Firestorm by Rachel Caine

First sentence:

"I was thinking that the Wardens needed a new motto."

Description:

Rogue Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is racing to New York to warn her former colleagues of the impending apocalypse. An ancient agreement between the Djinn and the Wardens has been broken, and the furious Djinn, slaves to the wardens for millennia, have broken free of mortal control.

With more than half the Wardens unaccounted for in the wake of the Djinn uprising, Joanne realizes that the natural disasters they've combated for so long were merely symptoms of restless Mother Nature fidgeting in her sleep. Now's she's waking up--and she is angry..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this entry in the Weather Warden series. I liked how Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin worked to alert her colleagues of the dangerous collapse in the Warden-Djinn relations. I look forward to reading the next book, Thin Air.

Date read: 8/25/2015

Book #: 23

Series: Weather Warden, #5

Rating: 3*/5 = good

Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0451461045

ISBN-13: 9780451461049

Publisher: ROC

Year:2006

# of pages: 292

Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Mermaid: A Memoir of Resilience by Eileen Cronin

First sentence:

"Along the oceanfront at dusk, my friends drag me past the fern bars and wet T-shirt contests to catch up to the aerobic pulse from the disco ahead ,which we call 'flashback' because-his flashing lights leave you with a psychedelic impression of dancing dots when you come back onto the street."

Description:

"At the age of three, Eileen Cronin first realized that only she did not have leg. Her boisterous Catholic family accepted her situation as 'God's Will,' treating her no differently than her ten siblings as she 'squiddled' through their 1960s Cincinnati home. But starting school, even wearing prosthetics, Cronin had to brave bullying and embarrassing questions. Thanks to her older brother's coaching, she handled a classmate's playground taunts with a smack from her lunchbox. As a teen, thrilled when boys asked her out, she was confused about what sexuality meant for her. She felt most comfortable and happiest relaxing and skinny dipping with her girlfriends, imaging herself ' an elusive mermaid.' The cause of her disability remained taboo, however, even as she looked toward the future and the possibility of her own family.

In later years, as her mother battled mental illness and denied having taken the drug thalidomide--known--to cause birth defects--Cronin felt apart from her family. After the death of a lose brother, she turned to alcohol. Eventually, however, she found the strength to set out on her own, volunteering at hospitals, and earning a PhD in clinical psychology.

Reflecting with humor and grace on her youth, search for love, and quest for answers, Cronin spins a shimmering story of self discovery and transformation." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I liked this book about growing up strong despite having missing limbs due to thalidomide. Cronin doesn't let anything get in her way and her determination to live her life fully is an inspiration.

Date read: 8/23/2015
Book #:22
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir

ISBN-10: 0393089010
ISBN-13: 9780393089011
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Year: 2014
# of pages: 334
Binding: Hardcover
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I was Amelia Earhardt by Jane Mendelsohn

First sentence:

"The sky is flesh."

Description:

"In this brilliantly imagined novel, Amelia Earhart tells us what happened after she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared off the coast of New Guinea one glorious, windy day in 1937. And she tells us about herself.

There is her love affair with flying ("The sky is flesh") . . . .

There are her memories of the past: her childhood desire to become a heroine ("Heroines did what they wanted") . . . her marriage to G.P. Putnam, who promoted her to fame, but was willing to gamble her life so that the book she was writing about her round-the-world flight would sell out before Christmas.

There is the flight itself -- day after magnificent or perilous or exhilarating or terrifying day ("Noonan once said any fool could have seen I was risking my life but not living it").

And there is, miraculously, an island ("We named it Heaven, as a kind of joke").

And, most important, there is Noonan . . ." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

This was an interesting book of the possible life of Amelia Earhart after she disappeared flying over the Pacific Ocean.

Date read: 8/21/2015
Book #: 21
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3*/5 = good

ISBN-10: 0679776362
ISBN-13: 9780679776369
Publisher: Vintage 
Year: 1997
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Windfall by Rachel Caine

First sentence:

"It doesn't take much to destroy the world as humans know it."

Description:

"Leaving Las Vegas seemed like a great idea to Joanne Baldwin. But there is no escaping her past -- and there is no time to recharge. The former Weather Warden's powers are at an all-time low just as the clouds of war are gathering -- and the biggest storm since Atlantis's destruction is heading for landfall.

Joanne is exhausted. When not donning a rain mac and camping it up for the camera as a TV weather girl, she has to contend with a vengeful cop on her tail, her newly divorced sister moving in and getting caught in the middle of a supernatural civil war. Worst of all, her boyfriend in a bottle can't stop draining her powers and is fast morphing from the Djinn of her dreams to the Ifrit of her nightmares.

As the agreement between the Wardens and the Djinn starts to self-destruct, Joanne finds herself forced to choose between saving her lover, saving her Warden abilities. . .and saving humanity." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book featuring Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin as she negotiates her work and life among the Wardens and the Djinn. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Firestorm.

Date read: 8/14/2015
Book #: 20
Series: Weather Warden, #4
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0749079290
ISBN-13: 9780749079291
Publisher: Roc
Year: 2005
# of pages: 496
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Tell by Frances Itani

First sentence:

"Zel glances around the room: oak floor, oak desk, wooden cabinet, two windows that look down over city streets three storeys below."

Description:

From internationally bestselling author Frances Itani comes Tell, the breathtaking follow-up to Itani's award-winning debut Deafening, which launched the story of Grania, deaf from the age of five, and her sister, Tress, who helped to create their secret language.

Now it's 1919, only months after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the end of the Great War, and the men and women of Desoronto struggle to recover from wounds of the past. Attempting to adjust to the trauma that has overwhelmed her husband and altered their marriage, Tress seeks advice from her Aunt Maggie. But Maggie and her husband, Am, who cares for the town clock tower, have sorrows of their own, heartbreaks that lie unacknowledged between them.

While Am's unease increases, Maggie finds joy in her friendship with Zell, an eccentric widow who runs the local boarding house, and in the choral society started by a musician who has arrived in town from an unspoken part of war-torn Europe. Am seeks out Kenan, and the two offer each other comfort, often sitting together in silence. Meanwhile, Maggie reconnects with the music of her past, rediscovering a part of herself that had long ago been set aside. As the decade draws to a close and the lives of these characters become more entwined, each must decide what to share and what to hide, and how their actions will lead them in the future.

Written with Itani's signature power and grace, Tell is both a deeply moving story about the burdens of the past, and a beautifully rendered reminder of how the secrets we bury to protect ourselves can also be the cause of our undoing. This is a stunning achievement from one of our finest writers." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this sequel to Itani's book Deafening. Taking place after World War 1, the book brings to front the struggles of families dealing with men home from Europe with wounds, physical and mental.

Date read: 8/12/2015
Book #: 19
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0802123368
ISBN-13: 9780802123367
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2014
# of pages: 318
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

First sentence:

"The country was in the early weeks of a summer that would become memorable for its warmth, and despite worries farther afield, there was a sense of being cocooned in Englishness."

Description:

"By July 1914, the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained--by Thea's passionate embrace of women's suffrage, and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea's brother, Tom, who runs the family farm. When Kezia and Tom wed just a month before war is declared between Britain and Germany, Thea's gift to Kezia is a book on household management--a veiled criticism of the bride's prosaic life to come. Yet when Tom enlists to fight for his country and Thea is drawn reluctantly onto the battlefield, the farm becomes Kezia's responsibility. Each must find a way to endure the ensuing cataclysm and turmoil.

As Tom marches to the front lines, and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unraveling, they hide their despair in letters and cards filled with stories woven to bring comfort. Even Tom's fellow soldiers in the trenches enter and find solace in the dream world of Kezia's mouth-watering, albeit imaginary meals. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face to face with the enemy?

The Care and Management of Lies paints a poignant picture of love and friendship strained by the pain of separation and the brutal chaos of battle. Ultimately, it raises profound questions about conflict, belief, and love that echo in our own time." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a good book about World War I, describing conditions both on the battlefield and at home.

Date read: 8/11/2015
Book #: 18
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0062220500
ISBN-13: 9780062220509
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2014
# of pages: 319
Binding: Hardcover
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Memory Book by Howard Engel

First sentence:

"The train was putting on speed."

Description:

"Private detective Benny Cooperman becomes his own client in a most puzzling investigation. Benny awakes in the hospital recovering from a serious blow to the head, with a condition called alexia sine agraphia; in layman's terms, he can write but he cannot read. And his memory has been affected too; although he can quote lines from his high-school production of Twelfth Night, he finds himself brushing his teeth with his shaving cream. Even his girlfriend's name, Anna Abraham, eludes him.

But when Benny realizes that he was found unconscious beside a dead woman, he figures he must have been close to solving a case. With Anna working as a field agent, and two cops reluctantly sharing their discoveries, Benny pieces together the events that led to a murder -- and his own injuries." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this mystery featuring Benny Cooperman. I picked this book to read after Engel's memoir, The Man Who Forgot How to Read, as the main character also developed the same condition, albeit under different circumstances (head injury (Cooperman) vs stroke (Engel)).  I liked how Engel had Cooperman not just struggle with reading and memory but also try to figure out why he was attacked and who did it. I look forward to reading other books in this series.

Date read: 8/5/2015
Book #: 17
Series: Benny Cooperman, #11
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0786717173
ISBN-13: 9780786717170
Publisher: Caroll & Graf
Year: 2006
# of pages: 236
Binding: Trade Paperback
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