Beth Tabler

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review

I am a fan of Jeff Buckley. I think anyone who has heard his haunting version of Leanord Cohen's ‘Hallelujah' would be affected by it and be a fan. But Jeff Buckley was generally an enigma whose life was cut short. Even after reading this, he is still sort of an enigma. I learned a few new things: for instance, I had no idea who his dad was, or that he was actually a folk singer. I learned that he was uncomfortable with fame and how it was thrust upon him, first in comparison to his father and then further through his own well earned fame. Then poof, his life, his light was out like a light. Jeff Buckley still remains an enigma. Maybe that is how the author intended it. To show that to all, he was and always will be this great shining star that brought light into the sky for a brilliant moment then puffed out. It is really sad the way his life ended.

Still, it felt very unsatisfying to me.

Aside from the story the graphics are extremely well done. Kudos to Dizin and Reist. They used a light touch but conveyed a lot of information.

I hate ants.

Every year, and it seems no matter what part of the country I live in, these evil creatures invade my home. They find every nook and every cranny and scurry looking for water or some little crumb to enjoy and bring back to their nest. They crawl over your skin with a slight tickle, and sometimes they bite you for the fun of it. Plus they smell an impossible to describe scent. Imagine putrid ammonia and lemon cleanser, and you have a general idea. They are everywhere, and there are 12,000 species in the world. They are a pest, a pestilence upon my household. This book takes my fear of ants and turns it up to 11.

You know how to take the whole idea of a swarming mass of black ants and make it worse. Make them poison you, cause anaphylactic shock, and then cut bits and pieces of your skin off and leave your insides facing the outside while still alive. That's how you make it worse.

Chuck Wendig, you are a maniac.

I thought The Hatching was terrible for the pure creepy crawlies, nope. Spiders have nothing on killer ants. Not only has Wendig provided a genuine and visceral fearscape to set his imagination wild in, but he also did that with fantastic characters, pacing, and lead heroine.

The story stars Hannah Stander. She reminds me of a grittier version of Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. She is smart, capable, and tough FBI agent working a murder investigation. Where I think Wendig soared with her character is that she is not two dimensional. No person is hardened all the time. Hannah has moments of weakness and guilt, which makes her character more realistic and empathetic. The supporting characters, although not as fleshed out as Hannah, add a great dimension to the story through the various interactions with Hannah. You want her to succeed in her quest to discover the truth and survive, but as a reader, you are curious to the going-ons of all the supporting characters.

This is a character-heavy story. Because of the development of the characters, the setting and worldbuilding are not as comprehensive as the character creation, and frankly, it doesn't need to be. Think Jungle. Think tropical. Think medical/scientific compound where experiments are created and carried out, and you have the gist.

Hannah is speculating about a homicide in upstate New York. The victim is found stripped of all skin and laying in a pile of thousands of dead ants. The death is strange and sparks the intrigue of Hannah. Through a series of logical leaps, Hannah finds herself at a research compound of an eccentric billionaire that studies insects. From there the story becomes a fast-paced thriller full of survival, both of Hannah and the humans as a species. It bounces from scene to scene, keeping the reader on edge with the tight storytelling.

This is an exhilarating and exciting read that had me feeling phantom tickles on my cheek after reading. If you are a fan of the creepy crawlies, this is for you.

Misery by Stephen King is a novel about pain, obsession, and writing. Paul Sheldon, the stories protagonist, is 42. He is a celebrity writer, twice married and divorced, drinker and smoker, and he is in a lot of trouble. So much trouble. “umber whunnnn yerrrnnn umber whunnnn fayunnnn These sounds: even in the haze.” Even through the haze of drugs and pain, he knew something was off; something was wrong. There was pain, so much of it. “The pain was somewhere below the sounds. The pain was east of the sun and south of his ears. That was all he did know.” His memory was hazy. He remembers a crash. He remembers he stopped breathing, then breathing again. A mouth, spitless, dry, and tight had clamped on him like a vise with its breath. It was “a dreadful mixed stench of vanilla cookies and chocolate ice cream and chicken gravy and peanut-butter fudge.” It was awful, Paul begged and pleaded to be left alone. But Annie couldn't leave him alone.

“Breathe, goddam you!” the unseen voice shrieked”

This was Paul's introduction to Annie Wilkes, Paul's number one fan, the stories antagonist and Paul was in a lot of trouble.

Paul was out celebrating the finishing of his newest novel. “Fast Cars.” A story that Paul had written after putting behind him his best-selling romance series staring the heroine Misery Chastain. A story that, to him, was not writterly and deserving of praise. He had drunk champagne, high on the excitement of the victory, and went driving. He crashed his car spectacularly on a snowy road outside Sidewinder, Colorado. A place that many King fans will recognize from Dr. Sleep, American Vampire, and The Shining. He is found broken and twisted amongst the remains of his car by Annie Wilkes. His legs are a badly broken puzzle of bone shards and pain. He awakes in Annie's farm somewhere outside of Sidewinder with only the sounds from an unhappy cow and a pig that Annie had named Misery to greet him.

“This memory circled and circled, maddening, like a sluggish fly. He groped for whatever it might mean, but for a long time the sounds interrupted. fayunnnn red everrrrrythinggg umberrrrr whunnnn Sometimes the sounds stopped. Sometimes he stopped”

Paul realizes that his legs are a broken and splintered mess pretty quickly. Ironic because Annie is an ex-nurse and probably could have set them to rights. He is in excruciating pain and hooked on pain killers, and is entirely at the mercy of his number one fan, and something is not quite right with her. There is something diabolical and insane in Annie Wilkes. Something dark is inside her mind and only comes out sometimes, something that can hurt him, something that will eventually kill him. If he wants to continue his existence, he needs to write a new Misery novel for her, one that revives the protagonist Misery Chastain. Misery is a character that Paul was delighted to kill off and be done with. Otherwise, Annie might kill him; but she might kill him anyway piece by piece.

Much of Stephen King's Misery is psychological terror and internal turmoil. The psychological terror is palpable. Annie Wilkes might be the scariest villain I have ever read. She is cruel, but her cruelty is unknown to her. “You did this to yourself, Paul!” She is also efficient and diabolical. “Annie was not swayed by pleas. Annie was not swayed by screams. Annie had the courage of her convictions.” When Paul is found to be investigating the farmhouse while Annie is out, Annie decides that he needs to be punished, so she cuts his foot off with an ax and cauterizes the stump with a blow torch. It is brutally efficient, and in its way, Annie thinks she is weirdly kind. She gives Paul a pain killer and a slight sedative beforehand. Much like grounding a wayward child for being naughty, Annie feels she needs to punish Paul. Although her punishment is violent and cruel, she doesn't know it.

Misery is a spectacularly, cruel novel, and it goes beyond the usual horror that we can expect from King. This novel touches on the psychological horror and self-flagellation of a writer. Paul must create a story that he does not want to tell, then the story takes ahold of him as he begins to tell it, and he must see it to the end. Annie is both a jailer, muse and finally the ultimate critic. She punishes failures by cutting off pieces of him. Deadlines and writerly problems take on whole new meanings for Paul.

The ending is almost anti-climatic. As a reader, I want fire and brimstone to fall upon Annie. She deserves so much comeuppance. But I think the way that King handled it is perfect. A battle between writer and critic needs to happen, and the struggle between jailer and inmate needs to happen. “It was always the same, always the same-like toiling uphill through jungle and breaking out to a clearing at the top after months of hell only to discover nothing more rewarding than a view of a freeway - with a few gas stations and bowling alleys thrown in for good behavior, or something.” And, as King says here, writers plod through, whip themselves, battle their muses, and in the end, it is anti-climactic - a bowling alley and gas station. It is not satisfying, but the ending is right. It is terrifying for Paul and quite disturbing as a metaphor for writing.

Misery is King writing at his finest and possibly most introspective. It is, at times, a painful and terrifying read. I had to put it down a few times to take a breath, pet a dog, and watch some happy youtube video. But it is worth the read, and I am so glad I took it on.

In the realm of dystopia, there are trends, and as Vonnegut wrote novels and short stories for a very long time, his work spans these trends. Depending on what is going on with the world, in the 1930's - 1950's it was government control. This is demonstrated in books like 1984, which was written in 1949 and Brave New World, which was written in 1932. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was religious control and religious Zionism. In the 1980s, it was nuclear destruction do to the influence of the cold war on culture and literature. In the 1990s, it was the rise of technology and technology run amok. In the 2000s, it was survivalism and the loss of individuality. In the 2010s till now, two concurrent trends are running in dystopia. One is the rise of the dystopian feminism movement. This is usually depicted as Christian fundamentalism and lack of reproductive control. And the other is environmentalism, influenced by the grave importance of global warming. Each of the trends blends into the other and influences one another. You can have feminism and environmentalism expressed in the same book, just as one can have religious extremism and governmental control in another.

Often, Vonnegut writes governmental authority as the antagonist in his stories. Always at odds with the stories protagonists and the protagonist's ability to express themselves. Vonnegut had a lot to say about the state of the world, and he often got on his proverbial soapbox to express his views to beautiful results. One of my favorite examples of this is in his novel Galapagos. It is little known unless you are a Vonnegut junky like myself. A nuclear war decimates the world. The only remnants of a society that have survived, ironically enough, was a pleasure cruise to the Galapagos Islands. There the last humans must come to accept their fate and blend into nature and, by extension, evolution. It is funny and beautiful, poignant, and a bit of a thinker. I find myself enjoying 2BR02B just as much as I enjoyed Galapagos all those years ago.

2BR02B is one of Vonnegut's many short stories. Extremely short in length, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in dialog and worldbuilding. The first sentence is, “Everything was perfectly swell.” This is a perfect sentence in its ability to convey dual meanings. Is everything swell? Is the speaker of the story ironic? The speaker goes on to list man's achievements:
There were no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars.
All diseases were conquered. So was old age.
Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers.
The population of the United States was stabilized at forty-million souls.
If Clarke's Childhood's End has taught us anything, it is that without a bit of conflict and struggle, life, beauty, art, and desire become meaningless. Humans need a little bit of effort to make things meaningful. If everything is given, humans can become thoughtless and lose their drive. In BR02B, even death has been conquered. Death the great equalizer, all will eventually die, has been defeated. Humans do not even need to die if they don't want to. This creates a wholly different problem, and one that Vonnegut has written about many times, and that is population control. The residents of the united states are held to a strick population of 40 million souls. To put that into perspective, 40 million is the population of California.

At the beginning of the story, we meet a painter; he is about 200 years old but looks as if he is 35. “A sardonic old man, about two hundred years old, sat on a stepladder, painting a mural he did not like. Back in the days when people aged visibly, his age would have been guessed at thirty-five or so. Aging had touched him that much before the cure for aging was found. He is painting, which can only be described as a Thomas Kinkaid-Esque pastoral scene. “The mural he was working on depicted a very neat garden. Men and women in white, doctors and nurses, turned the soil, planted seedlings, sprayed bugs, spread fertilizer. Men and women in purple uniforms pulled up weeds, cut down plants that were old and sickly, raked leaves, carried refuse to trash-burners. Never, never, never—not even in medieval Holland nor old Japan—had a garden been more formal, been better tended. Every plant had all the loam, light, water, air and nourishment it could use.” Vonnegut is not a wordy writer; he uses few words to convey a lot. This painter, this double centenarian, is bored.
The other character we are introduced to is Edward K. Wehling, Jr., as he waits for his young wife to deliver triplets. Triplets - unheard of! That means that for these young children to live, three people must be willing to give up their lives.

If someone wants to end their life, all they need to do is call this handy number 2 - B - R - 0 - 2 - B. Pronounced To be or naught to be after Shakespeare's Hamlet. You can choose to live or die as you see fit. The government runs this number and is The Federal Bureau of Termination. Each new life that is born is replacing an old life like parts in a machine. Humanity, as it has destroyed all the conflicts ever presented to it has come down to number crunching — 1 for 1. Wehling, a new father to three babies, is expected to choose which children to destroy because the US only has room for one child. Dr. Hitz reprimands Wehling.
“Do the parents have three volunteers?” said Leora Duncan.
“Last I heard,” said Dr. Hitz, “they had one, and we're trying to scrape another two up.”
“I don't think they made it,” she said. “Nobody made three appointments with us. Nothing but singles going through today, unless somebody called in after I left. What's the name?”
“Wehling,” said the waiting father, sitting up, red-eyed and frowzy. “Edward K. Wehling, Jr., is the name of the happy father-to-be.”
He raised his right hand, looked at a spot on the wall, gave a hoarsely wretched chuckle. “Present,” he said.
“Oh, Mr. Wehling,” said Dr. Hitz, “I didn't see you.”
“The invisible man,” said Wehling.
“They just phoned me that your triplets have been born,” said Dr. Hitz. “They're all fine, and so is the mother. I'm on my way in to see them now.”
“Hooray,” said Wehling emptily.
“You don't sound very happy,” said Dr. Hitz.
“What man in my shoes wouldn't be happy?” said Wehling. He gestured with his hands to symbolize care-free simplicity. “All I have to do is pick out which one of the triplets is going to live, then deliver my maternal grandfather to the Happy Hooligan(2BR02B), and come back here with a receipt.”

Dr. Hitz, almost like a hitman, lacks the moral understanding that these babies are more than numbers. They are interchangeable with any other soul. Edward K. Wehling, Jr. proceeds to pull out a gun and shoot Dr. Hitz, his nurse, and finally himself. Ultimately expressing the last bit of control that Edward has in his life, and that is the right to kill himself. Ironically, Dr. Hitz and his nurse's deaths are the pure expressions of their beliefs. One interchangeable piece for another.

Vonnegut can be brutal in his storytelling. Brutal and effective. You get the point that he was trying to get across. If you would like to read this story, it is widely available as it is now out of copyright and can be read on Project Gutenburg. I suggest giving it a try. Only Vonnegut makes the idea of population control, individualism, and creative expression engaging and thought-provoking in ten pages.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love the ideas in this book. I am a book lover, but also a lover of the ideas and scenes in books. Cooking can be a great storytelling tactic. Everyone has to eat, and many memories can be shared over tea or scones, or scotch eggs for example. Recipes whose sole purpose is to transport you back to a specific scene in a novel that you found evocative is such a fantastic idea. Many of the recipes are from well-loved children's' books. This opens up such a wonderful opportunity to share something special with your child and make a memory. The recipes are easy to follow, and the pictures are lovely and well framed. The writing is concise and easy to understand. I thoroughly enjoyed the ideas and writing in this book and look forward to testing out some of these recipes with my own daughter when she is older. For now, I will have to make some Winnie the Pooh Hundred Acre Tea with her and

I'm not even really sure what I have read, or if the author even read the source material. I'm all for creative license but this felt like it jumped the shark a bit.

Although I don't fall in with the shambling masses, I have read World War Z ten times. Zombies can be scary or an interesting sociological construct like how they were written about in World War Z. But this fell seriously flat. I am not sure why this is a book? It has eighty or so words, and although the pictures are funny or ironic, once you “read” through the book the first time the reader is not coming back for seconds. There is no need to buy it. I can see this being an ongoing webcomic, single serving chuckles. But that's it. Hate to say it, but don't waste your time. 

I received a Kindle Arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe book does not call for a lot of fancy equipment. Fancy equipment is fine, but for the average person, they are not going to have a smoker in their kitchen. The recipes became a lot more accessible for the home cook because of this. The recipes themselves were great, and the photography work was pretty. It made you want to try the recipes and get going making your own jerky. All in all, I liked this book and will give some of the recipes a try. Store bought jerky is not happening anymore.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review!

This book is so cute! I love the illustrations and straightforward questions that the author poses kids. You know kids want to know if frogs drink hot cocoa. Kids drink hot cocoa, so frogs must also. The book is educational without going over the line into a straight science book. Plus the author gave me a great word to use, frogcycle! “Do frogs drink hot cocoa to not become a frogcycle?!” I Definitely recommend this book! It was very fun.

I am reviewing this book for NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.

This is not the normal type of garden book I read. Usually, the garden books that come through my hands are the type of practical knowledge. i.e. this much fertilizer and this type of plant. However, I have a deep and unabiding love of Japanese Landscape architecture, and Zen Buddhism in general. Putting them together in a general and readable format was like a delicious candy bar for me. It was a lovely and relaxing read. It was full of beautiful writing, not as practical as I would like and sometimes a bit too “woo woo” for my taste, but well written and interesting. Definitely, the writing is something to contemplate. I think on rereading it, I would get more out of it. This is the type of book that you get much more out of it with contemplation and multiple reads.

I am reviewing this book for Linda A. Chisholm, Timber Press and NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.
This is such a lovely book, full of rich stories and even better pictures. I have a history with Landscape Architecture, and this hearkens me back to my college days. This book is both good for the layman garden lover or the professional looking for inspiration. It is also wonderful for the traveler looking to plan their next trip or getaway. I love that I can look through this book and learn something new everytime I read it. A wonderful coffee table book! Check it out. Definitely worth it.

Thank you, NetGalley, Chouette Publishing, and CrackBoom! Books for an advanced English translated readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from the publisher, “My dear diary: this is the end. There are no ogres left. The world is wrong. What does this ogre hide? Is it true that he teaches wrestling with sticks and belching and snot courses? Is it true that the pant is never changed? 
The intimacies never before revealed of an ogre with style. Surprising, crazy, secret: a newspaper that you have to spy on yes or yes.”

I am always thrilled when I get an opportunity to review a children's book. In general children's books bring a genuine smile to my face, and this book is no exception. Oger's are funny creatures. Who demonstrate poor hygiene, and poorer life choices. Generally, from Shreck to Harry Potter their depiction is of a smelly, but a lovable brute who is steadily falling all over themselves, and eating fly ice cream. Pratfalls and fly ice cream are funny concepts and relatable for kids. The author took something that could be scary and made it funny which is excellent for kids! This is why this is such a great book. I mean, who doesn't think that an award given to an ogre who never changes their underwear isn't funny. 

My only real complaint is that it doesn't have much of a plot and because of this, it relies heavily on the great graphics. I think plot-wise, the author could have hammered home how important it was that ogers need to become ogers of old. She touches on it, but it seems a bit disjointed.

Graphically, Laura Aguerrebehere did a great job conveying the silliness of the ogers. The graphics are bright and again fun to look at. 

This is hilarious! Graphics, pacing, everything. I think boys or girls would get a total kick out it!

Thank You to Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

A very detailed and exhaustive study of sempervivums. Gorgeous pictures that make me want to go out and take my gardening one first step further, It has detailed information on the care and maintaining of sempervivums, as well as propagation and varietal information. It was an absolute joy to read because I am already nuts for these plants. I would recommend it to serious die-hard garden nerds so get out there and propagate!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an electronic copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

First off, I love that the author is attempting to simplify a large and slightly esoteric concept like patterning for children. It isn't a science-based book, but more of a general introduction to some pattern types found in nature and how they relate to kids. Trees have particles that spin and kids spin, see. I like that, it is a nice way to make a connection with a young child. My only complaint about the subject matter is it isn't in the science category or in the children's general category. I think the story could really benefit from the specific introduction of certain patterns like the golden ratio instead of staying vague. It's beautiful and kids could see how it is everywhere if they know what to look for.

All in all, it is a lovely book, both written and illustrated with a high degree and sensitivity to the need and understanding of children. I recommend it for kids around the age of 5.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a very well done book. The design is fun and lively while still remaining classy. It evokes a bit of retro charm. This speaks well to an audience who wants to learn about all things fizzy, Graphically, the diagrams for different drinks help a lot when trying to figure out proportions. Makes the whole thing much more accessible. To non-bartenders who just want to play with fizzy drinks. The writing is well executed and a great addition to the excellent photography. All and all a worth-it book for the at-home bartender who wants a bit of fizzy charm in their bar. I know I do!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an adorable way to introduce children to Idioms of the English Language. Each page is an image that illustrates a literal interpretation of a saying and what they actually mean. It is very fun and beautifully done. I recommend to children in the 4+ bracket. Check it out!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I like the idea of simplifying cooking. Cooking can be overloaded with gadgets, gizmos, and 500 different sauces. It can be overwhelming for the home cook. So Melissa Coleman says, “slim it down!” It is a great idea and I think that the way she goes about it effective. It doesn't have to be austere to be minimal.

Excellent recipes. Easy to follow directions and lovely pictures. Definitely, recommend for the home cook. Plus check out her blog https://www.thefauxmartha.com/

I received this book, for free, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great guide for both, new and experienced gardeners who want a little fun. I have been gardening for years, and I still learned a bunch from this book. There is always more to learn! This book showed me a bunch of varieties to plant. I can't wait to get planting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Storey Publishing, LLC for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am an absolute fan of bringing animal fats back into the mainstay diet of American people. The author explored just about every type of cooking fat available as well as how to render, store, and use them in various recipes. The recipes are easy to follow and look yummy. However, I think they may scare the standard home cook a bit. For those willing to branch out of the culinary comfort zone, this is a fun way to do it and a great resource. It's time to bring back those flavors and recipes of history and get back to making better food.

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First, let us talk about how cool a cover this book has. Before even reading one word, the reader is already feeling a noir vibe. Getting into the story, which is very well written, we meet Nina Overstreet. She is a talented and very strong female character. Who also has a sympathetic vibe. It is so cool that she takes martial arts in the 1950's and is a musician. We already know that she is a character who bucks tradition. The writing for the story is concise and fast moving. Which I appreciate. The art is not cartoonish and it gets the point across without being overly minimalistic. I won't go into the plot, so as not to spoil but think Nazis. music, spies, and secret societies. Read it. It is a very fun journey.

Thank you to Netgalley and Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

There seems to be a resurgence in a desire to acquire basic living knowledge and techniques. Somewhere along the industrial revolution in the twentieth century and with people leaving farm life for larger cities in droves we have lost necessary and vital knowledge that is usually passed down from one generation to the next. That is why books like this are essential and becoming ever more popular.

This book is a reissue of a 100-year-old classic. Perfect for homesteaders or anyone with that little bit self-reliance desire hidden inside them. Is it everything you need to be a homesteader? No. Is it still fun and useful? Yes. One caveat, this book may be along the lines of more nostalgic on some things. There have been quite a few advances in homesteading since it's initial release. However, it is still pertinent and will give you a great base to start building your homesteading knowledge. I recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This guide is a fantastic resource for the new gardener, or a more practiced gardener looking to gain some tricks up their sleeve. I am a master gardener. I have had a flourishing garden for many years and I learned reading this resource how much I did not know. This book is easy to understand, and the knowledge is easily adaptable and scalable. I think this year I will become a better gardener using the methods discussed and I look forward to having the fattest tomatoes on the block. Check it out; it is well worth it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Author, Joe Ollinger's timing is just right. The science fiction genre is saturated with dystopian novels that ask questions of the reader, “What if there were no water? Or Food? Or Sunlight?” None I have seen until now have asked the question, “What if there is no calcium?” It is a perfect question to ask. In the reader's mind, calcium is the most benign of things, and it surrounds us. Ollinger creates a vibrant world built around the procurement of calcium tinged with mystery, adventure, and a kick-ass female protagonist. 

The world Ollinger creates resembles a world that, to me, is a cross of a wild west town and a city from the TV show Firefly. Named Brink, it is all hot and bright with a thin patina of red dust the encapsulates everything. It is full of inhospitable people scrabbling out a living in the dirty, dusty land, and always in need of calcium and water. Ollinger describes it as “...a last chance gas station on one of Earth's old, long highways - a staging area, a waypoint to more promising, more hospitable worlds...” Also present is the very visible Oligarchy of the rich described as having more elegant clothes, healthier bodies and a distinct lack of hypocalcemia bruising often found in the poor.  The dichotomy of the poor versus the wealthy is fascinating here. Something as simple as drinking a glass of milk is considered the highest of high falutin living.

This book is in the classic “who done it” style. We have our heroine, Taryn. A rough and tumble collections agent described as muscular and robust that wears body armor. Her job is to seek out leaks of unauthorized calcium currency and return it to the government. In this world, calcium is cleverly written as tradeable currency.  Doing her job, she is always surrounded by the unlawful, the dying and the dregs of society. This brings up shattering moments from her past that often play a part in her decision making in the present. She also has a wealth of empathy, tho to function in her position as a collections agent, and by extension survive in this society, she has to suppress it. She reminds me very much of Marvel's Jessica Jones. She has a similar attitude and position minus the superpowers. 

The story progresses with Taryn becoming enemy #1 of the state as she hunts for who is stealing the calcium supply. It is exciting and turbulent all within the context of an investigator type mystery. Along the way, we meet various side characters including a sidekick/romance interest of a sort in the form of a wealthy calcium auditor, Brady. He is a described as “looks more like a business executive than a bureaucrat.” The absolute only complaint I have in this story is I found Brady to be a tad unbelievable. His motivations as a character and dialog were muddy. This threw me out of the story at points. I just could not suspend belief when it came to Brady's and Taryn's interactions. However, this book could easily have a sequel. If so, as a reader I would love to know more about Brady's backstory and have him fleshed out as a more substantial character. 

There are beautifully created images throughout the story that keep the pages turning as the reader seeks out the “who did it.” All of this climaxes into a rather explosive denouement. This, in turn, finalizes into an open ending that is rife with a possibility for sequels. 

The author asks us, “What if there is no calcium?” As a reader, I can say “I know that one. It looks like this...”

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

This poetry book reads like a love letter to the wild and scary parts of humans that are still connected with the land. The beating, thumping, heart pounding part of us that wants to scurry through the underbrush or fly through the trees. Human beings have become disconnected from that animal parts of ourselves. Mike Bond, among many things, is a tireless environmentalist and for one beautiful hour, as your pour yourself over the pages, you can let the wild drums out and feel a connection.

It isn't a perfect book, the poetry was flat at points and the preface was a little jarring. I understand that Bond has earned his political and environmental stripes but I don't need that in the forefront of my mind while trying to absorb poetry. Also, I know some readers are going to point out that there are Native American Iconography in a few of these poems. Bond, to my understanding, is not native and some people would point out that this is cultural appropriation. I am not sure. The poems come off to me as an homage to a Native culture, a culture that treats the environment with reference, rather than a way to score some poem points. That is a subjective point for the reader an maybe something to be sensitive to.

I think that this is a worthy attempt at writing down a human feeling that almost seems unwritable. That throbbing connection to the land that humans seem to be getting further away from. Read it, see how you feel. I know it sparked a slow and steady boom — boom inside me, if only for a moment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the third and final volume in a trilogy written by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse fame) and Christopher Golden. I picked this up on a whim because I am a big fan of Sookie Stackhouse books and it looked interesting. First off let me say that I was a little lost here and there just starting at this book. You can read this as a standalone, but I recommend going and reading the other two before this one just to give you a firmer base. Secondly, this is a YA page turner. It has some very exciting parts and the graphics are well done. Story-wise it is a little predictable and cliched but it is a fun read and worth going out and checking it out.