MIDNIGHT SUN by Stephenie Meyer: An Afterglow Review

 

On Goodreads

Le Blurb:

When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella's side of the story. At last, readers can experience Edward's version in the long-awaited companion novel, Midnight Sun.

This unforgettable tale as told through Edward's eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting Bella is both the most unnerving and intriguing event he has experienced in all his years as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward's past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he justify following his heart if it means leading Bella into danger?

Le Afterglow:

(This review contains spoilers for the Twilight series as a whole.)

My Experience

I had serious trouble putting this book down. Just as with Stephenie Meyer's other writing, the writing in Midnight Sun is intimate, compelling, and artful. 

Many reviews I read prior to finishing the book stated that Stephenie Meyer has grown as a writer and that the writing is so much better in this later book. Naturally, writers do grow and I'm sure there's truth in this. However, the surprise some people have at how good she is, I believe, rather stems from the caricature of her work and the fact it has been the butt of many jokes and parodies over the years. After I closed the book on the last page, my husband and I re-watched Twilight on Amazon Prime, and he commented that it wasn't as ridiculous as he'd remembered. Thank you, Honest Trailers, and others who parodied the content to make it feel more ridiculous than it was! Of course I have my own issues with the films, mostly in how they diverge from the much better books. But seriously, it is so easy to take on the opinions of others when they are the loudest ones proclaimed. The same thing happened when the backlash against Harry Potter and The Hunger Games began at the height of their popularity, and people who had loved the books began to feel ashamed for loving them.

I am one of those Twihards who never stopped seeing Stephenie Meyer's work with my own eyes as beautifully and masterfully woven. When she took a break from Midnight Sun after the leak, I grieved with her for whatever sense of betrayal and frustration she must have been feeling over having her work leaked publicly before it was ready. Yet she handled it with class and patience. Vowing not to finish the work clearly came from a place of personal hurt, not a desire for vengeance. I totally got it.

So imagine my surprise when someone close to me mentioned that Midnight Sun had been completed! I thought they had been hearing rumors. I quickly ran a search on Amazon for the book and was impressed by the classic Twilight-style cover, black with the striking red image of the juicy pomegranate. Instantly I was a curious about the choice and knew I would find the reason in the book's pages, so I pre-ordered it. The release was just days away, and within the week I had this gorgeous book in my hands.

I would have read it in two days, but I am a mother of six now and this week it was my husband's 38th birthday. I wanted to be present for my family and to help my husband mark his life with celebration and indulgence, as is our custom. It ended up taking me all week, with a few late nights thrown in, to finish. I enjoyed every minute, which is why I'm here writing an Afterglow Review.

My Insights

You all know I love a book written from another character's perspective, as I did the same thing with my own villain, Rupert, in Bombs Away!

Though Edward Cullen isn't technically the villain of the Twilight series, he certainly sees himself as the villain, and therein lies the source of all of his anguished behavior. If you didn't pick up on this by reading Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn from Bella's perspective, then you really, really need to read Midnight Sun. It clarifies every strange response he ever gave to Bella, and helps you to understand what was going on in the background. While eventually Edward chooses to be honest with Bella about many things--including his internal struggle, his family's initial debate about whether or not to let her live, and why Rosalie hates her--there are many things Edward keeps to himself, details that he doesn't think are important to share with her but which are interesting to the reader in the way they develop other characters and relationships. For instance, seeing Laurent from Edward's perspective is a whole different experience from reading the summary version he gives to Bella that James and Victoria are the true coven and Laurent a newcomer. Likewise, his relationship with Rosalie and thus Rosalie's relationship with Bella, make so much more sense with the added scene between the vampire brother and sister. I do think it's the only thing that makes Rosalie a sympathetic character.

The simplification of Edward and Bella's relationship into teen infatuation, or even unhealthy obsession, is a popular caricature of this series. For years I have heard people describe Edward as abusive or narcissistic and Bella as a doormat with no real personality. Both characterizations are unfair, in my opinion. Of course Bella, being self-deprecating, describes herself as nondescript and boring. She's surprised when she attracts the attention of every boy at Forks High School. She sees herself very differently from how others do, clearly. But the way Edward sees her is next level. As a telepathic immortal with eighty years behind him, he has heard it all in terms of human thought. He thinks he has seen it all in terms of human behavior. He is nearly omniscient, in his own mind. Bella intrigues him because she seems to act the opposite of human nature. This is a foreshadowing, I think, for Breaking Dawn, when it becomes clear that Bella is inherently designed for this paranormal afterlife experience. 

In Midnight Sun we understand much better what kind of strong female protagonist we are getting in Bella. Edward is constantly impressed with her goodness, bravery, intelligence, and selflessness. It's her that comes up with the plan to evade James the hunter, and it's her that knows exactly what to say and has the courage to say it to Charlie to prevent him from following her into danger. Bella is truly extraordinary, and through Edward's eyes we get to see what Bella never clearly sees of herself. 

What people fail to see when they oversimplify this relationship is how carefully Stephenie Meyer crafted these two to be a perfect fit, cosmically suited to each other, despite his having to die and be resurrected as a vampire in order to live long enough to meet her. It's telling that Bella references Somewhere in Time as one of her favorite movies, as it also features a romance outside of the constraints of linear time. You get a much richer experience from all of the Twilight books if you have already read and watched the referenced media. There are many classics referenced, from the Bible to Shakespeare to Jane Austen, as well as Greek mythology and more modern film references like Carrie. If you don't know what these things are on a deep level, then their inclusion will be of no meaning to you and you're more likely to read Twilight and Midnight Sun in a shallow way.

However, I believe that Midnight Sun makes it nearly impossible to reach these shallow conclusions about the characters. In many ways, it is superior to Bella's point of view. Edward has a whole different context for his experience. He is an adult in almost every sense, except for the fact that his emotional maturity has been somewhat stunted at the age of his changing: seventeen. He has never had the rite of passage of falling in love, and that makes his relationship with Bella begin with the dramatic infatuation stage of first love. Even though this part is all new to him, and does change him, he consistently falls back on his decades of life experience to process it. He is not an ordinary teen boy. It's clear that Stephenie Meyer never set out to write a YA book (for teens). She just wrote a story and it happened to have a seventeen-year-old girl as its protagonist. 

From Edward's perspective, the novel feels much more adult. Twilight has always been more for adults, in my opinion. Read as a nostalgic backward glance at the intensity of first love, it makes so much more sense. I'm uniquely able to appreciate this market-literature collision because I had the same market problem when I wrote Drats, Foiled Again! from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old heroic villain, even though the tone of the book and its true market is middle grade. Orson Scott Card, also one of Stephenie Meyer's author heroes, said that he didn't write stories about someone of a certain age. He wasn't writing books about kids (Ender's Game). He was writing about people, and people start as kids. Likewise, Stephenie Meyer writes about people, and while their stories of development start at a certain place, that doesn't define the work or its audience. This is why criticisms of middle-aged women, or men for that matter, who love her work are misguided. Stephenie Meyer was in her thirties when she wrote the books, and of course they are going to appeal to her peers who understand her cultural references. What's wonderful is that they also appeal to a younger audience who are then introduced to these cultural references and will hopefully read Shakespeare, the Bible, Jane Austen, Greek mythology, etc., to understand better one of their favorite YA books.

Aside from the artful writing of two romantic protagonists who are perfectly suited to each other, the other romantic pairings throughout the series are also carefully constructed. We see like-attracts-like, and opposites-attract in every pairing. James the hunter is paired with Victoria the masterful escape artist. The tortured war general Jasper is paired with the tortured visionary Alice. The childlike but strong Emmett is paired with the child-craving and beautiful Rosalie. The kind and self-sacrificing Carlisle is paired with the kind and self-sacrificing Esme. The human pairings are likewise artful. Stephenie Meyer has earned her rightful place as one of the great romantic writers of the age. There is truly nothing vapid or shallow in her writing style or her main characters.

My Hopes

I hope that Midnight Sun will inspire a whole new generation of readers to appreciate Stephenie Meyer for what she has brought to the literature world. These books deserve to continue to be discussed and debated and devoured.

Enjoy reading this latest book and bask in the recent revelation, reported by KSL three days ago, that Stephenie Meyer plans to write at least two more books in this artfully created universe! Twihards everywhere are celebrating! 

If you've read it, let's discuss in the comments. Who else is hoping for a complete redo of the films?

THE JULIAN CHAPTER: A WONDER STORY by R. J. Palacio

On Goodreads

Le Blurb:

Over 1 million people have read Wonder and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. Now readers will have a chance to hear from the book's most controversial character—Julian. 

From the very first day Auggie and Julian met in the pages of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder, it was clear they were never going to be friends, with Julian treating Auggie like he had the plague. And while Wonder told Auggie's story through six different viewpoints, Julian's perspective was never shared. Readers could only guess what he was thinking.

Until now. The Julian Chapter will finally reveal the bully's side of the story. Why is Julian so unkind to Auggie? And does he have a chance for redemption?

Le Afterglow:

You've probably heard all the rave reviews for WONDER by R.J. Palacio. So had I. I'd seen YouTube videos by parents of children with Auggie's condition talking about how important the book and movie are. And I'd seen friends on Facebook sharing what it meant to them.

When the movie came out, we watched it in the theatres and then I knew I had to read WONDER the book. We chose to listen to it as a family on Audible, and I'm so glad we did. It was engaging for both of my oldest kids (11 and 8), and I know it made an impact on the kind of people they will choose to be.

So when I saw "The Julian Chapter" on Audible at a steal, I decided I had to check that out, too. I began listening to it while sorting the laundry, expecting a chapter or two from the perspective of Julian, the main bully in the WONDER story. Much to my surprise, I had finished all the laundry and the story kept going.

It turned out to be a complete book, not a chapter!

This was a very happy surprise because, frankly, I couldn't get enough of the compelling characters and well-crafted narrative. I listened to THE JULIAN CHAPTER all day long and, while I had been skeptical that anything would make me like Julian the bully, I was in tears by the end of it. Without spoilers, it's pretty much impossible to tell you how R.J. Palacio managed to make this mean little boy into someone you would root for. Suffice it to say that she did, and she did it beautifully! I will definitely read this one with my kids over and over again, for the empathy it builds and the true stories to which it pays homage.

We own WONDER in hardback and I love that story, too. But there is something special about THE JULIAN CHAPTER. There's something special about the way it sheds light in the darkness, about the hope for redemption, and about the forgiveness that is so central to its theme. Of course, without first knowing Auggie's story, we wouldn't care much about Julian, so I do recommend you read that wonderful book WONDER first. Then read THE JULIAN CHAPTER. And get out your tissues!

Double Review: ROMANCING DAPHNE & FOR ELISE by Sarah M. Eden

Once upon a time, I had the pleasure of attending the writers conference LDSStorymakers and meeting a few real-life literary heroes and heroines, aka prolific authors. One of those I have never been able to forget was the witty and charming Sarah M. Eden. She gave a riveting presentation about writing romance a la Pride & Prejudice, and ever since then, I have meant to check out her recency romances for myself. Because clearly, here was a woman who understood romance and the psychology of relationships. Every time I have passed her books on display at my local library, I have wanted to get one, but for the past few years, books on education theory took precedent over books I desperately wanted to read! So I told myself to wait and someday I would sit down and curl up with a Sarah Eden book. Last week I was at the library and decided our January family screen fast was the perfect opportunity for me to kick start 2018 by reading for fun! I read FOR ELISE and ROMANCING DAPHNE on January 1st and January 2nd, and they absolutely warrant an Afterglow Review. 

ROMANCING DAPHNE by Sarah M. Eden

The blurb: 

As her first London Season looms before her, the thought of the impending social whirl fills Daphne Lancaster's timid heart with dread. She hasn't her sisters beauty nor their talent for conversing easily. Even her family's enviable connections may not be enough to prevent disaster.

But Daphne's misery turns to surprised delight when the first event of her Season brings an unexpected visitor to her door—James Tilburn, whose tender kindness stole her heart in her youth. When the handsome young gentleman expresses his desire to court her, Daphne is elated. Their feelings for each other quickly grow, and it appears that, much to Daphne s disbelief, her happily ever after is within reach.

Yet nothing is as it seems. The couple finds themselves caught in a tangled web of greed and deceit, leaving James and Daphne to determine whether they are willing to risk everything for true love.

The Afterglow: I laughed at the near-constant wit and sarcasm displayed by all my favorite characters, and relished the mushy love stuff that was obviously left over from Books 1 and 2 of the Lancaster Family series. I absolutely love that there are more books involving these characters for me to love. And this book has made me even more excited to read Seeking Persephone and Courting Miss Lancaster. Daphne is a heroine most readers will readily relate to, introverted and sharp as a tack, self-deprecating but brave and compassionate. Sarah Eden weaves a beautiful story about the uncertainty and humiliation of dating, excuse me -- courting -- during a London Season. But it's also about the family dynamics, power plays, and economic factors that controlled everything but our hero's and heroine's hearts. I found myself rooting for this couple from the beginning, and hoping despite the odds stacked up against them, that they would finally follow their hearts. One of the notes I took from Sarah Eden' s LDSStorymakers presentation was to create romantic leads who fulfill something in the other person which is desperately lacking, to fill the holes and the weaknesses with the other person. Sarah M. Eden does this masterfully in ROMANCING DAPHNE. I read it in a day and felt a little sad to say goodbye to these enchanting characters. 

I can recommend Sarah M. Eden's regency romances to everyone! They hearken back to the style of Jane Austen, and any impropriety is implied rather than explicit. Read with confidence, young and old.

FOR ELISE by Sarah M. Eden

The blurb: 

They were inseparable in their youth, the very best of friends, two halves of a whole. For four years, Miles Linwood, the Marquess of Grenton, has felt incomplete without her. When a carriage breakdown leaves him temporarily stranded in a tiny town, Miles makes an unexpected discovery that will alter the course of his life, and rewrite the pages of his past.

The Afterglow: 

With possibly the most meaningful meet-cute of all literary time, For Elise is a story that shows powerfully the impact of a single moment's decision, and the ripples that go out from that decision. Elise is a broken character, suffering from post traumatic stress and convinced of the necessity of her own exile. Miles is a philanthropic marquess with a troubled history that more than dovetails with Elise's past, but the trouble is neither of them has a perfect memory of what happened in the aftermath of a shared trauma. This device, using infallible memory and the hallmarks of trauma as the primary driving conflict, is one of the things that makes this story memorable, and keeps readers thinking about it long after the cover is closed. It made me wonder what interactions I remember imperfectly -- likely all of them, since I only experience my own feelings and am left merely to interpret those of the other person. Imagine years going by while those false interpretations are left to simmer and stew in the broth of continued misery. Sarah Eden imagines just that, with the stroke of a skilled pen rendering Miles and Elise eminently believable as people you might meet on the street. And that meet-cute! It certainly left me with wondering thoughts about what might have happened if decisions were made differently.

I recommend this one to readers who can handle the mature themes of violence and trauma. There is, after all, a murder mystery within these pages, not to mention the occasional social violence of upwardly climbing mothers of single daughters.

HEAVEN IS HERE by Stephanie Nielson (Memoir)

Sometimes you close the book and know that reading it has changed you. Sometimes you know half-way through. In the case of Heaven is Here, I felt drawn to the story before I even saw the book. Through my sister's word-of-mouth review, and a video I had seen on the internet about Stephanie and Christian wanting to name their first child Claire because it was the name both of them had loved as children, they felt like old friends to me already. I had heard about the plane crash that left Stephanie with scars and pain she struggled to live with. My empathy was piqued as much as my curiosity. 

My family was in a small plane crash when I was two, but we were blessed to get out before the inferno that always follows the crash. The pilot lost his life, and that was very sad, but I was two when it happened and all I knew was my own experience. The saddest thing that happened to me personally was that all our Christmas presents from grandma and grandpa went up in flames. Kind people worked to make that up to us in the months after the crash. Only my older brothers and parents had emotional trauma from the crash. We did not have an experience anything like Stephanie's, and yet I felt a deep empathy for her that went beyond the ordinary. Perhaps it is her beautiful voice in writing, the mix of romanticism and realism that doesn't sugarcoat things but ends up tasting sweet all the same. Perhaps it is the places she wrote about: Falcon Field airport, and Mesa, my old stomping grounds; Provo, Utah and the Y, my alma mater. Perhaps it is that we share the same faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the familiarity I felt throughout the story because of these things. But I think more than anything else, what I felt and why I felt it was triggered by Stephanie's remarkable and admirable passion for motherhood. From the beginning of her life story, she loves the idea of being a mother. And even when the reality of pregnancy includes vomiting while she makes dinner for her beloved husband, she somehow fulfills her favorite role with equanimity and patience. She never complains about the role of mother or wife, and only laments in the later chapters that she cannot fulfill the functions of motherhood, due to her injuries, to her satisfaction. This personal view she holds, glorifying motherhood and marriage, struck me in its uniqueness in the world of women's narratives. So much has been written about the plight of women, and it was refreshing to hear the voice of one who loved everything about her womanhood, especially that aspect of femininity that allowed her to be a wife and mother! Coming from where I do, having walked the long road to motherhood and resenting something about it all the while, whether it was the actual work or simply the way the world looked at us as mothers, I drank Stephanie's message about family like it was pure, spring water on a hot summer day. A few times my learned cynicism asked itself, Is she for real? But always came the feeling that yes, this was the most earnest narrative I had ever read. In a most fundamental way, with all we shared in common, Stephanie of the NieNie Dialogues, was different from me. We were different kinds of women. Her childhood and parentage had prepared her for a different kind of life, and besides that, there seemed to be something inherent to her beautiful soul that prepared her for a life mission centered around family. 

I found that I envied her.

And then the incredible journey of recovery began in Part 2, and envy receded in shame. She doesn't want my pity; that's clear from her narrative. But whose heart could be untouched in the face of so much internal and external suffering? I can tell you, there was much private sobbing throughout the night as I read, and I only stopped reading four or five times, to help a wakeful child find sleep again. 

How did Stephanie's story change me?

It taught me more deeply of the intrinsic connection between all of us, the people healing and the people serving; mothers and fathers and children; sisters and brothers and cousins and neighbors; doctors and patients and nurses; grocery store clerks and flight instructors and song-writers. None of us is as individual as we like to believe. And why do we want to believe it, when the connection we share is truly more beautiful and meaningful than any pretended self-reliance could ever be? 

Connection, purpose, faith, and joy are all at the center of Heaven is Here. 

For more about Stephanie and Christian, read her blog, http://www.nieniedialogues.com or watch videos at the same website. Her book is a New York Times bestseller and she has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey show, celebrating her indomitable spirit and dedication to motherhood.

Thank you, Stephanie Nielson.

REMAKE by Ilima Todd

On Goodreads

The Blurb: 
Nine is the ninth female born in her batch of ten females and ten males. By design, her life in Freedom Province is without complications or consequences. However, such freedom comes with a price. The Prime Maker is determined to keep that price a secret from the new batches of citizens that are born, nurtured, and raised androgynously. 

But Nine isn't like every other batcher. She harbors indecision and worries about her upcoming Remake Day -- her seventeenth birthday, the age when batchers fly to the Remake facility and have the freedom to choose who and what they'll be.

When Nine discovers the truth about life outside of Freedom
Province, including the secret plan of the Prime Maker, she is
pulled between two worlds and two lives. Her decisions will test
her courage, her heart, and her beliefs. Who can she trust? Who does she love? And most importantly, who will she decide to be?

The Afterglow:

I've had my eye on this book for quite some time, ever since I first saw it at the local Deseret Bookstore. When I got it for Christmas, I was thrilled!

Gender is a hot-button cultural issue with many psychological and religious, even political, undertones. Thus, I was very impressed to see an author of faith had taken it on. That's brave. People of faith aren't politically popular right now, unless you're the Pope. And wearing it on your sleeve can earn you plenty of condemnation from your peers. Sure enough, when I went to rate this book FIVE STARS on Goodreads, I ended up exposed to plenty of negative, even angry, reviews. Fortunately, there are enough glowing reviews to land it very near to four whole stars cumulatively.

But this is an Afterglow Review, and this review blog is reserved for those books that wow-ed you, impressed you, or changed you, leaving you somehow better. Remake did that for me. I read it with my husband, which made me blush a bit in the particularly gushy parts, but definitely made the humor more fun. The mystery of it left us speculating and predicting throughout the book as we tried to figure out exactly why Nine is the way she is, so different from everyone else, and what the Prime Maker would do with her if she didn't do what was expected.

The part that impacted me, though, was the artful articulation of the true meaning and joy of FAMILY. It is, after all, what this book is all about. It ponders the questions, "Is family important? Necessary? Desirable? Or is it restrictive of freedom, oppressive of women, and inciting to revolution?"

For those of us who advocate for the continued protection of the natural family (I include myself as a homeschool mom who advocates for parents rights), family means something more to us than it seems to mean to those who believe a child is better off as a ward of the state. It means bundles of pride and joy, to be sure, but it also means mutual sacrifice, deep and abiding love, and an eternal sense of belonging that goes beyond all other affiliations in your life. Not everyone feels this way about family, and not everyone has had a beautiful experience in her own family. It can be difficult for family-lovers to articulate exactly why the family unit is worth protecting and proliferating.

Ilima Todd gently and with plenty of awkward humor, helps us discover the depth of meaning in the family pattern through the eyes of an androgynous girl without family who is fostered into a tight-knit, God-fearing, and hard-working family. From her new mother, she learns what a mother even is, that it's sometimes a painful role to play, and that her impact with a few whispered words can reach her children months later across an ocean. From her new father, she learns how fathers and mothers lead together, how the love of parents is the glue that binds the whole family together, and how to lead with love. From her new siblings, she learns that you can be happy no matter your circumstances, that complaining makes things a lot worse, and that everybody in the family has work they can do for the good of all.

Even though Nine is eased into this new life, it is still very alien to her, having grown up in a batch of genetically engineered children as the social pariah with only one best friend to protect her from ceaseless teasing. She weighs the good and the bad in what she sees, and struggles with concepts like freedom vs. loyalty or choice vs. acceptance of things that aren't easily changed. All she's ever wanted her entire life is to change who she is completely so she can be more like her best friend in every way, even down to his gender. She mistakenly believes that strength and courage are male traits. Right up to the last chapter, the reader must wonder what she will choose to be. Even if you disagree with the Biblical and historic definitions of family, this story will allow you to explore what a world would be like where children aren't considered their parents' charges and natural birth within families is not only discouraged, but illegal.

A good dystopia shows us ourselves in a fun-house mirror to make us think about the distortions and what the real picture is and should be. Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games forced us to realize the disgusting glamorization of violence in our entertainment by inventing a society where war and entertainment were one and the same. Ilima Todd has shown us our disregard for family stewardship, parents rights, and a child's need for the complementary and different abilities of both parents by inventing a society that isolates children from any constant caregivers, punishes parents for procreating and systematically sterilizes new citizens of a city ironically called Freedom 1.

In one particularly haunting conversation with the Prime Maker, Nine asks herself, "And what if I choose to be me?"


 

ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE by Gail Carriger

On Goodreads

The Blurb:
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School. 

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

The Afterglow:

 I absolutely loved Gail Carriger's adult series, The Parasol Protectorate, starting with Book the First: Soulless. With the light, witty tone of Jane Austen crashing into the clockworks and invention of Jules Verne, Gail Carriger has hit the sweet spot in her book universe. Set in the same delightful universe, her Finishing School series for teen readers explores a pair of unorthodox boarding schools for boys and girls: one for training up evil geniuses and the other for preparing female intelligencers to face the wild world of espionage and Picklemen.

I quickly fell in like with the main character of Etiquette & Espionage, Sophronia (love the name!) Temminnick, because of her intelligent fascination with how things work and her innate indifference to fashion and manners. I related to her because she comes from a large family, wears last season's dresses from her older sisters (though in my case it was a cousin), and can't help but be curious about everything! Even better, she doesn't come from a family steeped in the mystery of Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quali-tay. She's more like a scholarship case, referred to in the book as a covert recruit.

With her affinity for stable boys and indifference to gender or racial differences, Sophronia exudes goodness, despite her position at a school for would-be assassins and intelligencers. She is truly a main character to applaud.

While the many intriguing and mysterious characters come from diverse backgrounds and personalities, the school itself is a character. Its shape, its geographical location, and its propensity to float above the ocean all make the setting one of constant excitement and, yes, of course, danger.

While I haven't been a teenage girl for some time now, I do have a little anecdote which leads me to believe this book would be equally beloved by teen girls. Knowing my mom's love of good fiction, especially with a 19th century England setting, I gave her the book as soon as I finished it. She took it to work the next day and immediately lost it. Rather, it was stolen. Fortunately, she found it in the hands of one of her "troubled" girls who lives at the school where she works. The girl begged her to get the book approved so she, too, could read it. Apparently, she had read a few pages and was hooked. If that's not a glowing review, I don't know what is.

I'm waiting on amazon to bring me my sequel copy, Curtsies & Conspiracies.

Have you read Gail Carriger? Would you read her YA series? (Hint: The answer is yes!)

LIFE AND DEATH: Twilight Re-Imagined by Stephenie Meyer

On Goodreads

This is why I love Stephenie Meyer! Her publisher contacts her and asks for a letter to put in the front of the 10th Anniversary Edition of Twilight. She says, That sounds boring. How about I rewrite Twilight, switching everybody's gender? 

Seriously, there are few authors so in touch with their fan base. From the apology in the front to the afterword in the back, she talks to fans like we're part of her family. (The apology is that this is not Midnight Sun, the much-hoped-for, unpublished volume of The Twilight Saga that tells the story from Edward's point of view. When that comes out, look for my Afterglow Review because I have already read a portion of it on her website and plan to love the whole thing!)

 First of all, I encountered this re-imagined version of Twilight in Wal-Mart, of all places, while grocery shopping with my family. I picked it up, saw that it was not some spoof but an actual re-imagining by the author herself, and immediately started chuckling like a giddy schoolgirl. My oldest son, who has aged seven years since I first read The Twilight Saga, asked what was so funny. All I could say: "I'm just tickled." 

Twilight came into my life when I was a brand new mom, living in a California apartment, and trying to figure it all out: how to balance my love of writing and reading with my new mom job. Stephenie Meyer became my hero when she showed me it could be done, and it could be fun. Shortly--very shortly--after reading her books, I began writing my own books again. 

You can imagine, then, that I picked up Life and Death with the intention of enjoying it, and I thoroughly did!

On Monday, October 26, my more scholarly write-up on this latest book will be up on Operation Awesome. Here, I intend to gush, so get ready.

I loved Beau and Edythe! I loved the way Beau made even more sense than Bella, and that Edythe was more Edward than Edward! From Edythe's calligraphic writing and love of classical music and her perfumed breath to Beau's clumsy height and gait and his tough-guy act and his wooziness from the smell of blood, they just clicked as characters. I can imagine that if I had never read Twilight, Life and Death would have been a hit on its own merits. 

All the elements of the story that I loved are there:

• First love, the confusion, uncertainty, and electricity
• Obsession tempered with the knowledge that obsession isn't healthy
• The innate inequality of a relationship between a human and a superhuman
• The irony of falling in love with your opposite, your kryptonite, your prey
• Meyer's unique spin on immortality and the rivalry between vampires and werewolves
• A hero (Bella/Beau) who would give her/his life for those she/he loves, and even for strangers: a true martyr
• Charlie. He hasn't changed, love him.
• A happy ending. Cliffhangers are so over-rated! And after all, Life and Death is a stand-alone.

Beyond that, the chance to play with gender roles and gender stereotypes is one not to be missed! Alpha werewolves that run in a matriarchal line? A Carine Cullen (the female counterpart of Carlyle) who is the father, so to speak, of the family? And Edythe, an incredible, musical, beautiful, hauntingly perceptive woman who happens to fall in love with her kryptonite: Beau. It's a delightful way to revisit our beloved Forks. 

Of course there were parts of the story that had to be altered because they wouldn't quite make sense with a man: biology mostly, but a few stereotypes. For instance, Beau didn't ever do ballet. He ducks into the men's room, not the ladies'. The attack on him in Port Angeles has more of a motive than simply being an easy target (and she sets that up early). But what's amazing is how much of the story didn't need to be altered at all, and it just works. 

My favorite scene in this version was the blood-typing fiasco in Biology and the aftermath. Beau's way of dealing with his embarrassment is just so endearing and different from Bella. In fact, Beau's voice, for me, was more fun to read. I hope Stephenie Meyer will consider writing first person from a male perspective more in the future. From what I've read of Midnight Sun and Life and Death, she can more than handle it. 

Have you read Twilight? How about this version? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu (Couple's Review)

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Synopsis: 

When out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it.

He wasn’t.

He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes.

Meanwhile, Roen is having to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well…


Afterglow by Bill:

Using the combination of action from a James Bond movie and the dialogue of an Adam Sandler movie, Lives of Tao is one of the most unique spy books you will ever read in your life.  The book tells the story of a man named Roen who never thought much of his life until an alien named Tao takes over his body after Tao's previous host dies during a mission.  The rest of the book shows the conflict between Roen and the voice in his head (Tao) who gives him the direction and the confidence to better his life and condition himself to become a spy in the fight to safe the human race.

The dialogue between Roen and Tao, which sometimes can turn serious, is mostly funny as they bicker with one another, as Roen complains about how he will never be a good agent and Tao, who continues to tell about all the men through human history that he was actually controlling.  The book contains action when you least expect it and an ending that you would never see coming.

Afterglow by Katrina:

A perfect date book! Action, comedy, romance, cool factor. Bill and I read this one together over the course of a month. Though we tried to pace ourselves, by the end we couldn't put it down. In my mind, Roen Tan is Kung Fu Panda, all gooey and lovably funny throughout. There's a stark difference between his first attempts at training and the missions he executes near the end. His personal transformation is incredible, yet believable.

The Lives of Tao is science fiction, but I'm seeing it called a mash-up because it reads a little like a spy thriller in parts. My favorite part, though, is what you can easily see in the synopsis: the funny.

Whether it's trying to escape a bar fight unscathed by his best friend's arm candy, or watching alien Tao maneuver a large, sleeping human Roen around the living room, the visual comedy is sublime. As Bill mentioned, the dialogue happening inside Roen's brain is also a treat to overhear. You'll end the book wishing you had a wise (and wise-cracking) alien like Tao in your head.

Who should read it? Teens to adults who like spies, which is pretty much everyone, right?

READ AN EXCERPT at TOR.com  

CHASERS (Alone #1) by James Phelan

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BLURB:

Jesse is on a UN Youth Ambassadors camp in New York when his subway carriage is rocked by an explosion. Jesse and his three friends, Dave, Mini and Anna, crawl out from the wreckage to discover a city in chaos.
Streets are deserted. Buildings are in ruins. Worse, the only other survivors seem to be infected with a virus that turns them into horrifying predators... 

AFTERGLOW:

During the first half of this book, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to love it. Like it, yeah. Like 4 stars like. But then I read this:

We are all storytellers.
We write our stories
where and when we 
can.
This is mine.
I have nothing. 
I have everything.
I am alone.

Maybe you have to have context for this to hit you as hard as it hit me, but it was at this moment that I understood the theme, appreciated the series title, and fell in love with the book. It's a little less than 3/4 into the book.

I wrote this earlier in the day, at the 40% mark:

"I read the first half in a few hours last night and had trouble sleeping. Yay for prayer! It was only after some hardcore praying that I was able to go to sleep. I think I'll try to read the rest of it during the day and then wash it down with some My Little Pony or something. It's just scary and way too realistic-feeling. There are slow parts, which I appreciate in a zombie-esque post-apocalyptic book, and those real survivor parts make it feel a little like Castaway. Castaway with zombies. So yeah. I gotta say, though, the writing is surprising in a good way. The beginning bit has normal dialogue just like any other book, but after the event happens, the quotation marks all disappear and you get this feeling like it's all happening in Jesse's head, almost. Very interesting mechanism there. I'd say it makes the dialogue feel more urgent, and like it's being processed through the fog of trauma. As a writer myself, I always love to see the ways authors pull off something like that. James Phelan has done a fantastic job on his first YA novel. I'll be reading the whole trilogy. The books are shortish, and take place over only a matter of weeks. I'll keep you updated."

Time to update you. :) I would definitely keep the Castaway comparison from my comments above, but the chasers aren't quite zombies. They're something else. A couple of times they're compared to grazing cattle, and in the end the way they evolve from the beginning is very surprising. I guess if I were pitching this I'd say it's 28 Days Later meets Castaway for teens with an Aussie narrator.

The character arc of Jesse, our main guy the Aussie, works really well throughout the story. By the last page, I feel like his twelve or so days post-event have done their work. He's changed for the better. Honestly, that's a tricky feat for a post-apocalyptic book. There's so much going on, the need for so much world-building and explanations, that authors sometimes fudge on the character growth a bit.

Not James Phelan.

This book truly was about Jesse. I guess if he fudged anywhere, it was on the world-building and explanations. You only learn as much as Jesse does, and he's pretty scared so he doesn't take more risks than he has to, which means your information will be limited, too. Other reviewers complained that we didn't see more of the chasers, more action, more thriller.

I felt the suspense during the quiet moments sustained me well. I did not need more chasers. Not at all. In fact, without the thoughtfulness of this book, it wouldn't have made it to Afterglow. It would have been just another zombie book. It was only in getting to know Jesse and his friends that I understood the major themes, came to see the chasers as more than zombies, and got that cathartic feeling of personal growth for myself.

Last few pages = pure gold. Loved them.

I will just say... read during the bright, noisy, happy day. Do not read this at night.

Or if you disregard my admonition, at least keep My Little Pony queued up for emergencies.

A BANDIT'S STOLEN HEART by Michelle McLean

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Released April 1, 2013

Blurb: 

Under the persona of the bandit Blood Blade, Cilla Richardson robs from the corrupt and gives to the poor. When an accidental kidnapping leaves her with a handsome captive named Leo Forrester, Cilla finds she has the perfect ally at her side to aid in the fight against the town’s corrupt sheriff. 

Leo reluctantly agrees to help by marrying Cilla’s older sister but the more time he spends with Cilla, the more determined Leo is to steal her stubborn bandit’s heart. However, Cilla is just as determined to keep her heart to herself. Then innocent people are murdered, and the sheriff blames Blood Blade. With their allies now their enemies, Leo and Cilla must convince the town of her innocence before she ends up on the wrong end of a hangman’s noose.

Afterglow:

One word can pretty much sum up Michelle McLean's latest offering: Exciting.

How else do you describe a book with a train chase, Robin Hood-esque sister bandits, bounty hunters, brazen cattle theft, an evil sheriff, fire, murder, a forgotten mine, and a good old fashioned lynching? 

I finished it in one night, up until 2am. Where To Trust A Thief  (Afterglow review here) brought me back to regency romance, A Bandit's Stolen Heart made me want to pick up another western immediately after. Michelle uses expert characterization and rich setting together to root the reader firmly in the ground of her story. To Trust A Thief rooted me in Victorian times, and A Bandit's Stolen Heart rooted me in the Wild West. I thoroughly enjoyed both rides, though they are vastly different stories. 

The only similarity is the spunkiness of the characters. I don't think Michelle has it in her to write a boring character, which is fine by me! Cilla became the breadwinner of her family (at least in her own mind) at the ripe old age of sixteen. Her devotion to her family, her sense of guilt and duty to help a town besieged by her half-brother the sheriff, and her insistence on doing everything by herself made Cilla a heroine to cheer. 

The colorful language had me stopping every few pages to share an excerpt with my husband, even though he was doing some reading of his own and this must have been kind of annoying. I couldn't help myself. Writing this good, writing this fun, was meant to be shared. From paragraph one, page one, my relationship with Cilla--and with her horse Maynard--was cemented as one of respect and amused appreciation. The opening scene is a Blood Blade bandit jewelry heist from a moving carriage. And the driver turns out to be kind of a key player in Cilla's/Blood Blade's life (understatement). 

It is one hell of a meet-cute. 

Leo came to town looking for his missing brother, but instead found the butt of a gun to his head. To his incredible credit, he still chooses to be noble to his captors when he sees the unrestrained evil they're dealing with in the sheriff (this is no spoiler, as you can learn as much from the goodreads blurb). He is like Cilla in many ways, which is part of what makes their lumpy, broken road romance so fun and infuriating as they insist on misreading each other and at times out-martyring each other. I had to cheer when I realized Cilla was as determined to rescue Leo as Leo was to rescue Cilla. No wilting damsel here.

Then there is the swearing. Something about cowboys swearing is rather endearing, but when Cilla does it, it's just downright hilarious. I loved that each of the Richardson sisters has a fiery temper all her own, though the oldest, Brynne, has the ability to moderate herself. At different points in the story, all three sisters have an opportunity to showcase their stubbornness, whether it's in loyalty, personal determination, or pride. You just gotta love spunk, especially when it comes in threes. 

Even better, this is a planned trilogy, a book for each Blood Blade Sister:

The Blood Blade Sisters trilogy (Entangled Scandalous 2013) - 
In a time when women are supposed to be seen and not heard, the Richardson sisters go to criminal lengths to take control of their own destinies.

This historical romance series will follow Cilla, Brynne, and Lucy Richardson, three sisters in post-Gold Rush California who become “Robin Hoods of the West” in order to right the wrongs committed by their corrupt brother against the townspeople and themselves. When their identity is discovered and they are framed for murder, the sisters must cut a deal with one of their victims, a man who may just prove to be their savior – and the love of Cilla’s life.

Each book will follow a different sister - Book One will introduce the sisters and their bandit ways with Cilla being front and center. Book Two will follow Brynne, while Book Three will tell Lucy's story. 

I'm looking forward to the stories of Brynne and Lucy in Books 2 and 3, though it was with the customary sadness of goodbyes that I turned the last page on Cilla's and Leo's story. I came to love them for the ridiculously feisty, family-loyal martyrs they are. 

If you haven't read a western in a while, this is the one you want to dive back in. If you haven't ever read a western, start with the Blood Blade Sisters trilogy. It'll be fun!


For more from Michelle McLean:
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Disclaimer: author is an Afterglow contributor and provided this reviewer with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

PITY ISN'T AN OPTION by Jessica Brooks

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I am just... moved. Touched. Changed. Which is exactly what Afterglow Book Reviews is here for, to give us a chance to share these book-induced feelings with the world. There's something different about Jessica Brooks' debut novel, Pity Isn't An Option. It's more contemplative than I'm used to, and the writing is just gorgeous. It doesn't gimmick or formulate. It just goes. It just journeys. That's how I feel, like I just went on a journey that changed me.

Have you ever been on an adventure like that in real life? When I was a kid I went on a hike with my family and some friends. It was horrible and wonderful. Our friends got motion sick in the car on the way there. We hiked too slowly. The sun blazed overhead. We ran out of water at the halfway point and still had a long way to get back to the cars. The mother of the other family collapsed with heat exhaustion. We prayed. We walked along a dry riverbed looking for water. And we prayed. And we sucked on Juniper berries. Did I mention we prayed? When we discovered water, we went crazy, jumping all over in it, soaking our hot skin and our clothes, drinking it where it ran down the rocks. Best day of my childhood. I don't even remember the hike back. Just that incredible moment when our prayers were answered and we could fill out canteens for our friends waiting up the trail. One day, one simple adventure. Life defining.

That's how it feels to read PITY ISN'T AN OPTION.

It's the first of a series. The author classifies it as YA contemporary with dystopian elements. I'd classify it as near-future YA dystopian. It's a five-years-down-the-road-if-the-economy-keeps-going-downhill-and-our-political-system-gets-even-more-corrupt kind of thing. President Kendrick refuses to relinquish the presidency, and he's forcibly conscripting a civilian army for some unknown purpose. All the citizens know is that when their fathers and sons are taken, they are never heard from again. The Union holds meetings and talks about fighting back, but everyone is scared and nothing ever really happens. Hattie and Jonas experience a day-to-day tension that finally reaches a boiling point and forces them to action. The pace of this novel is slow suspense in the beginning and gets super intense at about the 60% mark. By that point, I felt a bond with the characters that wouldn't let me go. Wanless, their town, just feels all too real. (It doesn't help that I just read the part in Gone with the Wind when the land around Tara is desolated.)

The theme of the book (from my perspective) is Luke 12:27 "Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Dark, yet marbled through with streaks of hope, PITY ISN'T AN OPTION reminds us we're not in control of anything except our own choices. And Jonas and Hattie do not disappoint on that score.

The blog tour for PIAO has ended, but you can still read excerpts and get to know the author:

Le Blog Tour Stops

Full disclosure, Jessica Brooks is one of our reviewers.