From the publisher, “When Winter’s dad goes missing during his nightly patrol of the wood, it falls to her to patrol the time portals and protect the travelers who slip through them. Winter can’t help but think there’s more to her dad’s disappearance than she’s being told. She soon finds a young man traveling in the wood named Henry who knows more than he should. He believes if they can work together to find his missing parents, they could discover the truth about Winter’s dad. The wood is poisoned, changing into something sinister – torturing travelers lost in it. Winter must put her trust in Henry in order to find the truth and those they’ve lost.”
I found the premise interesting and visioned a Wood with time portals similar to Narnia’s world puddles. The action in the Wood was good and the struggle that Winter and her father faced with being condemned to a future as a guardian of the Wood was well portrayed. However, bits of the story bogged down. The high school interactions really weren’t necessary – I wanted to get back to the Wood and the plots that lurked there. The pages spent on Henry’s (from several hundred years in the past) discovering modern amenities were nothing new. This is not a time-travel book, but an evil-goings on in a Wood. Not horror, not really suspense, more adventure/personal struggles/mystery.
eGalley review Publication date 8.1.17
Ragnvald knew he would drown, and it would not be a terrible death, better than dying from the wound in his face. The cold had penetrated his body. It would not be long now. Then he felt something pull on his ankle, pulling him down into the deep, cold fjord. He was in a great hall and saw sea maidens who brought food and drink. The doors of the hall opened and a golden wolf came in. Ragnvald touched its fur and it was warm, so warm. He wanted to embrace the wolf, but something caught his ankle and he struggled against the hands that pulled him from the water. The story takes place in ninth century Norway, where many kings ruled over their small holdings. It is based on the saga of Harald Fairhair, written in the thirteenth century. Ragnvald is trying to avenge the wrongs of his stepfather. His sister, Svanhild, is escaping from an unwanted marriage. Ragnvald’s story is of blood-soaked battles and betrayals as it follows the path of Harald seeking to unite Norway. I much preferred Svanhild’s story, a story of a strong-willed woman, unwilling to submit and live as a farm wife. The book captures the mindset of a people who were accustomed to hardship and brutality and it is filled with scenes of the beautiful Norwegian landscape, the deep fjords, the majestic mountains. I liked it very much and am eagerly awaiting the second volume.
After a long and tiring trip, Amelia and Emerson are at last in Cairo, settling into their usual rooms at Shepheard’s. At least Amelia is settling in. Emerson has been summoned to the presence of Maspero, director of the Service des Antiquites. A bath seemed most appropriate and Amelia was just sinking into a pile of scented bubbles when the door opened and a large man burst in, said “Murder!”, and fell, the knife still in his back. Of course this sort of thing seems to happen to Amelia with regularity, so she was not unduly alarmed. It is 1912, and Emerson has been asked to continue with an excavation in Amarna which had been abandoned. There they uncover the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose and the bust of Nefertiti, which soon disappears. As they search for the bust, danger appears on all fronts. It was great to have one last adventure with Amelia Peabody. Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters) died in 2013 while working on The Painted Queen. There were extensive notes, the plot was developed to a certain point, and she had written the final page. Joan Hess, her dear friend and mystery writer, completed the book with the help of archaeologist Dr. Sallima Ikram. She did a remarkable job, completely capturing the style of Peters, but this was a bittersweet read.
Fatima, Thea and Isabel were living their lives. Trying to keep their lives normal and in order. Trying to forget the secret they shared. Then the text came on each of their phones, the text they hoped they would never get . . . ”I need you”. And they knew it was from Kate, and they knew they had to go. The four had been best friends at boarding school. They were rebellious, outrageous, always finding ways to break the rules and not get caught (mostly). And they played the Lying Game, making people believe almost anything. It came with strict rules, the most important being, never lie to each other. Ruth Ware has done it again. This beautifully crafted story has characters with depth, a plot that moves and never lets your interest stray, a setting on the cliffs of the English Channel. It is a book that can’t be put down, a book that will haunt you for a long time. Highly recommend.
From the publisher, “Rosa and Eddie are among hundreds of teens applying to NASA’s mysterious Interworlds Agency. They’re not exactly sure what the top-secret program entails, but they know they want in. Rosa has her brilliant parents’ legacies to live up to, and Eddie has nowhere else to go–he’s certainly not going to stick around and wait for his violent father to get out of jail. Even if they are selected, they have no idea what lies in store. But first they have to make it through round after round of crazy-competitive testing.
Isabel and Jamie have added a new baby, Magnus, to the family, much to four-year-old Charlie’s dislike. “Don’t need a baby”, he firmly announced. But even with a new baby and a disgruntled older brother, Isabel finds time to investigate a gentleman who just might be not what he seems to be. Nothing much happens in this book. It is slow and gentle. Isabel talks with a few people about the gentleman in question, helps out in Cat’s delicatessen, edits the Review of Applied Ethics and cares for her children. The book is full of intelligent conversation and Isabel’s ponderings. Isabel is a philosopher and I just love reading her thoughts on many subjects. I find it refreshing. If you are looking for a real mystery, with clues and perhaps a murder, lots of action, don’t even think of reading this book. But if you want to read interesting observations about the world around you, this is for you.
From the publisher, “Against the ominous backdrop of the influenza epidemic of 1918, Annie, a new girl at school, is claimed as best friend by Elsie, a classmate who is a tattletale, a liar, and a thief. Soon Annie makes other friends and finds herself joining them in teasing and tormenting Elsie. Elsie dies from influenza, but then she returns to reclaim Annie’s friendship and punish all the girls who bullied her.”
Hana is overwhelmed by everything. For starters, there was the chaotic taxi ride from the airport which resulted in a broken taxi door (her fault). Then there is the police, the army, the protesters and the refugees that fill Cairo in the aftermath of the January 25th revolution, and her new job at the UN as a resettlement officer. Hana is an Araqi-American and knows about being a refugee. Things should be easier for her, but Dalia is her first case and she knows it is hopeless. Dalia’s husband worked for the Americans in Baghdad and received asylum in America, but Dalia was not included. Hana soon meets Charlie, Dalia’s attorney, who has a scheme to help Dalia. And so begins a desperate attempt to find a way to send Dalia to America. Oh, by the way, Charlie is in love with Dalia. This is a great book! It is full of tension, humor, tragedy, and full of characters that are human, flawed but very likeable. There are backstories for everyone and everyone has a different motive for defying the authorities. I was totally drawn in and I am still thinking about all the hopeless refugees stuck in limbo with no place to go, no way to earn a living. Nothing.
The merchants of New York didn’t know what to make of Mr. Smith, a handsome young man who appeared out of the rain and fog at the door or Lovell & Company on Golden Hill Street. He was bearing an order for a thousand pounds and wanted payment! A thousand pounds was a fortune. Should he be trusted? And if the paper proved to be genuine how could they pay? Cash money was not easy to come by. In 1746, most transactions were by barter. Sixty days wait was required before payment, and in that sixty days, Richard Smith managed to make every mistake possible while trying to fit into a new society. This is a wonderful novel. It had everything: a bumbling, lovable hero, twists and turns of the plot, descriptions of New York as a provincial town. The language was beautiful and the characters interesting. The only flaw is that it ended before I’d had enough.
Future Earth has been ruined by past generations so a project to create sustainable life on Mars was begun. Adri has been selected for this next group of colonists. She lost her parents in a flood and was raised in a group home, and focused on her education with the goal in mind to be selected for Mars. She is stand-offish, not making connections with others. The story opens with Adri going to the home of Lily, a distant and elderly relative in Kansas to sort of regroup and think before signing the final commitment to Mars. She finds herself in an old house that was part of a thriving farm at one time. Now, the only animal is a tortoise, Galapagos.
Caroline has been raised by her father, a wherryman, and has lived her life on the river transporting goods from port to port on board their beloved wherry. Until pirates destroy many wherry boats searching for a special crate. Caro’s father refuses officials when they demand he transport the crate, while being pursued by pirates, so they throw him in jail. Caro strikes a deal that she will transport the crate, earning the release of her father upon successful delivery.
During the wee hours of the morning, May 13, 1862, the 147-foot sidewheel steamer Planter made its way out of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The Confederate fortifications assumed the ship to be on its usual errands. It never occurred to them that an illiterate, enslaved man could pilot a steamer and escape with a ship full of slaves, and to cap it off, deliver the Planter to the Union forces. But Robert Smalls took the Confederates by surprise, did just that, and won freedom for himself, his crew, his wife and his children.
In a world where music enchants everyday objects with the Song, Chester is a gifted musician but not licensed to connect to the Song. Only licensed Songshapers trained at the elite Conservatorium can legally connect to the Song. Chester’s father vanished and Chester goes town to town making inquiries and playing at taverns to earn his way. When his music illegally connects to the Song, he finds himself arrested with his head on the chopping block. Saved by the Nightfall Gang, he is recruited for a special job. The Nightfall Gang can go into and out of The Hush, sort of an alternate reality, hidden in the folds of the world they know. Filled with all sorts of creepy beings that can kill with a touch, the Hush is a dangerous place to enter. The odds are stacked against their ultimate heist because they intend to break into the Conservatorium and Chester is key to their success.
You have to admit that Zona and Trout made a beautiful couple. She with her hazel eyes and strawberry blond hair, him with his crinkly black hair and sculptured face. But their hasty marriage was doomed from the start. Zona didn’t care a whit about cooking or house cleaning, and Trout loved to eat, and expected a neat and tidy place to live in. Sounds like not much that couldn’t be fixed, but in Greenbrier County, West Virginia in 1897, those were major problems. You wouldn’t think they’d be so major as to provoke him to kill her. But that’s just what happened. He’d of gotten away with it, too, if Zona’s ghost hadn’t interfered.
“Nine on an island, orphans all, Any more, the sky might fall.”
YA Lit Ramblings 
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