Sekret by Lindsay Smith - Review

Sekret
Lindsay Smith
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
ISBN: 9781596438927
Hardcover: 352 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Teen

About the Book:

An empty mind is a safe mind.

Yulia's father always taught her to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive the harsh realities of Soviet Russia. But when she's captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she's thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power. Yulia quickly realizes she can trust no one--not her KGB superiors or the other operatives vying for her attention--and must rely on her own wits and skills to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long.

About the author

Lindsay Smith's love of Russian culture has taken her to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and a reindeer festival in the middle of Siberia. She writes on foreign affairs and lives in Washington, D.C. Sekret is her first novel.

My Thoughts:

Yulia and the other children have abilities that get them kidnapped and trained for missions that will help Russia undermine the United States. Taking place during the Cold War in the 1960's this novel will have you on the edge of your seat at times. Russia was not known as a place that treats their prisoners well, so the children are basically prisoners with above average psychic abilities - so you can imagine how things are for them.

Even so, the children have learned to adapt and learned how to do things to keep them off radar. The are strong, intelligent and of course, have feelings that they learn how to protect.

This novel was both disturbing and exciting. I had a hard time putting it aside and an even harder time when I closed it up and realized it would be a while before I could read the next installment. The characters were engrossing to me - each had personalities that were quite a bit different than the rest, but they all had the same problem/outcome facing them. I really appreciated the mix and the feelings that to me were quite true to form for that situation.

This book should appeal to most that enjoy fiction centered around true historical time periods/events as well as those that just enjoy a great page-turning young adult novel. I loved it for both reasons.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien

The Vault of Dreamers
Author: Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher: Macmillian Children's Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781596439382
Genre: young adult, dystopia

About the Book:

From the author of the Birthmarked trilogy comes a fast-paced, psychologically thrilling novel about what happens when your dreams are not your own. The Forge School is the most prestigious arts school in the country. The secret to its success: every moment of the students' lives is televised as part of the insanely popular Forge Show, and the students' schedule includes twelve hours of induced sleep meant to enhance creativity. But when first year student Rosie Sinclair skips her sleeping pill, she discovers there is something off about Forge. In fact, she suspects that there are sinister things going on deep below the reaches of the cameras in the school. What's worse is, she starts to notice that the ridges of her consciousness do not feel quite right. And soon, she unearths the ghastly secret that the Forge School is hiding—and what it truly means to dream there.

My Thoughts:

Rosie Sinclair is a student at the Forge School - a school where you are voted to stay or go (much like American Idol or other reality shows). Everything is televised and nothing is private. The more that is disclose to the audience, the more votes a student may receive. At night, each student goes to sleep in a pod after taking a sleeping pill. This pod is designed to subliminally help the students become more creative.

Rosie is a rebel and doesn't take her sleeping pill. This allows her to stay awake and be "normal" for a bit. She wants some alone time and can only find it at night. Then she starts discovering what happens at night when everyone is asleep and as time goes on, Rosie finds out too much information...

This is a fantastic story that keeps the reader both interested and guessing. Not the run-of-the-mill dystopia, "The Vault of Dreamers" has an interesting premise and the characters as well as the ending aren't predictable. Being the beginning of a series, the book ends leaving the reader with questions and wanting answers - but not in a frustrating way.

Great start to a new dystopian series! I can't wait for the next installment!!!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

Love is Pink! by Roxann Hill

Love is Pink!
Author: Roxann Hill
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
ISBN: 9781477826836
Genre: Romance

About the Book:

Michelle has everything: good looks, a great job, a fancy apartment, and cash to burn. She also has a boyfriend, Valentin—her dream man. There’s just one tiny snag: his wife.

Valentin promised Michelle that as soon as his children were grown, he would leave his marriage to be with her. But when the time comes—and to no one’s surprise but her own—Valentin chooses his wealthy wife, leaving Michelle stranded in the French Alps. Michelle finds herself lost and without a way back to Berlin. Out of options, Michelle hitches a ride in a rickety pink Citroën with the attractive but ostensibly penniless David and his precocious daughter, Emma.

Over the course of their three-day trip, Michelle comes face-to-face with the life she’s created. With David and Emma offering a fresh perspective, Michelle redefines what love is, and wonders whether it might truly be pink.

My Thoughts:

"Love is Pink" has to be one of my favorite romances. It is a fun and quirky romance that actually made me laugh-out-loud at times. I loved David and his daughter and Michelle was just hilarious! She was a character that I didn't much care for in the beginning, but as the story continued, she grew up and became someone I really liked.

Written by Roxann Hill who was born in the Czech Republic and now lives in Germany, this translated novel is not the formulaic romance that seems to be popular today. This novel was fresh and fun and boy didn't hate girl nor did girl hate boy. This was a well laid out story with no sex or anything objectionable. It was truly a fun and feel good story that had a great ending.

I highly recommend this story to anyone that just enjoys a fun and sweet read with a little romance sprinkled in.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

Nowhere to Be Found by Bae Suah

Nowhere to Be Found
Author: Bae Suah
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
ISBN: 9781477827550

About the Book:

NOWHERE TO BE FOUND is a starkly elegant story about a young woman’s search for meaning in contemporary South Korea that translator Sora Kim-Russell calls “a road novel turned inside out, a story of a woman’s journey out of and into desire told as only Bae Suah could tell it.” As the nameless narrator passes through her life haunted by poverty, conformity, and dysfunctional relationships, she learns to turn inward to discover the truth at the core of her imagination and ultimately to find value, if not reassurance, in her own existence.

Written in Bae Suah’s unique and interpretation-defying style, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in modern world literature.

My Thoughts:

This novelette is a fast yet very powerful read. It is in a sense sad and depressing, but at the same time quite eye-opening as this unnamed young woman takes you through her life of poverty. It is raw and unnerving at times and and makes the reader think of how this existence could be acceptable to live. I questioned why she didn't leave and why she took the abuse of her mother and her other relationships.

It is hard to say I enjoyed this book as it is haunting and depressing - as it seems odd that one could enjoy something of that nature. This story is well written and appears to be well translated. It is gripping and quite different than most novels I read.

If you want to get a good look inside the life of a poverty stricken woman in Korea, this is certainly a story that will do it. It is at times difficult to read, but the insight and the story is well worth the effort. I highly recommend "Nowhere to Be Found" to anyone that enjoys translated novels, modern literature and just outright gritty and realistic stories.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

A Killer Retreat by Tracy Weber - Review

A Killer Retreat
A Downward Dog Mystery #2
Author: Tracy Weber
Publisher: Midnight Ink
ISBN: 9780738742090
Paperback, 336 pages
Genre: cozy mystery

About the Book:

Yogi Kate must clear her name of murder in this charming yoga mystery

When Kate Davidson gets an offer to teach yoga classes to wedding guests at the Elysian Springs resort, she jumps at the opportunity, even though it means being forced to endure the wedding ceremony of the center’s two caretakers. Avoiding the M-word turns out to be the least of Kate’s problems when a wedding guest is found floating face-down in the resort’s hot tub, shortly after a loud, public (and somewhat embarrassing) fight with Kate.

The police pick Kate as their number-one suspect, so she’s forced to team up with boyfriend Michael, best friend Rene, and German shepherd sidekick Bella to find the real killer. But they’ll have to solve the murder before the police arrest Kate, or her next gig may last a lifetime—behind bars.

My Thoughts:

Tracy Weber has done it again in this second installment of the Downward Dog Mystery series! I have been anxious to read this one after such a great start to the series in "Murder Strikes a Pose".

Kate Davidson is back along with Michael, Rene and Bella, and this time she's teaching yoga classes at a resort. A nice calming place and a nice calming job - except for one small problem. There's a murder and guess who not only found the body but is now more involved than she ever wanted to be!

I love Kate - she's a quirky, far from perfect person who seems to be at the wrong places at the wrong time. She's headstrong and doesn't listen which seems to get her in a heap of trouble at times. Michael is also a great character, but how could I even forget Bella - a German Shepherd with a digestive problem.

Another great humorous and quirky mystery that is sure to not only to draw you in but entertain you from the first page. I love Tracy's writing style and truly enjoy everything about this series. I can't wait for the next installment to come out!

If you haven't read any of Tracy's mysteries, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today. I would recommend starting at the beginning so you can really get to know Kate's character - she's just too great to miss anything about her.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl
Author: Mary Kubica
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
ISBN: 9780778316558
Hardcover: 352 pages

Book Description

"I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will."

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a propulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems….

My Thoughts:

Did you ever finish the last line of a book, take a minute for it to sink in, and then feel the impact of that last line? That's what happen to me with "The Good Girl". I sat and put the book down and then it hit me. "WOW! JUST WOW!" was my next reaction.

The story line, characters and setting was one well wrapped package for me. I found myself so drawn in and involved in the story and was drawn in with all the different points of view and time shifts from past to present. I never saw the ending coming and was stunned to say the least. Looking back, I should have picked up on the hints, but I didn't. This one blindsided me! Truly refreshing and what I would consider a masterpiece. It amazes me that this is Mary Kubica's first novel because she writes like a seasoned author.

I loved this book and found it one of the best (possibly THE best) novels I've read in 2014. Make sure to add this one to your reading list for this year. It's one that you will be glad you took the time to read!!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.

Happy New Year

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We can again begin with a brand new slate and a fresh outlook with new goals. There are no failures, just setbacks that can be learned from or changed. I love sitting down at the beginning of each year and plan. Those plans will be many and I may or may not attempt or succeed at doing them all, but this list of plans always signifies hope and dreams for me.

Yesterday, we went to town to get a pork shoulder for the traditional New Year's Pork and Sauerkraut and of course I have to browse the after Christmas markdowns. We always replenish our wrapping paper and boxes for the next year and look for things that can be used throughout the year as well.

I came across a marked down amaryllis that was abused and begged to be rescued.  It absolutely STANK with the smell of a putrid aquarium - almost a sewer smell to it. The poor bulb was swimming in water and it was hacked off - no flower, no leaves, nothing but a spent mass of smell.

I had to take it home and disassemble it. What I found was a bulb that had the basal plate chopped off, roots trying to grow but most were rotted off.  I washed it off and cleaned it as best as I could.

I really wish I had taken photos of the condition it was in when I took it out of the container, but my main concern was getting this poor thing planted in a new pot in soil and hope that it would recover from all its abuse.

It is now in a sunny window and possibly in soil for the first time in its life. I wonder what it's "thinking" now...

The plant was in a very tall vase type container that was filled with rocks and the spiked stand that kept it off the bottom of the container and kept it level. These things had to be washed and washed to get rid of the putrid smell. They still need to be bleached and then they will all be repurposed. That poor amaryllis will never have to worry about seeing that torture chamber again.

Now we just have to convince it to survive...