"Goodbye, Vitamin" by Rachel Khong

This book is written in the form of journal entries, a year worth of entries to be exact. The main protagonist is a 30-year old woman named Ruth. Her fiance recently left her for another woman, and now she is faced with the fact that her father is suffering from the onset of memory loss. Ruth's mother asks her to stay with them for a year and help take care of her dad. Ruth quits her job in San Francisco, gets rid of her possessions and moves in with her parents in Los Angeles. Her dad was a history professor and adored Ruth when she was a baby. At different times throughout the book, he shares his own journal entries with Ruth that recount adorable things she did or said when she was little. Love is palpable in every entry.

Despite the fact that Ruth has great childhood memories of her father, not everyone in the family shares the rosy picture of her dad. Once Ruth moved away to go to college, her father took up drinking and had an affair with a colleague at the university. Ruth's brother Linus feels resentful towards their dad and her mother is still reeling from betrayal and pain that her husband had caused her.

This novel is about coming to terms with the past, forgiving and coming together as a family to support each other through a difficult time. For Ruth, it also means coming the full circle: now she like her father did when she was little, writes down details about their days together. Some days he is amazingly lucid, enough so to be able to teach history lessons. On other days, he seems disoriented and lost. Ruth is there right beside him no matter what. Her love is patient and selfless, and truly unconditional. The book is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. 4 out of 5 stars.

"The Princess Diarist" by Carrie Fisher

This last memoir/reminiscences by Carrie Fisher was both surprising and heartbreaking. I loved Carrie Fisher's humor. She laughs at herself as well as at and with her fans. She makes fun of the way she and the rest of the Star Wars cast stumbled into fame of intergalactic proportions. It was a low-budget film, and Carrie's, at the age of 19, first unsure attempt at trying a hand at show business. Sure, she appeared in Shampoo prior to that, but this was her first big female lead role. Neither she nor anybody else on the set of the first Star Wars film had any idea what an iconic character Princess Leia will end up being.

Going into this book, I knew that Carrie Fisher drew her inspirations from the journals she kept while filming the first Star Wars movie. I also knew that in this book she finally confirmed that she and Harrison Ford had a three-month affair during the filming. What I was not prepared for is how much of the book was about her relationship with Ford and how much it truly affected and traumatized her for the rest of her life.

In 1976, Harrison Ford was 15 years her senior, married with two children. Carrie Fisher was a young inexperienced girl with a penchant for unavailable men, ready to hand her heart over to the first guy remotely interested in spending time with her. Fisher remembers feeling insecure around Ford, wanting to please him and being afraid of making a fool of herself at the same time. Like any naive teenage girl, she immediately began fantasizing about marrying him and growing old together. Despite the fact that she claims to have never really loved him, the poetry she wrote at 19 tells a different story. She also at one point states: “While there’s still time for Carrison to grow old together, that gateway is steadily closing. If we’re going to get back together we’re going to have to do it soon.” I don't think Carrie ever entirely got over that 3-month affair with Harrison. After all, if it meant nothing, why would you keep silent about it for 40 years, unless that wound was still bleeding? This was heartbreaking, particularly in light of the fact that she tragically died at the age of 60 very soon after the book came out. 5 out of 5 stars, and I highly recommend the audio version, read by Carrie Fisher herself.

With him love was easier done than said
Instead of taking you to heart he would take you to bed
And you take what he has to offer lying down
You’re getting more involved while he’s still getting around
It’s all a matter of touch and go
Cause he’s one for all and all for show
But after all was said and almost done
I was playing for keeps and he was playing for fun
Carrie Fisher

"Given to the Sea" by Mindy McGinnis

Earlier this year I read and loved Mindy McGinnis' YA contemporary called The Female of the Species. So I was very happy to see that she came out with a new fantasy novel Given to the Sea. Unfortunately, this newest book by the author did not live up to my expectations.

The premise of the book revolves around a nation called Stille located by the sea. A long time ago a large wave swept away most of the city. The Stillean lore has it that the sea was appeased when three young women gave their lives to the sea (i.e. drowned). The main character Khosa is destined to be given to the sea, just like her mother before her, and countless generations of females prior to that.

The world-building is quite confusing and vague in this novel. We seem to have four distinct nations: Stille, Pietra, Feenen and Indiri. Pietra are by far the most brutal. They obliterated the Indiri to the point that only two children survived (and were raised by the queen of Stille). They also put their elderly and sick into boats and send them off to be eaten by sea monsters. The Stilleans as I already mentioned appease the sea by drowning a young girl (but not before she gives birth to a baby girl who is to be the next Given). Feenen are the outcasts, the rejects of both Pietra and Stille, and most of them have physical deformities, mental disorders, or some other ailments. Finally, the Indiri are fearless warriors who also possess some sort of magic. They also appear to look different from the other races (they are described as having spots on their skin).

A lot of the story line appears to revolve around the sea, however, this is also the part that is the most confusing. First of all, the three nations (let's ignore the Indiri since there are only two left and they live in Stille), live close to the sea. Yet, none of their people can swim. They all seem to be afraid of the sea for different reasons. The Stilleans fear the wave whereas the Pietra seem to be dealing with sea monsters. Yet, all of them are located relatively close to each other since the Pietra pretty much walk to Stille.

There were also various plot lines that were simply dropped and never picked up. For example, the two Indiris find a sea monster roaming the woods. Everyone agrees that this is odd and should be further investigated. Yet, we literally never come back to this and do not learn anything more about this oddity. All the cultures/nations in the book seem to be very comfortable with casual sex. Servants engage in dalliances freely, and even parents are not above arranging for their daughters to bed men from noble families. Yet, the queen is "hurt" by infidelities of her husband, and Vincent is rejected by Dara because she wants more from him than a physical relationship. This just seems illogical and inconsistent to me. What is this double standard where against the backdrop of general loose behavior in society, the few main characters exhibit high moral principles that are so uncharacteristic of their culture? And what is backing those morals up?

I really struggled with this book. Apart from the weak world building, I did not feel attached to any of the characters. Moreover, the plot itself did not seem to have any direction that I could see. At several points the narrative seemed to be building up to something, but then disappointingly, nothing happened. There were so many loose ends at the close of the novel that I was not surprised to discover that this is book 1 in a duet.... I am not sure I will be reading book 2. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars originally, but now that I had time to think about it a bit more, I think I will downgrade it to 2 out of 5. A very disappointing read.

“The Houseguest: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary” by Elizabeth Adams

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favorite classic. This is the novel I regularly re-read and re-watch its film adaptions, my favorite being the BBC mini-series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. At some point, I’ve tried reading various books that attempt to come up with continuations to Darcy and Lizzy’s story or re-imagine the same story in a different setting. For example, I recently read (and liked) Pamela Aidan’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy which is basically Austen’s novel but from Darcy’s perspective with some additional plot lines added in, especially in book 2. Most other re-tellings I've tried tended to be X-rated versions of the book focused on Darcy/Lizzy sex scenes. So I’ve become very careful when it comes to P&P-inspired fiction.

The Houseguest is a very tasteful and well-written re-telling with no sex scenes or any other kind of material that Austen would never dream of including in her work. It is a Pride and Prejudice reimagining where events do not develop along the same trajectory as in the original novel. Elizabeth Adams basically has Georgiana Darcy enter the stage much earlier in the novel. Georgiana comes to see her brother and the Bingleys while they are staying in Hertfordshire. She quickly becomes good friends with Lizzy Bennet and invites her to stay at their house in London at the same time as Lizzy’s eldest sister Jane is visiting their uncle and aunt in Cheapside.

This turn of events allows for much more interaction between Mr. Darcy and Lizzy. She gradually learns the truth about Wickham and begins to understand Darcy’s true character. Mr. Darcy and Lizzy slowly become friends, and he is able to correct his behavior towards Jane and Bingley and apologize for his arrogant remarks about Lizzy and her family before he ever proposes to her. Granted, this sequence of events is less dramatic than in the original novel.  There is no shock of rejection and gradual mending of a relationship. Some other dramatic events of the original novel never take place in Adams’ version. But for an Austen fan, this is a fun re-imagining and a way to spend more time with beloved characters in a slightly different setting. I enjoyed this book very much and gave it four out of five stars.

"Dream Me" by Kathryn Berla

I received an e-ARC of this book for review from Netgalley. The book is officially coming out tomorrow July 11, 2017. This is a young adult sci-fi novel, but it reads more like a summery contemporary. The narrative is mostly from the point of view of the main female character named Babe. Her dad is a golf pro who moves around a lot as he gets jobs at various country clubs around the US. We meet Babe at the beginning of the summer before she starts her senior year in high school. The family just moved to Sugar Dunes, Florida and Babe is hoping she'll be able to finish high school without any more moving.

At the same time another point of view is introduced. This one is that of the main male lead Zat who lives in the distant future. In Zat's time, the sun is dying, the earth is a desolate place and humans (or what is left of them) are desperately searching for ways to escape the planet. Most people choose to seek shelter on distant planets. But Zat decides to go with a more unconventional and barely tested way to preserve his existence. He "re-locates" into the distant past (Babe's present) and exists only in her dreams.

I have to admit this premise is really interesting and not anything I've seen before. I was fascinated by the concept of a dream partner. I ended up really enjoying this book. Not so much for its sci-fi themes but rather I liked following Babe's real life drama of making friends and getting adjusted to her life in the new place. Her friendship with Mai and Alonso was very well crafted. However, her friendship with LeGrand was a bit unexpected, and almost accidental. I wish there was more of a story to their becoming friends. In addition, the character of Mattie Lynn was not developed at all. It felt as though the author was thinking of going in one direction but then completely abandoned the idea, so there was no real point of Mattie Lynn's presence in the narrative. Zat's character and the future he came from could also be a bit better fleshed out.

Notwithstanding these multiple weaknesses, the novel overall was entertaining. I had fun reading it and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars purely for the enjoyment factor.

"Ensnared" by Rita Stradling

This is a futuristic Beauty and the Beast re-telling where automatons and AI robots are a normal part of life and have taken over many service jobs such as security guards, nurses, gas station attendants, etc. The Beauty in the story is a twenty-something girl named Alainn Murphy whose father is a brilliant inventor of AI robots. Alainn works on a search and rescue team at a ski resort and spends most of her time on the mountain away from her techie father and brother.

The Beast is a wealthy recluse who lives in an AI-run fortress but dreams of forging a relationship with another human being. He orders an advanced AI robot from Alainn's father in the hopes to learn some human interaction. The robot her father creates is the spitting image of Alainn. Since she believes he is not quite finished with the work and might be thrown into jail if he does not deliver on time, she takes the place of the AI robot and goes to Lorccan's tower as a stand-in to provide the needed delay for completing the AI model.

Overall, I thought this book was on point with the Beauty and the Beast re-telling. I liked the household characters, the friendship that Lorccan and Alainn gradually forged and the romance that slowly blossomed. Alainn is a very likable character. She is strong, independent and not afraid to take risks and stand up for what she believes.

In this novel, Stradling utlized the new adult genre trope of a troubled past, and while this is completely appropriate for the Beast, it was not as clear-cut to me why she chose to give such a painful past experience to Alainn aside from falling into the genre trap. The entire backstory of what happened to Alainn was a little fuzzy. Details slowly started to emerge as the story progressed, but I was hoping for a bit more background. The experience also to me did not seem to have left Alainn as scarred as one would think given what happened to her. She kept referring to it as having happened a long time ago. But since she is in her early 20s and she was kidnapped at 17 or 18, I would not call it "a long time ago."

Another thing that I found unbelievable was the fact that Lorccan did not realize that she was human. Alainn's brother at some point in the book explains that most likely Lorccan did know this subconsciously but did not accept it consciously. This seems like a weak explanation to me. Lorccan supposedly knows a lot about AI technology. He is in fact the biggest investor in this area and constantly reviews new proposals and makes funding decisions. So the fact that he cannot recognize a human when he sees one is to me the weakest point in the plot.

Finally, the ending felt a bit rushed and the entire finale during the trial was confusing and not well explained.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and gave it four stars. I liked the AI idea, the discussion of what makes us human, and the characters were very likable. I love Beauty and the Beast and I think this book will definitely appeal to a lot of fans of the original story.

I read an e-ARC of this book provided by NetGalley.com.