Book Review: Driving Lessons by Zoe Fishman

Title: Driving Lessons
Author: Zoe Fishman
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
Source: copy received for honest review through TLC Book Tours

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

When Sarah and her husband trade in a crowded commute, cramped apartment, and high stress New York City jobs for life the slow lane in Farmwood, VA, the pressure is on to have a baby. At thirty-six Sarah knows it's time to get started, but the urgency motivating her to reach this pinnacle of self-fulfillment looms large. Meanwhile, her best friend Mona, a single and successful editor who's always wanted children, is diagnosed with cervical cancer. At the same time, Sarah's younger and seemingly perfect sister-in-law has just given birth to her son, Franklin. When Sarah uproots her new life with her husband in Virginia to return to New York and care for Mona, the three women will help each other navigate their new realities.

My Review:

Ah, women's fiction.  Lord knows it's been one of my preferred genres for a long time.  Especially when it's also borderline "mommy fiction", like Driving Lessons.  I love it when an author can really dive deep into the emotional side of marriage, motherhood, and friendships: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Driving Lessons attempts to do just that.  Sarah is balancing a huge career change, her marriage, a big move from NYC to the countryside, her relationship with her sister-in-law, her best friend's hysterectomy, and the decision of whether or not she wants to be a mother.  Tough, thought-provoking stuff.  All this, plus she hasn't driven a car in years, so she needs to take driving lessons once she moves down to Virginia.  (Cue "Very Obvious Metaphor Used Throughout Novel".  Sorry, don't mean to be snarky.  It just nags me a bit when the metaphors are SO blatant.)

It's hard not to like Sarah.  She's a fun, somewhat socially awkward thirty-something, who manages to approach most of the mishaps that are thrown at her with a positive attitude and good humor.  But this inherent likeability is also the reason why this book probably will not leave a lasting impression on me.  Everything just seems to come up roses for most of the characters...even when they are battling truly devastating circumstances (like her friend Mona, who is diagnosed with cancer).  Many of the characters themselves seem a tad too perfect (Sarah's husband Josh pretty much fits every mold for Model Husband).  And the girl-power love-fests just got to be WAY too much for me after a while.  So many of the female-to-female conversations devolved into "You're so wonderful!", "No, YOU are!" scenarios that I started to gag a little towards the end.

Overall, I like the premise of this novel.  It has a heartwarming message.  And I had a good time getting to know Sarah.  But with SO many tough issues to explore, I expected something a little more hard-hitting, and a little less perfectly tied together.  I usually do like the inherent optimism of women's fiction novels, but this one tipped a bit too much on the happy-girl-power scale for me to really get behind it.  There has to be a few thorns in the roses sometimes, I suppose.

As always, much thanks to Trish and TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour!

Check out the other blogs on this book tour HERE.  And connect with Zoe Fishman on her website and Twitter.

Book Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Title: Crank
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 1, 2004
Source: personal purchase

Summary from Goodreads: 

In Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

My Review:

OK, I'm going to start with three quick, random points before I get to the actual review.  First: this book is 537 pages long, and I devoured it in less than 24 hours.  (Reminder: stay a home mom. Two young kids. Barely enough time to tie my own shoes most days.)  IT'S THAT GOOD.

Second: this is a book about a girl who develops a meth addiction in Albuquerque.  What, exactly, is the deal with meth in Albuquerque?

Breaking Bad? Anybody?

Third: you may have guessed it...this is YA, another read from an author that will be at the Rochester Teen Book Festival.  I was especially excited to see Ellen Hopkins on the list, because I've heard buzz about her novels for years now.  However, this is the first one I've ever picked up.  And now I know that the hype is justified.

Crank is written from Kristina/Bree's perspective, in verse.  At first I wasn't sure about a book that was written as a poem, but I didn't have to be worried at all--the poetry is not lyrical or rhyming, so it's not like 500+ pages of singsong-type storytelling.  But the poetic structure is still essential, because it makes Kristina's story more...edgy, somehow.  It illustrates her journey in a way that regular ol' prose would not.  (Also explains my ability to read this in a day...short lines of verse, way easier to read than dense pages of paragraphs.)  Overall I think this was an awesome structural choice by Hopkins, and it definitely makes the book stand out in a crowd.

Aside from the poetic structure, Crank is powerful because Kristina's downward spiral into drug-fueled hell feels so disturbingly realistic.  (And sadly, that is likely because it is based on Hopkins' own daughter, who battled a terrible drug addiction for many years.)  Kristina is not an underprivileged girl, a troublemaker, promiscuous.  No, she is a straight-A do-gooder, no boyfriends to speak of, walking the straight and narrow.  And this makes her downfall that much more horrific.  It's like that saying about the traffic accident that you drive by and can't look away--that's what reading Crank feels like.

This book is raw, emotional, sad...and I'm already a third of the way through its sequel (Glass), with the third installment of the trilogy (Fallout) waiting on my nightstand.  DEVOUR THIS.

Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Title: Croak
Author: Gina Damico
Publisher: Graphia Books
Publication Date: March 20, 2012
Source: personal purchase

Summary from Goodreads: 

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.

But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.

She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice - or is it vengeance? - whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

My Review:

Yet another great young adult read in preparation for the Rochester Teen Book Festival!  So far I have really lucked out with the awesome authors I've been introduced to as I work my way through books for the event.

I saw Croak doing the blog rounds back when I started my little webspace here in 2012.  I remember seeing a lot of good reviews, but at the time I wasn't in much of a YA mood, so I skipped it.  However, when I saw that Gina Damico was going to be at TBF, I figured it was time to give this book a try.  Admittedly, I was a little skeptical at first...this is borderline with the YA paranormal genre, which I have been HIGHLY leery of since Twilight.  But I'm happy to report that my reservations were unfounded.

Croak gave me so much to love.  First you have Lex, your highly volatile, rude, humorous, and smart protagonist.  She has a harder core than most other teenage main characters, which is probably why I liked her so much.  Plus, she does have a love interest in this novel, but thankfully it's not all schmoopy-doopy, which I cannot stand in YA books (OMG, Bella and Edward, give me a BREAK).

But the very best thing about Croak is the world-building.  Damico has come up with one of the most interesting interpretations of the afterlife that I've ever encountered.  It does make me laugh a little--the idea of a tiny town in the Adirondacks where Grim Reapers live, quietly storing the souls of all the dead as unassuming hikers and tourists live around them.  But Damico gives it such a clear backstory that it's hard not to find it believable.

The only bummer about this book?  I had no idea (until the end) that it's part of a TRILOGY!  GAHHHHH.  Here I was, expecting a nice wrapped-up ending, and instead I earned myself a cliffhanger and two more books on my TBR list.  Ah well.  Given how much I liked Croak, I'm definitely going to have to track down Scorch and Rogue (books 2 and 3) ASAP.

Don't fear the reaper, readers!  Have you read any books that have interesting interpretations of the afterlife?

Book Review: Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke

Title: Mind of Winter
Author: Laura Kasischke
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: March 25, 2014
Source: copy received for honest review through TLC Book Tours

Plot Summary from Goodreads:

On a snowy Christmas morning, Holly Judge awakens, the fragments of a nightmare-something she must write down-floating on the edge of her consciousness.

Something followed them from Russia.

On another Christmas morning thirteen years ago, she and her husband Eric were in Siberia to meet the sweet, dark-haired Rapunzel they desperately wanted. How they laughed at the nurses of Pokrovka Orphanage #2 with their garlic and their superstitions, and ignored their gentle warnings. After all, their fairy princess Tatiana-baby Tatty-was perfect.

As the snow falls, enveloping the world in its white silence, Holly senses that something is not right, has not been right in the years since they brought their daughter-now a dangerously beautiful, petulant, sometimes erratic teenager-home. There is something evil inside this house. Inside themselves. How else to explain the accidents, the seemingly random and banal misfortunes. Trixie, the cat. The growth on Eric's hand. Sally the hen, their favorite, how the other chickens turned on her. The housekeeper, that ice, a bad fall. The CDs scratched, every one.

But Holly must not think of these things. She and Tatiana are all alone. Eric is stuck on the roads and none of their guests will be able to make it through the snow. With each passing hour, the blizzard rages and Tatiana's mood darkens, her behavior becoming increasingly disturbing and frightening. Until, in every mother's worst nightmare, Holly finds she no longer recognizes her daughter.

My Review:

I can't say too much about Mind of Winter without giving away all the good stuff.  What I can say is that this is a novel that will creep up on you.  Emphasis on "creep" (in all its various forms).

Honestly, when the novel opened, I was more annoyed with Holly's character than anything.  It's Christmas morning, she overslept, and she had a nightmare.  She keeps thinking that "something followed them home from Russia" when she adopted her daughter Tatiana 13 years ago.  She's haunted by this idea, and feels that she needs to write it down.  But she keeps repeating it over and over...and never writing it down.  So yes, I was annoyed, and wondering when we were going to move from repetitive to something more compelling.

However, after a while I realized that this was not your typical thriller.  Once I was about 60% into the book, it dawned on me that something was just...wrong.  At this point, Holly and her daughter are housebound alone on Christmas day because of a blizzard that has descended on their town.  Something about Holly is off-kilter.  Straight-up odd, in some cases.  For example, she never, in the last 13 years, has brought her daughter to a doctor for anything.  No well visits, vaccinations, etc.  And she alternates so quickly between being a happy, doting mother, and being freakishly angry with Tatiana.

Little things like this continue to build, until before you know it, you are thoroughly unsettled by the entire situation.  What starts as an ordinary Christmas day slowly becomes downright horrifying.  And the transition is so gradual, you'll never see the ending coming--which is the best part.  It's one of those endings that makes you want to go back and re-read the entire book, because it changes EVERYTHING.

Mind of Winter is sneaky, y'all.  Don't let the seemingly bland beginning fool you, because this is a Christmas celebration that will haunt you for a looooong time.

As always, much thanks to Trish and TLC Book Tours for including me on this tour!

Check out the other blogs on this book tour HERE.  And connect with Laura Kasischke on her website.

Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: February 11, 2014
Source: ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review

Summary from Goodreads: 

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

My Review:

Did you ever read a book and think, "This would make a great movie"?  Well, move over Apollo 13, because The Martian could totally be the next space-based blockbuster.  Is Kevin Bacon still available?

I have to admit it: at first, I was NOT understanding all the hype around this book.  I'd seen so many excellent reviews, but the first 13% or so nearly had me asleep at the wheel.  Our friendly astronaut Mark realizes on page 1 that he's been stranded on Mars.  Thought dead by the rest of his crew, they took off for Earth without him.  Not cool, right?  So Mark jumps into action, coming up with a plan for survival.  Mark is a botanist-slash-mechanical engineer, so he's got lots of knowledge that can help him fix his equipment and grow food.  That's great for him, but as a reader, it wasn't always great for me.  He descriptions of his survival plans are SO technical that unless chemistry is your forte, it's hard to follow along and keep interest.

However, after that initial section made me feel like I was going to drown in soil bacteria and atmospheric pressurization, the story suddenly switched perspectives, which jazzed things up quite a bit.  From then on, the book jumps between Mark's POV and that of a few other characters.  This fleshes out the plot a bit more, and when the technical knowledge starts making an appearance again, it blends into the narrative much more seamlessly.  Obviously, this is a book about NASA and space travel, so science-based knowledge is key--I'm not saying the author should have done without it.  But the book kept my interest a lot better when the science-y stuff was woven into the rest of the plot action a bit more, rather than taking center stage (as it does so much in the beginning).  By the end, I was left feeling extremely impressed by the immense amount of research that Andy Weir must have done to make this into a believable, science-based fiction novel.

There are two key features of The Martian that make it great: its ability to keep you guessing, and Mark Watney himself.  Because of the way the author switches POV throughout the novel, you're never sure if Mark is going to survive (and if he is, how he will manage to do it).  The closer I got to the ending, the less I wanted to put it down.  And Mark is pretty hilarious.  At first I thought his sense of humor was a little cheesy, but as you get to know him more, you see that his joking manner is completely fitting.

I read a few reviews that showed frustration at the fact that Mark never seems to grow/progress in the novel--his sense of humor is always the same, no matter how many obstacles he faces or how much time he spends on desolate Mars.  But honestly, this book NEEDS some humor.  Mark's situation is so inherently depressing that without his ability to take things lightly, this book would have been way too heavy.  Plus, you've got to be at least a little impressed by his tenacity.  Because I mean, hello?  If I was stranded on Mars, I'm pretty sure I'd be less inclined to start going all Survivorman, and more inclined to curl up in a ball of weepy, sobbing dismay.  So rock on with your bad self, Mark.

Overall: despite the slow start, The Martian picked up the pace and ended as an excellent, thrilling read.  Don't let the technical stuff scare you off, because it all comes together to make a fast-paced story and a heart-pounding conclusion.

So what do you think, readers?  Would you ever visit Mars if given the chance?  Or will you be leaving that to more adventurous types?

March 2014 in Review...

Hello, lovely reader friends!  Time for my monthly wrap-up already.  2014 is already 25% over and totally FLYING by.

As you probably noticed, I really only posted book reviews this month, and not too much else.  I have come to the conclusion that time management will just not be my forte for a LONG time...because even though Tater Tot is getting into more of a routine (helpful!), he is getting busy busy busy.  Which is a lot of fun, but you know, busy.  And Small Fry continues to happily run circles around  me (even managed to dislocate an elbow this month...oh THAT was fun!  Slow down, child!!).

Holding up his arm in triumph after the doc popped his elbow back into place.  Trust me, there had not been smiles for MANY HOURS before this!  Oy.

What it really comes down to is this: most days, I have time to read OR blog.  Not both.  And reading generally wins.

So my plan for now is to mostly focus on book reviews.  I AM still reading, and I love to share my reviews (that's the reason I got into this in the first place, right??).  So at a minimum, I will keep up with that.  When I can do more, I will.  I have a long-term goal of *hopefully* participating in the fall Bloggiesta in September, and perhaps I can make that my turning point.  :)

Anyway, to recap: In March I read/reviewed 5 books:
Above by Isla Morley
Sous Chef by Michael Gibney
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Two Sisters by Mary Hogan
Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

And, I talked about my brief bookstore side-trip to Strand in NYC (heaven!).

Last month, I focused way-heavy on ARCs...how did I end up with so many after saying I was taking a break from them??  Part of this is because, as you may remember, my next TBR book baggie pick was Gone With the Wind, and truth be told...I am intimidated.  So many pages!  So much hype!  My challenge for April is to at least start it.  I CAN DO EEEET!

Oh, and in other news, I am leaving for sunny Florida for a few days, as my stepbrother is getting married this weekend.  WOOHOO!!  Looking forward to our first plane trip with the boys.  Very excited to celebrate with family...and experience weather above 50 degrees!!  Probably not much reading to be done on this trip, but who knows...maybe traveling will tire out my two little buggers?  Extra nap time?  :)

How was your March, reader friends?