Rules of the Game (Endgame #3) by James Frey

Amy    
Lynnie 


fantasy, action/suspense, young adult

From Goodreads:  "The world of Endgame is populated by twelve ancient bloodlines. In each line, a Player trains for a catastrophic event that has not yet happened—until the Calling. Once they were called, the Players set off on a journey in search of three ancient keys that will save not just their line, but the world."

In James Frey's Rules of the Game, "two keys have now been found, and the remaining Players must find the final key—before Endgame brings about the ultimate destruction."

See our reviews for Book #1 and Book #2 in this series.

Amy's Review

A very suitable ending to the Endgame trilogy. As with the prior two novels, it was filled with action, adventure, and suspense. I enjoyed the way everything played out. The pacing was terrific and the characters were fun (or definitely not fun in a couple cases). I don’t have any new praises that I haven’t already described about the other two. But, suffice it to say that a well-done trilogy is a rare and wonderful thing. I enjoy James Frey’s writing and creativity. And, this trilogy kept me interested the entire time. Bravo!

Lynnie's Review

This is the Endgame finale you've been waiting for and it doesn't disappoint. Just like the previous two books in the series, there is nonstop action (& violence) as the insane end-of-the-world scenario comes to a close. Like each of the previous books, some of my favorite characters became victims of Endgame and some of the characters I hated also met their ends, but due to the chaotic nature of the story, none of it was predictable. The unpredictability was the best part, frankly.

If you enjoyed the first two books, you'll be glad to see the series end the way it does. 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Amy   


historical fiction

This is the story of a young slave woman named Cora who was born and raised on a plantation in Georgia and, particularly, the journeys of her older teen years. I nervously began listening to this audiobook, fearing that it would be too violent and raw for me. I needed an audiobook and this was the only one of interest immediately available at the library (I had it on hold for a while), so I decided to take a chance. I was encouraged by the fact that the narrator was Bahni Turpin whom I really enjoyed in both of the Nicola Yoon novels she had narrated.

First, yes, there are the terrible stories I knew I would read about. But, thankfully I was able to persevere. I do think Ms. Turpin’s familiar voice likely helped. But, the most amazing thing to me wasn’t the story or the characters or the writing (which all held my interest and made me want to keep reading). No, it’s the fact that there is literally an underground railroad in this novel--like a subway! I was shocked! I mean, I’d learned about the Underground Railroad in school and understood it to be a secret network of brave, humane people who were able to move slaves to safer environments. I’d always thought of the actual name—the Underground Railroad—as a metaphor and never considered that there would actually be a train underground aiding those efforts to free the slaves from their captivity. So, I asked my husband if he had understood there to be an actual train and he also felt it was a metaphor. So, I asked my daughter (who was a history major for 2-1/2 years) and she also felt it was a metaphor and went the step further to look it up online and verified that there was no actual train nor actual underground passages. Whew! I had started to feel really stupid. Colson Whitehead made the concept of underground trains completely believable but it was all just a creative fiction. He described all the stations, the tracks, the different train engines and conveyances on which the slaves rode. He described the feeling of riding the train. He totally “took me for a ride”! To me, that is the biggest takeaway I’ll have from this novel. I’m not sure that was the author’s intention and I doubt it’s the reason it’s won so many awards, but the railroad itself certainly stands out the most to me. Heck, that’s the title of the novel!

Mr. Whitehead’s writing is genuine and really takes you to the time and place of the novel. (Ms. Turpin’s narration with her accents and attitudes really helped with this too—her interpretation seemed perfect. I give her an A+.) However, while the novel did not jump around in time too often, it sometimes did so in a confusing manner. That may have been a downside to hearing the audiobook version—perhaps it was clearer to follow in print. The characters were all realistic and the story itself was engaging and included satisfying explanations for mysteries raised during the story.

Cookbook Reviews- Ina Garten, Art Smith, and SkinnyTaste

As I've said before, I love cookbooks but don't have the space for them in my kitchen. Therefore, I am a serial cookbook borrower- from the library or friends, it doesn't matter- I read them, write out the recipes that look good to me and send the book back for someone else to enjoy. Here are the latest additions to my non-collection. 

 -Lynnie 


Same. Only I don't cook as often as Lynnie.

-Amy

Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family by Art Smith

Lynnie's Review: I haven't read a cookbook by Art Smith since his Oprah days & this one is really wonderful. Beautifully written, with stories about the recipes and helpful tips, you can feel the love and family history in all of these recipes. I found a lot of ideas and some great recipes that I can't wait to try.  

Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust by Ina Garten 

 

Lynnie's Review: Another wonderful cookbook from Ina Garten.

There are some great recipes in this book and lots of tips on entertaining. I continue to enjoy how she makes everything seem effortless and doable, and I know that her recipes will work every time. I really like that she had menu ideas at the back of the book- ways to put the included dishes together to make a full meal for a dinner party. She is quickly becoming my go-to chef for recipes and ideas.

Skinnytaste Fast and Slow: Knockout Quick-Fix and Slow-Cooker Recipes for Real Life by Gina Homolka

Amy's Review:  I found 15 recipes that I'll try from this book. I love Gina Homolka's recipes and am a follower of her Facebook page (Skinnytaste). Her recipes are healthy and low-fat. Online, she provides Weight Watchers Points for her recipes which is very convenient for me. However, she does not add this convenience in her cookbooks for some reason--I assume legal reasons. The accompanying photos in the book were nice and I'm happy to have some new recipes to try.

What Was Mine by Helen Klein Ross

Lynnie


contemporary fiction, mystery


I did not expect to be so engrossed in this book, but I truly had a tough time putting What Was Mine down, in large part because the intensity ramps up with every page you turn. I didn't expect to be so gripped by Helen Klein Ross' story in large part because the plot is entirely laid out in the book's synopsis- a woman kidnaps a baby and gets away with it for 21 years. Going in you know about the kidnapping and you know that it's going to be discovered and yet that knowledge doesn't blunt the intensity of the story at all.

I marveled at how, despite that sad, frightening topic I found the story often upbeat- cheerful even. The story is told mostly through the eyes of Lucy (the kidnapper), Mia (the kidnapee) & Marilyn (the birth mother) with additional chapters through the eyes of other people they encounter and interact with throughout the story.

I didn't love the ending, but overall I remain fascinated by the book. I suspect I'll be thinking about it long after I've returned it to the library.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

  

Amy  

fiction

Exit West was an interesting novel. It will be released on 3/7/17. I was fortunate to receive an Advance Reader Copy from the ALA Midwinter Convention. This is the first novel I’ve read by Mohsin Hamid. The writing is a bit unsettling—perhaps it's a way to make the reader experience the unsettled feelings of living in a country at war and being an immigrant. I say this because of the improper use of commas and periods. (There were often commas used in place of periods and, sometimes, not enough commas.) I am assuming English is not this Pakistani writer’s first language so I don’t mean to be overly critical but it did impact my reading experience. If the intention was purposeful--to make the novel seem a bit frantic at times with all the run-ons, the author succeeded. Also, the scenes were written in short bursts so it was like the reader was seeing a peep—the most significant part of a scene—and then moving on to the next scene. This, too, added to the frantic feeling even though the pace of the story was not fast.

The story focused on two people, Nadia and Saeed, who were forced to flee their (unidentified) homeland in wartime, fleeing to places unknown. The interesting thing is that in the midst of this serious topic, the author provided a magical means by which the immigrants were able to travel instantaneously from country to country via special doors. I anticipated more magical promise with these doors, but they were just a mechanism by which the struggle of travel was removed in the novel. Instead, the author chose to focus on the experience of being an immigrant and trying to make a new home in a new place where you have no friends, no history, and no security. My favorite parts were the little short stories interspersed throughout the main story. I particularly liked the one with the man on the balcony—probably because it was the happiest one.

It was a fairly forlorn novel about survival. It showed the struggles of people forced to leave their home country. The story touched on both the desire to stay among people of your own kind as well as the beauty of diversity when people learn to work together for the common good.

The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #2) by Erika Johansen

Amy     

Lynnie  


fantasy


Amy's Review

Another great novel by Erika Johansen! I really enjoyed this second novel in the Queen of the Tearling trilogy. We were given answers to my questions from the first novel and I do always enjoy getting answers! So, it seems we are seeing our future as well as our past in this one…a very interesting premise. The same lovable characters from the first novel are back, picking up right where they left off. And now we have new characters from pre-Crossing! In this story, our future (Tearling’s past) is grim indeed. And, given some recent developments here in present-day America, imagining some of those conditions in our future is not too difficult. Let’s hope those aspects of humanity remain fantasy.

My one major complaint is hard to describe without giving much away. I’ll just say that if the leader of the Crossing knew what he says he always knew (near the end of the book), then why would he have returned Lily to her situation? Why put her through all of that torture? I can’t think of a single good reason. He even lost a good person in the process of the rescue. This makes no sense for the story line other than to forcefully add some extra drama. I would love to hear from other readers if they can explain any good reason other than adding drama and length to the novel.

One other comment I must make is regarding the audiobook version. While I like Davina Porter (I’ve heard her narrate the Outlander novels) I do not feel she was the right narrator for this novel. She is an older British woman. However, the heroines in this novel are young and at least one of them is American. The only accents Davina can do are European. I just found her to not have the right voice for these characters. And, the accent she chose to use for The Mace was horrid! He sounded goofy and stupid when he is intended to be tough and smart. So, I ended up leaving the audiobook and reading the book for the remainder. For that, I give Davina a C for this novel.

Can’t wait to read the last in the trilogy!

Lynnie's Review

I enjoyed spending time with Kelsea & the rest of the characters from Queen of the Tearling once again. As the main story in Invasion of the Tearling moves torward the Mortmesne invasion of the Tear, preparations for war and the attempt to save as many of the inhabitants of the Tear as possible continue. The book is best when it's focused on Kelsea & her kingdom. As Kelsea's powers grow, those closest to her become increasingly concerned about what the future holds for all of them.

There is a secondary story that Kelsea sees when she is in a fugue state- a "pre-Crossing" woman named Lily, clearly living in a frightening vision of America where the government and military are in complete control, people have few rights, women have fewer rights, and the division of wealth has become extreme. I found that as I read this portion of the story with Lily as the main character I was annoyed. I wanted to get back to the main story at hand &, even as I realized that this was an important part of the story, & I enjoyed it on its own, I found myself wishing it was a novella- separated from the main story rather than woven into it.

I'm looking forward to finishing the series and am especially glad that the book is already released so I don't have to wait a year for it!

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Lynnie

young adult, fiction, mystery 


A re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in a modern setting, I had no expectations going into A Study in Charlotte. I'd actually not heard anything about it until I saw a notice from a publisher that its sequel was going to be released. It was available at the library & I decided to give it a shot- I'm so glad I did. Brittany Cavallaro creates a fun YA take on the Holmes/Watson relationship where Charlotte Holmes and James Watson are the descendants of Sherlock and John.  Their families are inextricably, historically linked. Once they meet each other mayhem, of course, ensues. It's a fun story with a mystery that's easy to follow and the interactions between the two can only be called "cute."

I'll read the sequel when I get the chance just to spend a bit more time with these delightful characters.