Chimera is the new sexy

Revealing Eden, Book 1 in the Save the Pearls series by Victoria Foyt, brought some very interesting concepts into play.  Caucasians becoming the lower class due to overwhelming numbers of other races?  I can't believe it hasn't happened yet.  Creating genetic mutations in people? Probably not too far out there.  Humans destroying their own world enough that living outside is toxic? Probably not too far out there, either.  We do have a tendency to mess up a good thing.  I enjoyed the plot line of the story, but found myself yawning every time the main gal inwardly oohed and ahhed over the main guy's flexing muscles, graceful lope, and penetrating eyes.  Are we ever going to come up with new ways to describe a teenage girl to fawn over a bad boy?  WAIT! Maybe if we turn him into a CHIMERA! ....hmmm, nope, that didn't work.

OK, maybe he's not really a chimera, because they left out the goat, but come on: take one part arrogant male eye-candy, add one part snake, one part bird of prey(not quite the chimeric dragon, but you get my drift), and one part jaguar and shake thoroughly.  What do you get?  Something that I couldn't picture clearly but closely resembled Panthro from Thundercats in my mind.  What started out as a dystopic adventure started morphing into Beauty and the Beast visit the Amazon.  I enjoyed the read, but am not overly enthralled by it.  I still give it 4 out of 5 stars, and will now be searching the internet for old episodes of Thundercats.

Did I Just Read The Help?

Well, yes I did, but Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim was actually the book I finished.  It was like it was created to be a sister story to The Help. Not in a bad way.  Instead of free, much-overworked and abused Black housekeepers, it focused on a very not-free, much-overworked, and struggling house slave.  I enjoyed that the story was told from two very different viewpoints - something that became more and more significant as the book progressed.  I cheered for Mattie but found myself frustrated with Lisbeth (which is only to be expected based on the fact that she sometimes acted like a snooty little rich girl...which she is) but eventually liking her.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars and think that anyone who enjoyed reading The Help would not be disappointed by this story.

My dear, aren't you a bit...Peculiar?

It's very hard for me to stop reading a book just because I'm not really enjoying it.  I always want to give the author the benefit of the doubt that things are going to get better/more exciting/different/etc.  Sometimes, though, the attempt is a lesson in futility.  The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry was a good story, but I found myself raising my hand saying "Edit, please!"  The exciting parts went by too fast, the lead-up for exciting events was similar to the lead-up for not-so-exciting events, and I found myself wishing that a careful red pen or white-out would have shaved 50 pages from the book.
Now, the story itself was a fun steampunk-esque romp with the recently popular "otherworldly" elements scattered throughout.  The style of writing seemed to fit with the 1800's timeline and the author obviously did her homework on some historical things occurring at that time.  The characters were, perhaps, underdeveloped. I had trouble guessing what a character would do in a given situation, which you want in mysteries, but makes it hard to know if, in a more action/drama setting, if they are truly sincere.
I give it 3.5 out of 5, a score easily buoyed up by some skilled editing to polish the story.

Merlin, moonbeams, and memories

I received Without Tess by Marcella Pixley from Netgalley.com and was very excited! Then I received a few other books and kind of forgot about it.  Flashier covers and exciting-sounding titles kept getting in the way.  But I finally, FINALLY took the time to read this book. I was disappointed....in myself...for not reading it sooner!  This book amazes me.  I simultaneously feel the uncertain fear and the hopeful joy that Lizzie bounces between and have no trouble imagining a childhood so full of dreams, experiences, and heartaches.
Anyone who has ever hidden in a box and truly believed that it could take you to the moon will connect with this emotional rollercoaster as Lizzie tries to understand and come to grips with some very difficult experiences and memories.