resolution

Changers, Book Four: Forever by T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: The end is finally nigh for Ethan/Drew/Oryon/Kim/? (I'm not going to give away anything about his/her final identity).  S/he has one more year to go before s/he can choose his/her final identity.  Who will s/he be this time?  What choice will s/he ultimately make?  These are the questions that made me want to read the last book in this series, and kept me reading until the end of the book.  I have to admit, though, that it was sort of tough going.  First of all, the plot holes are back and better than ever!  Secondly, slang vomited all over this book.  It definitely helped the character have a voice, but it got grating.

And then.  Oh, and then.  For the first quarter or so of the book, we're still with Kim as she wraps up her affairs, particularly with Audrey, with whom she swears undying love and devotion, no matter what the next identity is.  Until it's time for said identity when s/he totally bails.  Good reason?  Maybe.  But not big enough to close the plot hole.  And made most of the second half of the book aggravating.

But, it's all over now.  Ethan/Drew/Oryon/Kim/? has made his/her decision and started the rest of his/her life.  And I will say that the ending was quite lovely.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

no tension

The Prisoner in the Castle by Susan Elia MacNeal
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction, mystery
Review: Maggie Hope just cannot catch a break.  In her latest adventure, she finds herself a prisoner of SOE and MI6 because she knows too much.  She and other highly trained agents are being held in relative comfort on a remote island in the Hebrides.  That there was such a "cooler" in a remote part of Scotland is historical fact.  One can only hope that the agents who were actually held did not have to deal with a murderer picking them off one at a time (a la Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which gets a shout-out (under its original name) at the beginning of the book), or a Nazi spy.  You would think that with all that going, there would be a lot of tension in this book, but you would be wrong.  Someone dies, they all gasp, but remind themselves that they are not only British (stiff upper lip, old thing) but also trained agents, so they must just soldier on.  We hear Maggie's interior monologue that reminds us that she's so scared and just wants to go home, and that she's a trained agent and can handle this, and she steps forward and takes charge of the situation and tries to calm everyone else's fears (frankly, most of the others don't act like trained agents).  And then someone else is murdered and they all repeat the process.  Oh, and there's a couple of really enormous red herrings.

This is definitely not the strongest book in the Maggie Hope series, but, as always, I look forward to seeing what MacNeal gets Maggie up to next.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the perils of silence

Vox by Christina Dalcher
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Imagine that a new President has been elected with the help of the extreme Christian right.  So extreme, and so powerful, that they reverse over a hundred years of women's rights, and worse.  Women are limited to 100 words a day, enforced by a "bracelet" they wear that administers worsening electric shocks for every word over the limit.  Dalcher doesn't waste much time on the details of how this came about, which is fine, as they're largely beside the point for the purposes of her story.  But, every time I caught myself saying "this is just too unbelievable - that would never happen here," I reminded myself that that's been said by other people at other times and places in history, and it could, and it did.

As for this book, though, comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale are inevitbale, but Vox has a different ambition.  Dalcher doesn't pull her punches when it comes to the details of women's subjugation in the new regime, but the story focuses on a small group of people who suddenly realize that they can change everything.

Even that isn't the real point, though.  Dalcher also pulls no punches in getting her message across.  Everyone: use your voice.  While you still can.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

these boots were made for walking

Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Martin and Zoe are both recently single, middle-aged people who decide to walk to the Camino de Santiago starting in Cluny, France.  Neither of them have particularly good reasons to walk hundreds of miles on an historical pilgrimage, but it seems like a good idea at the time.  They don't know each other until just before they set out, but fate brings them together on the trail.  And apart.  And together.  And apart.  And together again.  Each time they come together, the encourage each other forward with well-placed cliches, and then misunderstand each other just enough so that they separate again.

Martin's and Zoe's stories are somewhat less than compelling, unfortunately, and the cast of characters they meet along the way isn't much better.  But the descriptions of the Camino were very well done, and almost made me feel like I was walking alongside them.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Review: Isabel has some serious wounds, but then there's a big fight, so she just has to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in (literally), but the ghost helps her.  Then she's even more wounded, but there's another big fight, so she continues to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in, again (literally - Isabel's in a network of underground tunnels), but the ghost helps her again.  Then she and the ghost are both in trouble, but the gears click in her mind and she figures out a solution, which is totally risky and probably won't work, but it's their only chance... annnnd it works, and they live to have the ceiling fall in on them again (literally).  Meanwhile, there's like a mystery, and some feelings, and Isabel keeps falling into the ghost-place and no-one knows why, and people fighting aboveground too, and it's really just a big mess.  But Isabel is undaunted - actually, that's a lie, she's totally daunted, but she knows the fate of ... everything? ... is at stake.

There, now you don't have to read the book.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sexy and sweet

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: What would you do if you were a very well-off and well-respected professional woman who was terrified of dating and sex because you had Asperger's?  Perhaps you would hire an escort to help you become more comfortable with those interpersonal areas of your life.  And what would you do if you were a man who had mountains of debt and responsibilities, but had been told you had a particular talent for sex?  You'd become an escort, naturally.  Thus, the basis for 2018's greatest love story.  Michael and Stella are both characters you root for, to be able to overcome their own shortcomings and power through the things that challenge them.  It gives nothing away to say that they end up together, but the process, oh, the process.  Very steamy and very sweet.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the hazards of wealth

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: From the outside, Nina has everything she could ever want.  She has a successful (and rich husband), a son on his way to Princeton, a beautiful home, and time to charity work.  But that's not really who Nina is, as she finds out when scandal strikes, in the form of a picture of a nearly nude girl that her son snapchats to a few friends.  The repurcussions of that force Nina to really examine her life and whether it reflects her values.  Her introspection forms one theme of the story, and the did-he-didn't-he question of who actually sent the picture and what the consequences will be, form another.  Add to that Lyla, the girl in the photo, who has her own story to tell, and her father, and you get a complex, layered book that explores issues of privilige, complicity, and redemption.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.