Book Review | The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

The Sun and Her Flowers is a poetry collection by Rupi Kaur.

From Rupi Kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry. A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself.

Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.

this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom

The Sun and Her Flowers is the followup to Rupi Kaur's amazing poetry collection Milk and Honey. (You can read my review of Milk and Honey here.)

Unfortunately, I didn't love The Sun and Her Flowers as much as I loved Milk and Honey. There were several poems in The Sun and Her Flowers that I did love very much, but as a whole, the collection fell more toward the middle for me.

The Sun and Her Flowers felt like an extension of Milk and Honey, and I highly recommend reading Milk and Honey first. I think I enjoyed The Sun and Her Flowers much more having read it on the heels of Milk and Honey. Rupi Kaur has a unique style, and I think it was presented best in her previous collection.

Even though The Sun and Her Flowers didn't wind up as a favorite collection, I do still recommend it. I look forward to picking up more poetry by Rupi Kaur in the future.

⭐⭐⭐

Book Review | Siren Sisters by Dana Langer

Siren Sisters is a debut middle grade fantasy from Dana Langer.

A soon-to-be siren finds herself responsible for the lives of her sisters—and the fisherman they curse—in this haunting debut novel that Kirkus calls "an exciting fantasy with a heart-stopping ending by an author to watch."

Lolly Salt has three beautiful sisters. When they’re not in school or running their small town’s diner, they’re secretly luring ships to their doom from the cliffs of Starbridge Cove, Maine. With alluring voices that twelve-year-old Lolly has yet to grow into (not that she wants to anyway) the Salt sisters do the work mandated by the Sea Witch, a glamorously frightening figure determined to keep the girls under her control. With their mother dead after a terrible car crash, and their father drowning in grief, the sisters carry on with their lives and duties…until a local sea captain gets suspicious about the shipwrecks.

On the day before her birthday, Lolly watches in helpless horror as her sisters are lured themselves by curse-reversing fishermen—and suddenly it’s up to her and her best friend Jason to rescue the sirens of Starbridge Cove.

Why did I read Siren Sisters?

How could I resist a beautiful cover depicting middle grade girls luring fishermen to their deaths?!

The Strengths

This was a great read. Lolly wants to be normal (like any 12 year old wants to be), but she's turning into a siren. I remember what it was like to be 12. Siren Sisters resonated with me despite how far I am from being a siren (or a 12 year old).

It's wonderful to read about strong, loving, capable, supportive sisters. These are characters you want to spend time with.

The Weaknesses

Some of the things I really enjoyed in the beginning never reconnected or played out in the rest of the story. I really thought the parents and their singing careers (hello, siren daughters) and their odd behavior would tie in more than just explaining the obligatory dead/absentee parents. It felt like there was a lot of foreshadowing to things that never came to pass, too.

Would I recommend Siren Sisters to others?

Yes. If you are a fan of middle grade fantasy and this sounds like something you might enjoy, definitely give it a read.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

The Binding is the debut horror novel of Nicholas Wolff (a pseudonym for "an acclaimed New York Times bestselling author").

When a rare mental disorder begins to consume his small-town neighbors, a young psychiatrist digs up the past for clues to the epidemic’s bone-chilling source in this brilliant supernatural horror debut, written in the bestselling tradition of Peter Straub.

Convinced that evil spirits have overtaken his daughter, a desperate father introduces her to Nat Thayer, a young psychiatrist in their sleepy blue-blooded Massachusetts college town. Thayer quickly diagnoses the girl with Cotard Delusion, an obscure condition sometimes described as “walking corpse syndrome.” But Thayer soon realizes his patient—and many of the local families—are actually being targeted by a malignant force resurrected from the town's wicked history. Thayer must discover the source of the spreading plague…before there is no one left to save.

Reading The Binding was kind of a strange experience. There were some great scenes - even some scares - but I had a lot of trouble paying attention to the rest of it. I'm coming out of it with memorable bits and pieces but no glue to hold it all together.

I texted my mom at 12% because I knew she was reading this as well. She told me she had to start over completely 3 times before she got it to stick. That was not a fate I wanted so I just pressed on.

In the end, I'm glad for those memorable moments - they are what I look for in a great read - but I often found myself pushing through The Binding so I could move on to something else.

5/10: Decent Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden

Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror is an anthology edited by Christopher Golden.

A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins.

Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Kortya, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.

For me, there is nothing better suited for October than a great horror anthology. I spent this October reading Seize the Night edited by Christopher Golden. It was the perfect choice!

It's been a while since I've enjoyed an anthology as much as Seize the Night. With this list of contributing authors, it's no wonder it was great collection:

Kelley Armstrong • John Ajvide Lindqvist • Laird Barron • Gary A. Braunbeck • Dana Cameron • Dan Chaon • Lynda Barry • Charlaine Harris • Brian Keene • Sherrilyn Kenyon • Michael Koryta • John Langan • Tim Lebbon • Seanan McGuire • Joe McKinney • Leigh Perry • Robert Shearman • Scott Smith • Lucy A. Snyder • David Wellington • Rio Youers

This anthology claims to make vampires frightening again. Outside of having read Twilight, I don't actually know anything about romantic, emotional, sexy vampires. My vampires have always been frightening so that's the place I'm coming from with this review. These tales aren't just original because they are taking the vampire back to its roots (did it really leave?), they are tales that are original in their own right.

While the vampires in Seize the Night are of the scary variety, most of them aren't your traditional Dracula derived vampires. This is wonderful thing. Seize the Night is a great anthology to curl up with on a dark night. (And frankly, a new story from Scott Smith is worth purchasing the entire collection.)

8/10: Great Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | Losing Faith by Adam Mitzner

Losing Faith is a legal thriller by Adam Mitzner.

From the acclaimed author Publishers Weekly called “a gifted writer” comes this nail-biting legal thriller in the bestselling tradition of John Grisham and Scott Turow.

Aaron Littmann, the chairman of one of the country’s most prestigious law firms, has just been contacted by a high-profile defense attorney, whose client is Nikolai Garkov, a Russian businessman arraigned on terrorism charges for pulling the financial strings behind recent treasonous acts. The attorney informs Aaron that Garkov is looking to switch representation and will pay one hundred thousand dollars just to take the meeting. But Aaron doesn’t have any choice, as Garkov is ready to go public with the damning evidence that Aaron and the judge in the high-profile case—Faith Nichols—had a torrid affair during another recent case.

Filled with suspense, twists, and turns, Losing Faith will captivate legal thriller fans everywhere.

This may not be readily apparent given the books that are typically on my reading list, but I love legal thrillers. Love them. They are the logic puzzles of the literary world, and the legal system provides a set of rules by which everyone must abide. I love trying to figure out how the characters are going to pull off their case within the confines of the law.

And then there’s Losing Faith. Law shmaw.

Losing Faith started out really great. It’s been a while since I’ve read a good legal thriller so I was fully invested in the book. There was a lot of detail given on legal procedure, which I happen to enjoy. Your mileage may vary. There was also an unexpected twist that really set up the plot and took the book in a great direction.

This is where I get spoilerish on why I hate this book.

I was enjoying the proceedings up until the defense decided to base their entire case on perjury. Perjury from the wife, perjury from friends, perjury from the defendant. I think my blood actually began to boil. It’s lazy, illogical, and just plain anti-what-legal-thrillers-are-all-about.

Losing Faith was a complete disaster after that point.

I see the potential in Adam Mitzner’s writing so I plan to pick up another one of his books. As for Losing Faith, it was totally not my thing.

4/10: Not My Thing

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

The Fire Sermon is the first book in a dystopian trilogy from Francesca Haig.

Book Description

When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.

Nobody.

They were born together and they will die together.

One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.

The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.

The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they're free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.

Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.

The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they're not careful both will die in the struggle for power.

Book Review

The Fire Sermon was an enjoyable read despite the fact I'm a bit burned out on the dystopian genre.

The dystopian hook with The Fire Sermon revolves around twins. In each pair of twins there is an Alpha and an Omega. The Omega always has a genetic defect and is split off from their family and their twin. The twins are still linked, however, and when one twin dies, so does the other. It's an intriguing concept. I'll be honest - I didn't grasp how some of the twin phenomenons in The Fire Sermon could realistically occur, but it was easy for me to "go with it".

Since Cass and Zach were both seemingly born with no defects, their story goes far beyond the typical Alpha and Omega twin existence.

I'm not sure if The Fire Sermon is classified as a YA novel or not, but it is probably best suited for YA readers. It's unfortunate The Fire Sermon is being released into an oversaturated market. I can imagine it would have been extremely popular about four years ago, but it's going to have a tough time standing out against the crowd. The Fire Sermon is the first book of a planned trilogy so hopefully it can pick up traction and find a good audience.

Like most series books - especially of the YA flavor - my rating for the series will likely be higher than my rating for the individual books. As it stands now, The Fire Sermon is a solid 3-stars, with plans to read book two.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | Astrotwins by Mark Kelly

Astrotwins: Project Blast Off is a middle grade book by astronaut Mark Kelly.

A team of middle schoolers prepares for blastoff in this adventure from the author of the New York Times bestselling Mousetronaut, based on the childhoods of real-life astronauts Mark Kelly and his twin brother Scott.

It’s a long, hot summer and Scott and Mark are in big trouble for taking apart (aka destroying) their dad’s calculator. As a punishment, they’re sent to their grandfather’s house, where there’s no TV and they have to do chores. And Grandpa is less tolerant of the twins’ constant bickering. “Why don’t you two work together on something constructive. What if you built a go-kart or something?” Grandpa suggests.

But it’s not a go-kart the twins are interested in. They want to build a rocket. With the help of Jenny, nicknamed Egg, and a crew of can-do kids, they set out to build a real rocket that will blast off and orbit the Earth. The question soon becomes: which twin will get to be the astronaut?

Written by a NASA astronaut with four space flights under his belt, this exciting story includes extensive back matter on the space program with fantastic facts and details.

Astrotwins is a cute book. Mark and Scott are adventurous twins who love to take things apart and put them back together. Their grandfather suggests they spend their summer working on a project. The twins and their friend Jenny ("Egg") decide to make a spaceship for Jenny's next science fair project.

There are many things I love about Astrotwins. It's science heavy, which is cool, and it is presented in a way that educates the reader. There's also a lot of information on astronauts and the space program. Astrotwins is set somewhere around 1974 (I think), and the women and girls are strong, capable characters. I also love that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

That being said, I did find issue with the lack of incredulity and excitement over accomplishing the impossible. I have no problems suspending my disbelief of kids being able to build a spaceship and launch into orbit. I'm a big fan of the movie Explorers. I do, however, think building a functioning spacecraft would be a huge deal. I want my kids to believe they can do the impossible, but I also want them to understand and acknowledge their accomplishments. I want them to be excited when they reach their goals. Intrinsic rewards, for the win. There was an emotional disconnect for me, and it made it hard for me to celebrate the impossible the way I did while watching Explorers (or Space Camp! I loved that movie, too.)

Despite the emotional disconnect, I did enjoy reading Astrotwins. I'm adding it to my kids' bookcase because I think they will enjoy reading it, as well.

6/10: Good Read

Review copy provided by publisher