2014 Challenges, Books

Book 283: Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1) – Dan Simmons

If there is a novel that could make someone fall in love with and/ or enjoy Science Fiction, this is the novel. My friend Alex gave Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, along with a couple of other books, to our house for Christmas. When I asked him which ones I should read he specifically said these and boy was he right! I was so excited finishing this one up, while I was purchasing a guidebook for my sister I picked up the third book in the Hyperion Cantos (four books) and will definitely read all of them.

This review WILL NOT contain spoilers, but no promises for the rest of the Cantos. The way I read, I read an entire series as one story and sometimes blend things together not knowing what comes from which particular installment, but the first one is always easiest to keep spoiler free. What was most exciting about this novel and what kept me so interested was Simmons’ intelligence and writing ability!

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ARC, Books

Book 274: Love Comes In Darkness (Senses #2) – Andrew Grey

The second novel in Andrew Grey’s Senses series with Dreamspinner Press didn’t disappoint, but paled in comparison to the first (and third). It wasn’t as great as Love Comes Silently, but is definitely better than 95% of the M/M romance novels out there. I received a copy of this via his publicist and received no compensation for my honest response. Love Comes in Darkness definitely mad me cry, but not in the way that Love Comes Silently did.

Whereas in the first book of the series where Grey bashes your emotions until you’re so low you wonder why you’re still reading the book and then does something so over the top that you wonder how you were ever that sad, in this novel it just felt as if sadness drove the story. I don’t think this is something he actively chose to do, but that came from this story’s set-up.

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Book 273: Love Comes Silently (Senses #1) – Andrew Grey

After starting Love Comes Home and falling in love with the characters and writing of Andrew Grey, I started to research him (and Dreamspinner Press) and quickly found it was the third in a series titled Senses. I immediately reached out to his publicist to see if they would provide copies of the first two, Love Comes Silently and Love Comes In Darkness to review and they did! This is my honest opinion of the book and I received no compensation.

Love Comes Silently is the story of Hannah, Ken and Patrick. A doctor diagnoses Hannah in the prologue with cancer, after she and her father, Ken, recently moved to Michigan. Patrick, a neighbor dealing with his own inner demons, slowly becomes a major part of their lives and this is their story. Now we all know I’m a sap, but this novel (and Grey’s amazing intuition with story line placement) really got to me. I found myself crying on three separate occasions.

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2014 Challenges, Books

Book 272: The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid’s Tale #1) – Margaret Atwood

[Check out my review of Margaret Atwood’s much awaited seque, The Testaments, here.]

I can’t believe it’s been over five years since I last read this incredible novel. But thinking about it as I write this I’m not too surprised. I last read this while working on a paper for my MA and that paper didn’t go well, because I apparently didn’t “understand how to apply gender theory” and I was given the opportunity to completely re-write the paper.

I was incredibly pissed at the insult, because that’s how I took it, and I spent a lot of time rewriting the paper in such a way as to insult my professors and the program. In no uncertain terms I stated that gender theory does not preempt every other theory and that scholars needed to be incredibly careful of over-stepping their bounds. I did eventually receive a passing grade and they invited back to pursue a PhD (I declined), but it left a sour taste in my mouth.

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Books

Book 261: Significant Others (Tales of the City #5) – Armistead Maupin

Coming back to Maupin’s San Francisco is like going home after a really long vacation. There’s something comforting and something genuinely nice about being back on Barbary Lane. (See the first quote under Additional Quotes).

I can’t believe it’s been almost three years since I binge read Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City and Babycakes. And like everyone else who has ever read a single one of The Tales of the city books, I’m finally taking the time to catch up on the series, which has spanned five decades so that I can read the final (I’m assuming) novel in the series The Days of Anna Madrigal released at the beginning of 2014. I won’t binge read them, but they’re such quick reads I plan to read them all this year.

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