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| B07NNTSH7N
| 3.62
| 300
| unknown
| May 01, 2019
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liked it
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Quite interesting. Lex Luthor makes some interesting decisions. Beautiful artwork.
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Notes are private!
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1
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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Kindle Edition
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| B0DM2HPC1M
| 3.96
| 315
| unknown
| May 04, 2019
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liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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Paperback
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| 2360140833
| 9782360140831
| 2360140833
| 3.76
| 41
| unknown
| May 04, 2019
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really liked it
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One day, all the animals woke up. They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking revenge. Then, @#$% got weird. Animals gain human intell One day, all the animals woke up. They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking revenge. Then, @#$% got weird. Animals gain human intelligence and chaos ensues. Our heroine rescues animals and in turn, the animals love her. Some other humans try to kill her. Has some bizarre humor, is fast-paced, and is weird. Although bizarre, Bennett is clever and the fast-paced, smart and funny plot will win many over IMO. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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| B008LZZNE4
| 3.79
| 1,484
| Jul 17, 2012
| Jul 17, 2012
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liked it
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Seems to imply Thomas Wayne was murdered because he was running for mayor. Alfred Pennyworth and Thomas Wayne served overseas together in 'the desert.
Seems to imply Thomas Wayne was murdered because he was running for mayor. Alfred Pennyworth and Thomas Wayne served overseas together in 'the desert.' Shows Batman giving cash money to a homeless person begging him for mercy. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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Kindle Edition
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| 0060520760
| 9780060520762
| 0060520760
| 3.90
| 12,499
| Nov 01, 2004
| Oct 11, 2005
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really liked it
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Even worse than the whiteout was the agony of his eyes when he tried to see through the snow. The fine hard pellets blew into his eyes and made them w
Even worse than the whiteout was the agony of his eyes when he tried to see through the snow. The fine hard pellets blew into his eyes and made them water. Walter cried and the snow mixed with his tears until it formed a crust between the upper and lower lids. Instinctively he reached up to brush the crust away with the back of his hand. Soon his eyeballs were inflamed, which further distorted his vision. The pain became so acute that it felt better to let the ice crust build. Tears and blowing snow melded together and sealed his eyes shut tightly. There was no way to break the seal except by tearing the tender skin. Once Walter's eyes were gone, the rest of his face went fast. A mask of ice covered the exposed skin of his face except for holes at the nostrils and mouth. Snow penetrated his clothing and froze into an armor of ice around his body. All of this happened in moments. pg. 136 Entertainment Weekly describes this as "Heartbreaking... This account of the 1888 blizzard reads like a thriller." I don't think that is accurate. Yes, it is emotional. I would agree with that. "Reads like a thriller" is a bit of a stretch IMO. Laskin tries his best to be dramatic, which is uncalled for IMO, but it doesn't read like a thriller. Perhaps it would if Laskin would stick to the blizzard itself, but instead he wants to give us a clearer and more comprehensive picture. That's good, but it doesn't make for a seamless, exciting read that I would expect when I hear the word "thriller." I think this book can pretty much be summed up with one phrase: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The parallels between 1888 and now are incredible. Let's take a look at what Laskin is doing in this book. ONE: IMMIGRATION The Norwegians, the Schweizers, the Ukranians... people were immigrants coming to the United States. Why were people leaving Norway? Because they were poor. Beauty was abundant and free in the countryside of Tinn – but you couldn't eat beauty, and the beautiful farms were yielding less and less while the population steadily grew. But they were comparatively lucky in Tinn. Elsewhere in Telemark the farm fields had become so small from repeated division that farmers had to harvest the hay that grew on the thatch of their roofs and grow vegetables by spreading dirt and manure on top of rocks. It was a sad, haunted country for all its beauty. Men in the prime of their lives built their coffins and stored them inside until they were needed. pg. 11 The Schweizers, another immigrant group discussed in this book, were hated for their religious beliefs. Rather than baptize their infants a few days after birth, the Schweizers waited until they were old enough to choose baptism as a “confession of faith.” They advocated complete separation of church and state and refused to serve in armed forces or fight in wars. For these beliefs, particularly the last, they had been crammed into the prisons of Bern, sold as galley slaves to Venetian merchants, branded, flogged, burned at the stake, and hounded through Europe. pg. 14 Nowadays people also come to the U.S. of A. because they are poor or because they are fleeing persecution. The immigrants were brought to the U.S. of A. on stinking, filthy ships. Of his own quarters belowdecks, Osten mentioned only that he and his mother were shocked to find “nothing more than hard boards – and... plenty of lice,” but one can imagine the squalor of the unventilated bunk rooms packed with 650 immigrants. pg. 18 Immigrant children often died and the scary possibility of being separated from your kids was looming. A harrowing story was told by Finnish immigrants of one of their countrywomen who went into labor just as her immigrant ship anchored off the Battery. The woman was taken to a hospital on shore and forced to leave her baggage and her two-year-old daughter unattended on board the ship. While she was in the hospital, the ship returned to Europe. pg. 24 Immigrants were treated like shit. Laskin tells one story of a train that refused let the immigrants buy food at stops, this was only stopped by a Mennonite rebellion. Children were told they would be beaten if they spoke German in school. Before the fall term started, Wilhelm and Catherina warned Lena that no German could be spoken in school. Only English. Sometimes children were beaten if they spoke a foreign language. The teacher might even change her name. Woebbecke might be too hard for Stella Badger to say. pg. 33 Almost all the immigrants change their names from their German, Swiss, Norwegian and Ukranian names to "American" names. Both last names and first names are changed. The pressure to conform and to fit in was great. These people were living in sod houses and in poverty. It was all they could do to tear enough sod off the prairie to make shelters for themselves. It took half an acre of Dakota sod for a decent-sized sod house. The soddies leaked when it rained (“I would wake up with dirty water running through my hair,” wrote one pioneer), gophers and snakes sometimes popped from the walls, dirt got ground into clothes, skin, and food, but they kept the families alive and relatively warm when winter arrived – which happened far earlier and far more savagely than any of the Schweizers had anticipated. pg. 34 They watched their children die. All winter long as the supply of food dwindled away, Anna looked at her son, Johann, her only child, grow thinner and more transparent. There were many days when they got by on burnt flour soup – flour scorched in the pan and then mixed with water, salt, and pepper. A poor diet for a growing child. A poor diet for a baby, if they had a baby to feed. Even had Peter survived the crossing to New York, he surely would have perished that first terrible winter. Would it have been worse to chisel a grave for the child in the frozen ground under the sod than see his body tossed into the sea? pg. 36 It was a dangerous place, summer or winter. They got down to work so quickly they didn't have time to figure out the vagaries of soil and climate, the cycles of the seasons, the fickle violent moods of the sky. Deprived of both the folk wisdom born of deep familiarity with a single place and the brash abstractions of the new science, the pioneers were vulnerable and exposed. There hadn't been time to put up fences. Children waded into tall grass and vanished. Infants were accidentally dropped in snowdrifts. Infections flourished in the primitive, unsanitary claim shanties. pg 3 We haven't even gotten to the blizzard yet! I truly enjoyed how Laskin painted the life of immigrants trying to raise their families on the prairie. I wonder if certain people have completely forgotten about this: what it was like. To be a poor immigrant in a new country. To be hated for being poor and not being able to speak English. To be treated like trash because you weren't born here. To watch your children suffer. It's not 2019 - It's 1888. THE BLIZZARD Here, Laskin breaks off into a few threads. Some threads are more interesting than others. Let's examine them! 1.) THE STORM This is fascinating. It's hard to understand the magnitude of the storm and it's terror, especially from a modern perspective. Laskin does an amazing job illustrating it for readers. One moment it was mild, the sun was shining, a damp wind blew fitfully out of the south – the next moment frozen hell had broken loose. The air was so thick with find-ground wind-lashed ice crystals that people could not breathe. The ice dust webbed their eyelashes and sealed their eyes shut. It sifted into the loose weave of their coats, shirts, dresses, and underwear until their skin was packed in snow. Farmers who spent a decade walking the same worn paths became disoriented in seconds. pg. 6 ... An impenetrable crust formed on top of the re-frozen slush. Cattle desperate for food cut their muzzles on the shards of ice that covered the sparse grass. Steers bled to death when the crust gave way beneath them and the ice sliced open their legs. …. Cattle had drifted hundreds of miles before they froze to death or died or exhaustion or suffocated from the ice plugging their nostrils. Some herds were never found; some where found in riverbeds or ravines, heaped up like slag; some were so badly frostbitten that ranchers were reduced to salvaging their hides. Come spring, when the snow finally melted, flooded rivers carried the carcasses of thousands of cattle that had frozen to death during the winter – raging torrents choked with dead animals wedged between ice floes. pg. 62 ... It's hard to fathom how children who walked to and from school a half mile or more every day became exhausted to the point of collapse while walking a hundred yards that afternoon. Hard to fathom until you consider the state of their thin cotton clothing, their eyelashes webbed with ice and frozen shut, the ice plugs that formed in their noses, the ice masks that hung on their faces. This was not a feathery sifting of gossamer powder. It was a frozen sandstorm. Cattle died standing up, died of suffocation before they froze solid. pg. 162 Laskin also offers good, long, brutal explanations of what happens to you when you freeze to death. It's fascinating and horrifying and he does a great job writing about this. It goes on for pages. The horrors of the storm are legion. The catalog of their suffering is terrible. They froze alone or with their parents or perished in frantic, hopeless pursuit of loved ones. They died with the frozen bloody skin torn from their faces, where they had clawed off the mask of ice again and again. Some died within hours of getting lost; some lived through the night and died before first light. They were found standing waist deep in drifts with their hands frozen to barbed-wire frences, clutching at straw piles, buried under overturned wagons, on their backs, facedown on the snow with their arms outstretched as if trying to crawl. Mothers died sitting up with their children around them in fireless houses when the hay or coal or bits of furniture were exhausted and they were too weak or too frightened to go for more. pg. 198 Laskin also does a wonderful job illustrating how you can't judge people for what actions you took. No matter what action you took, you could die. Stay in the school. Try to go home. Didn't matter - people died either way. Two people could take the same path and one could die and one could live. Two could take a different path - and the one you think will survive ends up dying horribly. There's no right answer. There's no 'smart thing to do.' Sometimes it seems like pure luck and chance are the only factors keeping certain people alive. The survivors were never the same. Johann set the rock-hard bodies on the floor next to the stove. Anna looked at her dead sons and began to laugh. She couldn't help herself. Her husband and her two little boys turned to her in disbelief but Anna didn't stop. It would be days before they could get the bodies into coffins. Anna laughed. pg. 232 ... Dowling's frostbite was so advanced that he lost both legs below the knees, his left arm below the elbow, and all the fingers and most of the thumb on his right hand. But Dowling was a fighter. He lived on to became [sic] a teacher, a newspaper editor, and eventually speaker of the house of the Minnesota State Legislature. “It is what one has above the shoulders that counts,” he always told fellow amputees. pg. 59 There's no pat ending. People suffered and died. They end. There's no gold at the end of the book here, no note of triumph. The people involved who did survive more often than not had sad endings to their stories anyway. Don't expect an uplifting book. Even the survivors usually came to a miserable end one way or another. 2.) WEATHER Laskin focuses a whole entire (IMO) boring section on weather forecasting. He explains what a shoddy system the U.S. of A. had for predicting weather in 1888. It wasn't so much that the technology was shit, it was that the people running it (Signal Corps) were corrupt. They let 'distinguished visitors' try their hands at predicting weather if they came to the station. They had a lot of in-fighting and corruption. They only cared about themselves and their own positions and pocketbooks and not about saving lives. This is a good and important point, but unfortunately not a very interesting one. And Laskin devotes dozen's of pages to the in-fighting which, frankly, is boring as hell. The main important point is that in December 1889, President Benjamin Harrison took the privilege of weather reporting away from the Army Signal Corps and gave it to the Department of Agriculture. WHY? Not because hundreds of poor immigrants and little children froze to death on the prairie on January 12, 1888. Honestly, NO ONE GAVE A FUCK that some immigrants died. Not the Army, not the government. And children's lives were not valued and DIDN'T MEAN SHIT in 1888. No, the reason Harrison made that decision was because RICH, IMPORTANT people who lived in NEW YORK CITY were dying, and money-making stopped on March 11-14, 1888. Heaven forbid RICH PEOPLE were in danger or inconvenienced. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. 1888 or 2019? Today a “surprise” storm that killed over 200 people would instigate a fierce outcry in the press, vigorous official hand-wringing, and a flood of reports by every government agency remotely involved, starting with the National Weather Service. But in the Gilded Age, blame for the suffering attendant on an act of God was left unassigned. pg. 254 If it weren't for the blizzard that affected NYC, probably nothing would have changed. Immigrants were considered trash whose lives didn't matter, and children in general were seen as workhorses and not human beings. They called it “The School Children's Blizzard” because so many of the victims were so young – but in a way the entire pioneer period was a kind of children's disaster. Children were the unpaid workforce of the prairie, the hands that did the work that no one else had time for or stomach for. The outpouring of grief after scores of children were found frozen to death among the cattle on Friday, January 13, was at least in part an expression of remorse for what children were subjected to every day – remorse for the fact that most children had no childhood. This was a society that could not afford to sentimentalize its living and working children. Only in death or on the verge of death were the young granted the heroine funds, the long columns of sobbing verse, the stately granite monuments. A safe and carefree childhood was a luxury the pioneer prairie could not afford. pg. 269 Yes, but this was the case for any time in the past. Not really unique to this situation. Laskin wants to make this about immigrant children in 1888, but urban or rural, forced to work on farms or forced to work in factories, children were considered a burden and free labor. For most of history this was going on. It's not specific to this time or place. William Klemp, a newly married Dakotan in the full vigor of young manhood, left his pregnant wife at home and went out in the storm to care for their livestock. He never returned. A few weeks later, Klemp's wife gave birth to a son. It was spring when they found his body in a sod shanty a mile from the house. Klemp's face had been eaten away by mice and gophers. pg. 199 TL;DR What can I tell you about this book? Is it worth reading? I thought it was. Unfortunately, weather is a bit of a pet interest of Laskin's and he does tend to go on and on about weather forecasting and the inner politics of the Signal Corps. I think this could have been shortened considerably. But the book has a lot of strengths. Great descriptions of the storm and how it killed. Clear illustrations about how a storm could kill someone (it might be baffling to modern readers how SO MANY people could have died). Laskin makes it easier to understand - we are talking about a different time. Countless witnesses wrote that visibility was so poor at the height of the blizzard that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It's tempting to dismiss this as hyperbole or a figure of speech – but there is in fact a meteorological basis for these claims... the snow that day was as fine-grained as flour or sand... a woman froze to death with her key in her hand just steps from her door. pg. 135 Wonderful analysis of what freezing to death is like and interesting tidbits about the science of freezing to death. Before paradoxical undressing was identified, police routinely mistook hypothermic women with torn or missing clothing for victims of sexual assault. The reaction explains a disturbing incident in military history. After a brutal three-day storm in January 1719, hundreds of Swedish soldiers were found stripped and dead in the field in the wake of a disastrous campaign against Norway. At the time it was assumed they had been plundered by their comrades, but now doctors believe that they tore off their own clothes as their minds and bodies went mad with cold – a mass outbreak of paradoxical undressing. pg. 194 ... People freezing to death sometimes find they are unaccountably happy and relaxed. They feel flushed with a sudden glow of well-being. They love the world and everything in it. They want to sing. They hear heavenly music. As the mind and the body amicably part company, the freezing person looks down on himself as if he's hovering overhead or already in heaven or a returning ghost. There is his body, lying miserable in the snow, but somehow he is no longer trapped in it. He is gazing at his corpse and walking on. He's telling the story of his miraculous escape. pg. 192 Laskin uses The Little Match Girl to illustrate this. You might be familiar with the story. Laskin is less clear about how the NYC storm was the one that finally got things going. I did some research and found that stuff out. He mentions it in passing, but the actual idea is stunning. It takes rich people to be affected by something for any change about it to happen. Like now, back then the government and the society didn't give a fuck what happened to the poor. Natural disasters get a lot more press, action, change, repair and attention when they hit rich areas. Reading the book really opened my eyes to just how little the world has changed since 1888. We'd like to think we've come so far and become so advanced as a society: but in reality we face a lot of the same problems. Often I was shocked with how similar 1888 was to 2019. Reading about white, European immigrants coming to America and being treated as trash. Of course - I knew about that, but the book illustrates it in a way that boggles you. The complete disregard for the lives of poor immigrants also really struck me. Everything seems to be about race nowadays - and race is a huge factor in hatred and dismissal nowadays, it's true - but this book illustrates that the rich have always hated and dismissed the poor and regarded them as disposable trash regardless of having the same skin color or not. Now people label Spanish-speakers as "filthy foreigners who don't speak English," but back then it was the Norwegians, the Germans, the Irish, the Ukranians. REMEMBER THIS. I'd advise ANYONE to study this kind of thing. People say that in England they focus on class and not race and in America they focus on race and not class, but BOTH are important factors in how people are treated. TAKE NOTE. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 26, 2019
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May 14, 2019
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Mar 26, 2019
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Paperback
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| 4.23
| 61,282
| Mar 05, 2019
| Mar 05, 2019
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really liked it
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The sweetness of it was too much. That purity. That hopeful innocence, to think taking on a raging mess like her would be worth it. To tantalize her i
The sweetness of it was too much. That purity. That hopeful innocence, to think taking on a raging mess like her would be worth it. To tantalize her into building a dream of somebody beautiful and wonderful, somebody like him, only to see the dream die when the ugly truth of grief and trauma took off its clothes and stood naked before him. pg. 221 I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from this YA novel. I was told it was a war novel with narration and presences of the Greek gods. Sounded interesting. I wasn't sure if this was going to be a love story or a war story. Turns out it is both, with a heavy addition of dealing with racism. Not what I expected. The racism aspect of the story was taking me completely by surprise. And although yes, Greek gods narrate this, and - yes - they stick their fingers into people's business, it's pretty subtle, nothing like one of these popular books nowadays like Circe or Medusa or whatever. This is also a rare novel that takes place during WWI. People are obsessed with WWII and every other book seems to be about this. I read very few novels that take place in WWI, so that was refreshing. There are two love stories here, narrated by (obviously) Aphrodite. Hazel and James (white, British) meet in a dance hall days before James has to ship out. This is the most traditional, typical love-during-war story with most of its trappings. The other romance is between Colette - a Belgian whose family is massacred by the Germans - and Aubrey, a Black man from Harlem who gets shipped to France to fight. This is the less traditional, more complicated love story seeing as Colette is severely damaged due to her past and her relationship with Aubrey is fraught with danger because he's Black. Aphrodite and her lovesick ways are not the only views on display here, however. We have Ares, the bloodthirsty god of war narrating sections. Apollo, the god of music (and plagues) narrating other parts, especially those dealing with Aubrey - a jazz genius. And of course, in any book about war, we have Hades, god of the underworld, ushering people into the afterlife. Hephaestus also features, although he doesn't have anything to do with the mortal plot at all. It's poignant, heart-rending - obviously supposed to be so in order to tug on teenaged heartstrings. Which isn't to say it's fake, but it's definitely YA. It's tragic in parts, but not a tragedy - (view spoiler)[all four MCs survive, although Berry does that very annoying thing where she makes a character die... and even go into the afterlife... before coming back to life and being miraculously saved. One of my least favorite tropes from entertainment aimed at children. I wish she hadn't done that. (hide spoiler)] War is obviously horrific and Berry shows that, but it's not going to be a scarring book. An emotional one, but not a scarring one. A lot of research went into this novel and it shows. Berry did a great job of roping in a lot of real people and real events that were going on at the time. If you want to know more, she goes into more details and resources in the back of the book. It was a great job on her part. Very realistic and educational without seeming like she's educating you. The characters are endearing, sweet, kind people with good intentions. It's easy to root for them and want everything to turn out with a happy ending. TL;DR Tends towards the dramatic and romantic as it is a YA. That's not to say it's stupid, it's not stupid. But it's all designed to pull on your heartstrings. Well-researched, interesting to read about WWI for a change. Heavy on love, war, and issues stemming from racism against Black people. Clever and interesting to imagine what the Greek gods were thinking, doing and planning during The Great War. They each have their own agendas and squabbles with each other, humans are their playthings and their victims. But above all this is a human story, not one about the gods. Read if you like sentimental YA, if you like wartime romance. Perfect for a girl aged 13-17, although anyone can enjoy this. Some really cute and sweet romantic parts to squeal at. Some sad casualties of war to cry over. Racists to rail against. Etc. etc. HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN? There is no sex, it's 'clean,' it's YA. CONTENT WARNINGS Brutal killings, obviously, it's war. It's also a dangerous time to be Black. When isn't it? But prepare yourself for racial violence. Attempted rape, scary but not completed. "Regret to inform you that your son, Private Such-and-Such, is reported killed in action during heavy bombardment" or "has died of wounds at a casualty clearing station." Followed by a letter from a CO reporting, in every instance, that they passed bravely, swiftly, without much pain. They never said, "hung for hours on a barbed wire fence with his bowels hanging out, pleading for rescue, but nobody dared go for fear of hostile fire." The first casualty of war is the truth. pg. 298 RELATED READING, OLDER AUDIENCES The Rose Code by Kate Quinn NAMES IN THIS BOOK (view spoiler)[ Aphrodite f Ares m Hephaestus m Hera f Zeus m Artemis f Athena f Hermes m Poseiden m Hazel f Hazy James m Lois f Mabel f Maggie f Bobby m Bob Charlie m Apollo m Aubrey m Kate f James (Jim) different than previous m Ames m Paul m Harry m Will m Joey m Luckey m Noble m Mike m Landon m Adela f Lloyd m Georgia f Olivia f Lester m Horace m Ellen f Frank m Billy m Chad m Mick m Hades m Colette f 16 Stéphane m 18 Alexandre m Gabriel m Charles m Solange f Jesús m Herbert m Alex m Alph m Vince m Samuel m Sam Benji m Clive m Hamilton m Geoff m Pete m Archimedes m Jennie f Adelaide f Celestine f Émile m Thomas m Martin m Irvin m Henry m Needham m Alfred m Little Frankie m Henri m Papin m Rose Rosie f Robert m Robby Steven m James m (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 14, 2023
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Apr 12, 2023
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Mar 06, 2019
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Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0439501199
| 9780439501194
| 0439501199
| 3.78
| 347
| Aug 01, 2003
| Aug 01, 2003
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did not like it
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Deep beneath the island of Mata Nui, in a cavern so far below the surface that no ray of light had ever pierced its darkness, a pair of glowing red ey
Deep beneath the island of Mata Nui, in a cavern so far below the surface that no ray of light had ever pierced its darkness, a pair of glowing red eyes stared out of a huge, shadowy face. Unblinking, the eyes turned upward, seeing far beyond what lay before them, through rock and earth and sand, all the way to the distant sunlit surface. pg. 3 This is not a book adults should read. Some children's fiction is accessible and fun for adults to read, but this is not it. It's baffling. At times I couldn't even understand what was going on. There's a ton of made-up jargon that is liberally spread onto the book. The plot is nigh indecipherable. As usual, here as list of Lewa-isms: Latemiss truedoubt manythanks watersister quickspeed badwrong symbolgazing partyfun factmatter restfun leafbrothers sunsoaring bravebrother airwind worryfret gladhearted wrongnews wrongmoment wait-thinking waypath pathchanged muddletwist uptree fewnumber maskpowers farthersteps awayblock soundshape quietlow vineswing trackfollowing Evertrue swarmqueens darktunnels trackfind everwell coldbrother helpsave manyplans easywin belowground Everbad sightnews downcave groupstanding cubefront iconloot hardluck downfalling everquick truesorry scarybad watchguarding truesure sorrybad hurryleft lightglowing airhovering darkcavern dreadguess shapecarved fightsnare awaygone bad-yuck I always thought Lewa was just a weirdo who spoke in a strange manner, but apparently in this book Hapka is saying there is a village where everyone talks like this. Not sure why. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 04, 2019
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Mar 04, 2019
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Mar 04, 2019
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Paperback
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| 1335661867
| 9781335661869
| 1335661867
| 4.09
| 186
| unknown
| Feb 05, 2019
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really liked it
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"Are you going to wear camo and paint your face, skulk around in the bushes and do that serpentine thing?" "I'm blown away at your knowledge and respec "Are you going to wear camo and paint your face, skulk around in the bushes and do that serpentine thing?" "I'm blown away at your knowledge and respect of all things SEAL," he said with an amused smirk. pg. 206 OK, first I have to say how excited and pleased I am that Harlequin has put Tawny Weber on the Romantic Suspense line. I loved her work in Blaze. When the amazing Blaze line was dissolved by Harlequin, I was afraid I wouldn't see Weber again. Luckily, they decided to pick her up in Romantic Suspense. She is a good author, I really enjoy her work. Yay! On to the book. PREMISE Lila is in Costa Rica headhunting a Mexican chef. When she sees him murdered, she lands in hot water. Former Navy SEAL Travis is lying around Costa Rica in a hammock, feeling sorry for himself after being injured and forced to resign from duty. He doesn't expect a panicked, pretty blonde to launch herself into his arms and declare that she's witnessed a murder. ANALYSIS Weber triumphantly returns to Harlequin with her trademark wit, sarcasm and heat. She's no stranger to writing about SEALs. We have a great dynamic here between grumpy Travis and sharp-tongued, fiercely independent Lila. Weber's trademark humor makes the book. The banter between these two hit the sweet spot. But Weber doesn't ignore the more serious elements of romantic fiction. Lila struggles with issues stemming from her cold and overbearing controlling father and her distant and perfect Navy SEAL brother. She hates being told what to do, is liable to strike out when feeling cornered, and is insistent on asserting her independence even when it might not be the best idea. Travis is grumpy and depressed, feeling worthless after getting discharged from SEALs with a bum knee. It takes the entrance of a panicked Lila to snap him out of his funk and get him working again. Now he's been given a purpose: protect the small blonde. Facing dirty cops, murderers and kidnappers puts new life into Travis. The sexual flirtations with Lila don't hurt, either. You can count on Tawny Weber for a hero and heroine who are both sexually confident, enjoy sex, and trade flirtatious banter even more often than bodily fluids. I like it. Sure, I don't think it's realistic that Lila is so flippant even after going through all this stuff, but it's just like Weber to make the heroine err on the side of being too sarcastic rather than too scared. Even though Travis could be a domineering and controlling 'alpha' as Lila fears - he actually is a great guy. Not overbearing or particularly controlling IMO. I mean, he's protecting her, but he doesn't get all 'alpha' on her no matter what terms Lila and Weber use. I hate that term, anyway. For a SEAL he's pretty relaxed, finds Lila amusing, doesn't try to pin her down or restrict her unnecessarily. "Is that military speak for getting me a babysitter?" "What's the problem?" he asked, straightening with a wince. "The problem is, I don't want to be tucked away like a good girl and told to follow orders." "Have I tucked or ordered? Or, for that matter, even once indicated that I think you're a good girl?" "No." "Then what's with the attitude?" Lila hesitated. She'd bared her body to the man, and now she was afraid to be honest? "I grew up with that attitude," she finally confessed, walking over to stand close enough to him so she could see the minute gold flecks in his dark eyes. "All my life, I've been expected to be a pretty accessory. To sit silently where someone else decided I belonged until it was time for me to come out as a decoration." "All your life? So it's a family issue?" Seeing the acknowledgment in her eyes, he shook his head. "You're all grown up now. Why are you still carrying it?" "Some things don't change with age. My father's expectations being one of them." "Are you meeting those expectations?" "Not a single one," she said with a bitter laugh, crossing over to drop onto the couch. "I tried when I was younger, but finally I realized that who my father wanted me to be wasn't who I wanted to be. So I made a choice." At his questioning look, she said, "I chose me." She waited for him to ask how her father had taken that, what his thoughts were. So she was surprised when he said, "That's the best choice." "Not according to my father. He's still trying to control my life. That's probably why so often I go out of my way to do the opposite of whatever I'm told." "Is that a warning?" "More like a heads-up," she laughed. "I always try to do what someone asks, but the minute it's an order, I go in the other direction." "I'll keep that in mind." pg. 207 Lila's got to realize Travis is not her father and deal with some of her psychological issues, and Travis has to snap out of his funk and realize that just because he has an injured knee and can no longer be a Navy SEAL doesn't mean he's worthless or has no future. Weber is a snappy, entertaining author. Oftentimes these romantic suspense books are big duds. The romance takes a backseat to the suspense, and the suspense "mystery" plot is often deeply stupid, featuring both criminals and heroes who are deeply stupid as well. But Weber actually is crafting a great, entertaining romance novel here. "What are you doing?" "Making a hot compress for your knee. You've been pushing it pretty hard. This should ease the swelling." Kneeling, she laid the compress on his leg, taking care to tuck it under the joint to keep a slight bend in the knee. "There. That should help." Risking a glance at his face, she hid her wince behind a wide smile. She didn't know if that was anger or embarrassment, but whichever it was, his face was like ice. Cold, sharp and deadly. "Anything else you want while I'm down here?" she joked, hoping a little naughty humor would break some of that ice. When it didn't, she let out a breath and pushed to her feet. Looked around, desperate for something to do. The broken furniture had been hauled away, and the air was scented with lemon as if someone had polished what was left. So cleaning was out. A single glance dismissed the kitchen. They'd just had lunch. "Where's your face paint? I can get it for you while that works its magic." His expression didn't change. Lila knew that look. The, you failed so I'm punishing you with icy disapproval, look. Give him a break. she told herself. He'd spent four days protecting her, keeping her company, making her moan with pleasure. He didn't deserve to pay for her years and decades of father issues. But she couldn't help it. "Okay, HAWKINS," she snapped, emphasizing his last name. "Don't give me that look. You were in pain, I'm helping. I'm not mothering you, I'm not babying you. So don't go all manly on me." His expression didn't change, but he did arch one eyebrow. "You know what I mean. All offended like I'm impugning your manhood or dissing the size and skill of your talent." A wave of her hand toward his crotch confirmed which talent she was talking about. That got her a lip twitch. "We've spent the last couple of days doing naked gymnastics together. Do you really think that I am so self-absorbed that I didn't notice the scars on your knee or that you limp sometimes?" "I never thought of you as self-absorbed. I did, however, believe I was so damned good at sex that you didn't notice anything beyond the pleasure I was pouring over your body." "Well you did pour on an amazing amount of pleasure," she teased, curling up on the sofa beside him. "But yeah, I noticed everything about you." His dark eyes sparked with something she didn't recognize. She knew what the answering heat flaming in her belly meant, though. Ignoring it, she rubbed her hand over his arm and gave him a beseeching smile. "Please. Will you tell me what happened?" She wasn't surprised when he shrugged, but she was when he told her, "I blew out my knee." Well, that wasn't much in the way of details, but that he'd actually opened up enough to share that much melted her heart. Then she noticed the pain in his eyes. Pain beyond his physical injury. "That kind of injury isn't going to go away quickly, is it?" "Already did months of physical therapy. This is about as good as it's going to get." Lila's heart sank into her toes. pg. 211. Keeps going, great scene. I really like Weber's ability to be flippant and fun yet still make her characters seem like they have some stuff to work out. HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN? I'm really picky. I know for a fact that Weber can write good sex, and her sexual descriptions are on point, but I'm frustrated by the lack of any creativity in bed on the part of Travis. He basically kisses her, plays with her breasts, then fucks her. I was hoping for some fingering, some cunnilingus, maybe some creative showing off like Jo Leigh was having Max do to Natalie in Seduce Me. But I have to remember that Weber isn't writing for Blaze anymore. If you wanted good sex writing from Harlequin, Blaze was the place to go. Romantic Suspense just doesn't bring it. Sigh. I was hopeful, but Weber let me down on this front. And we only get the one sex scene, so there was no chance for Travis to redeem himself later. Even though the sex was described beautifully, I wanted more extensive and exciting sexual activities. Oh, well. :( TL;DR Over the moon to find out that Tawny Weber will be writing for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. She's a gem. Maybe the sex won't be as hot as in her Blaze series, but I still can enjoy her long, thoughtful books (she doesn't skimp on plot!) with plenty of sharp-tongued flirting and banter. I can expect her usual fierce and witty heroines who are sexually confident and bold. Paired with men who - although Weber insists on calling them 'alphas' - are actually pretty good men with relatively laid-back attitudes who relish being challenged mentally by the heroines. If Travis was controlling, I would hate him. I can't stand controlling men. Instead I found him to be relatively calm and amused. Lila's fears of dating a man like her father were thankfully unfounded. And although Lila is independent and stubborn, there was only one time in this book she acted dumb and TSTL IMO. It was unnecessary, and I think it could have been sidestepped by Weber. But overall it was a very enjoyable book. I will eagerly continue with the series as it is published. She had a kickass career, one she was skilled at. She had good friends who went back a ways, a killer apartment in one of his favorite cities. Maybe she'd be interested in adding a lover to the mix. Being protective, out of work and homeless probably didn't work in his favor, but he could change two of those three. pg. 238 ROMANCE CATEGORIES: Takes place in Costa Rica Contemporary Romance Military Romance - he's a former SEAL Millionaire / Billionaire Romance - Lila is rich, I don't know how rich. Romantic Suspense Non-Virgin Heroine Disabled Hero - Travis has a bum knee She's a Headhunter Who Owns Her Own Company; He's a homeless, out of work former Navy SEAL (view spoiler)[Who at the end joins Aegis Security (hide spoiler)] NAMES IN THIS BOOK: (view spoiler)[ Lila f 24 Alberto m Joe m Mimi f Corinne f Arthur m Travis m Hawk Dory f Manny m Paulo m Glory f Boon Luis m Lupe f Lucas m Frosty Wayne m Darlene f Jerry m Maria f Raul m Hank m (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 02, 2019
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Mar 02, 2019
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Mar 02, 2019
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 1335971939
| 9781335971937
| 1335971939
| 4.14
| 87
| Nov 15, 2018
| Dec 04, 2018
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it was ok
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She did as he requested, and then stood aside while he brought the large Fraser fir into the house. Immediately, the foyer filled with the fragrance o
She did as he requested, and then stood aside while he brought the large Fraser fir into the house. Immediately, the foyer filled with the fragrance of the outdoors. Crisp, clean. If they invented a name for this particular scent, Mazie would call it mountain morning. pg. 175 PREMISE Mazie is a rich, white, stunningly beautiful Southern woman who owns a jewelry store. She doesn't really have to work. She is angry at J.B. because J.B. turned her down for a formal when she was 16. Yeah. 15ish years ago, this man refused to take her to a dance, and she has never forgiven him. Now he wants to buy her property, is giving her AMAZING property in exchange, but she is refusing because she is childish and petulant. J.B. is a billionaire. *Carmen spits on the ground* He's a rich, white, stunningly handsome Southern billionaire who just... I don't know... is a broker or something. ??? Some rich businessman job. Land baron? He didn't take Mazie to the formal because her brother threatened to neuter him if he did. But I mean, in reality, who the fuck cares? Who is over here nursing snubs from HIGH SCHOOL for gosh sakes?! ANALYSIS POINT ONE: What I said earlier. Am I supposed to relate to a heroine who has avoided a man assiduously for FIFTEEN YEARS because he didn't take her to a high school dance?!?! Some people have ACTUAL PROBLEMS. FOR FUCK'S SAKE. POINT TWO: This book is very much a Richie McRicherson fantasy. It is for readers to indulge in fantasies of being rich for the cheap cheap price of $5.25. J.B. takes her ring shopping. He shuts down the whole jewelry store. He buys her a huge, yellow diamond. J.B. takes her out to dinner at a super-fancy restaurant where women have to wear gowns and men have to wear tuxedos. They eat super-fancy foods. They ballroom dance in between courses. J.B. takes her to a Christmas tree lot and buys her an 8-foot fir. Then he takes her to the store and allows her to buy all the handblown ornaments she wants. This is fine. There's nothing wrong with indulging in Richie McRicherson fantasies if that is what makes you happy. As for me, rich people disgust me. Reading about two extremely rich people buying shit makes me the opposite of happy. Maynard isn't even offering the "rich boyfriend" fantasy. Instead, BOTH MCs are hugely rich. It's not like Mazie couldn't buy herself these things if she wanted to. So there's not even that point. She's not even a little waitress or retail-worker who is being swept off her feet by a billionaire. SHE is a millionaire or maybe billionaire herself! o.O So. Yeah. If you love dreaming about being extremely rich, or fantasizing about buying only the best, this might get you going. As for me, no. POINT THREE: When (view spoiler)[J.B.'s mom has a heart attack, (hide spoiler)] J.B. lies to his mom and tells her that Mazie is engaged to him. WHY. This is the kind of cockamamie shit always pulled in romance novels for no reason. Now they have a fake engagement to uphold. It's ludicrous. POINT THREE b: Other ludicrous plot points include classic misunderstandings like "Why did you betray me?" when really there was no betrayal and the time-honored "I heard you saying something vague on the phone, assumed you were talking about me, and jumped to conclusions and took grave actions based on this." Veteran romance readers will be rolling their eyes. How much of this novel could be cut down by the MCs simply having an honest conversation with each other? A lot. POINT FOUR: HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN? It's horrible. Really, I'm not feeling Maynard's sex-writing. Let's take a look. His smile widened. "You CRAVE me, darlin'? Well, I must be doing SOMETHING right." "Does your ego ever take a rest?" She caressed his chin, smiling faintly. He ignored her gibe. "Get undressed before someone like your brother decides to interrupt us." Mazie wriggled away from him long enough to dispense with her pants and socks. J.B. did the same. He leaned forward to grab his wallet and extract a condom. His hands were shaking. She curled her arms around him from behind and rested her cheek on his back. "We're probably going to regret this." "Yeah. Maybe." He pulled her in front of him, standing her on her feet and kissing her cute, tiny belly button. Gooseflesh rose on her pale skin. "You have no idea how much I want you." "That might be the sleep deprivation talking." He slid her bikini underwear down her legs and sighed. "Nope. It's you, Mazie Jane." He parted her damp folds with his thumbs and caressed her intimately. Her whimper of pleasure hardened his erection a millimeter more, if that was possible. In another situation, he would have taken his time with her. He might have paused to savor the smorgasbord of delights. But he'd only been half kidding about Jonathan. Given the situation at the hospital, someone could call at any moment. He dared not turn off his phone. "We should hurry," she panted, perhaps reading his mind. "I'm ready for you. More than ready." She played with the shell of his ear, leaning down to whisper naughty suggestions. J.B. cursed. He shed his boxers with more speed than finesse and sheathed his sex. Mazie was still wearing her bra. It was too late to do anything about it. It was too late to do anything about it?!!?!? He had to have her in the next thirty seconds, or he was going to die. Moving to the edge of the sofa, he gripped her wrist. "Come here, sweet thing. Let me love you." He took her by the waist and helped her straddle his lap, her long, smooth legs spread on either side of his hips. Mazie took over before he could do more than groan and bury his face in her chest. She sank down onto him, taking him inside her, joining their bodies with the sweet wild slide of passion. His vision went dark. Everything inside him focused on the sensation of Mazie's tight, hot sex accepting him. Sweat broke out on his brow. "Slower," he begged. He was close to embarrassing both of them. Mazie combed his hair with both hands, massaging his scalp, toying with his ears. "What if I like it fast and hard?" Are you fucking kidding me with this shit. He gripped her soft butt so tightly it might leave bruises. "Bad girl." He thrust upward, filling her, claiming her. Mazie laughed. The soft, husky chuckle drove him mad. Suddenly, he was sorry he had chosen this position. It was too passive. He was in a volatile mood. Lack of sleep blurred the edges of his control. "Put your legs around my waist." He stood abruptly. Mazie was a tall woman, but he was extremely motivated. He eased past the coffee table and tumbled them both to the carpet, their bodies still joined. Mazie smiled up at him, her eyelids half closed, her breath coming in short pants. "Who knew you were so strong? I'm impressed Mr. Vaughan." His chest heaved. "You make me nuts. Why is that, do you think?" "Mutual antipathy?" He pumped his hips. Her eyelashes fluttered shut. She arched her back, gasping. "Look at me, Mazie. I want to see your eyes when you come." She obeyed. Her amber-gold gaze locked on to his. He felt naked suddenly, raw and exposed. Those eyes saw everything. Mazie wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. She reached up and traced his features with her thumbs. "I won't break, J.B. Give it all to me." The sexual challenge dissolved the last of his rapidly winnowing willpower. With a groan of helpless inevitability, he pounded into her, thrusting again and again until his world went black, and his entire body spasmed in hot, desperate pleasure. Dimly, her heard Mazie's cry of release and felt the flutters of her sex on his shaft as she came. When it was over, they lay in a tangle of arms and legs and fractured breathing. Mazie was still wearing her bra. J.B. couldn't feel his legs. Her body was soft and warm beneath his. He never wanted to move, though that wasn't a viable choice under the circumstances. After several long moments of silence, he rolled to his back and cleared his throat. "I don't know what to say. I'd offer to fix you bacon and eggs, but that seems a paltry thank-you for what just happened." pg. 122 MAIN PROBLEMS I HAVE WITH THIS: 1.) And most importantly, this idea where a man is like, "Usually I would be really awesome in bed! I'm great at foreplay! But you just turn me on SO MUCH that I can't be bothered with foreplay! Consider it a compliment!" And then the woman is like, "Oh, stud, I never understood all the fuss about foreplay! Who needs anything except for your cock jackhammering me?! That's the best." UGH. It's straight out of a male-directed porno. Well, no, it's straight out of a female-directed porno aiming for a male audience. What is it with this shit?! How has the patriarchy sold women on this shit? It would be laughable if it weren't so sad. :( 2.) Calling her a "bad girl" in bed. I mean, what the fuck. Gross. As you can see, there are about ten more problems, but I don't have time to address them all. Feel free to do so in the comments if you wish. In case you think J.B. magically improves in the second sex scene - he doesn't. OK. I'm not going to go into detail because this review is already long. POINT FIVE: Slightly annoying things. Mazie allows J.B. to take her to a very fancy restaurant, and then she GIVES UP HER DESSERT. Fortunately for her emotional equilibrium, he didn't try to feed her any more dessert. She ate another couple of bites and left it to him to finish. The man was tall and athletic. He could afford the calories. pg. 93 *Carmen is shaking her head* Don't let him eat your caramel-laced bread pudding with whipped cream!! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!?!?!? He randomly says this to her on page 29: His smile slipped. The blue irises went from calm to stormy. "A thank you might be nice. You weren't spanked enough as a kid, were you? Spoiled only daughter..." Creepville. o.O This is the only time he says something like this. I have no idea. Perhaps Maynard was toying with creating a more disgusting hero, but then changed her mind? Gone was the good-natured, sophisticated businessman. The wealthy entrepreneur. In his place was a primal male with flushed cheekbones, glittering sapphire eyes, and a big body that radiated warmth and raw masculinity. pg. 89 This kind of writing was making me roll my eyes. This is what his own mother has to say about our hero: "He has multiple women in his life, but to him they're as interchangeable as a pair of socks." pg. 139 UGH. He has outlandish thoughts like, Why did women always want to strangle a man with emotion and romance? This was physical. Nothing more. Mazie had to know that. pg. 147 Listen, fucker. You are driving this whole thing. YOU. She would have been happy to avoid you for the rest of her life. Please buy a clue. "What do you think?" He reached across the small space between them and caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "I think you've been a very good girl this year. Santa wants you to have all the trimmings." pg. 170 ICK. If this is what you think is sexy-talk, I'd rather you just keep your fucking mouth shut. We see this again in bed, where he tells her: "You're prickly and unpredictable. I've had easier women, that's for sure." pg.182 Would you say this, in the middle of sex, to a woman?!? You wouldn't?!!? Congratulations. You have at least half of a brain. This brainless idiot is talking about other women while fucking her. o.O What a MORON. TL;DR - Although the book is problematic, as seen in the points I've outlined here, it actually wasn't bad for a Harlequin Desire which - let me tell you - can be VERY bad. It's a line I tend to avoid, and with good reason. I may point out some troublesome issues here, but trust me, this could have been a lot worse. Instead of flirting with J.B. being a huge unfeeling creep, he could have actually BEEN a huge unfeeling creep. I am lucky. Mazie is actually good at standing up to him, and he is (relatively) good at taking 'no' for an answer. Trust me, things could have been a lot worse. I'm unable to take the sex seriously - you can see how it is written - but at least I didn't have to suffer through any blowjob scenes. That's a relief. Overall, I would say this is good for a Harlequin Desire. Not my cup of tea, but if you have to read this line you could do a lot worse than this novel. Trust me, I have. o.O Making a book about extremely wealthy, beautiful people makes me automatically bored right off the bat. I'm not interested in the rich and their made-up problems. That's Maynard's first problem. Her second is the fact that I find her writing pretty laughable. Not horrible and unreadable, but not something that is what I would consider 'good.' Her idea of what is 'sexy' is not the same as my idea of 'sexy,' let's just put it that way. While she sidesteps J.B. being a complete creep, I wasn't crazy about either of these MCs. ROMANCE CATEGORIES: Contemporary Romance Enemies to Lovers - Kind of? More like Friends-to-Enemies-to-Lovers Holiday/Christmas Romance - Very Christmasy. If you like Christmasy Romances, this is very heavy on Christmas. Millionaire/Billionaire Romance - They are either both billionaires, or he is a billionaire and she is a millionaire. Non-Virgin Heroine - J.B. is the third man Mazie's slept with. He's a Rich Businessman. I don't know. Broker? Land Baron? She Owns a Jewelry Store. NAMES IN THIS BOOK (view spoiler)[ Mazie f Gina f J.B. M Jackson Beauregard Jonathan m Hartley m Gerald m Leila f Alana f Jane f Jean Phillipe m (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 28, 2019
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Mar 2019
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Feb 28, 2019
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0373755058
| 9780373755059
| 0373755058
| 3.50
| 50
| Jan 07, 2014
| Jan 07, 2014
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really liked it
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Caleb had lit the hurricane lamps on the picnic tables, and in their glow her hair rippled like a river catching the first rays of the sun. Fine poetic Caleb had lit the hurricane lamps on the picnic tables, and in their glow her hair rippled like a river catching the first rays of the sun. Fine poetic thoughts from a man whose literary heights ran to Louis L'Amour novels. And not thoughts he wanted to have at all. pg. 54 This book was a real enigma. It's complicated and Daille plays her cards very close to her vest. Just because we can see into the minds of both the hero and the heroine doesn't make everything clear. PREMISE Ryan is fucked-up in the head because his wife and son were killed in a car accident. He is a ranch foreman, but his boss gets mad at him when he punches a ranch hand. Like everything in this novel, it's not really clear, but Ryan implies it is because the man said something snide about his dead wife and son. Ryan is sent to New Mexico to work on a project, as kind of a last chance to keep his job. This ranch is being turned into a ranch for Troubled Boys. The project manager is Lianne. Lianne is our heroine, and she is deaf. She is fucked-up in the head because her ex-boyfriends have been overprotective and seen her as weak and told her she "couldn't survive without him" and "you need me" kind of bullshit. So she is very touchy about doing everything "by myself!" and reading any kind of help as some sort of personal commentary on her deafness. They started out as a match made in hell. ANALYSIS So. *sips coffee* This book is complicated. That's not a criticism. The book starts out with Lianne and Ryan being at odds. They barely tolerate each other. They really get off on the wrong foot and they are both trying hard to prove that they can dominate at their job. Although their jobs are TECHNICALLY different - she is project manager and he is ranch foreman - they each act like they have the same job and are in competition with each other. Lianne acts like a jerk a lot to Ryan, and she thinks she is justified because she is thoroughly convinced that he believes she can't fulfill her duties because she is deaf. In reality, he doesn't give a fuck about her being deaf, but he IS messed up because of the death of his wife and child. The two are always butting heads. Ryan wants to enact his duties as ranch foreman. Lianne sees him as stepping on her territory, and doing so because she's deaf. He is really doing it because he's paranoid about losing his job and he feels he needs to 'prove himself' in order to keep his job. She is always wanting to talk about her deafness. She believes they have to have conversations about how she is deaf and how does he feel about that and does he have any questions. He's not really into touchy-feely bullshit. Then we get to the point of the book where they are basically fighting all the time. Then they start getting romantic/sexual. I wasn't completely buying it, I always have a very hard time believing that people who are arguing and fighting all the time suddenly want to start kissing. It's completely baffling to me. Then she decides to take him to bed. Thank his lucky stars, she'd taken him to her bed. His suggestion to go to the party hadn't been designed to get him here. He'd swear that on his custom-made saddle. pg. 119 Honestly, this scene is exactly where things turn around for me on the hero and I start to really like him. I didn't DISLIKE him before, but I was neutral on him. I was like, "Eh." But in this scene he started to make me question if he was maybe actually a mensch? o.O They are sitting on the bed and she is talking and talking. He is just listening. He thinks she might be nervous. He reckoned her chatting came from nerves, and her nerves came from having some experience but not enough to make her treat this like just another roll in the hay. He appreciated the honor. She wasn't just another woman for him, either. The thought caused a funny tight feeling in his chest. pg. 120 Then "Sometimes all that visual stimulation wears me out." Smiling, he ran his fingertips along her jawline. "I'm hoping to wear you out. But with another kind of stimulation." pg. 121 I was like, "Well, gotdan. He's just going right for it. Okay." I was ready. Then Lianne's phone starts vibrating. She can't hear it or feel it. But Ryan knows it is happening. So he stops foreplay to alert her. Even though he debates in his head whether he should just not tell her and let it wait, he makes the true mensch decision and is like, "Nah. It's wrong to not tell her that her phone is blowing up." But then his feelings get hurt when she gets wrapped up in texting for some minutes. He thinks maybe she didn't want to have sex with him and was looking for a way out. He slips out of the room. When Lianne finds him, he's downstairs eating pie and drinking coffee. She's upset. Weren't they going to have sex? Now her heart thumped painfully. Her eyes blurred. Despite her determination not to think of what had happened between them, the thoughts came. Just a few minutes ago he had kissed her nearly senseless. His hands had touched her, stroked her, as though she were something delicate and easily broken... Or ALREADY broken? Was that why he had taken such care with her? pg. 125 She tells him she's going to bed. She's hoping he'll follow her to bed. He doesn't. She is sad. :( Why would he come after her now when he had been so quick to use her texts as an excuse to stop kissing her and leave her bedroom? When he so obviously preferred pie to... to... PASSION. pg. 125 At this point I just wanted to shake them! They are just so DUMB! Why don't they just COMMUNICATE!!!!? But the whole book is about two people who really live in their heads. Another huge misunderstanding happens when Lianne has her niece over and a little boy named P.J. She thinks Ryan is being cold with little Becky because little Becky is deaf, but in reality Ryan struggles being around young children because they remind him of the son he lost. So she is forming this huge bad idea about him that is based on something that is only in her head - a recurring theme in this book. She is so hugely sensitive about being deaf and SO ready to fight people that she completely misses the point a lot of the time. I see the appeal of Ryan, it's especially clear from page 119 on. He is hard and silent. He's not big on talking, but he's big on doing. He handles shit. He takes care of shit. It's hot. When some Boy Scouts come to work on the ranch, the way he deals with the boys is very attractive. I can see why Lianne thinks he's a hottie and wants to take him to bed. He's a man. Like, damn. And he keeps his mouth shut and just minds his own fucking business. When the Scout Leader is constantly flirting with Lianne, of course Ryan is jealous. But he keeps a tight leash on his jealousy, doesn't do anything about it. He keeps his mouth shut, he never tries to interfere, he doesn't try to get into a pissing contest with the guy, he doesn't try to get between him and Lianne. This is super hot. When Ryan and Lianne flirt later in the book - something they were completely unable to do in the first half of the book given their personalities - it's very cute. They have a unique way of joking with each other. Ryan becomes secure in Lianne's affections and is no longer threatened by the Scout Master. In the glow of the flames from the fire ring, he watched Lianne interact with the kids, with the scouts, even with the scoutmasters. Now her conversations with Phil didn't cause him to blink an eye. Phil hadn't been the one in the kitchen with her. pg. 177 This is very attractive and - I want to point out - very rare in romance novels. It never occurs to heroes that they don't have to worry about rival males because they have the heroine on lock. They always act super-threatened and growl and snarl, and give the other male the stinkeye, and sometimes even get into fights or paw their woman in front of him or whatever. It's gross. Much more attractive is Ryan's attitude. One, if she really wants the Scout Master he's not going to step in because it's none of his fucking business. And Two, he's confident Lianne likes HIM. She's interested in HIM. He's the one she's flirting with and kissing. He doesn't need to get all possessive or make some big show about her being his woman, he's calm and confident enough to know he's got this and he doesn't worry about her throwing her affections elsewhere. She wouldn't do that. And he's the one who she likes. Again, this may seem like common sense, but in the romance world this is so rare. Authors act like a man isn't a man unless he's beating his chest and claiming his property (his woman), so seeing a man acting like this is not only hot, it's surprising. I like calm, self-assured men. He also does super-attractive things like this scene, where he is hoping to take Lianne to bed and she tells him the children will be having a sleepover. "They're staying the night?" Nodding, she watched his expression for disappointment or frustration, the sign that would show he wanted to continue what they had started in the kitchen. She looked for irritation or annoyance, an indication he didn't want to have to deal with Becky and P.J. at the ranch house again. But she didn't read any of those emotions on his face. pg. 180 Since page 119, Daille has been working to convince me that Ryan is a mensch, and it has been working. Then he GOES to the sleepover, plays tons of board games with the children, menschly lets her know that he's picked up on some SIGN LANGUAGE on the DL.... just acts like a totally attractive mensch, basically. Another day, they finally discuss what happened in the bedroom and clear things up. She realizes that he was being a mensch. Why they just can't learn to communicate is BEYOND ME. Hopefully they will get better at it or this relationship is doomed. HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN? When they finally get around to having sex, it is off-page. I'm just going to imagine that Ryan is great in bed. I really have no idea. But it is really sweet when she asks him to turn the lights off. She never has sex in the dark because she is deaf. Usually I'm for having sex with the lights on in books, but in this case her asking him to turn off the lights is very trusting and sweet. Awwww. CREEPER One complaint I have with the book is that there is a period of time in Ryan and Lianne's relationship where Ryan creeps on Lianne while she's exercising or lotioning up after the shower. It's really gross. Luckily he cuts this out, but that he did it at all is skeeving me out. Bad form. TL;DR This book was hugely complicated. Both Ryan and Lianne were consumed with psychological hangups, and it led to a lot of hurt and misunderstandings on both sides. I have to say they don't communicate well. On the other hand, Daille did a great job on a lot of things. Lianne's deafness wasn't just for show - Daille got into a lot of aspects of deaf life that I thought were interesting. Also, she is Lianne. She is Lianne first. The deafness is a distant second, it does not define her and Daille does not write her as a deaf woman but more as a woman who is deaf. Even though, of course, her deafness and how it affects her worldview is hugely prominent in the book, I never feel like Daille is using deafness as a stand-in for a personality or a person. That's very good. Another thing she nailed was Ryan. Who would guess at the beginning of the book that he was a mensch or that he would end up being so dang attractive? Not I. Daille's technique is to keep you guessing. For the whole book you are wondering "Does Ryan REALLY think she's incapable because she's deaf? Is Lianne right that Ryan is an asshole or is she just projecting and assuming because of her past and the huge chip on her shoulder? Is Ryan acting protective or bossy with Lianne because she is deaf, or would he act that way with ANY woman after losing his wife that way?" You don't really get absolutely clear answers from Daille at the end, but she does make things more and more clear as the characters get to know each other better and start communicating instead of assuming things. I'm hoping this relationship works out - I really like both Lianne and Ryan as individual people - but their tendency to live in their heads and not communicate could be detrimental to a good future. Luckily, by the end of the novel it seems they are willing and able to be more upfront with each other. Both are good people who deserve happiness. I think he would be great with children. I think he would have no problems if a child of his is born deaf. He's a man, definitely he would take care of his woman and his children and handle any problems that came his way. Lianne is very strong and smart. If she can remember not to jump to conclusions, I think she would be a great wife and mother. I wish them all the best. Truly complex and well-crafted characters with good hearts but flaws as well. Ryan doesn't have any romantic or sexual interest in Lianne until a good part of the way through the book. I like that. The book is a good argument for giving authors second chances. I hated Honorable Rancher but thought this was pretty dang good. Both the hero and heroine have to learn and change and grow. Lianne has to learn that not everyone is an asshole who assumes she is helpless because she is deaf, and Ryan has to learn how not to be so protective and that there are some things that are out of his control. Both have to learn how to communicate better. Both are flawed but good people. ROMANCE CATEGORIES Contemporary Romance Cowboy/Western Romance Enemies to Lovers Non-Virgin Heroine Widower Hero Disabled Heroine - She is deaf He is a Ranch Foreman, She is a Project Manager NAMES IN THIS BOOK (view spoiler)[ Ryan m Caleb m Rod m Jan f Billy m Tess f Nate f Becky f Lloyd m Lianne f Kayla f Sam m Sharleen f Mark m Pirate dog Tony m Roselynn f Ellamae Jack m Joe m P.J. M Dori f Manny m Ben m Phil m Kenny m Tagalong – pony Ocean – parakeet (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 16, 2019
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Feb 17, 2019
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Feb 16, 2019
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 1982101636
| 9781982101633
| 1982101636
| 3.62
| 11,985
| Jan 15, 2019
| Jan 15, 2019
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it was amazing
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That combination of responsibility and powerlessness - truly, standing over her, I saw with absolute clarity how I had no one else to blame, how I was
That combination of responsibility and powerlessness - truly, standing over her, I saw with absolute clarity how I had no one else to blame, how I was the one who'd let my life spin completely out of control. Everything I'd ever done had brought me to that point; all my choices had led me right here, to this. But if that HAD been my rock bottom, I'd have changed, right? Seeing the light would've done something to me, helped me somehow. But it didn't. It only made me feel worse. pg. 212 IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO READ THE REVIEW, let me at least give you a few sentences here. Kristen Roupenian is an amazingly talented author. She is a skilled horror writer. Definitely a book worth reading if you have any interest in horror or the darkness of humanity. ... I picked up this book not expecting much, honestly. I don't usually enjoy short story collections. I read CAT PERSON - of course, didn't everybody? - compounded by the fact that I subscribe to the New Yorker. When CAT PERSON came out, it lit a fire under everyone. People debated endlessly the moral ramifications of it. It was discussed through the lens of feminism. It was discussed through the lens of #MeToo, it was discussed through the lens of toxic masculinity. However, what few (no?) people realized at the time is that Roupenian is actually A HORROR AUTHOR. Akin to Stephen King. I would have to say after reading this book that if you enjoy King and his work, please do yourself a favor and pick this up. It's a stunning, exquisite little collection that will unnerve you. Reading CAT PERSON under the lens of horror instead of trying to untangle its morality and the morality of its characters made me like it more. LET'S ANALYZE, otherwise this review will be straight gushing on my part. STORY #1: BAD BOY About a (I'm assuming) m/f couple who make a male friend of theirs their sexual toy. This culminates in (view spoiler)[murder (hide spoiler)]. Like most Roupenian stories, it is sordid, disgusting and centered around sexual themes. Roupenian's intent here isn't really a statement of feminism, like some of her other works. Instead, she is commenting on the current sexual climate (a favorite topic of hers), focusing on how the sexual crisis of the younger generations is affecting everything. What are sexual ethics and mores? How is using and degrading another person 'right' if the other person agrees to it? How do things like sex cults and sexual slavery begin? Always playing with issues of consent and sexual morals (or the lack thereof), Roupenian hopes to bring to light some of the more questionable aspects of our current society. At first, what happened during these nights was a strange, unspoken thing, a bubble clinging precariously to the edge of real life, but then, about a week after it started, we made the first rule for him to follow during the day, and suddenly the world cracked open and overflowed with possibility. pg. 6 We only got worse after that. He was like some slippery thing we had caught in our fists, and the harder we squeezed the more of it bubbled up through our fingers. We were chasing something inside of him that revolted us, but we were driven mad as dogs by the scent. pg. 8 We thought we'd exposed every part of him, and yet he'd been lying to us, hiding this from us, all this time, and in the end, we were the ones who were exposed. pg. 10 STORY #2: LOOK AT YOUR GAME, GIRL A sordid, creepy, unsettling and disturbing story about a 12-year-old girl who meets a creepy (possibly homeless) man in the park repeatedly in the days leading up to Polly Klaas's kidnapping. If you are a parent or a caregiver this one is going to be uncomfortable to read. It didn't go as dark as I was fearing. (view spoiler)[Jessica is neither raped nor murdered, (hide spoiler)] but the feeling of disgust and danger will follow you even after you close the book and it might prompt you to have that uncomfortable conversation with your child that you were putting off. Compared with what had happened to Polly - compared with the infinite number of bad things that had happened in the universe - her brush with evil was just a tiny pinprick of light, nearly imperceptible against a backdrop of whirling constellations made up of other, brighter stars. pg. 25 STORY #3 SARDINES I don't know what Roupenian is going for in this story. Some kind of Stephen King thing? Trying her hand at the horror genre. It's not bad. It's not 100% successful, but it's not bad. It was gripping and scary up to a point, I didn't really think the ending landed, however. As per usual, the story is full of human insights and is shockingly human, dirty, and realistic – the Roupenian touch. She's got her thumb on human behavior and interactions. Marla catches her husband cheating with a 23-year-old and now she has to host her daughter Tilly's birthday party at his house. Marla's hatred of everyone right now has bled over into Tilly's mind with some horrific and supernatural results. Some of the messier aspects of parenthood are impossible to anticipate until you crash right into them. Discovering that, in certain circumstances, when someone smacks your daughter you respond with crazed laughter has proven to be a new and unwelcome entry on that list. pg. 28 Resilience – the ability to brush off pain – is something Marla herself has only fitfully and imperfectly grown into, over time. The petty miseries of her own early childhood are some of her most vivid memories, even now. pg. 28 Collective investigation on the part of the moms has uncovered the game's name, Sardines, and a rough outline of the rules, which are innocuous as far as any of them can tell. Yet the way Tilly has been acting reminds Marla of nothing so much as the week her daughter discovered what would happen when she typed BOOBS into the browser of the family computer - the overeager way she would hurry into the den after school, calling out in a trilling, syrupy voice, "Oh, nothing!" whenever Marla asked her what she was up to in there. Marla would prefer to blame the other girls - vicious, clique-y little beasts, they are - but in fact Tilly herself seems to be the ringleader. That, too, is strange, because Tilly has always been a little bit excluded, either picked on or left out. Although all the other moms are too polite to say so, the game's apparent ability to rescue Tilly from her position at the bottom of the social hierarchy is a large part of its unsavory aura. It's unnatural, Marla thinks blearily one night, right before she falls asleep. Something UNNATURAL is going on. pg. 31 This is a very King-like passage. After discovering Steve and his little girlfriend in flagrante, Marla had sketched out dozens of schemes for revenge - swapping the lube in the girlfriend's bedroom drawer with superglue, tying her down and tattooing SLUT across her face. And yet somehow, day by day and drip by drip, all her fearless fury has dwindled down to this: she will spend a day smiling tightly and choking down her rage as her nemesis parades around victorious - unhumiliated, unsuperglued, untattooed. How could Marla have let this happen? How could she have resigned herself so meekly to defeat? pg. 32 Tilly's adult nose - Steve's nose - arrived on her face a few months ago, knocking all her other features out of whack. She's got a greasy sprinkle of new acne sprouting along her half-plucked hairline, and a puffy brown mole has popped up on the side of her neck. She sweats through her deodorant by midafternoon, even the Men's Sports Prescription Strength Marla left last week, without comment, on her bed. At random times of day, her breath turns dank and meaty, and Marla finds herself opening the car window, without comment. Her breasts appear to be growing at two slightly different rates, so none of the training bras Marla buys her ever fit. The further Tilly lurches into gruesome adolescence, the more she insists on acting like a baby, trying to recapture a cuteness she never possessed. Maddening, tic-ridden, love-hungry Tilly; beloved Tilly, who, despite Marla's best efforts to protect her, at times seems not only destined but determined to be chewed up by the world's sharp teeth. pg. 39 The ending to SARDINES doesn't 'land,' in my opinion, but this was my first clue, my first inkling that Roupenian was actually a HORROR AUTHOR. And there's PLENTY more horror stories (even pretty straight ones) in this collection, so JUST KEEP GOING. All her other ones land firmly, this is the only one in the collection that was shaky on the landing for me. STORY #4 THE NIGHT RUNNER This is a story about a Peace Corps volunteer who goes to Kenya and is harassed and humiliated firstly by his class of schoolgirls and then by a 'Night Runner' who torments him by knocking on his door all night long and shitting on his doorstep. When he got off the phone, Aaron filled a bucket with warm, sudsy water. He knotted up an old T-shirt, went outside, then got down on his knees and scrubbed his walls until they shone. He felt no disgust or revulsion, just a kind of deadened disdain. It was a choice they'd made, to drive him out. Like beating children was a choice. Like having unprotected sex was a choice. They chose this, he said to himself, and the words were like blood in his mouth. pg. 56 STORY #5 THE MIRROR, THE BUCKET, AND THE OLD THIGH BONE The princess smiled, and when the visitor returned her smile, she felt as though all of her blood had been drained from her body and replaced with a mixture of soap bubbles and light and air. pg. 65 A truly excellent and spine-tingling horror story. Fascinating! Chilling, VERY well done. STORY #6 CAT PERSON The famous and viral Cat Person. I reviewed this, but it got disappeared, either due to overzealous GR librarians or some other GR shenanigans. I remember all the uproar this story initially caused. An insecure young woman named Margot hooks up with a man named Robert who is a rather boring loser IMO. She's in a shitty relationship, I think this hit a nerve with people because shitty relationships are common. She keeps trying to figure him out, to please him, to make things work which is baffling because she isn't attracted to him and doesn't even like him that much. She overthinks everything, like a lot of young women do, and I can't help but think this is Roupenian's treatise on the younger generations Z or Y or whatever the fuck they are calling themselves now, I've lost track. He's a total fuckboy, and he's shit in bed. And she just PUTS UP WITH IT, which I think generated a lot of anger in readers. However, the sad reality is that MILLIONS of women put up with bad sex to avoid confrontations. It's VERY common. I think that is probably what hit a nerve, with both male and female readers. She makes herself seem dumber than she is, she puts up with his absolutely terrible bedplay, and she pays lightning attention to every single detail about him in order to better please him. She feels unable to change her mind about having sex after giving initial consent. This is a huge issue, one much discussed right now, but when Roupenian brought it up in 2017 it seemed more shocking. But the thought of what it would require to stop what she had set in motion was overwhelming; it would require an amount of tact and gentleness that she felt was impossible to summon. It wasn't that she was scared he would try and force her to do something against her will but that insisting they stop now, after everything she'd done to push this forward, would make her seem spoiled and capricious, as if she'd ordered something at a restaurant and then, once the food arrived, had changed her mind and sent it back. pg. 88 This is actually brilliant and a very well-written description of (some) thought processes that might go through the mind of a young woman in this situation. Also, in a way, she's not fucking a real person, instead a person whose personality and 'true feelings and intentions' she has created in her mind in a kind of projected fantasy. It's fully human and quite flawed, which I think only added to the fuel of Internet interest. He made that sound again, that high-pitched feminine whine, and she wished there was a way she could ask him not to do that, but she couldn't think of any. pg. 90 The part where he fingers her (badly) and takes her flinching as a sign that she's a virgin – and then she laughs at him for thinking she's virginal – is SO ACCURATE. It's so aptly encapsulating the true cesspool of modern dating in which expectations of women that men get from porn clash with real-life women and their wants and needs. She didn't mean to laugh; she knew well enough already that, while Robert might enjoy being the subject of gentle, flirtatious teasing, he was not a person who would enjoy being laughed at, not at all. But she couldn't help it. Losing her virginity had been a long, drawn-out affair preceded by several months' worth of intense discussion with her boyfriend of two years, plus a visit to the gynecologist and a horrifically embarrassing but ultimately incredibly meaningful conversation with her mom, who, in the end, had not only reserved her a room at a bed-and-breakfast but, after the event, written her a card. The idea that, instead of that whole involved, emotional process, she might have watched a pretentious Holocaust movie, drunk three beers, and then gone to some random house to lose her virginity to a guy she'd met at a movie theater was so funny that suddenly she couldn't stop laughing, though the laughter had a slightly hysterical edge. pg. 90 A powerful point nailed home by Roupenian. Margot then lies to Robert and says she's nervous about having sex with him to stroke his ego and harden his softening cock. THIS IS EXACTLY what I'm talking about... Roupenian nails this, she kills this. You may not like what she's saying, you certainly may not like Margot, who is an asshole on some level, but it resonates. It's accurate. Also painfully accurate is this 34-year-old sad sack dating this 20-year-old. Wildly insecure, desperate, basing his sexual actions on porn. He's vulnerable, weak, and useless. His fantasies about her, what he's projecting on her, are both sad and dangerous. He's less interested in her as a person and more interested in her as an object, The Girlfriend. I think what annoys people is that Margot is so spineless, she obviously despises this man and yet she has an incredibly hard time saying 'no' to him, hurting his feelings, wounding him. You can hate her or sneer at her for being weak but I feel like a lot of women struggle with this: the need to be seen as 'nice' all the time. Not to be 'mean.' Not to be 'a bitch.' Which all gets proven right because the last line of the book is Robert calling Margot (view spoiler)[a 'whore' because she has broken up with him. She doesn't want him. And she wasn't a virgin, therefore she is a 'whore.' (hide spoiler)] This kind of misogyny is prevalent and it is every day and it is everywhere and it is part of the reason women (especially younger ones and/or less experienced ones) are so afraid of rejecting men. Getting called a name like that is hurtful, but if you get a really fucked-up one you could end up dead. Dead for telling him you don't want to see him anymore. Women are murdered and beaten every single day for this shit. A complicated, layered story with many, many, many interpretations by readers. So much to talk about even given its short length. I can see why it sparked such outrage and response. STORY #7 THE GOOD GUY Honestly, parts of this story made me literally laugh out loud. Hilarious. An analysis and take down of a 'nice guy' by Roupenian. Anyone angered by her portrayal of a female in CAT PERSON might want to try this on for size... A man too cowardly to break up with a woman he's not interested in, like Margot was too cowardly to tell Robert to get lost. It showcases nicely how self-hatred leads to hatred of women and misogyny and abusive behavior. I think it's interesting and telling how Roupenian paints both male and female characters as assholes. Just an amazing, stunning, brilliant funny takedown of misogyny and 'nice guys' who actually hate and resent women. It's hard to put into words how fucking good this layered and nuanced story is, Roupenian is a genius. I can't believe I was laughing out loud reading a story about a disgusting misogynist, this kind of thing is EXACTLY what makes Roupenian special. So skilled. So talented. STORY #8 THE BOY IN THE POOL Another exquisitely-written story by Roupenian, centering around childhood friendship, childhood crushes, burgeoning lesbianism, and washed up stars cashing in on their old projects and selling themselves to fans ala CAMEO. It's a gorgeous story, written with precision by Roupenian. STORY #9 SCARRED I had done MAGIC. Sometimes, when people in stories encounter the paranormal, they react with horror as the fabric of reality shreds and they are faced with the dawning recognition that everything they once believed was a lie. As I stared down at my phone, I had that exact feeling, except the opposite: not horror but giddy, mounting joy. This was what all those books had promised. I knew it, I thought. I knew the world was more interesting than it was pretending to be. pg. 171 Another stellar horror story by Roupenian. The horror. OMGosh, who knew there was a horror talent like this lurking out there that I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT. STORY #10 THE MATCHBOX SIGN Creepy horror story. Well done. Revolting, nuanced, tragic. STORY #11 DEATH WISH Horrifying story. Roupenian is really writing depraved stuff here, she is filling a book with sick fucks and I'm sorry to say I am LIVING FOR IT. Masterful. STORY #12 BITER Perhaps the problem with adulthood was that you weighed the consequences of your actions too carefully, in a way that left you with a life you despised. pg. 218 FUCKING AMAZING. JUST FUCKING AMAZING. SLOW CLAPPING. Shocking, twisty, just amazing IMO. I didn't know where Roupenian was going with this, then it was brilliant. SEE REST OF REVIEW IN THE COMMENTS ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 16, 2022
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Apr 17, 2022
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Jan 28, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 3.95
| 812
| Jan 22, 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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really liked it
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So this book shows a little black girl growing up in America. It has her raising her hands up for various things in her life. Greeting the sun, playin
So this book shows a little black girl growing up in America. It has her raising her hands up for various things in her life. Greeting the sun, playing peek-a-boo, getting dressed, stretching to reach something on a shelf, using the sink, holding her hair back, swinging on her mom and dad's arms, [image] raising hands in class, reaching for the book on the high shelf, going into fifth position in ballet, riding a bike with hands in the air, [image] accepting help when she falls, raising her hands at a concert, in defense playing basketball, raising a trophy in triumph, giving high fives. [image] This all culminates with her being a teenager and raising her arms in protest. [image] THE END THE GOOD - Love the positive, warm family shown in this book. Grandma doing Viv's hair, mom and dad playing with her. - I like how it shows strong community. - I like how it shows different slices and ages of Viv's life. THE BAD I'm not sure you can divorce the phrase, "Hands up!" from what is going on in BLM today and the phrase, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" being so prevalent and scary right now. I know what McDaniel is doing, For many people, the phrase "hands up" brings forward difficult emotions like anger, sadness, frustration and fear. With this story, I wanted to emphasize the ways I've experienced that phrase as part of my everyday life: at home, at play, in church, and at protests with young people leading the way. I understand what she's saying, but I think it's hard for any adult to read this book to a child without a horrible sinking feeling in their stomach - I know it was in mine. The child won't know anything, but as an adult it's pretty depressing. Something to consider if you are going to be reading this to children. TL;DR I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this book makes you depressed and if that's a consideration in reading it to children. I couldn't stop thinking about the child(ren) I was reading to growing up and getting shot to death, so... the book wasn't worth that to me. You could say, "Oh, but that's good you felt that way! People should feel terrified and then do things to change the world!" but I don't need help being terrified for both people now and future generations, so... this is just a little sprinkling of depression I'd rather not have. Just my two cents. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Jan 26, 2019
not set
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Jan 26, 2019
not set
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Jan 26, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 0525516506
| 9780525516507
| 0525516506
| 3.63
| 257
| Jan 22, 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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liked it
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Bear is wearing sneakers for some unknown reason. Three are tied and one is untied. [image] He tries asking various animals for help, but they are all t Bear is wearing sneakers for some unknown reason. Three are tied and one is untied. [image] He tries asking various animals for help, but they are all too afraid of him to help him. [image] Finally some birds wander over and ask, "Shoelaces again?" Bear blushes. Instead of helping him tie his last shoe, which is what the kids and I thought was going to happen, they UNTIE all his shoes! He takes them off and thanks them. Then he dives into the water. The birds wander away, and the one says to the other, "He really needs to learn to do that himself." The book ends with another bear (brown) showing up and gazing down at Bear in the water, saying "Excuse me..." and we can see it is wearing yellow sneakers. THE END. TL;DR Cute book. Kind of pointless. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 0062798928
| 9780062798923
| 0062798928
| 3.63
| 546
| Jan 22, 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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it was ok
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What does it mean to dress like a girl? Many will tell you in this big wide world that there are strict rules that must be addressed, rules you will need What does it mean to dress like a girl? Many will tell you in this big wide world that there are strict rules that must be addressed, rules you will need when looking your best. But when you are given these rules to obey, the secret is heeding them - in YOUR OWN WAY. So, I'm a feminist and this book is about telling girls that they can grow up to do what adults deem amazing jobs. It uses clothing to get this message across. On hot summer days the look is crisp white, on land or on sea or on a long flight. White is a look you can manage with grace as you soar in a rocket ship through outer space! So, the girls are being told, allegedly, that you wear white in summer. I guess this is a thing. I can't tell you how little I care about clothes or fashion. SO LITTLE. But the book is saying - hey, wear white! Be an astronaut! When you're catching a play or a grand symphony, a black gown will drape down quite elegantly. A gown, long and flowing, DOES look quite grand - fitting when YOU'RE the one leading the band. People tell you to wear a black dress to the symphony. Wear a black conductor's gown. Be a conductor! Is this book for rich people? I can't imagine being told to wear white in summer or worry about attending opera or whatever. Just not my life. Higher SEC? To make a strong statement choose bright, vivid hues. You can be brave dressed in reds or in blues. The girls are dressed as police officers and firefighters. The book goes on. It encourages girls to be jungle explorers - well, it doesn't exactly say this. It says "safari." It then says if girls like deep pockets (and who doesn't?) wear a lab coat and become a doctor. Be a marine biologist - although the book doesn't word it like this, it says "Explore the sea floor." Be a an arctic explorer. Play sports. Be a construction worker - this ones a bit of a stretch, as the poem reads: Pick a hat for your head and chic shoes for your feet. CONSTRUCT your best outfit - a look that's complete. What the fuck does that have to do with being a construction worker? Be a fashion designer. Or what about this? What YOU think determines which outfit's okay. Don't JUDGE your appearance by what others say. OK, so here they are telling girls to be a judge. Like in court. By talking about them judging outfits? I'm just like... you've lost me, book. TL;DR I'm a huge feminist and I appreciate what Toht is trying to do here. Unfortunately, it falls pretty flat for me. Mostly because I could give a fuck about clothes. A lot of little girls I know don't give a fuck about clothes, either. I know she's trying to somehow tie clothes and girls alleged fascination with clothes/fashion into some kind of call for action in letting the girls know about some great jobs they could do as grown-ups, but... it wasn't working for me. I guess if you have a very fashion-obsessed little girl this could work. IDK, I found it pretty boring. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1250176832
| 9781250176837
| 1250176832
| 3.62
| 127
| Jan 22, 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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it was ok
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Bobo steals and "breaks" the zookeeper's flashlight. His annoying frenemy, Fifi the Koala, threatens to tattle on him, tells everyone what he did, tat
Bobo steals and "breaks" the zookeeper's flashlight. His annoying frenemy, Fifi the Koala, threatens to tattle on him, tells everyone what he did, tattles on him, blackmails him... I thought she was despicable. [image] I didn't find this story amusing. [image] Both of the characters are exhibiting bad behavior. Bobo steals something and breaks it; Fifi is a snot-nosed little gossip and tattletale and blackmailer. It's disgusting. [image] I can't really find any redeeming features. [image] I guess the illustrations are cute. [image] The book has a happy ending (ish) but it's not the first thing I'd pick up and read to children. [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 25, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1524765694
| 9781524765699
| 1524765694
| 3.65
| 315
| 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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it was amazing
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Only read this if you enjoy dying from cuteness. [image] There's almost no text. It's for babies. [image] Dust bunny tries to make friends but nobody like Only read this if you enjoy dying from cuteness. [image] There's almost no text. It's for babies. [image] Dust bunny tries to make friends but nobody likes him/her. [image] Don't worry, it has a happy ending. :) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 25, 2019
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Jan 25, 2019
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Jan 25, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 0062791109
| 9780062791108
| 0062791109
| 3.83
| 457
| Oct 30, 2018
| Oct 30, 2018
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it was amazing
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A horse and a dog meet. The horse thinks the dog is a baby horse and the dog thinks the horse is a gigantic dog. Hilarity ensues. Very funny. Expect th A horse and a dog meet. The horse thinks the dog is a baby horse and the dog thinks the horse is a gigantic dog. Hilarity ensues. Very funny. Expect the kids to laugh a lot when you read this one! Highest recommendation. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1524764671
| 9781524764678
| 1524764671
| 4.12
| 812
| 2018
| Dec 11, 2018
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liked it
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Harold finds a woolly hat left at a campfire. He loves it. Harold loves to wear his woolly hat. [image] Even in the summertime. He wears it when he goes Harold finds a woolly hat left at a campfire. He loves it. Harold loves to wear his woolly hat. [image] Even in the summertime. He wears it when he goes to school. He wears it when he goes to sleep. Harold even wears his woolly hat when he takes his monthly bath. When Harold wears his woolly hat, he knows he is a special bear - different from all the other bears. [image] Then one day, a crow swoops down and steals Harold's woolly hat. Now I look just like all the other bears, thinks Harold. How will anyone know that I am a very special bear? Now begins a sequence in which Harold hunts down different treats for the crow, in exchange for his hat. None of this works. The crow simply steals whatever Harold offers in exchange for the hat and doesn't give the hat back. [image] In the end, Harold eventually decides to allow the crow to keep the hat, because (view spoiler)[ [image] (hide spoiler)] TL;DR Beautiful illustrations. Not sure about the message here. Be compassionate, some people need things more than you do? It's not worth it to seek vengeance when children are involved? Steal people's stuff if you need it more than they do, that's fine? Don't think thieves are going to make an even exchange, they will just take and take and take? I don't know. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1481425226
| 9781481425223
| 1481425226
| 3.30
| 620
| Oct 02, 2018
| Oct 02, 2018
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liked it
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[image] Little Brown was cranky. Probably because no one ever played with him. Or maybe no one ever played with him because he was cranky. At this point, [image] Little Brown was cranky. Probably because no one ever played with him. Or maybe no one ever played with him because he was cranky. At this point, it was hard to know. This book is a bit depressing. It's about a bunch of dogs (~17) who live in a dog shelter and they've been let loose into the dog run to play. I know the summary on GR says it's a dog park, but frankly I don't believe the summary on GR. It's a shelter. None of these dogs are wearing collars and all file back into a grey cinder-block government-looking building at the end. All the dogs have names - we see them on the end pages. Someone at the shelter has posted polaroids of the dogs with labels: Ursull Brooklyn Pappy Angel-Baby Kibbeh Dallas Patch Decaf Gus Marlita Zuma Judson Laika Rocket Kokonut Mavis But the little brown dog has no name. Next to his polaroid, the person has put a Post-It that has a big question mark on it. The big dogs chased balls. The small dogs ran around in circles. The old dogs napped together in the shade. The young dogs got muddy. [image] But Little Brown did nothing and did it alone. He knew he could be a dog who would - if given half a chance - chase balls, run in circles, nap in the shade, OR get muddy. [image] But Little Brown just watched the others... and got crankier and crankier. [image] That's why when that ball rolled right over to him, he nabbed it. [image] And that's why he grabbed the tassel toy too. And the blanket. And the stick. And the flying disk. And the football. And the happy rope, the chewbone, the stripy pillow, and even the rock. [image] Soon he had collected quite a lot of things that didn't belong to him. [image] The big dogs and small dogs and old dogs and young dogs stopped what they were doing and looked at Little Brown. They looked at the stuff. They wanted it back. But Little Brown wasn't giving in. This was a dilemma. The dogs wondered things, some of which they'd wondered before... Is Little Brown cranky because we don't play with him? Or do we not play with him because he is cranky? Should we play with him to get the stuff back? Or will that make us cranky too? What then? [image] Little Brown wondered things too. If I give it all back, will they like me? Then will they play with me? What if I give it all back and they still won't play with me? What then? None of the dogs could figure it out. Neither could Little Brown. It was a lot to wonder about. So they all sat around wondering and scratching until it was time to go in. Maybe tomorrow... they would know what to do. THE END. Are you depressed yet? This dark, gloomy book which features rainy, dreary, grey weather can be considered good. The illustrations are cute. The dogs are full of personality. Not every book has to end happily, but readers might be disappointed that nothing is resolved and that Little Brown remains unloved and friendless - lashing out at others because he's at a loss of what else to do. The dogs are wondering if they should act differently. Should they start treating Little Brown differently? Would that make him act friendlier? And Little Brown is also considering his actions. Should he act differently? What can he do to get the other dogs to like him? Is he just naturally unlovable? How can he fit in with the group? Socializing comes so easy to the other dogs. But Little Brown really struggles with it. I wish the book had a resolution. Frazee (most famous for her book The Boss Baby which was turned into a movie) leaves everything up in the air. "Realism" or "open endings" might be okay or even sometimes lauded in adult fiction, but with kids, I would like a bit more solid of a conclusion than this. TL;DR Interesting and unique book. Not your typical dog-book for kids. Unfortunately, I think the ending detracts from the overall story. I see what Frazee is doing from an artistic point - and I respect it - but in reading books to kids I don't want a maudlin, uncertain ending like this. I'm fine with the gloomy pictures - the book has a distinctive atmosphere. I'm fine with the complex message about an unloved dog (child) lashing out but wishing inside desperately to be liked / loved and being problematic as a result. But IMO the book would have been better with a dog making a friendly overture at the end or perhaps the dogs could decide that tomorrow they would all play together, or something. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 0062791281
| 9780062791283
| 0062791281
| 4.10
| 652
| Jan 22, 2019
| Jan 22, 2019
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really liked it
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Polar bears are patient beasts, as patient as glaciers. We know how to hope and how to wait. I learned to be patient long ago from my polar bear mothe
Polar bears are patient beasts, as patient as glaciers. We know how to hope and how to wait. I learned to be patient long ago from my polar bear mother - to be patient when hunting, to be patient with weather, to be patient in darkness. [image] This is a gorgeously illustrated book about a female polar bear who is trying to survive. It's not overly maudlin, but covers some stuff about polar bear life and what's happening with global warming right now. A polar bear can outwait almost anything - seals, storms, and long, sunless winters - but a bear at sea needs something to stand on. I watch the ice. [image] In spring the sun rises and the ice breaks open. I stalk seals out on the floes, walking, leaping, slipping in and out of deep water, adding seal after seal to my stomach, and resting. A polar bear knows how to take a good nap. [image] As the summer ends, the ice is thin and floes are far apart. The young seals have grown fast. They are wiser and harder to catch. They spread out with what's left of the ice. I want to follow them, but I can't. There is not enough ice left to hunt on. Every day there is less ice to stand on. [image] A soft breeze from the south brings the smell of a beach. It is faint, beyond sight, but I think I can reach it. I am a sea bear. I am made to paddle - under wandering Arctic terns, past lonely icebergs bobbing at the surface, and above the deep, dark shadow of a slow Arctic shark. The book plays around with some alliteration. I swim with a school of narwhals, and paddle past a weary raft of wary walruses, and glide over a whale whose ancient songs bubble up from darkness in creaks and groans. The bear gets tossed around by a storm, but eventually lands. She births two cubs. At the end of the book there is a little educational essay called "Sea Ice and Polar Bears" which is interesting and explains more about the plight of polar bears and the effects of global warming. Moore also has a page dedicated to animals shown in the book: ringed seal, walrus, Greenland shark, narwhal, and bowhead whale. I learned some fascinating stuff. For instance, I had no idea Greenland sharks could live to age 400. Wow, incredible. TL;DR Kids and adults will both love the absolutely stunning pictures in this book. If you want to raise a child who loves animals or teach a child about global warming and its effects, this could be perfect for you. It's kind of a confusing book, because initially I thought this was about climate change, but it's unclear whether it's about that or about what polar bears naturally do. It's a combination of both - very subtle. Whether that is what you are aiming for or not is your own choice. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 21, 2019
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Jan 21, 2019
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Jan 21, 2019
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Hardcover
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 3.62
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liked it
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.96
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liked it
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.76
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really liked it
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.79
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liked it
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May 04, 2019
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May 04, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.90
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really liked it
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May 14, 2019
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Mar 26, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.23
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really liked it
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Apr 12, 2023
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Mar 06, 2019
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| 3.78
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did not like it
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Mar 04, 2019
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Mar 04, 2019
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| 4.09
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really liked it
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Mar 02, 2019
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Mar 02, 2019
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| 4.14
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it was ok
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Mar 2019
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Feb 28, 2019
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| 3.50
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really liked it
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Feb 17, 2019
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Feb 16, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.62
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it was amazing
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Apr 17, 2022
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Jan 28, 2019
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| 3.95
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really liked it
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Jan 26, 2019
not set
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Jan 26, 2019
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| 3.63
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liked it
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.63
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it was ok
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 26, 2019
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| 3.62
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it was ok
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Jan 26, 2019
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Jan 25, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.65
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it was amazing
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Jan 25, 2019
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Jan 25, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.83
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it was amazing
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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| 4.12
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liked it
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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| 3.30
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liked it
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Jan 23, 2019
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Jan 23, 2019
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| 4.10
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really liked it
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Jan 21, 2019
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Jan 21, 2019
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