All the Books.

"A dark and gripping thriller set on the posh and polished campus of Yale University and within the eight Secret Societies. There's more to these houses than famous Alumni, there's magic but it's dangerous and disturbing and Alex Stern, accepted into the House of Lethe, will learn quickly how far people are willing to go when money and power are involved."  4 Stars Pros:  Darlington and Stern's repartee is amusing, since he's so refined and she's rougher around the edges/Though Stern can be headstrong and a little obnoxious, she is a good person to have an ally/The magic in this story is complicated and elaborate but interesting and unique.   Cons:  Stern is street smart but her unwillingness to trust others gets her into a lot of bad situations/The "I'm the only one who can solve this murder" attitude is kind of overdone/The map at the front of the books is impossibly small, so, whenever Bardugo goes into detail about where Stern is at a...

"Instead of the tried and true, "You're special and the Universe has big plans for you" theme of your average self help book, Bishop replaces all that with brutal but beneficial honesty."  5 Stars Pros:  He makes a lot of sense and his wisdom is told in words we can all understand/His ideas, though not unique, were refreshing/enlightening and invigorating thanks to his wit and humor.   Cons:  All Self Help Books, to me, get to be repetitive after awhile, though this one was short enough that it had a good stride, things were repeated but not ad nauseum.   Full Review Bishop expounds his wisdom of how to get out of your head and into your life with personal assertions that are simple, sensible and logical. Shush that annoying little voice in your head that sighs and murmurs, "I'll do it later" and instead, slip on your shoes and get going.  The worst thing you can do is sit there and wait. What you need to do to actually change your life is take ac...

"Norbury's story of mindfulness and "going with the flow" of life is beautifully rendered with images that hit all the feels. " 4 Stars Pros:  Some deep moments and jaw dropping artwork.  Cons:  Not as fun and heart warming as Big Panda Tiny Dragon but more realistic, could be a bit gloomy at times but that was Norbury's point.  Full Review Tiny Dragon confides in his best friend, Big Panda, that something feels off. He feels...not unhappy but kind of, empty, restless. Big Panda decides that they must make a journey to find the meaning of Tiny Dragon's discontent. They set off, content in good company and warm tea.  Things don't go as planned and the two friends are swept off on an adventure that is equal parts beautiful and bittersweet. Not as fun and heart warming as Big Panda Tiny Dragon  but still a genuine, heartfelt read about life and just going with the flow. 

"Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, a tale of two friends and their journey through the seasons of life together. A short, sweet and poignant read accompanied by gorgeous artwork. I would and will recommend this to everyone. "  5 Stars Pros:   Easy, simple, genuine thoughts and feelings beautifully rendered with gorgeous artwork. Some passages and images hit all the feels and had me tearing up.    Cons:  It was reminiscent of The Boy, The Mole The Fox and the Horse  by Mackesy but that book was also incredible so, it's not actually a con, more of an observation.   Full Review:  A chance meeting makes Big Panda and Tiny Dragon friends and together they travel through the Seasons sharing the good, the bad and the quiet moments of life, content with good company and warm tea. Norbury shares his own thoughts and feelings on life with this beautiful piece of Zen Panda, or perhaps, Big Zen Panda moments. A truly breath taking, beautiful read that shou...

"1800s Britain "Eccentric" travels to the far future and returns to tell his fantastic and dark tale. Wells has a unique idea and though he's vague on the details, the idea of time traveling had me hook, line and sinker." 3 Stars Pros:  The more things change, the more they stay the same. Wells had it right that there will always be the good and the bad, no matter how far ahead in time you go. There is always one group that is above the other.  Cons:  The Time Traveler doesn't really explain how his machine works, it just does/How he manages to communicate with the Eloi after only being with them for 3 days is amusing/Though the Traveler seems to like the Eloi well enough, he's always going on about how unintelligent and simple they are, seemed rather judgmental to me.     Full Review:  It all starts when the Time Traveler and his friends are having dinner and he begins to explain that time travel, is, indeed, possible. That's apparently how British ...

"Arnold Spirit, Jr, or "Junior" as he's known on the Rez, does something no Spokane Indian has ever done. He enrolls in Reardon High School and begins the long and often painful process off navigating not only high school and adolescence but also being an outsider. Alexie handles it all with grace, humor and honesty. This was a great read. I would recommend it to anyone."  5 Stars Pros: Alexie handles the ups and downs of not only adolescence, but tragedy and loss in a stark, honest but gut wrenchingly relatable way.  Cons:  Some of Junior's all-consuming guilt, though understandable was a little repetitive but it's all part of being a teenager.  Full Review:  It all starts when Arnold Spirit Jr, or Junior, throws a textbook across the classroom. When he opened the book he saw his mother's name, her maiden name and it enrages him. He's furious that the reservation is so poor that they're learning from thirty-year old textbooks. He doesn't...

"After the events of Nemesis Games , the entire galaxy is left reeling and it's up to Holden and the crew of the Rocinante to pick up the pieces. Old and new allies are made and everyone understands that the only way they can stop another war and more bloodshed is to work together. Of course, that's always easier said than done."  4 Stars Pros: More or less the same cast of characters, so not too many new people to keep track of and the re-introduction of some old favorites/Again, Alex and Amos, two of my favorites and I will be very displeased if something happens to either of them in the series.  Cons:  Filip is a whiney, angsty teenager but, at least he's showing a bit of a moral compass/The slow zone and the Ring are still SO confusing but I just kind of read those parts and hoped I understood it.  Full Review:  Marco Inaros' "Free Navy" the new OPA is alive, thriving and slowly but systematically winning skirmish after skirmish in their fight ag...

"New alliances, new enemies, the whole galaxy on edge, it's hard to know who you can trust. But with the undying hope and optimism of the heroes of the New Republic, Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, Chewie and of course, the Droids, everything comes together and is tied up in a neat bow at the end."  3 Stars Pros: Though it's contrite, the ending did bring the trilogy to a satisfying close but also left room for more.  Cons:  Again, Zahn's use of the word growl, to describe how someone speaks. It was just overdone and frankly annoying/A lot of the tactical terms, vectors and other such lingo used during aerial dogfights were confusing/C'Boath and all the posturing/monologuing at the end.  Full Review:  ***Spoiler Alert*** Leia gives birth to twins, Jacen and Jaina but shortly after, a commando team sent by Thrawn infiltrates the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and tries to abduct them. Conveniently, Mara Jade, who was injured and has been convalescing on Coruscant, senses...

"The second installment in the Thrawn trilogy has everyone scattering to different corners of the galaxy in search of information that will help them overthrow the Empire and increase the fledgling strength of the New Republic. But, of course, nothing's ever that simple and our stalwart group of heroes have to fight every step of the way just to survive. And a new threat revealed at the very end shows that the Empire may not be as scattered and weak as the New Republic had hoped. Cliffhanger!"  3 Stars Pros:  Master C'Boath is crazy but in a delightfully, chaotic, Joker way/I can't help but love the Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker bristling tension.   Cons:  Zahn uses the word growl a lot, like, a surprising amount, I just found it odd that an editor wouldn't have picked up on that/Some of the political stuff was burdensome.  Full Review:  If you haven't read Heir to the Empire (Thrawn #1)   you'll want to do that first.  After you've done that...

"When a scientist, Benes, who has integral and world changing information attempts to defect and join our Side, he's injured. A blood  clot forms in his brain and the only way to save his life is to miniaturize the crew of the Proteus and inject them into Benes' body, so they can break up the blood clot from the inside. Of course, one thing after another goes wrong and every chapter is a new catastrophe but it was definitely a fantastic voyage.   2 Stars Pros:  Grant is one dry character but he's a welcome bit of amusement in an otherwise serious and scientific novel.  Cons:  Grant is also SUCH a man that he spends most of the mission staring at saving the one woman board, Cora./Definitely ripe with anatomical lessons and what part of the body they were in. Since I've never been great at anatomy, a lot of it was lost on me and became burdensome near the end.  Full Review: As in all things, there is a good side and a bad side. This book is very vague as...