book review

Book Review: Zero Sum Game

Coreena

Zero Sum Game (Russell’s Attic #1)

Deadly. Mercenary. Superhuman. Not your ordinary math geek.

Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good.

The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight. She can take any job for the right price and shoot anyone who gets in her way.

As far as she knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower . . . but then Cas discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.

Someone who’s already warped Cas’s thoughts once before, with her none the wiser.

Cas should run. Going up against a psychic with a god complex isn’t exactly a rational move, and saving the world from a power-hungry telepath isn’t her responsibility. But she isn’t about to let anyone get away with violating her brain — and besides, she’s got a small arsenal and some deadly mathematics on her side. There’s only one problem . . .

She doesn’t know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.

Review:

This was such a fun book to read. I absolutely loved the protagonist, Cas — she’s a salty mercenary with a odd moral code, who is also freakishly good at math. Superhero good at math.  It was so much fun to read the scenes where she uses her mad math skills to take down those who were after her. And, even though she is a standoffish, antihero type of character, I still really liked her and wanted to know what she was up to next.
What also makes this a good book are the supporting characters — I cared about them as well and wanted to see how their story lines would work out. They were all so different and brought out various traits in Cas.
Overall, this is an exciting, fast paced read with a strong and smart heroine who is not above making mistakes. It certainly kept me turning the pages. I can’t wait to read the next book and learn more about her backstory.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book on NetGalley for an honest review.
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Book Review: The Hate U Give

Coreena

The Hate U Give

“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Review:

I bought this for my daughter because I had heard about it. She raced through it, said it was one of her favourite books ever and handed it to me to read.
Wow.
This is such a well told book. It deals with big issues, but does it in a sensitive, intelligent, and even educational way.
Initially, the book was a little hard for me to get into, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. The characters are real, diverse, and authentic — and I love how they discussed their various points of view, giving the reader insights into some important issues.
The book revolves around Starr, a teen who has to choose how to use her voice. She has to decide whether or not to tell her story after witnessing her unarmed friend get shot by a police officer. This is a killing that has shaken her whole neighbourhood and there are pros and cons for Starr to tell her story publicly. She has to decide how to act as an African American girl at a predominantly white school. She has to decide who to be in her neighbourhood.  There are so many choices and they come down to how to use your voice and how to tell your story.
This is a powerful book and one that both teens and adults will get something out of.
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Book Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Coreena

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Meet Eleanor Oliphant. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully time-tabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

Then everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living–and it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Review:
I absolutely love this book, in fact, it is one of my favourite books that I’ve read in awhile. Maybe ever.
Eleanor is a fantastic character and Honeywell has portrayed her perfectly with quirky humour and dry wit. She’s a woman who insists that she is completely fine, despite the fact that she has no friends, eats the same meal every day, and drinks her way through the weekends. She doesn’t understand social cues and the glimpse we get into her mind as she navigates her world is both wonderful and tragic.
Honeywell has also done an amazing job of revealing just parts of Eleanor’s story at a time, leaving us wondering what has happened to her and why she is the way she is.
I highly recommend this book. There are lines where I actually laughed out loud, there were moments where I saw myself and my own social awkwardness, and there were times when I was cheering for Eleanor and her stripped down sensibilities.
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Book Review: In Your Hands by Ines Pedrosa

Coreena

In Your Hands

An internationally acclaimed, award-winning novel spanning three generations of women united in their struggle for independence and fulfillment against oppression.

Told from three different perspectives, this sweeping saga begins in 1935 Portugal, in the grip of Salazar’s authoritarian regime, where upper-class Jenny enters into an uncommon marriage with the beguiling António. Keeping up appearances, they host salons for the political and cultural elite. In private, Jenny, António, and his lover, Pedro, share a guarded triangle, build a profound relationship, and together raise a daughter born under the auspices of rebellion.

Thirty years later, their daughter, Camila, a photojournalist who has captured the revolutionary fervor and tragic loss of her family—and country—reminisces about a long-lost love in Southeast Africa. This memory shapes the future of her daughter, Natália, a successful architect, who begins an impassioned quest of her own. As she navigates Portugal’s complex past, Natália will discover herself in the two women whose mysteries and intimate intrigues have come to define her.

Through revealing journals, snapshots of a turbulent era, and private letters, the lives of three generations of women unfold, embracing all that has separated them and all that binds them—their strength, their secrets, and their search for love through the currents of change.

Review:

In Your Hands is a lovely book and told in an interesting, captivating way.

 

First we read from Jenny’s journals, about her life, beliefs, and desires. She is a fascinating woman in an unusual situation at a time of political unrest and in an unconventional marriage. Her journals draws the reader in to her very human story among all of the interesting circumstances of her life.

 

Next we read Camila’s, Jenny’s daughter, thoughts on photos she is looking at in an album. We get to know her and her upbringing in Jenny’s world. We learn about the unique challenges that Camila faced as political turmoil took over.

 

Finally, there are Natalia’s, Camila’s daughter, letters to her grandmother. These round off the lives, ambitions, and values of the three generations. We see how things have changed in Portugal and what a woman’s life was like, the choices she had, and how these three interesting women made their way.

 

I enjoyed the writing and the translation of this book, and getting to know all three generations of strong women. It was thoughtful and the three different ways of telling the story really worked for each character.
Note: I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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