[BOOK REVIEW] Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Title:  Illuminae

Authors:  Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Genre:  Science Fiction

Year Published: 2015

Number of Pages: 599 pages 

Date Read: 7/23/2019 

Series: The Illuminae Files #1 

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Gory Violence and Deaths)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.”

Oh, my goodness! How could I wait so long to finally tackle this book?  I have been hearing nothing but awesome things about this book! And yet, because there were so many other books that I wanted to read, I did not have the time to read this book (until now)!  “Illuminae” which was written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was certainly an absolute blast to read!

Kady Grant thought that breaking up with her ex-boyfriend Ezra Mason was the worst thing to happen to her.  Then, her planet ends up getting invaded by a mega corporation called BeiTech and she and Ezra are forced to flee from their planet and go on the spaceship Hypatia to escape from the enemy spaceship Lincoln.  But things start to get worse for the crew of Hypatia when it turns out that there is a deadly virus that is spreading across the ship that is turning the people into hideous monsters.  Not to mention, the fleet’s AI AIDAN has gone berserk and has started killing people on board in order to protect them from Lincoln’s forces.  Now, it is up to Kady and Ezra to save the ship Hypatia from the virus, AIDAN and Lincoln itself.

Wow!  I never would have expected to enjoy this book as much as I did!  Both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff did a fantastic job at writing this book!  The narrative was highly creative as the story is mostly told through various documents that the commanders of the Hypatia have collected and also through diagrams of the ship and email messages from each of the characters.  I have never read a book where the narrative was mostly comprised of documents and diagrams and it made this book so intriguing to read! I also loved the way that both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff put in so much intensity into the story as I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat when almost everyone was getting affected by the virus and when AIDAN started going berserk.  It seemed like almost everyone was going to die in this book due to all the deaths that occurred and that just made this book so exciting to read.  I also really loved all of the characters in this book, especially Kady and Ezra as they were extremely well-written.  I loved the fact that Kady Grant was such a strong female protagonist who was able to use her hacking skills to do everything in her power to save the people of Hypatia.  Ezra Mason was another character that I really liked as his sarcastic personality was hilarious to read and I really loved his relationship with Kady as they seem to have a love / hate relationship with each other, but still care about each other deep down.  I especially loved the way that Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff wrote the dialogues in this book, as most of the characters have snarky personalities.  And yet, they all sounded so relatable to me, especially when they are trying to figure out how they will survive this all-out war that they are forcefully thrown into.

For anyone who does not like strong violence and death, there is quite a bit of violent moments in this book, especially during the scenes where the virus breaks out and the infected started attacking people in increasingly brutal ways.  There is also a lot of deaths in this book due to said virus that might upset some people.

Overall, “Illuminae” is easily one of the most creative and exciting books that I have ever read and if you love science fiction books with a bit of romance thrown in, then I would definitely recommend this book!  Now, I am off to read the second book in the series, “Gemina!”

* 2015 Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Older Children (ages 8-14)

* 2015 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

* 2015 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

* 2016 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance

* 2016 The Inky Awards Nominee for Gold Inky

* 2016 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Gold Inky

* 2016 Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera perteneciente a saga

* 2017 Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee

* 2018 Evergreen Teen Book Award Nominee

* 2019 Lincoln Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• The Martian by Andy Weir

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown

• Golden Son by Pierce Brown

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[BOOK REVIEW] Caleb and Kate by William Steig

Title:  Caleb and Kate

Author:  William Steig

Genre: Romance / Animals / Magic

Year Published: 1977

Year Read:  1993

Publisher: Square Fish

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 6+  (One Intense Scene Involving Burglary and Domestic Tensions)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Caleb and Kate” is one of William Steig’s most touching and intense books about how love can conquer any obstacle in life. The story of how the couple dealt with almost being separated from each other, due from a magic spell, is one of the most popular forms of fairy tales ever created.

“Caleb and Kate” is an extremely dramatic love story from the creative mind of William Steig. William Steig shows that even though Caleb and Kate fought with each other most of the time, their love for each other has mysteriously broke the spell over Caleb and the couple reunite with each other with more passion than before. William Steig has specialty with illustrating the forests in each of his stories with luscious colors. “Caleb and Kate” is no exception with the forests contrasting in color as the forests are light during the day and are dark during the night.

The two things that I find wrong with this book is that the story tends to be longer than any other children’s book I have read and that there are many words in the book that young children would not understand. The story tends to stretch out more than it needs to such as, the scene where Caleb is playing with the other dogs, when the focus of the story is actually in Caleb trying to tell his wife that he is her long lost husband that she is trying to find. Also, William Steig has been known to use advanced vocabulary in his books, even though they are aimed at children. The words that many young children would find hard to understand are “odious,” “cantankerous,” and “avidly.” Parents should take some time to explain the advanced vocabulary to their children so that the children would understand the book better.

“Caleb and Kate” explains about how love manages to bring two quarreling couples back together after Caleb has been transformed into a dog. Even though Caleb was threatened with the idea of spending the rest of his life as a dog, he still did not give up on the love that he shares with Kate and tries to be by her side at all times. This book is the perfect love story for young children and adults would also love this book as well for its theme about love conquering anything.

[BOOK REVIEW] The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

Title:  The Piper's Son

Author: Melina Marchetta

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2010

Number of Pages: 328 pages

Date Read: 6/3/2013

Series: Saving Francesca #2   

Publisher: Penguin Australia/Viking

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Death of a Family Member and Strong Language)

After reading Melina Marchetta’s classic novel “Saving Francesca,” I was excited to hear about Melina Marchetta writing the sequel to that story, “The Piper’s Son!”  This time, the story is focused on Thomas Finch Mackee as he deals with the sudden death of his Uncle Joe and how it is negatively affecting him and his family.

Five years ago, Thomas Finch Mackee was best friends with Francesca Spinelli, Justine Kalinsky and Will Trombal (well, sort of).  But all of that changed when Tom’s Uncle Joe is suddenly blown up in a foreign country and Tom handles the tragedy poorly as he starts doing drugs and breaks ties with his former friends.  Now, Tom is trying to mend his broken relationships with both his former friends, Francesca and Justine, and with the love of his life, Tara Finke, while dealing with his Aunt Georgie’s unexpected pregnancy and her break up with her boyfriend Sam.  But, will Tom have the strength to move on with his life and fix everything that he had done wrong in the past?

Wow! I never would have thought that I would read a Melina Marchetta book that was better than “Saving Francesca” (well, actually “Jellicoe Road” took that honor)!  But, “The Piper’s Son” has proven to be one of Melina Marchetta’s most heartwarming and genuine books ever written!  I loved the way that Melina Marchetta portrayed Thomas Mackee’s character as Tom is usually rude, sarcastic and distant, but as the book goes on, Tom’s character starts evolving and I loved seeing his softer side as he is truly a good friend to both Francesca and Justine.  I also loved the way that Melina Marchetta portrayed Tom’s reaction to his uncle’s death as the death was truly tragic for Tom and it was quite intense seeing Tom become so distant towards his former friends and lashing out at everyone who tried to talk to him.  To me, Melina Marchetta really portrayed the sense of loss within a family in a realistic and dramatic way and I often found myself sympathizing with Tom’s ordeal of losing his uncle.  I really loved Tom’s relationship with Francesca, Tara and Justine as he is always sarcastic around them, which provides so much witty dialogue from all the characters and it made their friendship feel so genuine. I also loved the fact that this story is told from both Tom’s and his aunt Georgie’s point of view as it really made this story more layered as we are seeing the effect of Uncle Joe’s death from both Tom’s and Georgie’s point of view.  I really enjoyed hearing Georgie’s side of the story about her dealing with her unexpected pregnancy and trying to decide about whether or not she should take Sam back, who had cheated on her early on. I will admit that when I first read this book and it was told in the third person point of view instead of the first person point of view that I read in “Saving Francesca” and “Jellicoe Road,” I was a little surprised at how the viewpoint was changed from the previous novels.  But, I found the third person point of view narrative to be truly engaging and I found myself truly understanding what each of these characters are going through.  I loved the fact that this story takes place in Australia since it gives this novel an exotic feel and whenever they mentioned places like Sydney and Brisbane, I often imagined myself being in those places!

For those of you who do not like reading novels with strong language, this novel is full of strong language, such as the constant use of the “f” word and the “s” word.  Also, this novel deals with the subject of death in a family and anyone who had lost a loved one might have a hard time getting through this book since it is about Tom trying to deal with the death of his uncle.

Overall, “The Piper’s Son” is a truly fantastic story about how a family tries to cope with the death of a loved one and to never take life for granted.  Fans of Melina Marchetta’s works will definitely love this novel for many years!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Duke's Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley

Title:  The Duke's Perfect Wife

Author:  Jennifer Ashley

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2012

Number of Pages: 296 pages

Date Read: 3/29/2013

Series: Highland Pleasures #4  

Publisher:  Berkley

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes)

After reading the previous “Highland Pleasures” books “The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie,” “Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage” and “The Many Sins of Lord Cameron,” I was excited to see that Jennifer Ashley had a new book from the “Highland Pleasures” series called “The Duke’s Perfect Wife,” staring Hart Mackenzie and I admit, this book took me quite by surprise!

Lady Eleanor Ramsay was once engaged to the Scottish Duke, Hart Mackenzie and was madly in love with him.  Unfortunately, Eleanor broke off her engagement to Hart Mackenzie after the two of them had a fight and it has been years since she had ever spoken to Hart.  One day however, Eleanor mysteriously receives photographs of Hart posing nude and she decides to go to Hart’s home to help him find the person who has been sending her the mysterious photographs.  But, will she restore her love with Hart and maybe help Hart find himself once again?

As always, Jennifer Ashley has done a great job at telling a truly interesting love story that not only has memorable characters, but mystery and drama to go right along with it!  I loved the way that Jennifer Ashley weaved a mystery plot to the story as I was seriously on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who sent Eleanor the nude photographs of Hart and what the ulterior motive was behind this act was.  But, as always, what I loved the most about this novel(as with Jennifer Ashley’s other romance novels) were of the characters themselves.  Eleanor Ramsay was a truly unique kind of heroine as she might talk a lot, especially whenever she is nervous, but it is that aspect of her character that really made her shine throughout this book!  I also loved the fact that Eleanor is an extremely kind hearted person who is willing to put everyone else’s needs before her own and it was fantastic seeing her help Hart discover more about life besides his political career.   As for Hart Mackenzie, he was a truly fantastic hero as he is much nicer and gentle than he really lets on and I enjoy the scenes where he tries to repair his broken relationship with Eleanor while at the same time, trying to discover that there is more to life than just controlling it for his political ideals.  As for Hart's magnificient body, if you have not seen the cover of this book, then you will know that he is seriously one well built hero as he is constantly being described as having a muscular body that just made me gush over every time I read about it!  While Hart and Eleanor were my favorite couple in this book, the character that really stood out in this book was Ian Mackenzie himself!  I loved the fact that Ian was actually trying to help Hart and Eleanor get back together again and I loved the fact that he was being a good friend towards Eleanor throughout this book. Also, the romantic scenes between Hart and Eleanor were hot and sizzling as Hart may have a difficult time confessing his dark secrets towards Eleanor, but he certainly knows how to romance Eleanor in many different ways!

For anyone who does not like reading sex scenes in any novel, this novel has many sex scenes that are explicit, so it might be best to skim over these scenes.  Also, the reason why I gave this book a four star rating is because I often got a little frustrated with the characters.  For one thing, I was practically screaming towards Hart to just let Eleanor discover the real him and stop keeping so many secrets from her.  I understand that Hart was having a hard time trying to vent out his feelings for Eleanor and to not let her know about his dark past, but I just wished that he made his feelings known early on in the book and actually trusted Eleanor with some of his secrets.  Also, the main problem I have with novels where the plot is focused on the couple trying to get back together after they had broken up is that you can not really experience the new and raw feelings of a blossoming romance since that couple’s romance was started early on and sometimes it was hard for me to really get into Hart and Eleanor’s relationship with each other because they already had a relationship with each other before they tried to get back together again.

Overall, “The Duke’s Perfect Wife” is a great story about Hart and Eleanor and I seriously cannot wait to see more from the “Highland Pleasure” series, especially the next book in the series, “The Seduction of Elliot McBride!”

Here are my favorite “Highland Pleasures” starting with my favorite:

1. The Many Sins of Lord Cameron
2. The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
3. Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage
4. The Duke’s Perfect Wife

 

[BOOK REVIEW] A Texan's Luck by Jodi Thomas

Title:  A Texan's Luck

Author: Jodi Thomas

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2004

Number of Pages: 512 pages

Date Read: 2/25/2013

Series: Wife Lottery #3

Publisher:  Jove

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Some Sex Scenes and Some Language)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

After reading the first two books in Jodi Thomas’ fantastic “Wife Lottery” series, “The Texan’s Wager” and “When a Texan Gambles,” I was definitely looking forward to reading the third book in this series called “A Texan’s Luck” and man, was I in for an enjoyable ride!

The story starts off when Captain Walker Larson discovers a shocking revelation when a young and beautiful woman named Lacy Larson walks into his office and tells him that she is his wife.  Unfortunately, Walker has no intentions of having a wife and he sends Lacy away back to Cedar Point.  Three years later however, when Lacy thought that she got over her disappointment in meeting Walker Larson, Walker ends up back in her life again when he received word that Zeb Whitaker might be after her and he was stationed to protect her at all costs.  Unfortunately, Lacy, still upset over Walker shunning her years ago, wants nothing to do with Walker and wants him to leave in the next few days.  However, both Walker and Lacy will soon discover that they might have some feelings for each other despite their differences.

Wow!  I never thought that Jodi Thomas’ “Wife Lottery” series could possibly get even better over time!  Jodi Thomas’s writing in this book was so beautiful and emotional that I found myself really sympathizing with all of the characters’ ordeals.  I loved the way that Jodi Thomas portrayed the relationships between the characters, especially between Lacy and Walker themselves, who are my favorite characters in the entire book!  Lacy Larson was such an independent and kind hearted heroine who refuses to let anyone run her life.  I actually sympathized with Lacy at the beginning of the novel since she was scorned by Walker Larson and it was pretty understandable about why she hated Walker throughout most of the book since I probably would have held a little grudge myself if I was scorned like that.  I also loved the way that Lacy helped Walker understand more about how love works and the fact that she too was new at the whole “husband and wife” situation really brought out so much chemistry between her and Walker.  Probably the best character in this book was Walker Larson himself as he is unlike any other romantic hero I had ever read about before!  Walker Larson is shown to be a gruff, secretive and yet tortured character as he felt sorry for what he done to Lacy years ago and tries to make amends for it.  It was interesting seeing that Walker had trouble trying to sort out his feelings for Lacy due to him being in the army all the time and I loved the way that he tries hard to please Lacy and protect her at all times, despite his somewhat “cold” attitude.  Even though there were not enough sexual scenes to satisfy my romantic urges, the scenes where Walker and Lacy try to get to know each other by taking each other out to dinners and spending some quality “quiet” time together were probably the best scenes in this book and I really loved their witty banters with each other, especially this little gem:

“This day was endless not seeing you.  I want to get you alone.  I don’t feel like sharing you with the world right now.”

“I know.”

“I thought of being here with you like this all day.”

“I know.”

“I ached to hold you.  Half the time I didn’t even bother to listen to what others were saying.”

“I know.”

For anyone who does not like reading about sex scenes, this book has some sex scenes, however, it is not quite as explicit as the other sex scenes I have read in other romance novels.  Also, there is some brief language in this novel, however the language only showed up once or twice in this novel and it is not quite strong enough to be offensive.

Overall, “A Texan’s Luck” is easily one of the most memorable books out of Jodi Thomas’ “Wife Lottery” series and anyone who is a huge fan of western romances should definitely give this novel a whirl!

[BOOK REVIEW] The Pleasure of Your Kiss by Teresa Medeiros

Title:  The Pleasure of Your Kiss

Author: Teresa Medeiros

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 506 pages

Date Read: 8/23/2012

Series: Burke Brothers #1 

Publisher: Pocket Star

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Sex Scenes)

After hearing that Teresa Medeiros has a new romance novel being released, being the big romance novel fan that I am, I just had to pick up this book!  Well, Teresa Medeiros’ newest book “The Pleasure of Your Kiss” really took me on a wild and sensual ride that I had never been on when reading other romance novels and has now gotten me looking forward to other new romance novels from Teresa Medeiros!

Clarinda Cardew was on her way to England to marry the rich and powerful duke Maximillian Burke, but then she and her friend Penelope Montmorency (Poppy) are ambushed by pirates and she ends up in the arms of a rich and powerful sultan of Morocco called Zin al-Farouk (Farouk) who happens to own a luminous harem!  At the same time, legendary adventurer Ashton Burke is summoned by his brother Maximillian Burke to go and retrieve Clarinda from the sultan’s clutches.  Unfortunately, Ashton Burke used to have a blossoming romance with Clarinda Cardew years ago until he broke her heart by leaving her for unknown reasons and when he actually goes on the quest to retrieve Clarinda from the sultan, he will soon realize that his romance with Clarinda will soon blossomed again in a shocking way that could change their world forever!

Again, after I had heard that Teresa Medeiros was making another romance novel, my inner fan-girl soul was kicked up into high gear and I just had to get this book!  Well, after reading this book, I was impressed that Teresa Medeiros’ writing is better than ever as this romance novel was clearly more unusual than the usual romance novels I usually pick up!  For one thing, this romance novel takes place in a harem, which I did find a bit unusual to put into a romance novel since the story would usually focus on the two romantic interests in the story.  However, I felt that having the story take place in a harem added a nice touch to the story and provided so much uniqueness from the standard romance novel.  I just loved almost all of the characters involved in this novel as Teresa Medeiros made each character truly stand out from each other.  Clarinda Cardew was a truly inspiring heroine as she is shown to be a strong willed woman who refuses to let anyone run her life.  Also, just hearing about how she was struggling in trying to move on with her life when Ashton Burke left her years ago was a truly heartbreaking aspect of her character that made me really feel sorry for her and I usually wished her the best during this story.  Ashton Burke was a truly unique type of hero as he is known as an adventurer and I loved the way that he can outsmart any enemy he comes across and gets what he wants.  I also loved his devil-may-care attitude that he has become so famous for and it was interesting in seeing how he wanted to rekindled the love that he and Clarinda had lost when he left her years ago.  But the relationship I was more invested in was between Farouk and Poppy since Ashton and Clarinda were spending the majority of the book trying to rekindle their relationship.  Farouk and Poppy’s relationship with each other was more interesting because it was set up more like the two of them gaining interest in each other rather than regain their lost love and it was interesting in seeing how Poppy is able to break down Farouk’s serious nature by offering him sweets most of the time.

For anyone who does not like sex scenes, there are a couple of explicit sex scenes in this book, so it would be best to skim over these scenes.  Also, just a brief nitpick, but I wanted to see more romance scenes between Clarinda and Ashton since the majority of the book is spent on Ashton trying to rescue Clarinda from the sultan.  Now, I did not mind too much about the part where Ashton is trying to rescue Clarinda, but I wanted to hear more “sexy” talk between the two characters so I could actually melt away in ecstasy whenever I hear these two characters flirting with each other.

Overall, even though I wanted more romance between Clarinda and Ashton, “The Pleasure of Your Kiss” is a truly unique and brilliant book that romance novels fans will eat up for many years to come!