Novel – Page 3 – …on the B.L.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

August 3, 2019August 2, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 338
Quick Review Casiopea Tun lives an unextraordinary life as a maid in her grandfather’s house in a small town when she meets a Mayan God of Death and starts on an adventure.

20190723_095017-01 — Reading Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia at MCAS New River in North Carolina. | Swimsuit | Cover Up | Head Band |

I just got home from a fabulous trip to North Carolina and New Orleans. I read Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in a day partially because I had the time. This is the perfect book to take on vacation: full of adventure and intrigue.

Set in 1927 small town Mexico, Casiopea Tun is eighteen, hates her life, and dreams of life in the city. Her family is the richest in town, but she lives like a servant waiting on them hand and foot. She has a particularly hateful relationship with her twenty year old cousin, Martín. He is the heir to the family fortune and takes delight in ordering Casiopea around. After an incident, Casiopea is left home alone. She opens a chest in her grandfather’s room and accidentally lets out the bones of the God Hun-Kamé, Lord of Shadows, rightful Lord of Xibalba. God Hun-Kamé is dependent on Casiopea’s blood until he completes several tasks, so they leave town together.

I enjoyed the story very much, and the ending was not dissatisfying. Gods of Jade and Shadow is very quotable with a decent amount of humor. Moreno-Garcia does a good job of misleading the reader without actually misleading, like a magician. There are three points of view: Casiopea’s, Martín’s, and Vucub-Kamé’s. Moreno-Garcia also gives historical context and background when needed because most readers are probably not familiar with Mexican history, unfortunately. There is a lot of telling why people are feeling, doing, being certain ways when the actions and dialogues tell enough. It feels like I’m being spoon fed with airplane noises.

There is very little push back from Casiopea, who is Catholic, about a rival religion and God’s existence. Unrealistic is the best way to describe this. The characters fall into starkly good and bad categories. There is little complexity in emotions, characters, interactions, etc. Oversimplification of humanity is a grave mistake in my book.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is an interesting read. There are some negatives, but the story is interesting. I like reading books from a different ethnic background. I’m glad I got to relax on the beach reading this one.

Memorable Quotes
“She was reasonable enough to recognize that many other young women lived in equally drab, equally small towns.”
“Seldom was he the cause of his own misfortune.”
“…once glorious, then ruined, as all earthly things must be ruined…”

Buy Amazon | Buy Barnes & Noble | Buy Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3678159″]

Title: Gods of Jade and Shadow
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525620754

201907235279752279722582336 — Gods of Jade and Shadow | Swimsuit | Cover Up

Books, Fiction

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

July 25, 2019July 23, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes and No
Length 304
Quick Review A predictable love story about a widow and a pro baseball player beginning again.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes | Swimsuit | Sunglasses

Evvie Drake has lived in small town Maine all her life. She’s married to the beloved doctor. Her porch is the prettiest in town. As she packs her bags to leave him and her life behind, he dies. There are pages one through four. Evvie is forced to figure out what to do next because it’s impossible to leave a dead husband. Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes is a sad and funny look into the after.

The plot is subpar and not interesting in any way. It’s about as trite and saccharine as a love story can be. Every single character and interaction is overdone and predictable. Nothing is a surprise. The sad girl who’s only ever been seen by one man and is the pity of the town even though the dead husband was *gasp* abusive is finally seen as sexy and alluring in her sweaters by a famous ex-baseball player who is going through his own struggle because he can’t pitch anymore *oh no!!!*. They flirt, boink, go their separate ways because misunderstanding, throw in a dog and some great scenery, cut to the last ten pages, and you know the ending.

The only redeeming factor to the Evvie Drake Starts Over is Holmes’ dialogue. Though the plot is crap, the dialogue and humor pulled me through. As much as the characters are a bore, I do like them. They’re funny and witty and completely flawed. Evvie resonates with me because I too existential crisis “”lie on the floor in the middle of the night and contemplate my existence.”” Holmes paints the characters as if they are much older than their early thirties. I’m not even in my thirties and I love sweaters, but leading with those factoids makes Evvie seem old and matronly. Add in the widowhood, and I had to keep reminding myself she was basically my age. The conversations between characters is funny in the way I like to think I am with my friends:
Evvie: “”Everything okay?””
Dean: “”Yeah, yeah, sorry about the noise. Knocked a box off the counter. It’s never the box with the sheets in it, you know? It’s always whatever will make it sound the most like you tried to murder a robot by throwing it down a couple of flights of stairs.””

It’s super baseball themed because the love interest is a sports dude, ugh. The book is split into parts: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer to Opening Day.

Honestly, the plot in Evvie Drake Starts Over makes me sad. The dialogue is funny and engaging. I was hoping this would be something more… I can’t tell you what, but I was hoping it would be a better version of a rom-com. Although, it is a great read for vacation. I powered through it in one day on the beach. Tough life, I know.

Memorable Quotes
“Evvie’s Scandinavian grandmother had claimed that young women dream about the husbands they want, old women dream about the husbands they wanted, and only the luckiest women, for a moment in the middle, dream about the husbands they’ve got.”
“She stretched out on the sofa, trying to ignore the do something, do something voice…”
“”Climate-change denial is flat-earth idiocy for people who want us all to drown.””

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3666904″]

Title: Evvie Drake Starts Over
Author: Linda Holmes
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525619246

Books, Fiction

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald

July 7, 2019July 5, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 416
Quick Review A love story conquering time and obstacles set in 1940’s Grand Central Station. A great light read for summer vacation.

Lisa Grunwald is a beloved author of six novels. She returns with her latest novel Time After Time. Grand Central Station is the setting for a fantastical love story beginning in the 1920’s and lasting through World War II and after.

Nora Lansing and Joe Reynolds meet under the gold clock in the main concourse of Grand Central Station on a crisp winter morning of 1937. They come from very different backgrounds but are drawn to each other anyways. Nora is an early 20s socialite in a dress that doesn’t quite befit her class. Joe is a leverman from a working class family in Queens. They don’t meet again until 1938, but Nora disappears suddenly. Joe is intrigued by the mysterious woman in the unusual dress. It’s not until two years later Nora reappears and they fall in love.

Lisa Grunwald narrates Time After Time in the third person told mostly from Joe’s perspective but Nora’s as well. In the beginning, the book jumps from their present to their pasts, but it is mostly chronological for the majority. The book consists of five parts.

I liked Nora as a character. She’s strong, vibrant, and determined during a time women were not allowed to be quite as free. Joe is a traditional man from Queens. I don’t like him much. He’s old fashioned and controlling. I can’t imagine a woman like Nora falling in love with a man like that under any other circumstances than set in the plot. She’s trapped and Joe is kind of the only option as far as relationships go.

The plot is slow but not boring. Time After Time is littered with clues, so I found the plot incredibly easy to guess. It’s not a bad book. Just a bit slow.

Memorable Quotes
“…Nora had come to understand the difference between infatuation and love. Infatuation was weather. Love was climate.”

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3638822″]

Title: Time After Time
Author: Lisa Grunwald
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780812993431

Books, Fiction

Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

June 27, 2019June 24, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Meh
Length 352
Quick Review Paul is young and queer in the 90s on a journey and shapeshifting along the way.

201906178809712209818142496 — Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor | Asos Romper | Straw Purse | Bow | Pearl Barrette | Belt | Sandals | Pearl Bracelets

Andrea Lawlor’s debut novel Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl is quite the book. I’ve never read anything quite like it. It’s not my typical read. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it. It just made me uncomfortable. Not because of the queer coming of age story. It’s the sex. Not queer sex, I don’t care about that. I just don’t read books with sex in them because reading and watching sex makes me uncomfortable. This book has a lot of sex. The New Yorker calls it “Smut,” and I don’t disagree. The sex has a point to it.

Paul is queer in 90s Iowa City working and going to school as a Women’s Studies major. Paul has a dyke best friend, bartends, and dates around. Paul is a shapeshifter and can be anything he wants on demand. Paul changes his body by shortening his hair to becoming a party girl and everything in between. The young man travels from Iowa to San Francisco encountering struggles and pleasures along the way.

I may have been uncomfortable through the book, but it is very well written. Lawlor fills Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl with insightful and quippy one liners from the first page. Paul may be a young man trying to find himself and his place in the world as a queer person, but I think most everyone can identify with Paul in one way or another. People of all ages, genders, and sexualities are on continual journey to find themselves.

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor | Romper | Purse | Belt | Barrette | Bow | Pearl Bracelets | Shoes

I also love that the book is partially set in Iowa City. Unknown fact, Iowa City is a UNESCO City of Literature. The city is home to the University of Iowa, and their internationally renowned MFA Writers’ Workshop. I grew up in Iowa and spent a lot of time in Iowa City during college.

If you’re looking for an intellectually stimulating book which is also fun for the summer, I would highly suggest Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl. It is not for the faint of heart because it is quite the emotional roller coaster.

Memorable Quotes
“Paul was flattered Jane thought he could understand what she was saying, did understand some percentage of what she was saying, and was bored by having to think that hard.”

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3626508″]

Title: Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
Author: Andrea Lawlor
Publisher: Vintage
Copyright: 2017
ISBN: 9780525566182

Books, Fiction

The Adults by Caroline Hulse

January 18, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth a Read Meh
Length 368
Quick Review The holidays can be full of drama but nothing compared to the drama of The Adults. A novel about exes coming together for a child with a bit of an oopsies.

So I fell behind with my reading over the holidays, so this is the second to the last book before my holiday reading list is done. The Adults by Caroline Hulse is kind of a holiday nightmare come to life. It is vastly different from the other Christmas-themed novels I read all last month. It was breath of fresh air. I’m not sure if I totally love it, but it definitely made an impression and had me turning the pages.

The Adults starts off with a 999 (911 equivalent) call about an accident on Christmas Eve. The story jumps to a little bit before Christmas. Alex and Matt are together. Matt is the father of Scarlett a little girl whose mother is Claire. Scarlett has an imaginary purple bunny named Posey. Claire is with Patrick – he has his own minor family drama in the background. Other than divorced Claire and Matt, they don’t really know each other very well. They all want to spend Christmas with Scarlett, so they decide to go to Happy Forest, a resort, for Christmas as blended family. Also someone gets shot with a bow and arrow.

The only characters I like are Scarlett and Claire. Alex is judgy and a pain in the ass. Patrick is super judgy and thinks he is better than everyone else. Matt is irresponsible. They all have an honesty issue. None of them seem to be trying to enjoy the time very much. It’s kind of a strange family dynamic, but they all harp on it instead of working on getting along. In a world where divorce is common, I think families celebrating holidays together should become common as well. So in one vain, I like it. But I don’t like how the people are portrayed. They’re irritating. Claire is my favorite. She’s fun and responsible and truly means well. Scarlett is a little kid; you can’t blame her for anything she does because it is all beyond reasonable. It’s title The Adults, but they don’t really act like adults.

I don’t know if I love how the book was narrated, but it was an interesting take. It may be a little confusing at first. The book is told from three perspectives: Alex, Patrick, and Scarlett. It doesn’t follow a pattern of perspectives shifting every chapter; sometimes, it does, but sometimes, the same character will narrate for several chapters in a row. The book is also split up by days. So every new day there is a new section with a little excerpt from the Happy Forest brochure. Throughout, there are also interviews with various characters by the police giving a little more information about the bow and arrow incident.

As far as a Christmas book, I think The Adults is fun. The holidays can be chock full of weird family relationships and dynamics, so it’s fun to dive into another family’s drama. Like the vast majority of Christmas books, this does have a happy ending. I was pleased with it.

Buy on Amazon || Buy on Book Depository

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3444749″]

Memorable Quotes
“All men want to be dads, really, Ruby had once said to her. None of them would want to be a mum. But everyone wants to be a dad. It’s parenthood, but semi-skimmed and pasteurized.”

Title: The Adults
Author: Caroline Hulse
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780525511748

Books, Fiction

Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler

December 29, 2018 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Meh
Length 354
Quick Review Haley’s Christmas spirit is less than jolly when her boss sends her to Christmas camp in order to do research for a project. The owner’s attractive son makes it easier and harder to concentrate on her job.

Christmas Camp by Karen Schaler hits all the Hallmark moments we have come to expect from feel-good Christmas stories. If you have a Netflix account, you’re probably familiar with her script from The Christmas Prince, which was a huge hit last year.

Haley is a marketing executive. Her company needs to make a pitch for a Christmas loving toy company. Haley wants to make the pitch more than anything to make partner, but she doesn’t have much of the Christmas spirit. Her boss sends her to Christmas Camp to find her own spirit to help her company. She joins a group of people who are there for many different reasons. The owner’s son is attractive and distracts Haley from completely her job.

To be completely honest, I really did not like Haley. Not for the reason we’re supposed to not like her. I didn’t like her because she just wasn’t terribly likable. Her ambition was about the only thing I could actually relate to.

I didn’t hate the storyline in Christmas Camp. I definitely did not love the storytelling. It reads a lot more like a script than a novel. It makes sense consider Schaler’s background as a screenwriter. There is a lot of telling who there characters are without showing. It’s almost like a “Hi. I’m Haley. I’m a workaholic, but I’m also very nice.” The dialogue is clunky and feels a little bit like I’m being spoon fed the novel. It over simplifies everything.

I think Christmas Camp is a nice novel for the season. If you’re looking for a complex look into human interaction, this is not that. It is all the things a Hallmark movie is but in novel form.

Buy on Amazon | Buy Book Depository

Memorable Quotes
“”There’s always something about Christmas that makes you feel like a kid again.””

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3422949″]

Title: Christmas Camp
Author: Karen Schaler
Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780062883698