Book info: Title: Rook Author: Sharon Cameron Genre: YA post-apocalyptic/dystopian Published: April 28th, 2015 Source: Book purchased from Scholastic Warehouse sale My rating: 4 stars I had been really interested to read this book, and so when I found it for a good price at the Scholastic Warehouse sale, I scooped it up. It was a very interesting story, and nice to have a stand-alone for a change. Instead of giving my summary as usual, I'm going to share the Goodreads' summary, then give my thoughts. So here is the blurb: History has a way of repeating itself. In the Sunken City that was once Paris, all who oppose the new revolution are being put to the blade. Except for those who disappear from their prison cells, a red-tipped rook feather left in their place. Is the mysterious Red Rook a savior of the innocent or a criminal?
Meanwhile, across the sea in the Commonwealth, Sophia Bellamy’s arranged marriage to the wealthy René Hasard is the last chance to save her family from ruin. But when the search for the Red Rook comes straight to her doorstep, Sophia discovers that her fiancé is not all he seems. Which is only fair, because neither is she.
As the Red Rook grows bolder and the stakes grow higher, Sophia and René find themselves locked in a tantalizing game of cat and mouse. I really liked how this future world had really gone back to the "old days" before technology, living in houses/manors, kings, and all the other bits. The fact that technology itself was forbidden was a great storyline, because it is so plausible to see how they could think that was the cause of the world going downhill. The picture on the cover is so good to show that. I loved the characters as well, and that is something that really sells a story to me. The main character was Sophia Bellamy, and she is in between dealing with an arranged marriage to the cousin of one of the enemies of the Red Rook, who is out to save those who are being beheaded for many things, most often because the king just wants their property or land. And Sophia is the Red Rook. But it is suspected that it must be her brother, because of course a woman could not possibly do something like that. Sophia will come to learn that her betrothed, Rene, may not be exactly who she thinks he is. And there are others that have always been close to her in her life that also are not exactly who she thinks they are. There is betrayal in this world, and also people that will be help and that she can trust where she least expects it. And the romance, well I liked it. I wanted her to be with who she ended up with, and so did not trust the one that ended up being bad for her. Although in the end, he did come to regret what he'd done, and try to do what he could to make up for it. A great standalone, although I would definitely enjoy more from this world. This is my first book by this author, and makes me even more intrigued to read The Forgetting as well.
Published: November 17th, 2015 Published by: Skyscape Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy
Seven girls tied by time.
Five powers that bind.
One curse to lock the horror away.
One attic to keep the monsters at bay.
**
After the storm of the century rips apart New Orleans, sixteen-year-old Adele Le Moyne wants nothing more than her now silent city to return to normal. But with home resembling a war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normalneeds a new definition.
As the city murder rate soars, Adele finds herself tangled in a web of magic that weaves back to her own ancestors. Caught in a hurricane of myths and monsters, who can she trust when everyone has a secret and keeping them can mean life or death? Unless . . . you’re immortal.
Alys Arden was raised by the street performers, tea leaf-readers, and glittering drag queens of the New Orleans, French Quarter. She cut her teeth on the streets of New York and has worked all around the world since. She either talks too much or not at all. She obsessively documents things. Her hair ranges from eggplant to cotton-candy-colored.
One dreary day in London, while dreaming of running away with the circus, she started writing The Casquette Girls. Her debut novel garnered over one million reads online before being acquired by Skyscape in a two book deal. Rep’d by ICM.
The day had finally come.
Elation coursed through my head, my chest, my stomach—until the tips of my fingers tingled, as if the sensation were trying to escape the confines of my nervous system.
My father and I were finally on our way home.
Trying not to let the anticipation drive me crazy, I leaned back in the passenger seat and took deep breaths, inhaling the scents of worn black leather and bubble gum. The combination reminded me of sitting in the front seat as a child. I’d always been up for a ride in my father’s prized possession because I knew there’d be a sugary pink stick waiting for me in the glove box.
The city wasn’t exactly encouraging people to come home yet, but my father had always been a bit of a rebel. This fact, topped with endless nights of me begging and pleading, had finally made those four little words slip out of his mouth: “Okay, let’s go home.”
As soon as he caved, I fled the Parisian boarding school where my French mother had dumped me while my father and I were “displaced.” She didn’t tell me good-bye, and I never looked back.
I landed in Miami late last night, and we were on the road by six this morning. I didn’t want to give my father the chance to renege.
Ten hours later, we were still purring down the interstate in his 1981 BMW.
But I didn’t mind the long drive. In my sixteen years, I’d never been away from my father for that long. I’d never been away from New Orleans for that long either. It felt like years since the mandatory evacuation, but in reality it had only been two months—two months, two days, and nine hours since the Storm had touched ground.
The Storm was the largest hurricane in US history. Scientists were still debating whether it should even be considered a hurricane because it had smashed all previous classification parameters. They didn’t even name it. Everyone simply referred to it as “the Storm.” Economists were predicting it would end up being the greatest natural disaster in the Western world, and there were even rumors flying around that the federal government was considering constituting the area uninhabitable and not rebuilding the city. That idea was incomprehensible to me.
The media was all over the place about the devastation. We’d heard such conflicting stories there was really no telling what would be awaiting us (or not awaiting us) upon our arrival. Had our home been damaged, flooded, ransacked, robbed—or any combination of those things? Was it now just rotting away? I fiddled with the sun-shaped charm hanging from the silver necklace that nearly reached my waist, wrapping and unwrapping the thin chain around my fingers.
My phone buzzed.
Brooke 3:42 p.m. Are you close? Text me as
soon as you get home. I want to know everything, ASAP! xoxo.
I quickly pecked,
Adele3:43 p.m. I will! How’s La-La land? <3 nbsp="" p="">
I didn’t exactly have a laundry list of close friends, but Brooke Jones and I had been attached at the hip since the second grade. The Joneses had been stuck in Los Angeles since the evacuation, and Brooke was freaking out on a daily basis because her parents were adjusting to the West Coast lifestyle at an alarming rate. Even the thought that her parents might permanently relocate to California made me cringe.
“Waffle House?” my father asked as we sped past the Florida state line into Alabama. He proceeded down the exit ramp before I could respond.
A bell dinged when I opened the door of the infamous southern chain, causing all of the employees to shout a welcome without looking up from what they were doing. My father headed to the bathroom, and I jumped into a booth, grabbing a napkin to wipe pancake-syrup residue off the table.
“I’ll be with ya in a second, darlin’,” a waitress yelled from across the narrow, shoe box–shaped diner.
Johnny Cash blared on the jukebox, the air reeked of grease, and the fluorescent bulb in the overhead light gave everything a sickly tint. I couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking about the stark contrast of this scene to my life just two nights ago: sitting in a café on the Champs-Élysées, eating a crêpe suzettes with my mother. Well, I’d been eating a crêpe. She’d never allow herself to eat something as appalling as sugar.
Midchuckle, I caught the gaze of a guy sitting solo in a booth across the aisle, who was slowly stirring a cup of coffee. Our eyes locked. My cheeks started to burn. I grabbed a menu so I could pretend to focus on something and let my long waves of espresso-colored hair fall in front of my face, trying to recall the last time I’d taken a shower. Ugh. I’d been in transit for more than twenty-four hours at this point.
I lifted my eyes to find him still looking intensely at me.
He was probably a few years older than me . . . and far too sophisticated to be sitting in this particular establishment among the tall hairdos and flip-flops. His black leather jacket was not the biker kind you might find in any diner in the Deep South—it was softer looking, trendier, possibly custom-made. The jacket, along with his dark, slicked hair, made him appear part James Dean, part Italian Vogue. For a split second I forgot where I was, as if stuck in some kind of Paris–Alabama time-continuum hiccup.
When I realized I was staring at him again, I became instantly flustered. His eyes didn’t move, but the corners of his mouth slowly spread upward into an innocent smile. Or maybe it was deceptively innocent? Just as my heart began to speed up at the prospect of finding out, my fork slid across the table, flew halfway across the room, and clanked against his ceramic mug.
“Sorry!” I covered my face, mortified, and considered crawling underneath the table. I’d been so caught up in the moment I hadn’t even noticed myself flick it.
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll bring ya a new one,” the waitress yelled.
As if I was worried about the fork. I’d nearly taken out the eye of the hottest guy within a fifty-mile radius. My heart pounded melodramatically.
When I finally mustered the courage to raise my head to catch another glimpse of him, all I saw was his mug on top of a ten-dollar bill. Realizing I’d been hiding my gaze from no one, I became even more embarrassed.
Of course he ran. I am obviously hazardous.
“You okay?” my father asked as he slid into the orange leather booth.
“Yep, the jet lag must have just kicked in,” I blurted out, “but I’m super excited for cheesy eggs.”
“I thought you hated American cheese?” he asked suspiciously. “You always called it plastic.”
“Yeah, well, I guess something becomes more desirable when you can’t have it.” There were certainly no American-cheese-like products in France.
We ordered and then sat in silence while we waited for our food. My father turned his head to stare out the window. I knew he was too nervous to ask me about Paris, and I was not going to readily volunteer up any information. It was weird to spend your entire life with someone, be suddenly separated for two months, and then reunite. It felt strange that it felt strange being together.
Luckily the food came quickly, and soon he was polishing off a stack of waffles, while I forced myself to choke down eggs smothered in plastic cheese.
“How about I drive for a while?” I asked as we headed back to the car.
“How about I drive and you study?”
“Why should I study? Technically, I’m not even enrolled in a school right now.”
“You are enrolled in a school right now, Adele . . .”
I unintentionally slammed the passenger door after getting in.
“You are technically still enrolled in Notre-Dame International.” He pulled out of the deserted parking lot and in his best I-am-serious voice added, “And if we get to New Orleans and find out you can’t get into a local school, you’re going to be on the first plane back to Paris. Back to school. That was the deal.”
“I am not going back to Paris.” I didn’t care what I had previously agreed to. “Je déteste Notre-Dame International! Je déteste Paris!” I said in my most dramatic French accent, but I stopped myself before I said something about detesting my mother. Those were words he certainly would’ve understood. But he had only himself to blame for my speaking French; he was the one who’d forced me to take private lessons since I was five—a year after my mother had skipped town—as if my ability to speak her native language might bring her back.
“I can’t believe you shipped me off there in the first place. I belong here, not with rich kids in boarding school. Not with her.”
My eyes began to well up. I knew my reaction would upset him, but even the thought of having to go back to Paris made me want to jump out of the moving car and run away.
He didn’t know what to do or say next, and soon the old Bimmer filled up with awkward tension. The slightest sign of teen-girl tears made Macalister Le Moyne uncomfortable. My father always tried his best to be paternal, but it never really seemed natural for him, not even after all this time of it being just the two of us.
He patted my hand. “Don’t get upset. You know school comes
first.”
I’d never once heard him say anything bad about my mother, but I could tell he felt relieved that I’d fight to stay in New Orleans with him instead of returning to her in Paris. He was simultaneously terrified and proud that I’d inherited his rebellious streak rather than her need for refinement.
Ever since I could remember, my father lived with a perpetually tired look. He’d inherited the ever-popular bar Le Chat Noir from my grandfather around the same time my mother left us, making him an artist-turned-business-owner and single parent all at once. Since then, he kept mostly nocturnal hours, waking midday to give himself enough time to work on sculptures and furniture in his metal shop before going back to the bar. Now he was unshaven and a bit shaggier than usual, appearing to have aged a few years in the last couple of months, just like all the other displaced citizens of New Orleans.
The Storm had been peculiar, not just because of the suddenness with which it had grown but because its target had been so unexpected. The day before it hit, the Storm was a routine Category 2 hurricane—not something to shrug off but something people knew how to handle— predicted to make landfall somewhere around Galveston, Texas. Eighteen hours prior to hitting land, the hurricane unpredictably changed course and headed straight for New Orleans.
Trying to clear the city with such short notice caused total mayhem. We ended up evacuating to Miami with a few of Dad’s bartenders, never dreaming we’d be gone for more than a few days. But before the Storm left the Gulf of Mexico, it tipped the Saffir-Simpson scale, and once it hit land, like most folks upon arrival in New Orleans, it didn’t want to leave. We watched in horror as it hovered.
And hovered.
And hovered.
All we could do was stare at the TV and wait for our unwelcome houseguest to take a hint.
That was before the levees broke and turned the city into a fishbowl.
When reality kicked in and we were suddenly unable to return home for an undetermined period, my father decided I would be better off in Paris with my mother than in Miami with a bunch of vagabonds looking for bar work. I wasn’t sure if he really believed that or if he’d just cracked under post-Storm pressure; either way, he shipped me off to France as soon as he managed to get in touch with her. As far as I knew, that was the first time they’d had contact in the twelve years she’d been gone.
I refused to let the tears fall as I looked out the car window.
I’m not going back to live with her. I won’t let it happen. New Orleans is my home.
Even thinking about going back to Paris made me immediately selfconscious. Up until eight weeks ago, I’d always thought of myself as just a normal teenager—not the head-cheerleader type but not the type to be shoved into lockers either. I did pretty well in school but was certainly not in the running for valedictorian. Besides rebellion, I’d also inherited my father’s artistic tendencies, but (to my curatorial mother’s high-art dismay) I channeled them mostly through designing clothes. Despite all of this, I’d hardly tipped average by Parisian standards. During the last two months, I couldn’t have felt more plain, more uncultured, or more passé. My Parisian classmates were like ballerinas in six-inch heels, born to analyze haute couture and recite Baudelaire, making my skinny jeans and DIY dresses seem childish and unsophisticated.
I sighed and attempted to push the French memories out of my consciousness: the sparkling Eiffel Tower, the macarons from Ladurée, and most of all Émile.
My stomach twisted.
I definitely didn’t want to think about Émile. Not the way his slight smile always made me wonder what he was thinking. Not his Vespa or ’iz stupid, sexy accent.
Pathetic, Adele. You didn’t mean anything to him. He’s just your mother’s assistant.
The car went over a bump, and I realized trying not to think about Émile was actually making me think about Émile. Ugh.
This was my next book that I chose to listen to as an audio book from the library. And wow, was it good! So good that there were times I didn't want to get out of my car to go do whatever I was supposed to be doing, because I wasn't ready to stop listening! Now I know what all the hype about this book was about, and I can't wait for the next one to come out!
The main character is Avery. She has had to move a lot throughout her whole life because of her mom's job. Whenever her mom gets a mandate, they move on to the next location. In the current place they're living, Avery has tried to make friends and join in, and has even found a cute guy that is newer than she is, Jack, who might be interested in her as well. But when she sees a paper drop from his stuff, and she picks it up to find a picture of herself, she wonders what is going on. She then hears him on a phone call, but he has an English accent. Her mom gets a mandate, which means they have to move right away, but Avery wants to go to prom with Jack, so she sneaks out to go. At prom another very attractive guy, but also new to the area, shows up. This guy, Stellan, tells Avery she has to go with him, and he even pulls out a knife to threaten her. Jack tries to get her away and explain that he might know who her father is, but then he gets a text, and tells her to go ahead with Stellan, and he'll catch up later. She goes with Stellan, still with the chance to meet her father. But this takes her on a private plane to Paris. Stellan is one of those attractive guys, who knows he is, and is smug, even while being flirtatious. Oh, and he is Russian.
Once in Paris, Avery gets a room in the Louvre, and finds out that this family she's been brought to join is part of "The Circle" which is made up of many politicians, movie stars, sports stars, etc. But after being out shopping at a designer store, shut down just for her to pick a ball gown for an event coming up with all the families, she is attacked, and learns about a group called The Order. The Order is out to kill "The One," a male from one of the 12 families in the Circle. She learns that the mandate means something to them, it is a prophecy that tells them The One, must have a union with the girl with the purple eyes. Well, the family that Stellan works for is expecting twin babies, one a girl, that should have purple eyes. But, Avery has purple eyes. And she knows that if anyone else knows, they will think the prophecy is about her, and she will be married off. So she escapes, first to Istanbul, where she is able to get to Jack again, and they now are on the run, trying to solve the clues left by an old neighbor of Avery's, who turns out to be Jack's mentor, and hoping to solve the clues, and get him back from the Order, who is going to kill him.
So many secrets, so many layers to the whole story. I loved the whole Alexander the Great back story. And how Napoleon tied into it. And the ending, wow, left with a big cliffhanger. I need to know what will happen with Stellan, how his part in the mandate will affect Avery's part. And can she be with Jack, even though it is against all of the rules of The Circle. I really had no complaints about the story whatsoever. Other than there were a few times when something dangerous was going on, and Avery was calling Jack's name, and on the recording it began to remind me of Rose calling Jack in the Titanic movie. I now cannot wait until the 2nd book comes out. Which, hey, now I'm wondering if the egalley is available anywhere? Guess I'll finish this review and go out to check on that!
Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by The Broke and The Bookish. This was such a fun sounding idea when I saw it on the 7th, I started planning ahead! And honestly, when I name the places, I will have to name several books. So, I've decided instead of putting pictures of the books, I'll put a picture of the place (if I can find one), and then just list the books below it. So here we go.
1. New York City
Okay, really I've wanted to see all of NYC, so many books talk about it, as well as movies and tv shows. But I chose two specific spots to start. The first picture is of Belvedere Castle, which is in Central Park. I first learned of that by reading Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz. Now, the 2nd building is not what I thought it was. I thought it was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory building where they'd had the horrible fire in 1911. And you have to give me a little break on that, the building is a triangle shape. But I was informed by my friend Cara Lynn Shultz, that is not the building where the fire took place, this one is called the Flatiron Building. I had read a few books on the fire though, most specifically one called Lost by Jacqueline Davies. I did get to see both of these buildings the first time I went to NYC to visit my sister when she first moved there about 3 years ago. But there are still so many other places to visit in NYC that I haven't yet.
2. Paris
One specific place is the catacombs. Up until recently, I never really cared if I got to visit France. Sure I knew about the Eiffel Tower, but I didn't really care. Then I read Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and was immediately intrigued. Other books I've read that make me rethink my decision to go to Paris are Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins and Die for Me by Amy Plum.
3. Poland/Germany
I don't know if it was from studying World War II and the Holocaust in school, or from reading The Diary of Anne Frank, but I really want to go visit those places and just see. For one thing, in the pictures of Anne Frank's hiding place that I saw in Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, I am just completely shocked that they weren't found sooner. I know this is kind of a depressing place to want to visit, but it is something that I want to do one day before I die. I feel it is something very important and worth seeing to commemorate those who died.
4. New Orleans
Now, I have read a lot of books set in or around New Orleans. And while of course I want to visit Bourbon street and that kind of stuff, one place in particular I'd like to go is the cemeteries, especially the one where the voodoo queen is supposed to be. Books that have made me want to see the haunted side of New Orleans include Ruined and the other books in that series by Paula Morris, as well as the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (although to be honest I saw the first season of the tv series before I read the books.)
5. Maine
Because of probably every single book of Stephen King's, and how they're set in Maine, I want to visit the state some day. And how cool would it be to go by his house as pictured above?
6. Ireland
I don't know that it was a book that first made me want to go here, especially to see the Blarney stone, which is near the Blarney House pictured above.. I think it was probably a combination of movies, and just hearing and loving the Irish accent. I kind of want to go just in hopes of finding and falling in love with a cute Irish guy. One of my favorite authors, Sarah Rees Brennan, is from Ireland, and when I told her my hope of finding an Irish guy, she joked and said maybe she'd introduce me to one of her brothers. I'd list two books that specifically make me want to go to Ireland. First is Scarlett, by Alexandra Ripley, the unofficial sequel to Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The 2nd one is Herself by Leslie Carroll.
7. London/England
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So the first picture is the Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn was held, and also where many beheadings took place. There are several books that have made me want to visit this part of London: Transcendence by CJ Omololu, The Missing Series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, and The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. The 2nd picture is a make believe place from the book Austenland by Shannon Hale. I think it would be so much fun to go somewhere where you had to dress and act and eat like people from that time period.
8. Laura Ingalls Wilder homes
I loved the tv show Little House on the Prairie, but never read the books. By the time I "discovered" them, I was really too old to read them. I tried to, they were just so simple that I was bored quickly. But I still would love to take a summer and travel the country and see them. I've visited the one in Missouri. Above are the one in Kansas, Wisconsin, and finally Minnesota, Walnut Grove that I remember the town in the tv show was named. Besides the tv show making me want to go there, I also read The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure.
9. Jurassic Park
Okay, I've always been fascinated by dinosaurs. So if there was a real Jurassic Park, where they really had control of the dinosaurs, I'd be all over that!
10. Area 51
Another thing I've been fascinated with is UFOs and aliens. There are many, many books that talk about Area 51, as well as movies and tv shows, but there are two main books that sparked my interest, Strangers by Dean Koontz, and (obviously) the Area 51 series by Robert Doherty.
Those are my top ten places I want to visit. Where would you go after reading some of your favorite books?
This is one that I believe I got a free copy of at the Romantic Times Convention here in Kansas City in May 2013. I know, I know, I'm way behind on this series, but it was one I kept meaning to pick up, and never did. It was definitely a good story. I've seen several comparisons to Twilight, but again, it isn't quite the same to me, I don't see the similarities really, other than the guy being basically immortal and the girl a regular human.
In this story we have Katie and her older sister Georgia, who have moved to Paris to live with their grandparents after their parents' death. They know the city well, as they've visited their grandparents there many times in the past. But while Georgia is out dancing and meeting people, Katie is still not quite over her parents' deaths. She does begin to get out and go to the museums, and even to sit in little cafes and read. There are these very attractive boys that she keeps seeing at the cafe, and then later at a museum. And then on a night when she is out walking with her sister, Katie sees something strange. The one that she found really cute, felt maybe a connection with, is talking to a girl on a bridge, what looks like trying to stop her from jumping. And when she jumps, he jumps in after her! At the same time she sees what looks like a sword fight going on down near the bottom of the bridge. Very weird, but no idea what is going on. Another day at the cafe, a sign begins to fall on Katie, but she is motioned over by a girl right before it happens, basically saving her life. Turns out there is something more about this group of people Katie keeps seeing. The cute boy is named Vincent, and he has to give in and tell her what he is when she sees more craziness, sees him and the other guy trying to save this man in the subway. And while they save him, Vincent's friend is struck by the train. Now Katie doesn't know how she can be in love with Vincent, after losing her parents, she's not sure how she can be with someone that leads such a risky life, and has death as close at hand as Vincent and his friends do every day.
In case you haven't read it yet, I'll stop there. Just know that there are also a group of bad guys, that have the same characteristics as Vincent and his friends. A great read, I like that Katie, while yes she has the insta-love thing going on, she does have to stop and think if she could be with him with all that is going on in his life. And even at the end, she says she still has that in the back of her head.
Now I must read on! And I may add this to my Prequel and Sequel challenge if I can get all the books read this year. One last thing, here is a picture of me with the author at the RT Convention.
I got a free copy of this book at the RT Convention back in May. I think I saw the author there, but didn't get an autograph, although now that I've finished the book, I wish I had! I'd heard so many other bloggers talk about this book. But I really don't read that much realistic fiction, and not a lot of romance stories really, well, not just romance when it is YA. But, I started reading, and when I did, I was quickly caught up in the story and loving it. So, for those few of you out there, besides myself, who hadn't read this yet, here is my review.
Anna is the main character and her famous author father has decided that she is going to spend her senior year at a fancy boarding school in Paris. (P.S. - I love that her name is Anna and she is going to Paris because my younger sister's name is Anna, and she loves all things French.) Anna doesn't want this. She has a wonderful best friend, not to mention a growing romance with a boy named Toph. So of course we start out with Anna in her room at her boarding school and her parents leaving. Now this boarding school seems to be for children of rich/famous/important parents, like Senators, etc. Whereas she doesn't really consider her dad to be that. You would probably compare her dad to Nicholas Sparks for what type of books and movies he writes. Fortunately for Anna, her next door neighbor comes over and introduces herself. Meredith is really nice, and Anna is so glad for the immediate friend, and then her friends that kind of come along as a package. One of them she meets the first night as she is leaving Meredith's room. His name is St. Clair, Etienne St. Clair to be exact. And he is that boy. You know, the one that is just as cute as can be, and so funny and nice that all the girls have a crush on him. And of course, he has a girlfriend. Her name is Ellie and she went to the school with all of them last year, and is now at a college nearby. The others in the group are Rashmi and her boyfriend Josh. Throughout the year as Anna gets closer to all of them, there seems to be a connection between her and St. Clair. And it seems that he may feel it too. But since he has a girlfriend, she just assumes it is that he's such a nice guy she mistakes that. And they do become best friends. Which makes it harder whenever one of them seems to give in or do something that brings to light their feelings. St. Clair's dad is a jerk, but rich. When he finds out his mom has cancer, his father won't let him come home to visit for Thanksgiving, makes him wait till Christmas. Now, St. Clair has an English accent (swoon!), but his father is French, and his mother lives in California, and really he is American. Anna also doesn't get to go home till Christmas, why waste the money her dad figures. So they get even closer since the rest of their friends, and his girlfriend do go home over that break. Now this is a school for American children, so when people leave, they go out of town for real. When Anna goes home over Christmas, something horrible happens, and the only person she feels she can talk to is St. Clair, and as you can guess their feelings get even stronger.
Of course there are all kinds of mixed signals, and stubborn moments that keep them from really ever being able to get together. At least until they get some things figured out. I love how there are real life examples and things that happen in their classes that help them figure things out. It's not like they just have these epiphanies out of nowhere. And really the story is told from Anna's point of view, so we only get to hear about St. Clair's epiphanies when he tells her about them. Personally, I enjoyed and really connected with the story because I know how often I have been in what feels like the same situation as Anna. At least at the beginning. Being in love with such an awesome, funny, nice guy who is a friend, but has a girlfriend. So while it seems they're flirting with you, you know they can't really be. Unfortunately for me, it's never changed and turned out the way it does for Anna. Which is why I read books like these. Such a good, good read. Love it, and will be reading more by the author from now on!
I got this book as an advanced reader's copy back in October, right before the author was coming to our bookstore to do a signing. I didn't get to go to the signing because it was right when our parent teacher conferences are, so didn't feel the urge to pick it up and get it read. Now that I have however, I am very excited to go back and read her first teen book, A Northern Light.
Revolution is a historical fiction about the French Revolution. Our main character is Andi, she goes to a very exclusive school called St. Anselm's in Brooklyn. Her father is a famous geneticist, and her mother an artist. However, her brother died a couple years ago, and we don't find out exactly how until later in the story, but we get some kind of idea, that Andi, who is hanging out with pot smokers and druggies from her school, may have been somehow responsible for his death. Andi is currently not able to do anything other than her music lessons. Music is the only thing that makes her feel okay. As she gets close to flunking out and messing up her chances of getting into a good college, her father who left the family, comes home. He sees that her mother is a mess and puts her mother in a hospital. He then makes Andi go with him to Paris. In Paris he will be working to prove whether a heart preserved in a glass jar is really Louis-Charles, son of Marie Antoinette's heart. While Andi is there she is expected to work on her thesis for school, which is kind of handy because the person she is researching is from Paris, his name is Amade Malherbeau, and supposedly he came up with some of the unusual note combinations modern musicians use today. The people Andi and her dad stay with are old friends of theirs. The man is a historian and the woman is an artist. They have all kinds of historical documents and artifacts where they are living because they are preparing to turn the building into a museum. There is even a guitar from the time of the French Revolution, and Andi finds a secret compartment in which there is a diary and a picture of Louis-Charles. The diary is of a girl who was a servant to him and how she tried to be there for him in whatever way she could, even when he was walled up alone in his final prison.
I loved this story, could barely put it down when I needed to. It made me eager to read more about this time period. I think a good historical fiction is one that makes you want to learn the real stories, and this totally does it. I could even see it being read in a classroom to tie in both literature and history. As I said, I will now have to go back and get her book A Northern Light and read it soon.
This is another of my chick lit finds at the outlet bookstore in Osage Beach. It was a cute idea. The main character quits her job after she finds out her boss just wants her to sleep with him, and he calls her a stupid secretary. Well, Molly, was just about to go to a conference in Paris with her boss, which would have been her first time out of her small town. Well, at the last minute she decides to go ahead and use her ticket to go into Paris on her own and just enjoy herself. And, well, an adventure begins. She meets a wild Australian girl who gets her out and introduces her to some fun people. And while out with this group, a fantasy comes true when she meets Fabrice, a handsome French artist. And while she thinks she just wants her weekend in Paris, like most girls, she falls in love. There is a nice side story about how she doesn't know who her father is, as well as her new Australian friend helping her get back at her boss. All in all it ends well, and makes me want to go on vacation by myself like that. And it makes me wonder, would it be really empowering to have someone draw/paint you like she talks about?
There is one part in the book that I marked to talk about. When she gets introduced to her new French friends by Alicia, her new Australian friend, they do a major makeover on her before they go out, fashionable, sexy clothes, and makeup too! I just wish I could have someone do that for me. I have no idea on makeup, and any time I try it just looks like crap. So it always makes me wonder if that would be all I needed to find my right guy? Silly, I know.
