This was our book club selection for March (you can check out our meeting HERE), and after restarting the audiobook 3 times and failing to get hooked, I switched to a hard copy and immediately loved it. (Many book club members agreed that the audio just didn't work for them.)
Kell has the extremely rare magical ability to pass between the same city in parallel worlds as an ambassador of sorts. But when he unknowingly smuggles a powerful magical artifact between worlds, he must find a way to keep it out of evil hands and destroy it. This one is hard to describe well, but really fun. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
This historical fiction begins with a search for the missing daughter of a prison guard on Alcatraz and the only prisoner who knows her whereabouts, then moves back to the childhood of a young Irish immigrant in the early 1900s, alone on a ship full of immigrants entering New York Harbor.
I thought it was an interesting setting and I loved the history. I wish that a little more time had been spent on the Alcatraz portion of the story, which I thought was really cool to learn about. But it felt a bit long and drawn out to me, and I never felt very connected to or concerned about the characters.
A massive luxury spaceliner crash lands on an unknown planet (unsurprisingly, the ship's name is Icarus *eyeroll*). Young war hero Tarver and rich heiress Lilac are the only survivors, and must journey across the torturous landscape to survive and seek help.
Right. Sooo not for me. I listened to the audio, and it was interesting enough to finish. But every aspect of the story seemed carefully constructed in order to create the highest possible degree of horny, cheesy, teenage sexual tension, and I just could not handle it. Sorry. I know this series has a lot of fans, but I am not among them.
Total coincidence that I read two books this month by the same author -- Illuminae is our book club selection for April, and I happened to read These Broken Stars first without even realizing the connection. (And I certainly would have been less excited to read this one for book club if I'd noticed!)
2575: two rival megacorporations are at war over a tiny, illegal mining planet. Kady and Ezra barely escape alive to separate rescue ships, which are being hotly pursued. A mysterious (and creepy-as-hell) plague breaks out among the survivors. The ship's artificial intelligence may actually be trying to kill everyone. A massive corporate conspiracy seems to be underway. And the whole story is told through a series of found documents -- ship memos, emails, IM conversations, etc.
I kind of can't even believe that this is the same author who wrote These Broken Stars. This book was awesome. I loved the 'found documents' style, I was totally okay with the romance (which had none of the goofy, 'in your face' teenageriness of Stars' romance), the plot was twisting and surprising and suspenseful, and it was impossible to put down. I read it all in two sittings and can't wait for the next in the series to come out.
Liane Moriarty is always fun, and this novel is no exception. (My favorites are Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret.)
A set of triplets each handles their own issues: one sister has just learned of her husband's infidelity; one can't stay in a relationship past 6 months; one keeps her life and family obsessively organized but secretly suffers from panic attacks.
It's funny and enjoyable, but also hits on some heavy issues. I liked it, but I'd recommend the two favorites I mentioned earlier over this one.
What did you read in March?
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