End of the Year Book Tag- 2017

I did the Mid Year Freakout Book Survey so I thought I mind as well do Ariel Bissett's End of the Year Book Tag because I like doing annual things like that. I don't know how well I'll be able to answer some of these questions because I'm a very fly by the seat of my pants reader, but hey, let's try it anyway.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
Only one I can think of is Donna Tartt's The Secret History, which I am in the process of reading. I don't really start reading books and then put them down with the intention of getting back to them in a few months- usually, if it's 2 weeks later and I still have no desire to keep reading, I'll just officially declare it a DNF. 

Oh wait! I just thought of one! The Basic Eight! I was annoyed by it so I put it down in, like, September, but I think I just need to give it some more time.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
An autumnal book? While I do do seasonal reading to some extent, autumn's also been the I read what I want month. I do kind of have a transition book into winter though- The Revolution of Marina M.

Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
Nope. While there are books that were published in 2017 that I want to get to- The Night Ocean, The Keeper of Lost Things, and Paris in the Present Tense spring to mind- that's about it.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?
The Revolution of Marina M is my number 1 priority. Other than that book, it would be nice to get to The Night Ocean and Paris in the Present Tense, along with The Keeper of Lost Things- okay, that's four books, but I'd like to finish up the 2017 releases I want to read before 2018 hits. 

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?
Don't want to say anything for sure, since I'm still only 100 or so pages into The Secret History, but I think it has serious potential to usurp Marina and take the top spot on my Favorites list- don't want to jinx it, though. Also, The Night Ocean and Paris in the Present Tense seem right up my alley so maybe them too. We'll see!

Have you already started making reading plans for 2018?
I have actually! Well, kinda. I've got my anticipated reads shelf on Goodreads stocked up  with 2018 books. Of those, I'd definitely looking forward to The Maze at Windermere (Jan 9th) and The Heart Is a Burial Ground (Mar 8th) the most.

The Royal Circle Series by Katherine Longshore- Series Thoughts

The Royal Circle series is collection of companion novels each about a different girl in the Tudor age- a YA version of Phillipa Gregory's work if you will. Each main character is a real person- if fact, everyone's a real historical figure with the biggest connection between the each book being that they all follow Howards- Catherine Howard in the first book (though her rather dull servant girl Kitty narrates), Anne Boleyn in the second book, and Mary Fitzroy nee Howard in the third.

This series is very overwrought, and I can see why it's mostly out of print in America- though maybe not in the UK? I see a lot of British reviewers of this series on Goodreads. Really, the only book of this series that's all you need to read to get a feel of Katherine Longshore's writing is Gilt, as neither her characters nor her writing really progress the way you'd expect it to. Her character are all interchangeable and her writing is this bizarre mix of Old English and modern slang. 

Do I have a favorite character? Nope. I mean, in real life I'm kind of partial to Anne Boleyn, but in this series she wasn't really Anne Boleyn so I didn't really care about her.

What about favorite book? I suppose I like both Tarnish and Brazen better than Gilt at any rate, but I can't really pick a favorite. I guess I'll go with Brazen since it was the best written and most political of all her books.

I have kind of a nostalgic attachment to Gilt, though. It was, after all, the second book I reviewed on this blog and that means something to me. All in all though, I doubt I'll recommend these books to anyone, unless a person I know really loved The Luxe and is all about the Tudors. I will probably never reread any of these books. 

Gilt: 4.5-5 out of 10
Tarnish: 5 out of 10
Brazen: 5 out of 10

Overall Series Rating: 5 out of 10

Defending Jacob by William Landley Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“I rather doubt he had the sense to see the truth: that there are wounds worse than fatal, which the law's little binary distinctions-guilty/innocent, criminal/victim-cannot fathom, let alone fix. The law is a hammer, not a scalpel.”- Defending Jacob, William Landley

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney for two decades. He is respected. Admired in the courtroom. Happy at home with the loves of his life: his wife, Laurie, and their teenage son, Jacob.

Then Andy’s quiet suburb is stunned by a shocking crime: a young boy stabbed to death in a leafy park. And an even greater shock: The accused is Andy’s own son—shy, awkward, mysterious Jacob.

Andy believes in Jacob’s innocence. Any parent would. But the pressure mounts. Damning evidence. Doubt. A faltering marriage. The neighbors’ contempt. A murder trial that threatens to obliterate Andy’s family.

It is the ultimate test for any parent: How far would you go to protect your child? It is a test of devotion. A test of how well a parent can know a child. For Andy Barber, a man with an iron will and a dark secret, it is a test of guilt and innocence in the deepest sense.

How far would you go?

This is a legal thriller technically but is really more of a family drama with a lot of courthouse scenes. In fact, it strikes me as a male version of a Jodi Picoult novel, more specifically the one about the boy with Asperger's who is accused of murder. I suppose you could call it a housewife or Book Club thriller because I can imagine those demographics being the ones the most likely to pick up Defending Jacob.

The thing that really makes Defending Jacob stand out is just how much I hated the narrator. It is rare that I say this, but if I were to meet Andy Barber in real life, I would despise him. He was just so... obnoxious that I wanted to slap him. You know the stereotype of the arrogant male that feminists like to trot out? He's basically the embodiment of that stereotype.

In a lot of ways, he reminded me of a male version of those Martyr Mom characters I hate so much. On the surface, he'd seem like the kind of dad you'd want to have defending you, but dig a little deeper and it's clear he's just doing it for himself. The whole reason why he cares so much about his son being a murderer is because that reflects badly on him, not because he's worried about his son being in prison.

The biggest problem I found with the book, though, is not Andy. It's the fact that the author works off the idea that we believe as much as Andy did that Jacob is innocent and so as the evidence builds against Jacob, we are shocked and begin to see the prosecution's side. The problem with that is that I never saw Jacob as being innocent in the first place. Landley never gave us a reason to not suspect Jacob, except that Andy Barber "knows his son". I once watched a show on the ID channel in which they were talking to this little old lady, who was the mother of a quite prolific serial killer. She swore that her son had nothing to do with the crimes, even though it was obvious to everyone he committed those killings. My point is, parents don't really know their kids. 

There is some good in this novel that held me back from absolutely hating it. I was amused by Landley's ability to mimic the way teenage girls speak, with lots of you knows and likes and all those great teenager-isms. I also really liked Laurie as a character and wished there was more focus on her and her thoughts about Jacob. I also liked the ending a lot and wished it wasn't just a twist.

I think the main reason why this book doesn't really work as well as Picoult novels do is the absence of alternating POVs. Yes, I am advocating more multiple POVs, but hear me out. The thing that makes Picoult books interesting is that we get all sides of the story, and that's what fleshes the characters out. In this book, we just get Andy Barber's very one-dimensional view of everyone. All that means is that I feel bad for characters like the prosecutor, who was really getting shit on for no reason. 

Defending Jacob was easy to read, but in the end, I did not like it all that much. I wouldn't say I hated it, it's fluffy and I don't usually hate those kinds of books. I would say it raised some interesting questions about the idea of a genetic predisposition to murder, but I kind of knew that something like that exists- a lot of personality is inherited; check out twin studies if you don't believe me. It's on the lower mediocre side for me, I think.

4.5 out of 10

If you liked this book, you may also like:

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Faithful Place by Tana French

Brazen by Katherine Longshore Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Love isn't making others into the people we imagine they should be. It's about letting people be themselves”- Brazen, Katherine Longshore

Mary Howard has always lived in the shadow of her powerful family. But when she’s married off to Henry Fitzroy, King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, she rockets into the Tudor court’s inner circle. Mary and “Fitz” join a tight clique of rebels who test the boundaries of court’s strict rules with their games, dares, and flirtations. The more Mary gets to know Fitz, the harder she falls for him, but is forbidden from seeing him alone. The rules of court were made to be pushed…but pushing them too far means certain death. Is true love worth dying for?

When I said I was going to be tying up some loose ends in November, I didn't think I would be going this far back. I've been putting off this book since MARCH for God's sake. But I've been in the mood for a little historical fiction lately despite the fact that everything I pick up seems to be a mystery and this was the only available book on my shelf (besides The Revolution of Marina M, but I'm saving that one for December). I mean, the book's over 500 pages and Tarnish kind of put me off wanting to go anywhere near this series for a while.

But this is one of the few series I actually wanted to get to this year from start to finish, so better late then never, right? 

Brazen is probably the best written of all the Royal Circle books, which really isn't saying anything at all. Longshore still writes in that annoying half old English-half modern English way that really takes you out of Tudor England and puts you in, I don't know, a suburban high school. I'm also impressed with her ability to both overwrite and underwrite at the same time- that takes talent. She writes paragraphs that look pretty and sound very dramatic, but in reality end up meaning very little. Reading this book at times is like eating a piece of cake that's 80% frosting and 20% cake.

In Longshore's defense though, she does focus more on pure politics than she did in any of her other books. I liked those parts, even if I did think she had a tendency to overdramaticize things. Also, all of her heroines are different people and yet they all sound the same. Especially in the case of Tarnish and Brazen. I could not tell Anne in Tarnish from Mary in Brazen. They both have that strong, female historical fiction character thing going, and likely believe things that neither the real Anne Boleyn nor the real Mary Fitzroy probably actually gave much thought to. I think my main problem with Longshore's work is I think she romanticizes her subjects too much. She wants us to like them so badly, but in the end they just come across as, again, generic historical fiction females.

I also took a lot of issue with the dialogue. It's so overwrought, with every word laden with meaning that it drives me crazy. Especially in Anne and Mary's exchanges.

I get that Longshore wants to evoke The Tudors. I mean, when these books came out that show was one of the biggest things on TV, Phillipa Gregory was as big of a name here as she was in England, people couldn't get enough of 16th century England. Of course, The Tudors was a fairly ridiculous show and one I was never that into myself, but I suppose she's successful somewhat in invoking the not-so-historically based intrigue of the show. I'm happy I finally finished the Royal Circle series. I doubt I'll ever go back to this series, but it's something that needed to be done before the end of the year. I'll put up my Series Thoughts soon.

5 out of 10

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck Review (Kinda)

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Why she hankered to be a teacher, I couldn't tell you. But she had chalk dust in her veins, and she deserved to get that certificate. It was only fair.”- The Teacher's Funeral, Richard Peck

In 1904, Russell Culver 15 wants to leave school and his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. Instead of school closing, leaving him free to roam, his sister Tansy steps in. Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and many snakes, Tansy maybe, just maybe, can set her brother on a wiser course.

I thank three things for my love of history. Well, technically four- you know, the teachers that inspired me and blah blah blah. But mostly three things- American Girl, children's picture books, and Richard Peck. Unsurprisingly, they all have to do with books- I read Felicity's and Samantha's stories cover to cover, including the wonderful notes in the back that had all the historical facts, I loved those If You Lived... books (especially the parts about fashion), and I first fell in love with Richard Peck's writing when I was 10 years old and we were assigned The Teacher's Funeral. Prior to The Teacher's Funeral, I had always associated historical fiction with those musty smelling clearly 70s books you can find in the back of classroom bookcases or school assigned Very Important Books like Maniac McGee or Number the Stars or Bud Not Buddy (disclaimer: I actually like or at least don't hate the books I listed here). Sure, there were exceptions, like Catherine Called Birdy but I prefer to pretend that book doesn't exist. But The Teacher's Funeral didn't seem to have an obvious message attached, and was funny and dark and really, just a nice little story about growing up at the Turn of the Century in Indiana. And I loved it.

Looking back, The Teacher's Funeral is probably responsible for the kind of historical fiction I gravitate towards. I like often quiet and meandering stories about growing up in a time so different than our own. And I was delighted to find that all of Richard Peck's books were like that- my favorites were always A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder, (God, even the titles take me back!) about a pair of kids whose parents send them down to their grandmother's farm from Chicago in the 30s. 

The best thing about The Teacher's Funeral is that there is no message. Well, I suppose it can be taken as being about the importance of education, but other than that it doesn't try and hit you over the head with anything. It's a coming of age story, I suppose, but it's not one like The Outsiders (another favorite from those late elementary/early middle school years). There is no giant life changing event, instead, it's a quiet one. 

And it's funny too. I was pleasantly surprised, given that I thought at first it would be full of cheap kid jokes. Instead, I found myself genuinely laughing out loud at some points and- what's more- I finally got some jokes that I didn't really understand as a child, like the cut-short swear words (I was an oddly naive little girl, especially given that neither of my parents ever censored themselves). 

I never read all of Richard Peck's books but he had a huge impact on my reading life nevertheless. I know that a majority of this review may just be nostalgia glasses, but I can't help it. No wonder this was one of my favorite books as a child. Also? That ending makes me want to cry. It made me want to cry all those years ago and it makes me want to cry today.

9 out of 10

Shallow Graves by Maureen Boyle Review

Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community's diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for thirty years.

The Crimes: The skeletal remains of nine of the women, aged nineteen to thirty-six, were discovered near highways around New Bedford. Some had clearly been strangled, others were so badly decomposed that police were left to guess how they had died.

The Victims: All the missing women had led troubled lives of drug addiction, prostitution, and domestic violence, including Nancy Paiva, whose sister was a hard-working employee of the City of New Bedford, and Debra Greenlaw DeMello, who came from a solidly middle-class family but fell into drugs and abusive relationships. In a bizarre twist, Paiva's clothes were found near DeMello's body.

The Investigators: Massachusetts state troopers Maryann Dill and Jose Gonsalves were the two constants in a complex cast of city, county, and state cops and prosecutors. They knew the victims, the suspects, and the drug-and-crime-riddled streets of New Bedford. They were present at the beginning of the case and they stayed to the bitter end.

The Suspects: Kenneth Ponte, a New Bedford attorney and deputy sheriff with an appetite for drugs and prostitutes, landed in the investigative crosshairs from the start. He was indicted by a grand jury in the murder of one of the victims, but those charges were later dropped. Anthony DeGrazia was a loner who appeared to fit the classic serial-killer profile: horrific childhood abuse, charming, charismatic, but prone to bursts of violence. He hunted prostitutes in the city by night and served at a Catholic church by day. Which of these two was the real killer? Or was it someone else entirely?

Maureen Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. In Shallow Graves she spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews, along with police reports, first-person accounts, and field reporting both during the killings and more recently, Shallow Graves brings the reader behind the scenes of the investigation, onto the streets of the city, and into the homes of the families still hoping for answers.

I read a lot of true crime books, and yet most of the true crime stories I end up picking up take place in the past and are usually combined with historical elements- books like The Devil in the White City, or one I read this summer, City of Light, City of Poison. This is different, as it is only under the true crime label, being about a serial killer targeting drug-addicted women, usually prostitutes, in New Bedford Massachusetts, a quiet little seaside city populated mostly by, like many Southern New England fishing cities, people of Portuguese descent. You get a lot of those ethnic pockets of people in New England, usually from countries you don't think too much about like Portugal or Greece or Poland or even Italy. 

Well, I suppose it's not exactly only a true crime book since it is during the 80s, and there is some context about the time period that needs to be understood. Most people think of cocaine as the rock star drug of the decade, taking LSD's place before it was usurped by ecstasy in the 90s, but the heroin epidemic really started to get bad in the 80s, unfortunately coinciding with the AIDS crisis, as any ER nurse or doctor active in that time period will tell you. Like in today's society, when pain pill addiction progresses to heroin addiction, in the 80s it was cocaine addiction progressing to heroin addiction. And those where the women our killer chose his victims from.

Shallow Graves is written like a mystery novel is, especially the prologue. In fact, the prologue is what lured me in to the book. I wasn't sure if I would like it- I wasn't too crazy about the synopsis- but I decided to read it many because, again, the first page and also because it was short and I wanted to at least make my average for this month. 

Like in the case for many nonfiction novels, I don't really know what to say about it except that I liked it. It was okay, not my favorite nonfiction book I've read this year, but I'm happy I read it. Just a warning though, the ending is a little... unsatisfactory, to say the least, but I enjoyed Shallow Graves enough to recommend it to any causal and more serious true crime fan alike.

8 out of 10

Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

C.J. Townsend is a brilliant prosecutor known for keeping her cool even when trying the most horrific cases. The latest: an accused serial killer who savors cruelty and considers murder an art. But this case is different. C.J. recognizes the suspect. She knows what he’s capable of. After all these years, she still has the nightmares to prove it. Now she’s walking the fine line between justice and revenge. Even C.J. isn’t prepared for where it will take her.

I finally got around to another Jilliane Hoffman novel, admittedly only because it was on Goodreads Deals and I'm cheap. But boy, am I glad I did. I have decided that Jilliane Hoffman is one of my newest favorite mystery writers. 

I will be the first to admit, this book isn't perfect. But it's unbelievably easy to read and get into, and it reminds me of watching an episode of Law and Order: SVU. I'm no SVU fangirl- though I do have a weakness for Elliot Stabler (when he was on the show) and Rafael Barba- but I'll put it on when there's nothing else to watch. And I even found this book in a similar way- I had nothing else I wanted to read, the book was cheap, and I remembered that I really liked the other Jilliane Hoffman book I read (Pretty Little Things, for those curious). And I was not disappointed.

I liked basically all the characters involved, with a special emphasis on Manny and Marisol, because I have a tendency to like characters who are kind of assholes, but in a fun way. One of the most common complaints I see about the book mostly have to do with the character of CJ Townsend and, more specifically, her relationship with Dominick, the sexy lead investigator in her case. Normally, I'd be annoyed by CJ's apparent inability to play by the rules (I'm a rebel only in my head) and her instant-y, angst-filled relationship with Dominick but for some reason, I wasn't too bothered by either of those things. CJ I kind of begrudgingly liked. She was a bit on the Mary Sue side, but I enjoyed following her around, and even if I didn't, the POVs switch around a ton anyway. 

The writing was okay. Again, it was easy to read and follow, and I was rarely lost. Even the legalese and copspeak was pretty easy to understand, and in that respect it, again, reminded me of a Law and Order episode. I had no difficulty following any of it despite being a layman, albeit one with some knowledge into police procedures gained from the ID Channel (thanks, Lt Joe Kenda!).

But the plot is where this book shines. Hoffman knows how to write an entertaining, action-packed novel and damn if she doesn't suck me in. It's on the over-dramatic side, at times unrealistic, but it's fun. I enjoyed following along with the mystery; I even inadvertently guessed whodunnit (completely by accident, though. My thought process was more like "it'd be fun if this person did it." and then a bit later on "holy shit I was right."). The voices of the criminals weren't as believable as they were in Pretty Little Things, but then again this was her debut. Also, when CJ Townsend went off the books at various points, I couldn't help but think that famous cop movie cliche "she's a loose cannon, but she's the best we've got.". Which never failed to make me laugh.

So, Jilliane Hoffman and Retribution both get a thumbs up from me. I mean, it's not fine literature, and I can definitely see the complaints that people have about it, but I liked it. It fits my definition of a fun read perfectly- a dark, violent, on the over-dramatic side police procedural. And that's all I need to say about that.

8-8.5 out of 10