I have to start by saying that this is the best sci fi I have read in a long time.  I was really sucked into this alternative reality and could not stop reading.  It was very complicated and sometimes I had to backup and re-read a bit to follow the storyline, so it was a great distraction read.  Similar to the The Martian, which I didn't love, there is a lot of reflection on loneliness, the meaning of life, and if there is value in a life lived in isolation.  

The story had many twists and turns, many of which I did not see coming and that I liked better than where I thought the story was headed.  Because the narrator has an impaired memory, the story unfolds in double time lines, the current one and the one that he is remembering as his memory comes back.  Because of this, the pacing is unusual, but I followed both timelines with equal interest.  There were a lot of layers here, with ethical dilemmas, puzzles, and politics that were both clever and thought-provoking.  

​Definitely recommend.

One of the reasons I like getting book recommendations by having people send me suggestions like this and then forcing myself to read them is that it forces me to read things that I would not normally read.  This is a great example.  This is essentially a war novel with a lot of information about boats from I think the late 1700's.  There is not a single women character in the story, which follows a young man making his way into the naval world of men.  The good news about this is that there were no rape scenes, which is possibly its most redeeming quality for me.  There was really absolutely nothing about this work that resonated with me, that I related to, or that I liked.  But, I did try it and finish it.  Luckily, it wasn't very long, although I understand that it is actually the prequel in a fairly intense series, which I will not be moving on it.  

No recommended.

This is a powerful memoir about surviving child abuse and neglect and being raised by a highly problematic and inconsistent mother.  The story doesn't romanticize the dysfunction, but is able to situate it within the complex feelings of maladjusted attachment.  I loved the voice of the author.  In particular, the storyline about her inability to find support or connection, despite her passion for learning and reading.  The number of adults who let her down is painful and the price she pays for the mistakes, indeed for the heinous crimes, of the adults in her life is heartbreaking.  

​Recommend.

I am going to start by saying that I have never been a huge  Brandi Carlilie fan, which really has never made any sense.  I like folk-country-rock music and she is undoubtedly a feminist icon.  For whatever reason, I never really got into the music and definitely did not know anything about her.  The audio version of the book is read by her and she plays her own and others' songs throughout.  Her tempo is such that even on high speed, you can still understand all the lyrics.  

This book felt painfully honest.  She did not make herself particularly likeable, in fact.  The book had a lot of the famous person memoir traits that I can't stand--particularly the one where it feels like they have to mention all these people they know in order to "give them credit" or explain why there were rifts.  For someone like me who has no idea who the players are in the industry, this takes up space and distracts from the actual story in  way I do not like.  It makes me feel like an outsider, which is the opposite of what I love about reading.  She writes factually, leaving me without the kind of reflection or insight that I appreciate in a good memoir.  If you are mostly looking for the stories behind songs you love and a timeline of projects she's done with various people who already know, then I can see why this would be a really fun read, but most of it was kind of lost on me.  

​Not recommended.

I am really torn about a recommendation for this book.  Let's start with the plus side.

This was surely a point of view bias check for me.  Wow!  I feel like I am pretty well read in the area of WWII, in terms of actual history, memoir, and historical fiction.  But this book was a real awakening as to how little I had ever thought about the eastern front.  Everything I have read was about what was going on in Western Europe and the Americas, even Africa, but I don't think I have ever thought about what was happening to civilians caught on the moving front line between Russia and Germany.  This story  about a Ukrainian family of German decent living in territory controlled by Stalin while the Nazi's were invading was completely new to me.  

There were many times when something happened that caused me to actually suck in a breath of air because I was shocked.  A lot of shocking things happen, disturbing things, which of course make complete sense once I read them and, after poking around a bit, I confirmed that it is widely known and accepted that these things happened.  It made for compelling reading, too.

I can't call this a romance novel, but at its core, it is a love story and there is something really moving about this aspect of the book.  It is just part of the backdrop of the story that is unusual and felt, well, lovely.  In the midst of extended family dysfunction, the loss of children, war, hunger, and so many other hardships, there is something powerful about the bond between Emil and Adele.

On the downside, the descriptions of violence, as well as injuries and deaths, are graphic, so much so that at times I found them a distraction from the story since my brain would be mulling those over or ruminating on those scenes instead of following what happened afterwards. 

The other part, which I know some folks will love, is the Christian themes that run through the narrative.  The family is religious and feels as though their faith carried them through their ordeals.  There was something about the way this was incorporated into the story that just felt odd to me. I have reflected on it and can't figure out why I didn't like it.  I had a similar response as I did to Unbroken.  Maybe it is that this piece seemed trite in some way or because I never felt like the author did much exploration of their spirituality piece, other than to keep talking about how their Christian faith was a solace or salve in hard times.  

Finally, on the downside, while the story itself was riveting, the writing itself was not as good as the author's more popular Beneath The Scarlet Sky, which is a book I really loved and highly recommend.  

Overall, because of the content of the story, I am ultimately recommending this, particularly for folks who, like me, are not familiar with the experiences in this part of the world at this time.

Recommend.

If you are looking for a YA or younger alternative to the Harry Potter series written by transphobic author, then this is probably a pretty good option.  Set in Nigeria, it is a typical coming of age story set up so that kids who don't know there is witchcraft and magic might believe that this is because they just aren't old enough yet to know, there is a clear focus on friendship and on the young teens saving the world from the evil of people who have lost their way because of greed and the love of power.  It is a little darker than HP earlier, maybe bringing the tone of books 6 & 7 into book 1.  It is the beginning of the series, which is evident fairly early as it set sup levels of education the group has to move through over time.  I only read the first book and I understand from others that this is a series that builds and gets better.  I wasn't hooked enough to immediately want to start the next book in the series, though, which is a sign that I didn't love it since in a good series, I am already downloading the next one before I finish the one I am on.  I can see how some folks love this one, though, and for a younger reader who hasn't read HP, I think it would be well received.  Unfortunately, I found the themes to be predictable and while the setting and details were somewhat unique, the story itself is from a well trodden path.

​Not recommended.

I found this book really problematic.  It is a take-off of It's A Wonderful Life written by someone who clearly learned about multiverses and the idea that there are parallel universes out there for every alternative time line you could have lived and thought that was a cool concept.  In this story, the protagonist tries to kill herself and is left in limbo, between the world of the living and the world of the dead.  As a result, she becomes able to live in other timelines where she made different choices in an apparent attempt to convince her that her own life is valuable and worth living.  I found the entire storyline problematic.  Setting aside that is only makes sense if it is all a creation of her own mind, rather than a fantasy novel where things actually happen, it completely minimizes mental illness and suicidality.  The whole book was preachy and I felt that the message that if people with chronic, acute depression could just step out of themselves for a few moments and appreciate how good they have it really, then they would want to live their lives is an irresponsible representation of what depression is actually like for people.  Moreover, the idea that you can just "cure yourself" of depression by looking for the positives things in your life shows a complete lack of understanding and appreciation for what it is to be suicidal or engaging in self-harming behaviors.  I just could not get past this problem at all.

Not recommended.

I can see why Carolyn recommended this for me on like so many levels!  First off, it is the best kind of trashy romance novel!  The romance and sex scenes are fun and playful.  Second, because the book is about writers who are writing trashy romance, there is a self-awareness to the book that is clever and engaging.  As if that wasn't enough, the book is also about fandom in which really nerdy fans write fan fiction, go to conventions, do cosplay, and follow the Gods of the Gates tv show--which is a totally made up show based on a totally made up set of books.  The author goes to great lengths to build this entire world that the fans are obsessed with and that just adds another fun layer to the story.  Add to this that the entire plot of the underlying tv show, the fan fiction the main characters are writing, and the book itself is about how the surface of things are not as important as the substance of who you are.  Whether it is your body or a learning disability, deciding who someone is based on initial impressions or superficial characteristics plays out in both predictable and unlikely ways.  Also, in addition to all these things, the dysfunctional families or original, the complex dynamics that are the backdrop of the story are skillfully unpacked in a way that makes that entire story plausible and relatable.  Even the legal pieces that provide part of the backdrop that foils the romance make sense, which, frankly just never happens.  This is just a real treat of a book and I could not stop reading all weekend.  One of the best romances I have read in a really long time.  I think the last time I like one this much was The Chocolate Thief, which I read probably almost 10 years ago.

Highly recommend.

This is a slow start novel, set in 1950's India.  There are some lovely themes here, particularly around independence and making your way in the world on your own. It follows the story of a women herbalist and henna artist who leaves her abusive husband and builds a life for herself.  At times, it is joyful and others painful.  I had some difficulty mustering my willing suspension of disbelief as some of the content seemed unduly modern for that time period and I found it difficult to believe some of the plot twists.  Overall, though, it was interesting and held my attention and, without spoiling it, I will say that I loved the ending.  It was building in one direction that seemed obvious and that would have undermined the strength of the book, but then it didn't quite go that way and I was relieved with the integrity.

​Recommend.