woman in the Window isn't one of those thrillers that get your heart thumping wildly every other page, but it does move along nicely and present mystery after mystery after mystery. Uncovering more about Anna and how she got to her current situation is just as gripping as the mystery across the street. Her obsession with old films helps to emphasize the confusion between what is real and what is not. And about 75% of the way in, there was a plot twist that walloped me; it was masterfully done, truly.

Anna is likable as well as pitiable. Her morals are definitely in the right place—at least at the time the story occurs—even if her execution misses the mark. But she becomes ten times more intriguing after the plot twist. Many times, she questions her own perception of reality, but as the audience, we think we know what's going on. Heh—yeah, right.

All in all, a good story and a safe choice for a book you'll enjoy.

Goodbye, Vitamin

Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, thirty-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town and arrives at her parents’ home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth’s mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic. But as Ruth's father’s condition intensifies, the comedy in her situation takes hold, gently transforming her all her grief.

Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing in this life.

Author: Rachel Khong

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4/5

"What imperfect carriers of love we are, and what imperfect givers. That the reasons we can care for one another can have nothing to do with the person cared for. That it has only to do with who we were around that person—what we felt about that person."

If you are looking for a quick read in which every single word is incredibly carefully selected—a read that will really, really tug at your heart—this is a great choice.

Goodbye, Vitamin is a journal-style chronicle of one calendar year in the life of Ruth, our protagonist. We begin at Christmas. Ruth's fiancé has left her, not only in body but also in spirit, because she has never spent the time or effort required to discover who she is on her own. Lost, decimated, and almost hopeless, her holiday at home makes it impossible for her to continue to ignore her parents' situation, which grows direr every day. Her father's Alzheimer's Disease has become a true burden on her mother, and their marriage—to which the rocky points Ruth had always been voluntarily blind—continues to be strained. Her mother asks her to take a year off and live at home to help.

"He held my hand in one of his and with the other started to build a house from the cards. He laid the foundation on my stomach, and I tried my best not to breathe. I tried to hold very still, so I wouldn’t be the one to bring it down."

She agrees, and the year begins slowly. Ruth has always lived comfortably within her own assumptions, never straying outside the radius of the life she built just because it was the easiest one to build. But as the time passes, she allows the people in her life to pull her out of herself. Her journey of needing others while finding herself suddenly needed is transformative—and not only for her.

Her thoughts each day reflect the way we all see the world without realizing it; the small moments that are big, the harmless thoughts that eat away at us. The truths that are easier to handle if we pretend they do not exist, and the need to stop putting energy into things that won't matter a year from now, ten years from now.

At a first glance, her words seem off-handed, but the longer you stare at them the more they say. As I read this book, I kept thinking of something I read in How to Read Literature Like a Professor (highly recommend): the author has spent way more time pondering these words than you have; if you're wondering if they mean something, they always do. And I promise you that not a single one of Rachel Khong's words was unintentional.

"Today I thought of what I would give to have time just stop here. You’re out of my league. I’m waiting for the day you’re going to leave me. I’d give: All the money I’ve got. My entire set of teeth. That special silver dollar your grandfather gave me and said would be worth $300,000 by the time you were in college. Any of it, all of it, just to keep you here."

One of my absolute favorite writing choices Rachel Khong made in this book was her treatment of the middle of the year. Ruth's father had kept a journal when she was a young child, writing notes to future Ruth to tell her funny stories about herself and note mannerisms and share quotes and express his love. I won't give too much away, but the way Khong used this in the story was heart-wrenching and truly beautiful.

While part of me wishes some of the secondary characters had been developed a little, I can't help but think that the themes and feelings portrayed may not have come through the same way if they had. I wanted more, but at the same time, I just know intuitively that it was exactly enough.

"I have a dream I’m King Midas but instead of gold it’s aluminum. Everything I touch turns to it. I hug my father and poof! he turns into a tin man. “I have a heart,” he says sorrowfully. “That’s not the problem.” “What’s the problem?” I ask, peering at him. He has rust-rimmed eyes. “I am always cold,” he says."

All in all, this was a story that made me feel human. Reading it felt like self-care, cradled and precious.

The Power

In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power—they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.

From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, The Power is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways.

Author: Naomi Alderman

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 5/5

"You cannot get there from here."

The Power was not a light read; it was not comfortable. It was weighty and important composed of layers and layers just waiting to be peeled back. I went into it without any real expectations, but still, I never could have imagined this novel would turn out to be what it is.

On the Day of the Girls, young women around age 13 suddenly discover that their skein, a previously unrecognized organ over their collarbone, has come alive. Through it, they are able to channel dangerous amounts of electricity through their hands. Some have more power, and some have less, but all the girls seem to have it. New babies are born with it, and the young can wake it up in women older than them.

"The men flinch. The women stare hungrily. Their eyes are parched for the sight of it."

We follow four(ish) different characters' storylines, separate and also intertwined, as the world begins to change. Schools are segregated by gender; men are afraid. Developed societies try to pretend it will go away someday, and countries in which women have long been oppressed discover that they are powerless no longer. Some women hide it, some seek to do good, and some become drunk with their new power. The gender imbalance that exists today, in real life, reverses.

“It doesn't matter that she shouldn't, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. The power to hurt is a kind of wealth.”

I have not read anything else like this, either in books or online. It speaks to the pain and anger that many women feel nowadays; what would happen to the world if those feelings were suddenly unleashed? If something tipped, all at once, and striking back was easy? Women are not morally superior to men just because women are oppressed and men are the oppressors. Everyone is a human being, and no matter your gender, power corrupts—totally. "Power has her ways. She acts on people, and people act on her." This isn't something I have ever considered before, and it has already started a major shift in my way of thinking about the world.

Naomi Alderman's writing is superb. Every single word is chosen with care, and nothing means only one thing. It's hypnotizing, in fact. The biblical references throughout are masterful (casual example: "...the imaginations of young people, which are now what they have always been and ever shall be"). Even apart from the character arcs that are definitively biblical, as the idea of God shifts from God the Father to God the Mother, references to religion and the way humanity bends and shapes it to our will is a constant hum in the back of the book's subconscious.

"This is how it works. The younger women can wake it up in the older ones; but from now on all women will have it."

I also think one of my favorite things—one of the things I most admire that Alderman did—was that this power woke up in young women and spread to the older generations. And from now on, the younger ones will have it, the older ones will have it; a tipping point was reached, and the young women changed the way women existed, and none of them can ever un-know what they now know. Does that sound familiar to anyone else?

And the story would have been enough to keep my mind working for a good, long time, but the structure of the novel—and its ending—added so much more. I won't say more on that here because it was so powerful for me to come into it on my own, but wow.

And that recurring quote—"You cannot get there from here"—the depth of that sentence still has me reeling. Are we too wounded to get there from here? To build a world that's good for everyone, so scarred by everything that has come before?

There is so, so much more to be said on this, but I don't think I've even begun to internalize it all yet. I'm really excited to discuss it with other women at a book club meetup in a few weeks. It's one of those books that just need discussion.

Just...trust me. Don't miss this one.

Home (Binti, #2)

***Description is spoiler for Binti #1***

It’s been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero for uniting two warring planets. A year since she abandoned her family in the dawn of a new day. And now she must return home to her people, with her friend Okwu by her side, to face her family and face her elders. 

But Okwu will be the first of his race to set foot on Earth in over a hundred years, and the first ever to come in peace. After generations of conflict can human and Meduse ever learn to truly live in harmony?

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 5/5

"I was Himba, a master harmonizer. Then I was also Meduse, anger vibrating in my okuoko. Now I was also Enyi Zinariya, of the Desert People gifted with alien technology. I was worlds. What was home?"

The first Binti novella was excellent, and its sequel did not disappoint. I was hooked from the very beginning and remained at the edge of my proverbial seat the entire time. I fell more in love with Binti on every page, as she struggled to find herself and prove that she belongs with her people, all while she knows who she is deep down, and it's someone who can be put into a box.

After a year at the galaxy's top university, Binti feels compelled to return home to attempt to repair her family relationships and prove that she is a true woman of her people by making the traditional pilgrimage. She brings Okwu with her, her friend and classmate who belongs to a species long at war with Earth's primary race of people. It's dangerous, but she is a master harmonizer, and she is determined to bring him in peace.

"What will you be?” she asked. “Maybe it is not up to you."

As you might expect, her homecoming does not go as smoothly as Binti expects. And her pilgrimage—the journey that will prove to her people and to herself that she is still Himba, still one of them—is not to be either. Instead, she is handed another layer of complexity to her identity, and she has to figure out whether she can live with that.

"In the stories of the Seven, life originated from the rich red clay that had soaked up rains. Microorganisms were called into active being when one of the Seven willed it and the others became interested in what would happen. That clay was Mother, otjize. I was clay now."

Throughout this novella, I found myself especially intrigued by the symbolism of otijze, the clay mixture with which Himba women cover their skin and hair. They literally cover every inch of themselves in mud. But only the women. And it is considered extremely shameful for them to ever be seen without it—if that happens, their chances for marriage are shot. But the women are proud to wear it, and it's a central part of their identity. To Binti, it is a constant tie to her people and heritage, and rather than seeking to wash it off, she clings to the tradition as though her entire sense of self-worth depends on it. But it is not just mud, not just dirt. It's also soil, rich and fertile. It symbolizes women's place as dirty, less than, but also their role as mothers, life-giving. It is shame and also pride. Dirt and life.

I loved following Binti's journey in this part of her story, as she rebels against her own strength and unique identity before she learns to embrace it and become who she is meant to be. I don't think she's all the way there yet, but I hope the emergency she's rushing off to circumvent at the end (darn you, cliffhanger!!) will take her the rest of the way. I can't wait to read the last one when it comes out soon!

Binti (Binti, #1)

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself—but first she has to make it there, alive.

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 5/5

"People were people, everywhere."

I don't think it's possible for Nnedi Okorafor to write anything that I (and the rest of the world) don't absolutely love. Her storytelling ability and imagination are just excellent. Binti is no exception. Almost from the first sentence, I was drawn into her world and her character. Even though her time, culture, and experiences are firmly science fiction, they are not foreign.

Binti is a young girl who has been handed her life's dream: to study math at the galaxy's premier university. But she is from a marginalized people who do not stray from home. Her people stay, they do as their people have always done, and they do not question it—especially if they are a woman. But Binti is unbelievably talented, and the university has given her a full scholarship if she will only make her way there. So she shocks her entire people and leaves while they are asleep, shunning herself and severing ties to her culture in one fell swoop.

"If I couldn’t make otjize here, then I’d have to . . . change."

During her journey (on a spaceship built within a giant, living creature), they are attacked by a species that has long been at war with the race of people who hold the status and power on Earth. They would kill her, but she has a mysterious and ancient piece of technology that stands in their way. She must be strong enough to survive the journey and then save many lives—both friend and "foe"—when the ship arrives at the university's planet.

"Okwu was young, like me. And maybe that’s why it was so eager to die and prove itself to the others and that’s why the others were fine with it."

This story is a novella, and it goes quick, but there is so, so much packed into it. So much about identity, culture, power, prejudice, belonging. I loved how she referred to multiple beings as "people" no matter their species, although I also noticed that individuals were always "it," and never "he" or "she." I loved the way Binti's battle within herself to both align with and differentiate herself from her people brought out so much about her character. I loved how much I learned from her about the experiences of people who are less privileged than I am. I loved her strength, her intelligence, and her powerful femininity.

The Chalk Man

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.

In 2016, Eddie is fully grown and thinks he's put his past behind him, but then he gets a letter in the mail containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank—until one of them turns up dead. That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

Author: C.J. Tudor

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4.5/5

"If our world was a snow globe, it was the day some casual god came along, shook it hard and set it back down again. Even when the foam and flakes had settled, things weren't the way they were before. Not exactly. They might have looked the same through the glass but, on the inside, everything was different."

I chose this book as my December 2017 Book of the Month pick, and I'm so glad I did! (That was a tough choice, though.) I was looking for something that would hook me from the beginning and allow me to rip through it quickly. That's exactly what this book did.

The story jumps back and forth between the main character's childhood and the present day, which are linked by a murder mystery. Eddie and his friends have a pretty eventful year in 1986, starting with a truly gruesome tragedy at the beginning-of-summer fair, peppered with the reality of death—which tears away some of their childhood innocence—and ending with their discovery of a dead body. We, the readers, know this is coming the whole time, but we have to read through to learn some of the most important details—like whose body it is. In 2016, Ed is a somewhat lonely adult with questionable mental stability when one of those friends comes back into his life and then turns up dead. His PTSD from those childhood experiences mingle with his grasp on reality, and he finds himself careening down a path of discovery and answer. Woven throughout both storylines is the mystery of stick figure men drawn with white chalk.

"For who are we if not the sum of our experiences, the things we gather and collect in life? Once you strip those away we become just a mass of flesh, bone and blood vessels."

This book dives deep into the theme of what gives people their identity. As a child and as an adult, Eddie is obsessed with collecting tokens of experiences. As a child, he steals small trinkets or pens off people's desks. As an adult, the entire second level of his home is filled with cataloged boxes of these items. He's obsessed with hanging on to the proof that he has been places and experienced life. Is this related to his father's decline with dementia? His early experiences with violence and the fleetingness of life? Mental illness? I think all three.

C.J. Tudor's ability to weave this theme into every aspect of the story is really impressive. There was a lot to it if you're looking. Even in the single quote above, notice the reference to losing our experiences, to collecting proof, to his experiences with the gruesome.

And the ending—the very, very ending after the climax of the story, the very last page—was just...so great.

Nikki White: Polar Extremes (Nikki, #3)

When Nikki Janicek sprints from the 200-degree sauna out into the 100-below darkness wearing nothing but bunny boots, at least she’s not alone. She already has survived months of solitary confinement, a forced swim with sharks and a scary journey to the South Pole. Now she’s a member of The 300 Club, an exclusive group of people on the planet who have endured a 300-degree temperature swing in a matter of seconds.

It’s all part of her training for a six-person, one-way mission to Mars. Nikki wants to go, but not with The Bridge — a space-obsessed company that abducts, controls and violates people. She wants to take a stand. She wants to free her father, her former lover and herself. And she’ll attempt it with the help of the young man who shot her seven years ago. It’s a previously inconceivable alliance, bonded by polar extremes.

Author: Jack Chaucer

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3.75/5

Thank you, Jack Chaucer, for providing me this book so that I could read and review it!

Well, if you had told me when I finished Streaks of Blue (#1) how this trilogy was going to end, I would have looked at you like you had two heads. I still can't believe how much the story evolved and changed course! I never would have predicted that Nikki, whose focus was on averting a mass school shooting in book 1, would be in the place she is on the last page of book 3.

This one starts out so fast-paced and removed from the moment book 2 ended, I really thought Nikki was dreaming! It moved faster than book 2, which was good and kept me more engaged with the storyline. I definitely wanted to know how she was going to get out of her predicament and end the story. Nikki is also far less destructive and reckless in this one, and she seems to have gotten her own head back on straight.

Like in the other books, there were some cheesy moments here and there, but overall, it was an interesting story and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have read it! Thanks again, Jack!

Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble (Nikki, #2)

A young female journalist is wooed by an organization obsessed with the looming effects of global warming and the race to colonize Mars.

Author: Jack Chaucer

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3/5

Thank you, Jack Chaucer, for providing me this book so that I could read and review it!

Wow. This book was so, so different from Streaks of Blue (#1), which told the story of Nicole Janicek as she befriended an outcast boy to try to stop him from committing a mass shooting at her high school. In that story, Nikki is a poised, self-confident, meritorious young woman who does the right thing because she knows it is right. In Nikki Blue, three years later, she is no longer that girl. She's confused, she's impulsive, and she's a little destructive. She ignores red flags that are right in front of her eyes, to her near-peril. I missed the old Nicole. Even young people who are trying to find themselves still retain the essence of themselves, but that didn't seem to be the case here. Her transformation was a little too abrupt for me.

It was also a much longer book, and it moved a little slowly. But I did see why all the plot development was necessary, as we basically started a whole new story—this one has almost very little to do with the first book, other than retaining the same characters and their relation to one another. The concept was intriguing, though. And it definitely fell firmly into today's political climate, with the major themes of society's desensitization to climate change, Tesla and other organizations' race to Mars, and even young people's struggle to pay for college and find a stable, promising career.

All in all, I felt that Nikki Blue fell firmly into the category of "second books in a trilogy that help get you from book one to book three."

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets—a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 5/5

"I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together—knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting."

There is little I can say about this one that the rest of the world hasn't already said, and that speaks to how great it was. It absolutely lived up to the expectations set by Six of Crows, which was a tall order! Even though I knew twists and turns in the plot were coming, I never could have predicted what they would be. It kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing the entire time. That ending!!! And ugh, my heart! SO, so good.

The thing I loved best about Six of Crows was the characters, and I was not disappointed in their development in Crooked Kingdom. Bardugo's skill is absolutely undeniable, and the chemistry between couples is off the charts. There are very few outright romantic scenes—you might call them almost romantic—but it is so much better that way. She gives us just enough to understand the depth of these characters' emotions, the desperation of their hearts. And that's all we need. Hands down, Jesper and Wylan were my absolute favorite, and I found myself thinking about their scenes even when I put the book down. And that scene with Inej's shoulder?? Bardugo. is. brilliant.

I may or may not have bought a weekend-long ticket to BookCon in NYC in June just because she's going to be there.

A Man Called Ove

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Author: Fredrick Backman

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 5/5

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”

When I finished this book on my way to work one morning, all I could think was, "UGH UGH UGH MY HEART UGH." I then started my workday as a blubbering ball of pure emotion.

Peter Borland, the book's editor, told Off the Shelf, "Sometimes I hear people say they love the book because of how Ove changes over the course of the novel. But that's not true. What's remarkable about the book is that Ove doesn't change at all. Not even a little bit. Instead, once we learn his backstory and understand why he is the way he is, we change—and we fall in love with him." To say that he hit the nail on the head feels like an understatement.

"'Loving someone is like moving into a house,' Sonja used to say. 'At first you fall in love in everything new, you wonder every morning that this is one's own, as if they are afraid that someone will suddenly come tumbling through the door and say that there has been a serious mistake and that it simply was not meant to would live so fine. But as the years go by, the facade worn, the wood cracks here and there, and you start to love this house not so much for all the ways it is perfect in that for all the ways it is not. You become familiar with all its nooks and crannies. How to avoid that the key gets stuck in the lock if it is cold outside. Which floorboards have some give when you step on them, and exactly how to open the doors for them not to creak. That's it, all the little secrets that make it your home.'"

Nobody told me that this book was going to break my heart and then lovingly repair it, over and over again. I was emotionally unprepared for how beautiful it all was. I was heartbroken that this book had to end.

Ove (pronounced OO-vuh—he's Swedish) is a grumpy old man who does the same thing every day. He sees the world a certain way and will never change it. He and Sonja of remind me of the old man and his wife from Pixar's Up. But as we get glimpse after glimpse into his past and perspective, we realize that it would be impossible for Ove to love more deeply or more completely. The way he loves is so pure that I find myself wanting to personally shield him—a fictional character—from anything that could cause him pain.

Backman also uses metaphors masterfully—the cat, the Saab, driving in the residential area, reading Shakespeare, I could go on—in a way that is perfectly balanced between subtle and familiar. The secondary characters are purposeful, delightful, and just as lovable as Ove. And there are so many beautiful lessons to take away from the story.

I could gush about this one forever. It's gonna take me a while to recover. Ugh. Love.

Origin

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough...one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and the Guggenheim's Director, Ambra Vidal, must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain’s Royal Palace itself...and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch’s shocking discovery...and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us.

Author: Dan Brown

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4/5

To no one's surprise, Dan Brown has done it again.All his books follow exactly the same formula, but it's a formula that works and is entertaining every time. I sat down on Friday night intending to spend my weekend on a wild goose hunt with Robert Langdon, with some plot twists, some cryptic codes, a bunch of art history, and a heart-racing ending. And that's exactly what I got! I'm not going to pretend that the predictable formula made the journey any less enjoyable.

I really did enjoy this one. It deals with a much more modern subject matter than he usually covers—technology—and taught me a great deal about Spain as well. Whenever I read Dan Brown's books, I always keep my smartphone handy so I can look up photos of the buildings and art he describes.

All in all, if you're looking for a fun escape, this will serve you well!

Streaks of Blue (Nikki, #1)

Adam Upton and Thomas "Lee" Harvey are plotting the next big school massacre at their New Hampshire high school. Nicole Janicek, who knew Adam in elementary school, tries to reconnect with the damaged teen at the start of their senior year. But will Nicole’s attempt to befriend the would-be killer disrupt the plot and turn Adam’s life around before the clock strikes 12:14?

Author: Jack Chaucer

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3.75/5

First, thank you to Jack Chaucer for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I definitely enjoyed it, and I am grateful!

This is a very quick read that makes a quick impact. When I first started it, the prose felt a bit description-heavy and blunt, and I was definitely turned off when the girls said that Cheryl Strayed "was a real slut back in the day" (can we not exemplify teenage girls slut-shaming each other?), but as I kept reading, there weren't any other major transgressions, and I got used to the writing style. In fact, it almost reminds me of the style in which The Shack is written. The best part about this style is that you can read it quickly; I got through this book in one sitting on a Saturday evening.

Nikki is a very self-aware young woman with a big heart, and I instantly liked her. I'm looking forward to reading Chaucer's other two Nikki books in the hope that even more depth is added to her character. From the moment she receives the message that Adam is planning a massacre at her high school, her moral compass points her in the right direction. She battles mean girls, peer pressure, biased administrators, social stereotypes, and her own will to do good, but her heart never waivers.

I appreciate the way Chaucer obviously took his inspiration from Newtown and the heroes who gave their lives that day. He took his pain from that event and turned it into a story that demonstrates our need to reserve judgment, to reach out to those who are different from us, and to do something. I do think that further storyline and character development could have taken this book from a quick bite of morality to a true heart-rending piece of inspiration. BUT. It was absolutely worth my Saturday evening!

Mark of Fire (The Endarian Prophecy, #1)

Lorness Carol, coming of age in the kingdom of her warlord father, Lord Rafel, aspires to wield magic. But she’s also unknowingly become the obsession of Kragan, an avenging wielder as old as evil itself. He’s waited centuries to find and kill the female prophesied as the only human empowered to destroy him. However, dispatching the king’s assassin, Blade, to Rafel’s Keep, ends in treason. For Blade arrives not with a weapon but rather a warning for the woman he’s known and loved since he was a child. With a price on his head, Blade flees—as Carol and her family are urged away on their own desperate route of escape.

Now, traversing the lawless western borderlands, Carol struggles to understand the uncanny magic she possesses and must learn to master. Though separated, Carol and Blade are still united—not only by the darkness pursuing them both but by a quest toward destiny, revenge, and the revelations of an ancient prophecy that signal the ultimate war between good and evil.

Author: Richard Phillips

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 3/5

I downloaded this title as my Kindle First October Book. I enjoyed it, but I knew I was going to get myself into trouble reading the first of a series that isn't fully published yet!

My overall impression is that this book has a classic but compelling fantasy plot, but I wish everything had been more fully developed. There wasn't much world-building in the beginning and the characters are not very complex, but I can feel their potential. I hope that the second and third books in the series add to the world's depth more effectively and make the characters nice and round. However, the book's simplicity does make it a quick read.

I also felt like the "action" scenes were well-written and engaging, but the slower scenes that were meant to develop the plot were not. There was so much blase description of unimportant activity. For example, the main character, Carol, would wake up, eat something for breakfast, go wash up in the stream, chat with an acquaintance, take a nap, then have a four-sentence conversation with her mentor, say she'd be right back after she packed her wagon, go pack the wagon, return for six more sentences with her mentor, and then go to bed. I really didn't need any of that—could they not just have had the conversation? Do I care that she took a nap or had to pack her wagon? No, I do not.

When men try to write feminist lead characters, there's often something just slightly off about it, and this is no exception. Nothing seems wrong, per se, but maybe it's just because the characters are still so flat. I just felt like Carol's thoughts and emotions were stated to plainly and left for face-value. Sometimes Phillips felt the need to write her internal monologue in a way that reiterated important things that happened, almost as though he was afraid you hadn't caught them the first time. But...yeah...we got it, thanks.

All in all, I read this book quickly and did enjoy it. I'm intrigued by the story and certainly want to know what happens next, so I'll keep my eyes out for the next one. I just need to remember that it's going to be a quick and not-too-deep type of read.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is ostracised by the locals, but as a conscientious but far from fanatical soldier, whose main aim is to have a peaceful war, he proves in time to be civilized, humorous—and a consummate musician.

When the local doctor's daughter's letters to her fiancé—a member of the underground—go unanswered, the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable. But can this fragile love survive as a war of bestial savagery gets closer and the lines are drawn between invader and defender?

Author: Louis de Bernieres

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4/5

I picked up this book because it contains one of my favorite quotes. In fact, I even chose it as a reading at my wedding (with a few omissions).

Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don't blush, I am telling you some truths. That is just being "in love", which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

I had high hopes that the rest of the book would contain passages as beautiful as this one, and I was not disappointed. Louis de Bernieres is a language artist. There is a chapter titled, "How like a Woman is a Mandolin," and it is striking. I encourage you to find it and read it. The characters are also beautiful, especially Carlo, a closeted but passionate gay soldier who leads a full but tragic life in distant, dutiful service to those he loves.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a World War II novel, but it is atypical in that it's set in Cephalonia, Greece, during its Italian occupation. It is less about Jewish persecution and concentration camps, and more about how war disrupts and changes lives, no matter who they are or where they live. However, I must say that I'm disappointed that the back cover description of this book focuses on Captain Corelli. The book is really not about him, or about men. The book is really about Pelagia. It is told from a feminine perspective about a strong, smart woman who is equal parts romantic and feminist.

It took me a long time to finish this book, but that was because the language and subject matter is so dense. It reads a lot like a classic novel, in fact. I'll also add that the last 150 pages or so moved much more quickly than the first 350. Really, it was a beautiful reading experience. It may be interesting to let this one ruminate and re-read in a year or so to see what more I get out of it.

Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist:

Break into the notorious Ice Court
(a military stronghold that has never been breached)

Retrieve a hostage
(who could unleash magical havoc on the world)

Survive long enough to collect his reward
(and spend it)

Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done—and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable—if they don't kill each other first.

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4.5/5

"Everything in her wanted to say yes, but she would not settle for so little, not after all she'd been through."

This book was exactly the YA fantasy adventure I was looking for. It was exciting and fast-paced, with a captivating universe. The world-building did move quickly in the first chapter or two, but I know there are other books in this universe that chronologically precede Six of Crows, and I have not read them. I caught on fast enough, though.

I love the depth and diversity of the characters in this book, and I love how relatable they all became—even those who seemed somewhat flat in the beginning. Mostly, I was blown away by the strength and independence of Inej. She loves and respects herself more than anything else. She wavers but never falters. It is so, so impressive.

At first, I thought it was a tad cheesy how the different countries and ethnicities in this universe run somewhat parallel to countries and ethnicities in the real world, but as the story went on, I realized it is important that they do so. This parallelism allows Bardugo to dig deep into the way humans treat one another and attempt to explain why. And it allows him to show that no matter how divided we may seem, you will always find a Romeo and Juliette who simply cannot help but see the good in one another. There is always hope for reconciliation.

I cannot wait to read the second book!

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.

Author: Franz Kafka

Amazon | Goodreads

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Rating: 4/5

As a general rule, I don't critique classics. I will, however, gladly offer commentary on my experiences reading them. I hadn't read anything by Kafka before, including "The Metamorphosis." Needless to say, Kafka is weird. I found myself following along with a story pretty well...until I wasn't anymore, or until it abruptly ended. But this made me think harder, and I think I enjoyed his works more for it.

I also found myself reading Kafka at the dentist and realized I'm that person. And proud?