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Kemmerer

I picked up the Cursebreakers trilogy, by Brigid Kemmerer, because...well, I was using store credit, so it was free, and the covers are really pretty. I honestly don't have a better reason.

They looked like stereotypical young adult novels (the names even fit the mold: A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, A Vow So Bold and Deadly). And they are. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the first book is a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" (because I never turn down a retelling), and I was even more pleasantly surprised to discover that Kemmerer is a good writer. Though there were some plot points I wasn't fond of (and the third book was much more adult than the first two, which was a disappointment), I actually thought there was a great amount of plot within the story, and diversity of characterization enough to keep things interesting. It was nice to get to the end of the trilogy and feel satisfied, but also curious to know if there would be more to the story someday.

I'm not sure I'd reread this trilogy again only because it didn't particularly stick out as far as young adult novels go, but now that I know Kemmerer can write a good novel, I'll keep an eye out for more of her work.

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The Ks

There weren't any J books on my Want to Read list, so we're skipping right ahead to the Ks. I never really think of the Ks as being that big of a letter -- I mean, not like C or L or M, you know? But somehow I have ten books by K authors on my list. Even more amazing is the fact that I can get seven of them from my library! Wow! Let's do it!

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Ivey

I'm back!

My I book was finally in at the library: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey. I have to tell you, it was worth the wait!

I don't often read homesteading novels, but sometimes I enjoy one. This book is about a couple in their late 40s/early 50s who move to Alaska in the 1920s to farm. They're struggling with stuff from their past and the harsh Alaskan landscape. Then, on the first snow one night, a little girl shows up at their cabin. She darts in and out of their lives and you never really know...is she even real? No one but this one couple sees her. Have they gone nuts in the brutal winter? Is the girl magic? They wonder all of these things at some point, but ultimately they come to love the girl and they watch her grow up.

It's a really sweet story. I absolutely loved Ivey's writing style -- she did a wonderful job with the pacing and movement of this novel. My only disappointment is that she went with the predictable (and expected) ending. I was hoping she'd supply the ending readers wouldn't expect. Still, that's not something I can really fault. It's her choice as the author and the ending did fit the book, so I can't really complain.

I'd absolutely read this again someday, and I'd love to read more of Ivey's books!

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Johnson

A while back, my husband and I read Created for Connection, by Dr. Sue Johnson. Dr. Johnson developed Emotionally Focused Therapy and is kind of a big name in the therapy world. We read the book at the recommendation of a friend (for fun, not because our marriage was in trouble or anything like that!). We didn't hate the book, so I checked out Hold Me Tight, which is another of Dr. Johnson's books.

I don't know much about EFT and to be completely honest, I don't love this sort of thing. I'm not opposed to counseling, but psychology/therapy/counseling/etc. has never been a field I've particularly wanted to explore as an academic pursuit. I don't need to know why the human brain works the way it does. I have mad respect for counselors, though -- I honestly don't know how they can stand to interact with people struggling all day, every day. God bless them!

Anyway, Hold Me Tight is a deeper dive into EFT and what prompted Dr. Johnson to develop it. The rest of the book is basically a recap of Created for Connection (or Created for Connection is a recap of Hold Me Tight -- I don't know which came first). As such, I can't say that I got anything out of the book and I wouldn't read it again. But, perhaps I subconsciously picked something up that'll be useful at some point. You never know!

I'm next on the wait list for my I book, so I'll take a break from this challenge until I'm done with the Is...I don't want to get too far ahead, especially since we have almost a dozen K books on the list!

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I & J

I have one I book to read and one J book. We're going to do these out of order because I'm third on the waitlist for my I book, but I got my J book today. So, we'll do J, then I. We're honing in on the halfway mark!

It's taking me a lot longer to work through this list than I originally envisioned. I think that's because I'm a repeat reader. I'll almost always prefer to reread a book I liked rather than read a new book, though I know a balance must always be struck (and I'm not against new books at all, obviously, but I do read them more slowly). Since I've only been reading new books for...well, months now...I can tell I'm slowing down as I read. You can only absorb so much new information at a time, you know?

The good news is, I only have about 90 books left on my Want to Read list, and at least a dozen of those aren't out yet. We're moving right along!

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Howey

The Silo trilogy, by Hugh Howey, is generally considered one of the best dystopian stories written. Howey originally self-published the first part of the first book, Wool, and the demand was so high for more that he published the rest over the next several months. Eventually this was compiled into the Wool Omnibus, which is broken into the separate parts that he published, but put together to create one novel.

I like dystopian fiction and I like science fiction. In fact, some of my absolute favorite stories fall into those two genres. I don't read them often, though, because they tend to be very dense (well, the adult ones, not so much young adult dystopian fiction). Good science fiction writers -- think Michael Crichton or Andy Weir -- have a wealth of true information within their tales, which is what makes them so believable even in an unbelievable setting. However, it also means that the amount of data contained within the pages has me reading more slowly than usual.

In the case of Wool, which is many hundred pages, this was true. Though the story is fabulously written and completely engaging, it still took me over a week to read the book. I didn't want to speed through the overly mathematical or scientific parts, and I feel like I learned a few things while reading. It did mean that the Hs took way longer than they should have :)

I didn't want to finish reading the trilogy simply because I enjoyed the ending of the first book and felt I could get what I needed from reading a synopsis rather than the more than 1,000 pages that make up the final two installments. That being said, I could easily see myself rereading this someday and perhaps completing the trilogy at that time.

P.S. Laura, this is one you should check out.

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Hodge

Rosamund Hodge is one of my favorite writers. I first heard of her when I read through a list of "Beauty and the Beast" retellings and her novel, Cruel Beauty, came up. I adored it, so I quickly read every book of hers I could get my hands on (and I still own Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound).

I was able to access one of her short story collections, titled Desires and Dreams and Powers. It was absolutely fantastic (although I was a little discouraged by how many typos there were until I learned she self-published this one. Ms. Hodge, if you're reading this, I'm happy to edit anything you want for free, anytime). I loved the stories within, and it made me realize how much I miss writing short stories myself. Good books should inspire writers and this one absolutely did, so yay, applause!

I also read her most recent novel, which came out this year. It's called What Monstrous Gods. The book itself is about a girl who wants to bring gods back into power in her world, but there's a group of heretics who are trying to stop her.

You may be thinking to yourself wait, didn't she already review this book? That's because this plot is remarkably similar to Wicked Saints, which I reviewed in the Ds. The two books are eerily similar, which is discouraging. However, where Wicked Saints became very disappointing, What Monstrous Gods was a good book all the way through...with one exception.

About halfway through the novel, I realized it was somewhat allegorical. I didn't know that Rosamund Hodge is Catholic, but I thought it was interesting that the "heretics" are actually Catholics. So then I thought maybe it was going to be a story of Jesus Christ, since He's mentioned so many times. Only, it wasn't. **Spoiler alert** the book ended with the pantheon of gods being infused with enough mortality that they started to care about people. And then the book was over.

I was very confused at the end. If the book is going to have sequels, then I'm curious to know what role Christ will play in them. If it's a standalone novel, why bring in Jesus Christ at all if the pantheon is going to evolve?

All told, it was well-written and entertaining, so I can't exactly fault the book. I'm just still scratching my head over it.

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The Hs

There are five books by authors whose last names begin with H on my Want to Read list. I can get three of them from my library, which is pretty good, actually. At this point I'm always assuming it'll only be one or two.

We're honing in on the middle of the alphabet!

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Garber

The only G book I have to review is Caraval, by Stephanie Garber. I'd never read anything by Stephanie Garber prior to this book challenge and I don't recall where I first heard of this book.

The premise of the novel is that there's a magical island where a group of possibly-also-magical people put on an interactive five-night game (Caraval). Whoever wins the game gets a wish. People come from all over the world to participate (by invitation only, because crowd control). Scarlett and her sister, Tella, are delighted when they're invited to participate, but when they get to the island, Tella is immediately kidnapped. Turns out, this year's game involves finding Tella, and whoever can find her first is the winner.

I have some mixed emotions about this book. I think Stephanie Garber is a pretty good writer -- her descriptions are lovely and immersive, which is not something too many writers can pull off (I know I certainly can't!). I cared about the main character and was engaged with the story the whole time. The entire thing felt like a "Westworld"-meets-The Night Circus blend, so that was kind of fun. It certainly was a unique tale.

My only real struggle came from the ending. It became very hard, during the denouement, to keep track of what was real and what wasn't. There were too many happy coincidences at the conclusion for something that was supposed to be masterminded, so I had a hard time believing the ending. It's too bad, really, because I think it could have been a little clearer and more defined, which would've made it a really great read.

I can't say I wouldn't read the book again, because I would, and I can recommend it as a fairly lighthearted entertainment. It's just not a book I plan to buy.

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The Gs

So, I have five books by authors whose last names start with G on my Want to Read list.

I can get exactly one of them from the library.

I swear, one of these days I'm going to have to break down and get access to an online library. I'm not desperate enough to do that yet, but I feel it looming on my horizon.

Anyway, I'll read the one G (which is the start of a series, so if it's good, this could take a while) and maybe I'll come across one of the other G books somewhere in the meantime.

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Fox

I know John Fox Jr. wrote many books. We only have two: The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. My mom gave me a first edition of The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come years ago, and in my last book challenge, I finally read it.

I remember exactly none of it, which makes me feel bad, but the book was nondescript enough that it kind of went in one ear and out the other.

My husband and I stumbled across another of Fox's books, also a first edition, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, at a book sale. We grabbed it and it's our only F for this year's book challenge.

Given how little I remembered of Fox's other book, I was actually very surprised at how much I loved The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. It's a lovely story, if a little awkward at times. It reminded me of The Thorn Birds, actually. But I didn't want to put it down. It's about a man who sees the potential in a little girl he meets, so he sponsors her education and meanwhile tries to improve the super small town where they live. As she grows up he falls in love with her, but there are a lot of factors that keep them apart, not the least of which is that he isn't from that neck of the woods originally (they call him a "foreigner" through most of the novel).

I'm really glad we bought it and I imagine I'll reread it in the next few years. In fact, reading it made me think I ought to give The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come another chance...

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Fs!

The Fs will be a little anticlimactic, because we only have one :) it's a very old book that my husband and I found at an antique store when we first moved here. Since we have another book by that author, we purchased this one and I'm finally getting around to reading it.

My Books to Read list has dropped to 89, which is wild to me since we began with dozens more. So far, there are six A-E books still on the list (ones I couldn't review for this book challenge), but that's only because four of them aren't published yet and two I couldn't get at any of my libraries. I may try to find a beat up $1 copy on eBay so I can still read them.

For now, though, the solitary F!

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Ernshaw

A few years ago, I stumbled across a book called Winterwood, by Shea Ernshaw. I've reviewed it twice on this blog over the years and it's downstairs on my bookshelves right now, because it's an amazing book.

I've been curious for a while about other books by Shea Ernshaw, but I hesitated to explore any. It always makes me apprehensive to read more of an author's work when the first novel of his or hers that I read is amazing. I always want to believe that everything he or she writes will be just as wonderful -- but I am so very often wrong. More times than I can count, I've read something fabulous and eagerly checked out more by that author, only to realize the fabulous book I found was more of a fluke.

Still, I want to give writers the benefit of the doubt. I'd want readers to do it for me. So, I finally checked out two more of her books: A Wilderness of Stars and A History of Wild Places. I also want to read The Wicked Deep, but I can't get it at any of my libraries, so that one will have to wait.

A Wilderness of Stars was a classic young adult novel. The story is about a girl who comes from a line of astronomers who use the stars to navigate. She's supposed to use this knowledge to find someone known as the Architect, and together, they are going to save the world. I almost didn't read it, because I thought (based on its dust jacket) it would be about astrology (which I care about not at all). But, that wasn't the case, thank goodness. It's mostly dystopian, actually, and the storytelling was excellent. I was relieved to know that, even though the tale itself wasn't mind-blowing the way I thought Winterwood was, A Wilderness of Stars was a really good book. I can highly recommend it for folks who like fairly tame young adult fiction (you know who you are).

A History of Wild Places was just about the opposite in every way. For one thing, it's set in normal America. For another, it's written for adults, not teens (though teens can certainly read it). And third, it's mostly realistic fiction, which is not something I normally read.

This book started with a famous writer going missing. Five years later, a certain private investigator is hired to find her -- and while he's looking for her, he too goes missing. All of this happens in the first chapter.

The book abruptly cuts over to a new story, which is about a commune deep in the woods (not too far from Seattle). At first, we don't know how the writer and private investigator are related to the commune, or if they even really are. We just learn about the people who live within the sheltered walls and the secrets they keep.

I have to say, I completely devoured this book. Seriously, I read it almost in one evening. I could not put it down. Though I guessed several of the surprises, I didn't guess them all, and it had a great ending. I would 100% read this book again, though I don't think I will buy it -- now that I know all the twists, I don't know how entertaining it would be 10 more times. One, for sure, but I don't know about more than that.

I'm so relieved to know that Shea Ernshaw really is a writer who, at least for me, is always worth reading. I still want to find The Wicked Deep someday, and Ernshaw has two books coming out (one in 2025 and one in 2026) that I will absolutely read upon their publication. In fact, I can't wait!

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Easter

A bunch of podcasts I listen to started referencing The Comfort Crisis, by Michael Easter. I asked a few folks about it and everyone who'd read it gave the book rave reviews, so I finally checked it out.

The description of the book on Goodreads is as follows: In many ways, we're more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many of our most urgent physical and mental health issues?

Essentially, the book is about why stepping out of your comfort zone is a good thing. Taking it a step further, it's about why experiencing boredom, cold, hunger, and being really tired can actually be good for you.

Easter wrote the book partly as an autobiography and partly as a self-help manual. He details his struggle with alcoholism and how stepping out of his comfort zone ended up helping him beat his addiction. A large chunk of the story chronicles his month-long adventure in the Arctic hunting caribou, and this anecdote is meant to parallel some of the concepts he discusses elsewhere in the book.

I have mixed emotions about The Comfort Crisis. The good stuff: I think there's a pretty high percentage of the population who could benefit from some of the ideas Easter presents. For example, at one point early on, he evaluates the idea of "problem creep."

"As we experience fewer problems, we don’t become more satisfied. We just lower our threshold for what we consider a problem…[this is why] many people can find an issue in nearly any situation, no matter how good we can have it relative to the grand sweep of humanity. "

I know people like this. I'm sure you know people like this. Maybe you're reading my blog right now and realizing that you are someone who has few actual problems in life but manages to complain about something every day. I know I am definitely trying to complain less!

Another good part: Easter takes a hard look at cell phones. In fact, he compares current USA cell phone addiction to alcoholism.

"One good sign that I had a drinking problem was that most of my problems were caused by my drinking. [Same thing with cell phones]. We have less tolerance for distress. If we feel something unpleasant, like boredom, before cell phones we would have to just be with that unpleasantness, and then we’d find a productive outlet. But we don’t have to do that anymore. We can use our phone to distract ourselves…we consume more 'junk food for the mind.' Each time we reflexively take out our phone or turn on a computer or TV to kill boredom, it attaches another tiny anchor to our stress tolerance, dragging it lower…we should learn to deal with boredom, and then discover ways to overcome it that are more productive and creative than watching a YouTube video or scrolling through Instagram."

I support this completely.

Though I do not think everyone needs to follow his example and go on a month-long hunting expedition in the Arctic to shake up their lives, I did appreciate Easter's philosophy on seeking out new life experiences.

"If you’re seeing and doing all the same things over and over, your scrapbook looks pretty empty when you take inventory of your life. So we need to do more novel things to start creating more impressions in our [lives], so we don’t feel like the years are flying by. I mean, you remember every single detail of novel, meaningful experiences. You have no chance to forget them the rest of your life.”

It's a good reminder to get out there and try new things.

Where I struggled with the book was in the storytelling aspect of it. I really think this book could've cut about 50 pages from his Arctic expedition and it would've ended up the same book. Additionally, I can't honestly say I felt that tale really added much to the book overall. I know he was trying to draw parallels between the concepts he introduced and the experience he had, but for the most part, I found myself speed-reading through them. They slowed down the information I was absorbing from the book and, to be completely honest, I thought some of the parallels were pretty thin.

I do think it was a worthwhile read. It's just the kind of book that, if I owned it, I'd highlight the parts I found meaningful and never read the book entirely through again. If I wanted to revisit it, I'd only reread the highlighted parts.

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Craig

Let us pop back to the Cs for a moment.

I explored the novels of Erin Craig, a somewhat newly popular writer who is growing quickly among the favorites of young adult readers. Her novels are loose retellings of fairy tales (in the Cs, I reviewed her version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Rumpelstiltskin"). Last year, she published The Thirteenth Child, which is a retelling of "Godfather Death."

It took me months to get it from the library, but I finally did, so I read it this week. It did not disappoint.

My favorite thing about reading her books is the way she makes me care about her characters. The plots are good, the pacing is pretty good, and the stories are great, but the depth of feeling is excellent. This book felt a tad off with the pacing to me -- it took a long time for the plot to get underway and the denouement was so rushed that I was confused by what I read -- but still, it was entertaining and a pleasure to read, which is tough to find for me anymore.

Having now read three of her novels, I think the "Rumpelstiltskin" retelling (titled Small Favors) is my favorite. However, all were fantastic and I plan to read her next novel, called A Land So Wide, which is a retelling of "Tam Lin" coming out in 2025. She'll be the next big one in young adult literature, I'm sure.

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The Es

Moving right along! Sorry that this challenge is taking so long. The library in our new town is awesome, but somewhat limited in their selection (I got spoiled that Denver libraries have a huge network to trade with). As such, I'm having to read several books online, and I'm terrible at it. It takes me easily three times as long to read an electronic novel.

On top of that, the nonfiction books that I've wanted to read started piling up, so I'm interspersing the fiction book challenge with trying to catch up on the nonfiction list.

All told, my own fault that this challenge is taking so long, but now you know why.

Anyway, we have the Es next. There are only two E books on the list and they're both by the same author, so I'll review once I've read both books. I can only get one at the library, meaning I'll have to read the other one online. Maybe I'll write about them before October is done? Haha!

I'm traveling for work soon, which will be a good opportunity to finish a few of the nonfiction ones. That'll at least keep things moving so I can get started on the Es once I'm back. Thanks for hanging in there!