"Lady Midnight" by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices No. 1)

Lady Midnight is the first book of a new trilogy set in the Shadowhunters world by Cassandra Clare called The Dark Artifices. It follows Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn of the Los Angeles Institute who were first introduced at the end of the Mortal Instruments series. Five years have passed since we saw them in Idris during the Dark War. Emma and Julian are now 17 and have become parabatai, or warrior partners bonded through rune magic.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and will definitely continue reading this and other upcoming series set in the same world. However, the more I read paranormal YA series, the more critical I become of plots, characters and writing. Since the market is now saturated with novels in this genre, the most popular and better-written ones definitely need to set a certain standard of writing. This is not to say that this book had major flaws. It did not. However, there were some things that to me did not quite live up to the standard I have come to associate with Cassandra Clare's work.

First of all, it was hard to get into the book in the first few chapters. This was partly because some things were repeated too many times (e.g. the fact that Julian took care of his siblings was rehashed from multiple angles). In addition, a lot of information was provided about the events of the Mortal Instruments books, the magic, magical beings and the world itself. I understand that this might be useful for refreshing the readers' memory, but it could have been done in a more subtle way.

The overall mystery/plot line for this first installment was excellent. I had no idea who the killer was and really enjoyed all the twists and action. The only weak point for me was the blackout at the Institute. So they could not use the phones to contact the Clave, what about a fire message? I thought Shadowhunters were not supposed to rely on mundane devices anyway. It would have been nice if this was factored in. In addition, the whole parabatai romantic love prohibition was emphasized way too much especially since this was never emphasized in the previous books. I realize this is the whole point of this trilogy and needed to be believable, but it was a bit forced since other books never focused on it. Or if it was mentioned, it was in passing.

I am also not sure how I feel about the ending. I am not a fan of lying and breaking someone's heart for the sake of their own good. This seems like such an overused trope. In addition, Julian, I believe, is being set up to somehow turn evil, or borderline evil. Clare refers to him as "ruthless" way too many times". He already is "an expert liar" and now the girl he loves decides to hurt him "out of love".  I do prefer complex characters. Life is not black and white. And I hope Julian will continue being an interesting character instead of going all evil.

I rated this book at 3.5 stars. Cannot wait to read book 2.

The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers by Gary Chapman

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I do not usually read any kinds of self-help or parenting books. However, I do have a twelve-year old and in the past few months I was thinking that I should probably educate myself a bit more on the upcoming teen years. Thus my purpose for reading this book was to prepare and educate myself so I can be a better parent as my daughter starts navigating the troublesome teenage years.

If you are like me (i.e., have a pre-teen or a teen and do not normally read parenting literature), I definitely recommend this book. Some of the criticisms I've seen about this book are that it is a regurgitation of Chapman's other 5 Languages of Love books or that it does not provide any earth-shattering advice. I had never read any of his other books, and I also was not looking for any parenting tricks or magic methods. But for me, this was a great concise guide on how to be a parent of a teenager.

What I liked most is that Chapman clearly lays out the approaches that will allow parents to understand their teen better, to show their teenagers that they are loved and to learn how to effectively set rules and discipline their teenagers. Nothing in the book was confusing or impractical. All of his recommendations were cogent, to the point, very doable and supported by multiple examples from his counseling practice. I also appreciated the statistics quoted in this book and the fact that he did not shy away from difficult subjects such as alcohol and drug use and teen pregnancy. I would say Chapman wrote this book in a very loving manner to both parents and teens, without sounding preachy or condemning anyone but offering practical steps to foster better relationships.

I am very glad I read this book. If you are going to read just one book on parenting teens, please read this one. 5 out of 5 stars from me!

"The Girl from Everywhere" by Heidi Heilig

I have recently discovered that I really enjoy books featuring time travel. Earlier this year I read Into the Dim and quite liked it. The Girl from Everywhere is also a fantasy novel that involves time travel. In fact, it has most of the elements that I love in an adventure story: historic settings, a pirate ship, a heist, mythical and/or fairy tale creatures and elements, and of course time travel.

Our main character is a sixteen-year old girl named Nix whose father is the captain of a time-travelling pirate ship. The captain and his crew are roaming the seas of time in search of a map of Hawaii depicting the island as it was back in 1868, the year Nix's mother died. The captain is determined to go back in time to save the love of his life.

I really enjoyed the story line in this novel. Heilig did a great job weaving in myths and magic into historical settings. Her descriptions of places and people are vivid. I felt transported into the settings that she described. The plot itself is very interesting and the end was unexpected for me. Since the main character is a sixteen year old girl, there is some romance in the story, but it is not the main focus of the book at all. As a teenager, Nix is very aware of the young men around her and ready to fall in love, but it is not a stereotypical YA romance novel. I also liked the well-researched myths and legends and the fact that the book has an appendix in the back that further expounds on the ideas that formed the foundation of the book.

This was a real treat of a read. 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot wait for the sequel.

Top 5 Fictional Moms or Maternal Figures

As I was thinking about fictional moms, I realized that a lot of books have really bad mothers/mother figures.  It seems having a terrible mother (or no mother, or an evil stepmother) is one of the most common literary devices. Nonetheless, I have come up with a list of five fictional mother figures that I think embody the best parental qualities that help the main character grow and develop.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is an orphan and her aunt who becomes Jane's guardian is an epitome of an evil stepmother. She is absolutely horrid to Jane and ends up sending her to a boarding school for poor girls. At the school, Jane meets the first person (and there will be several of these in Jane's life) who really steps up and becomes a role model and a mother figure for her. I am talking about Jane's teacher Miss Temple. She helps clear Jane's name of wrongful accusations, encourages her curiosity, inspires her and becomes a really good friend. I think in a lot of ways Miss Temple is Jane's ideal and the influence she has on Jane propels her to aspire to more in life and continue to see the good in others.

2. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This is not really a fictional figure. Wild is autobiographic in nature. But the entire plot and the reason why Cheryl Strayed ends up hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is because she needs to deal with the grief she feels after losing her mother. Cheryl's mom was an amazing woman. Barely educated and without the means to support herself, she finally finds the courage to leave her abusive husband and raises two kids by herself. The love she feels for her children is palpable and I really admired her as a strong woman and mother.

3. The WondLa series by Tony DiTerlizzi

I have not reviewed this middle grade series on my blog yet as I am about to start reading the last book in the trilogy. However, this book definitely has one of my favorite maternal figures. In the series, a little girl Eva Nine is being raised by a robot named Muthr - a Multi-Utility Task Help Robot. There are no other humans around and Eva regards this robot, who is her primary caretaker, as her mom. This non-human Muthr is definitely one of the most admirable mother-figures you'll ever read about. Not only does she do a superb job of caring for the child, she multiple times sacrifices herself to keep Eva safe, and does things that are beyond what she was originally programmed for.

4. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Well, even though Harry himself is an orphan and his aunt definitely falls on the "evil stepmother" spectrum of things, Ron Weasley's mom is one of my favorite fictional mothers. It is in her house that Harry finally experiences what a loving home feels like. She is kindhearted, generous, caring, selfless and if necessary, ready to die for her family.

5. Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Here is a story of another orphan - a little boy raised by animals. My favorite character by far in this book is Bagheera the panther. She is lethal to her enemies and deeply protective and caring of those she loves. She also shares little nuggets of wisdom with the little boy and teaches him to be brave and smart.

"Unhooked" by Lisa Maxwell

This is going to be a different kind of review. As I got through about two thirds of the novel, I realized how similar this book is in its "feel" to Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Even though Novik's novel is Slavic fantasy and Unhooked is a Peter Pan re-telling, the main heroines have quite a bit in common. They both in the beginning do not know about their powers, both get whisked away from their normal surroundings and both get attracted to a dark and borderline evil character. Their powers are also similar in essence - very earthy and primal, something that is a part of them, not something that can be taught or followed as a formula. In addition, the narrative is somewhat slow-paced in both novels and is meant to be savored rather than devoured in one sitting. So obviously if you enjoyed Uprooted, I think you will like Unhooked.

Now if you have not read Uprooted and need more convincing, please read on. As I already mentioned Unhooked is a retelling of Peter Pan, but much darker than the story we all know. Maxwell's Pan is definitely not a hero and Captain Hook is not quite the villain painted in the original story. I think Unhooked is very imaginative and unique. There are some unexpected turns in the plot that I did not see coming. I also liked the way Hook's backstory is woven into the book. The main character Gwen is very believable. The reader sees everything through her eyes, and goes through the same confusion as she does.

The only unanswered question for me was Pan's origins story. I do realize the book is more focused on Hook, but I wish there was at least a little bit of a backstory on Pan. Overall, a very enjoyable read. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

"A Tyranny of Petticoats" edited by Jessica Spotswood

I was intrigued by this book the moment I saw it in upcoming releases. It is an anthology of 15 short stories set in different historic periods beginning from 1710 and ending with 1968. I loved this book. First of all, I am a big fan of historical fiction. On top of that, I love to read books featuring female protagonists particularly those who are not afraid to act in a non-conventional way and challenge the established order of life. In addition, I am fascinated by the life of ordinary people in various historic settings, e.g. books that talk about the life of a common Roman soldier or a Greek housewife, etc. And this book gives us glimpses of what life was like for young women and girls throughout history.

All 15 stories are written from the point of view of their main heroines. They come from different social classes, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and have different sexual orientation. We thus get to hear diverse voices of fifteen young girls living in different historic periods, but united by similar goals: a desire to pursue dreams, to take charge of their lives, to make the world a better place and to have equal opportunities.

Every story in this anthology is wonderful. I did not dislike any of them, and some of them, I thought were too short and could be developed into full-length novels. I also believe the authors did a good job researching the historic periods that they chose to write about. In fact, each story is followed by an author's note that details what inspired them to write the story, and some even provided information for further reading and research. I highly recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Top 5 Wednesday: Books with "Hard" Topics

I have not done a top 5 post in a while as I did not feel I had anything to contribute to the topics that were suggested. However, I have definitely read some books recently that deal with extremely difficult subjects and could not pass the opportunity to talk about them.

I would also like to say that some subjects for me are much harder than others. For example, I tend to avoid books dealing with WWII because I find them emotionally difficult to read. For this reason I have not read Unbroken - I saw the movie though and it was very difficult to watch. I think books with hard subjects are very important for raising awareness and some of them also make great survival stories and celebrate the strength of human spirit, but I can only take such books in small doses. It literally takes me days and sometimes weeks to get over them.

Now finally, to my top 5 recent reads with difficult topics.

1. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

The blurb on the back of this book is extremely vague, and I went into this not knowing what I was getting myself into. This book is about a young Nigerian girl who flees her home country to escape the horrors of "oil wars" - deliberate killings of entire villages whose only infraction was having a home in the area of rich oil deposits. So this is a story of what happened to her family and her struggle to find basic safety in this world. This book deals with some extremely difficult subjects. Trigger warnings would include violence, rape and utter despair. I have a full review of this book here.

2. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

This is another book which I picked up without fully realizing the effect it would have on me. It's the story of two sisters living in Shanghai whose father ends up gambling away the family fortune and sells them as brides to America. This is also the time when China is at war with Japan. Terrible things happen to these girls before and after they leave China. This book was so difficult for me that I never picked up the sequel. I am literally scared to find out what happens next because I got so attached to the main heroines. A trigger warning for this one is rape.

3. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

First of all, this is Christian fiction. It is loosely based on the Book of Hosea in the Bible. In it, God tells a righteous man to marry a prostitute, and he obeys God's direction. Redeeming Love is set in the 1850s in California. The main heroine is Angel, a high-priced prostitute, who one day meets Michael Hosea and ends up marrying him. The book is about Angel's tough journey from being an unwanted illegitimate child, who at the age of 8 gets sold to a brothel, to someone who not only allows herself to feel deserving of being loved, but also sets out to help other women in desperate circumstances. I cried a lot reading this book. The main heroine truly goes through hell. However, the ending in her story is beautiful and full of hope. I highly recommend this novel. Trigger warnings include rape and child abuse. I have a full review of the book here.

4. Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

This was another very recent read. It was also my first Ellen Hopkins' book and I absolutely loved it. This book deals with sibling suicide, bullying, betrayal and overall, growing up and dealing with difficult circumstances.  Reading it felt at times like riding an emotional roller coaster. This book is also tackling the subject of why. As in, if there is an all-powerful and good God, why is life so cruel... How can deity allow this to happen? etc. A great read. I have a full review for this one also.

5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This is a sad story of two drifters travelling around California and picking up odd jobs during the Great Depression. One of them has a mental illness and ends up getting in trouble. Even though the book is very short, it packs a powerful punch. It tackles such issues as the place of people with mental illness in society and our ability to both keep them from trouble and ensure they live good lives. This book is not as heart-wrenching as some of the others on this list, but it is very profound and sad.

As usual, if you'd like to know more about Top 5 Wednesday, it is a Goodreads group and the link to the page is here.