Book Reviews by Today, I Read…

I’m about halfway through Dear Zoe by Philip Beard. It’s been on my TBR pile for a few years, ever since I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

Yes, there’s a connection between the two. It’s the blurb on the front cover which prompted me to pick up the title in the first place:

“Like The Lovely Bones, it is a piercing look at how a family recovers from a devastating loss. Everything about this moving, powerful debut rings true.” –Booklist

There was something haunting about The Lovely Bones. It was a powerful and gripping book, and one I’ve not been able to read twice. Each time I see the cover, I get a chill and a memory of what’s within its covers drifts through me and I have to put it back down.

Like The Lovely Bones, Dear Zoe is an emotionally gripping book. It’s told as a series of letters to Zoe written by Tess, Zoe’s older half-sister. Through these letters we can see how Tess is dealing with the loss of Zoe, along with how her shattered family (mother, step father, and other half-sister) are dealing as well.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve shed more than a few tears as I read a few striking passages. For instance:

Even though it’s been almost a year, sometimes I still miss you so much it feels like someone is pushing their finger into the base of my throat and I cry like it just happened yesterday. But now when I cry like that it kind of feels like it cleans me out, and each time it happens it feels like I’m going to have a little longer until it happens again and usually I do. It’s not that I’m missing you less. It’s more like I’m finding a place to keep you.

Anyone who’s experienced loss on a profound level can certainly relate to the emotions painted on these pages.

Unlike The Lovely Bones, however, Dear Zoe doesn’t seem too disturbing. Without giving out any spoilers for TLB, there was an aspect to that novel that just made me want to vomit as it unfolded. I don’t get that same feeling with Dear Zoe, though there is a twist to the day Zoe died and it’s a day that is certain to incite or touch a nerve with many people. Up to this point, the day has been downplayed, which I believe works well for the story; it doesn’t gouge at any old wounds.

I should be finished within the next couple of days so I’ll be able to give the book a proper review.

First, thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway for a chance to win Serena Robar’s upcoming YA title, Giving Up the V.

I combed through each of the comments, tallied them up and, with the help of random.org, selected a winner:

Congratulations dsmitty1012

An email has been sent out, but if I don’t hear back within 48 hours, I’ll select another entrant.

Now, if you didn’t win this time around, please don’t fret. I’m planning to hold a number of giveaways in the future (infinitely-wise higher power willing).

Thanks to Jill at Breaking the Spine, I present another edition of Waiting on Wednesday…

Not too long ago, I received an email pointing me in the direction of this book called Wait Until Twilight. The email mentioned that there would be an excerpt on the website.

Well, after reading the brief excerpt, I’m waiting…patiently (or not so).

What I need to do, needs to be done before it gets too dark . . .

Sixteen-year-old Samuel confronts his own inner monster when he discovers a set of deformed triplets whose mother believes they were immaculately conceived. Soon, the babies have taken hold of his waking and sleeping thoughts, and, unable to escape them, he decides to save them, but their shut-in mother and violent older brother want nothing to do with him.

Samuel must fight the trouble within him and the trouble he sees around him to determine who he will become in a year that forces him to grow from motherless boy to self-defined man. Set in a small Georgia town, this psychologically complex story of survival and self determination explores the dark, often contradictory worlds of young contemporary life, laying bare the ugly truths and secrets that haunt all of us.

I mean deformed triplets whose mother believes they were immaculately conceived? Does it get more interesting than that?

Wait Until Twilight sounds like it’s going to be a chilling (and twisted) ride and I’m curious to see what unfolds.

You can read an excerpt online: Wait Until Twilight Excerpt [PDF] or it can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Just some of the links I’ve found while wandering the internets…

Dork Diaries giveaway. You know I had to enter after watching the super cool book trailer. And you all know this is coming from someone who doesn’t care much for book trailers (at least, not the trailers gone wrong).

The Host giveaway. The Host by Stephenie Meyer is being released in paperback and to mark the occasion, a number of blogs are participating in The Host Tour. So, if you don’t already have a copy, but would like one, now’s a prime opportunity.

Book blog search engine, powered by Google and maintained by Fyrefly. I had no idea there was a dedicated book blog search engine out there, but then again, I’d never been looking. I stumbled across this while reading another blog and I’m glad for it.

Sookie Stackhouse reading challenge. In case you needed yet another challenge , or just need another challenge, then now’s your chance to get all caught up on Charlaine Harris’s novels.

Now, if you don’t already have the Sookie Stackhouse series, then you have a chance to get the first seven books in Mel’s HUGE Sookie Stackhouse giveaway.

The Hunger Games giveaway. In case you’ve been stalked by this book like I have been (it seems, everywhere I turn, the book is beckoning me to read it), here’s an opportunity to win it.

I finished reading Gena Showalter’s Blacklisted on Tuesday, and I wanted to publish a few book notes. Think of this like a flash review until I can publish the extended edition.

When I was about 9/10ths of the way through this book, I realized that it was a sequel to Red Handed, which was sitting on my bookshelf—unread. That was definitely a *facepalm* moment if I do say so myself. So, if you already have Red Handed, read that one first.

Aside from reading the book out of order, I enjoyed my little detour.

• The action never stopped. It seemed that Camille and Erik were always being chased, shot at, and when they weren’t Camille was getting a little action of her own. (There were a couple scenes which would definitely place this book on the 16+ list.)
• The characters were well-drawn, if not a little stereotypical. I would have preferred, however, if Camille’s cowardice and goodie-two-shoes-ness was shown more clearly in her actions before we got to see the brave, strong Camille that she never realized she could be. But it was no big. I also wish the bad guys had been a little badder. (Eh hem, I’m looking at some of those A.I.R. agents.)
• Reading it made me reminisce about old Alien Nation episodes that I used to watch as a kid. Yes, folks, I just admitted that I watched Alien Nation. The concept of aliens inhabiting the earth alongside humans has always been intriguing to me and the thing that I loved about both the series and this book was that it didn’t sugarcoat it. It showed some of the tribulations that different species might encounter as a result of simply being different.
• There were more editing mistakes than I’d expected. The book started off strong, with an easy flow, then all of a sudden, errors started cropping up. The errors seemed random and gave the book the feel that it was a rush to complete and get to print. While it didn’t detract entirely from the story, there were more than a few moments when I had to stop and re-read a sentence because I thought my mind was playing a trick on me.

Put plainly, I had no idea what to expect with this book, but was pleasantly surprised. It’s a great lazy day read when you just want to kill a few hours.

And since I won’t be reading this title for my Sunday Salon post, I won’t be able to use this sketch for my Sunday Sketch. Rather than let it languish, I’ve decided to include it here.

This is my interpretation of Kitten, one of the A.I.R. agents that took on Camille and Erik.

I have no idea why I chose to draw Kitten—in fact, I didn’t even know I was drawing her until I was done. I really wanted to draw Cara or Erik, but never quite got around to it…maybe while I’m reading Red Handed.

(Sorry about the image bleed-through. I sketch in my Moleskine notebook and these particular pages are thin.)