Review: Bleeding Earth by Kaitlin Ward

Thanks to Egmont USA and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  As I go to write this review, I see that it may not actually be released until next February, even though I originally had it down as coming out in August.  But anyway, I have to say that I really enjoyed this book.  While it really was mostly about the relationships  between the people in the story, it still had enough of the science fiction story tied in to keep it from being just about the people. And that is exactly how I like stories like this.  It didn't get quite as much into the science of what was going on with the disaster, and while I also enjoy that with my science teaching background, I also think for some people it can drag a story down.  So I think the author did a great job with balancing all parts of the story. 

The main character is Lea.  When the story starts she is in a cemetery with her best friend finishing up some headstone rubbings for a school assignment.  They see blood just pooled up, as if it is coming up through a crack somewhere in the earth.  But not that much. Just one location really.  Soon after they each get home, the blood starts to cover the earth, and not just in Lea's town, but all over the world. At first it is just a think layer covering all the ground, but soon it gets deeper, and after that there seems to be something else that shows up in it, hair, human hair as determined by scientists.  Following that, there are bones.  And while the scientists don't seem to know what is going on exactly, at first they feel it isn't anything that will cause harm to humans.  But even that changes when they suggest wearing respirators. 

Lea has a crush on someone who isn't in her circle of friends, a girl named Aracely.  While Lea is out and not worried about her sexuality, Aracely hasn't let people know yet.  So far their relationship seems to be going really well though.  But the blood and other things happening will, of course, put a bit of a hitch into it.  First there is school being cancelled so that they don't get to see each other every day.  And because Lea's parents know she is gay, they won't allow her to go over to Aracely's place without an adult there, or if she comes over, the door must stay open on Lea's bedroom.  She also starts having problems with her best friend, again due to things that seem to happen because of the disaster going on.  Lea's dad works at the local dam for the small town they live in, and so far, they are keeping it running enough to keep the power going for their town.  But there comes a time when her father is unable to come back from the dam every day, he's working longer hours.  And her mother seems to get a little extreme, boarding up all the windows and doors.  Lea doesn't know whether it is to keep the dangerous people out, or keep them in. 

Honestly, as I said, this was a very good story.  I feel that the relationships were all very realistically done.  I loved the relationship between Lea and Aracely, with each of their statuses being the way they were, it made a lot of sense how they each dealt with the things as they happened.  Although there was one part later on in the story, when Lea is goofing around with one of her long time friends, a girl, and Aracely happens to see them with Lea kind of having her arms around the girl, and Aracely misunderstands what is going on.  I feel like that was a little unrealistic, knowing how Lea was, and how she and Aracely really knew each other. But it fit in well to add some drama for the next part, so I guess it worked in that way.  I think this is a great book to add to the growing list of teen LGBTQ books that are available.  And I will recommend it as such.  Also a great science fiction, apocalyptic type of story.  And an ending that kind of ties things up, but is realistic with who doesn't make it, and how those that do make it are able to make it.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Storm (The Rain #2) by Virginia Bergin

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  My choice this week is the sequel to a book I read and enjoyed last year.  It was called H20 then, but is now called The Rain I guess.  I believe the egalley is available on either Netgalley or Edelweiss now as well.  So I will have to get it.  Here is the blurb on the sequel from Goodreads:

"I'll tell you a weird thing about apocalypses - a thing I didn't even know until I was in one: they seem pretty bad, don't they? Well, take it from me: they can always get worse."

Three months after the killer rain first fell, Ruby is beginning to realise her father might be dead . . . and that she cannot survive alone. When a chance encounter lands her back in the army camp, Ruby thinks she is safe - at a price. Being forced to live with Darius Spratt is bad enough, but if Ruby wants to stay she must keep her eyes - and her mouth - shut. It's not going to happen. When she realizes what is going on - the army is trying to find a cure by experimenting on human subjects - Ruby flips out . . . and makes an even more shocking discovery: she's not useless at all. The Storm begins . . .


Sounds so good.  I can't wait to read on and find out  what happens after this big natural disaster.  My only issue is that I loved the cover of the first one when it was called H2O.   

The slipcover actually had holes in it, it was cool!  Not sure this new one matches up.  

Anyway, what about you?  What book are you waiting on this week?

While you're here, make sure to go enter my July New Release giveaway HERE. 

Review H2O by Virginia Bergin

I have to first say thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to read an e-galley of this. I even was approved on both Netgalley and Edelweiss.  I guess I didn't realize that I'd asked at both sites, but I did.  And I'm glad I did, because I really enjoyed it.

The main character, our narrator, is Ruby.  I guess you could call Ruby one of the "popular" kids.  And Ruby is at a party, kissing her crush, Caspar, in a hot tub.  They're at her friend Zak's house, kind of a farmhouse out in the country, in England. Zak's parents are pretty cool, kind of hippies, as they've left the kids out there for their party, allowed them to have alcohol, and then don't bug them about it.  But on this night, while Ruby is in the hot tub in her underwear kissing Caspar, Zak's parents come running out and usher them all inside, no time to grab their belongings out of the barn or get dressed.  There's a rainstorm coming.  But it's in England, so big whoop, right?  Well it turns out that one of Zak's father's friends has given him a heads up about this rain.  You see, a long time ago, when Ruby was a very young girl, there was a giant asteroid heading towards Earth.  The scientists were able to completely destroy it before it hit the Earth.  But because Ruby and her friends don't really remember that, it's never been that big of a deal to them.  Until this night.  When it turns out that inside that asteroid, there had been a type of bacteria that was able to live in extreme conditions, like the ones that live at the bottom of the ocean near thermal vents.  So it survived in space, and it survived in the dust and rocks that did come through the Earth's atmosphere, and now it was in the rain that was coming. 

Everyone is kind of thinking the parents are being a little overprotective with making them all stay inside.  Even with the stuff that is getting broadcast on the radio.  So Caspar sneaks outside to grab his ipod and cell phone when no one but Ruby is looking.  But when he comes in, he doesn't seem to be feeling well.  He starts coughing, and soon is scratching his skin and bleeding.  Zak's dad says it isn't safe to leave, even though Zak's mom says they have to get Caspar to the hospital for help.  Everyone else is having tea and coffee to try to sober up from all the alcohol they've had.  Zak's mom wraps Caspar up to try not to touch him, and runs him to the car.  Ruby runs out with them to go to the hospital she thinks.  But Caspar dies on the way, and it seems that now Zak's mom might be sick from having touched him.  So she drops Ruby off at her own house, and she runs up, but under an umbrella to stay out of the rain.  But when Ruby gets to the front door, her stepdad Simon won't let her in at first.  He knows what is going on, and is trying to protect himself, as well as Ruby's mother and baby brother. Eventually he lets her in, but sticks her in the den, locks her in.  The rain keeps coming, and a neighbor even comes and knocks on the door asking for help, but Simon refuses to let her in, again to keep his family safe.  Ruby's mom throws some pain reliever stuff out the window to the neighbor.  Which may in itself be a fatal mistake.  When Ruby wakes up in the morning, the whole world will have changed.  She will have to survive with her family, and maybe eventually on her own when she tries to go find her read dad in London.  And more is learned as she tries to live without water, Simon is smart enough to know that the tap water is going to be contaminated, and that probably saves their lives.  But besides the water with the killer bacteria, there will also be people that are dangerous out there.

This was a very good story, told from the beginning of the "apocalypse" or "plague," whatever you want to call this.  Ruby's narration is a fun one, definitely like I would think a teen would talk/write.  I love that the science in this is mostly realistic. Although I really doubt that something that affected humans the way this does, wouldn't also affect the animals around as well.  But that's just my thought.  I really was kept involved in the story the whole way through.  It was hard to put it down because it was so minute by minute, and I didn't know exactly what would happen.  Would they get to where the army was and everything would be okay?  Or would it be like the camps I'd read about in other apocalyptic books like Ashfall by Mike Mullin?  I had to know how it would end.  And I'm not sure how I feel about the ending though.  I almost want more, but I can see why it ended that way.  So a good, edge of your seat read, for anyone who enjoys apocalyptic YA novels.

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

This is a book I got as a Christmas gift from my youngest sister's boyfriend.  I believe he said it was his favorite book.  I've read a couple books by Neil Gaiman and liked them.  So I figured this would probably be a good read as well.  I've not read any Terry Pratchett, although the titles of many of his books are pretty humorous.

This is kind of a fun look at the end of the world.  Now, I almost put the book down right away when it started talking about how old the Earth is.  When it said dinosaurs weren't real?  Well, as a former science teacher, I just about was done with that.  But, I gave it a shot, as I know it was supposed to be funny, and in a way, reminded me of episodes of Supernatural.  Which I guess that show would have to not think dinosaurs were real, and I love that show.  It also began by reminding me of another favorite book of mine by Christopher Moore, Lamb:  The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.  

The book begins with an angel and a demon, Azariphale, and Crowley.  I love the name Crowley too, as it is one of the big demon guys in Supernatural.  And they both get the message that it is time to start the end of the world.  By the delivery of the baby that will be the Antichrist, and he must be switched with another baby.  Well, the switch goes wrong, and the baby doesn't end up with the family it is supposed to be with. And so as certain people, nannies, tutors, etc., are sent to help get him ready to end the world, it doesn't seem to work.  Plus, the angel and demon we met at the beginning?  Well they both kind of like humans, and don't really want the world to end.  So the angel sends people to try to counter the evil of the nanny, etc.  At a certain age, a dog is supposed to go meet the Antichrist.  Crowley is waiting to see it, but it never shows up.  At least not with the child they'd thought was the Antichrist.  Instead we soon learn that the baby went to a small town and grew up pretty normal.  Now, things may happen that are unexplained, but nothing major.  And he does get a dog, but the dog isn't quite what is expected, or at least it changes.  Now, all of these events have been predicted by a witch named Agnes Nutter.  And some other characters in the story are Witch Finders, who are supposed to find them, and of course burn them.  And then we also have a witch that lives in the small town, or has just moved to the small town, where the true Antichrist lives.

It's a lot funnier than I make it sound. There were parts I had a little bit of an out loud chuckle.  In the fashion of British humor I guess you would say.  I did notice that one of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater, gave the book 5 stars.  Which doesn't surprise me really, as her Raven Cycle books include ley lines, which it talks about in this book as well.  If you enjoy parodies of religious stories, and British parodies of anything,  you will enjoy this book.