The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

One of the many books I've read recently is The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. Here is part of a synopsis found on Amazon:
The Kitchen God's Wife is a triumph, a solid indication of a mature talent for magically involving storytelling, beguiling use of language and deeply textured and nuanced character development. And while this second novel is again a story that a Chinese mother tells her daughter, it surpasses its predecessor as a fully integrated and developed narrative, immensely readable, perceptive, humorous, poignant and wise. Pearl Louie Brandt deplores her mother Winnie's captious criticism and cranky bossiness, her myriad superstitious rituals to ward off bad luck, and her fearful, negative outlook, which has created an emotional abyss between them. Dreading her mother's reaction, Pearl has kept secret the fact that she is suffering from MS. But as she learns during the course of the narrative, Winnie herself has concealed some astonishing facts about her early life in China, abetted by her friend and fellow emigree Helen Kwong. The story Winnie unfolds to Pearl is a series of secrets, each in turn giving way to yet another surprising revelation. Winnie's understated account--during which she goes from a young woman "full of innocence and hope and dreams" through marriage to a sadistic bully, the loss of three babies, and the horror and privations of the Japanese war on China--is compelling and heartrending. As Winnie gains insights into the motivations for other peoples' actions, she herself grows strong enough to conceal her past while building a new life in America, never admitting her deadly hidden fears. Integrated into this mesmerizing story is a view of prewar and wartime China--both the living conditions and the mind-set. Tan draws a vivid picture of the male-dominated culture, the chasm between different classes of society, and the profusion of rules for maintaining respect and dignity. But the novel's immediacy resides in its depiction of human nature, exposing foibles and frailties, dreams and hopes, universal to us all.

The story starts out from Pearl's perspective. Pearl makes it clear she has never had a very good relationship with her mother. She has found out that there is a reunion coming up because of a cousin who is getting married. Pearl then feels she has no choice but to go and is preparing for it the best she can. We then get her perspective on her mother and the difficulties of the relationship that lead her to fear telling her mother she has Multiple Sclerosis. However, this section ends with Pearl being told by Winnie, her aunt, that she has to tell her mother about MS before the New Year or Winnie will tell her mother herself.

The story then switches to the mothers perspective and her story that she feels she if forced to share her story with Pearl by Winnie. Much like Pearl was told, her mother was told by Winnie that she had to tell Pearl about her past in China or she would tell her herself. At this point we get the full story of Pearls mothers past in China during WWII and how she came to America.

During the part of Pearls mother sharing her story, the story is sort of written to the reader, but it is obvious she is talking to Pearl. The backdrop of how she is telling Pearl is revealed now and again and it becomes clear that Pearl is very entranced in the story. However, the way it is written also brings the past to life. Pearls mother reveals some big secrets that really share a lot about her personality. It's obvious Pearl didn't know any of it either.

Once her mother is done sharing her story, we get a brief part from Pearl, and then I got confused towards the end because it suddenly switched to the mother without any clear sign of that. Previously, there had been a clear sign that it had switched to her mother. In my opinion, it almost concluded too fast after her mother shared such a heavy story of her past. I would have liked to hear more from Pearl as she comes to realize her father may not have been her father after all and how her view on her mother changed as it apparently had. Especially since we get a clear idea of how her mom dealt with her daughter sharing she had MS with her. We do get a sense of what Pearl was thinking of her moms way of handling the news of MS, but again, that is another area I would have liked to hear more about from Pearl.

Overall, I found this book to be very drawing. It does start out a little slow, but once it gets going it kept my attention. The story of her mother was especially very drawing as it was apparent she had a very hard life that she had overcome. The book also leaves one wondering if Winnie was smarter than the mother and Pearl thought. We get a clear picture on how she is through out the mothers story of her life.

Despite the rushed ending, I would have to say that overall I would give this book 8 out of 10 stars. I enjoyed it quite a bit and could see why my friend recommended it.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Wings by Aprilynne Pike was a fantasy YA book I recently bought.
Fifteen-year-old Laurel has led a sheltered, home schooled life in a very small town, so when her parents decide to move and enroll her in high school, she has trouble getting used to her new life. A life, as it turns out, that’s not at all like those of other kids. One clear sign is a winglike blossom that blooms on her back. Oh, and her new best friend, the scientifically minded David, reveals under a microscope that her cells are more plant than animal. But it takes an encounter at her old home with the handsome but decidedly different Tamani to convince her that she is a faerie. She also learns it’s up to her to save her land from the evil influences that are trying to take it away from her and her family. This first novel is clearly designed to attract the Twilight set, though there’s significantly less edge (and blood). There is, however, a familiar triangle. Will Laurel choose solid, steady David, or will she be unable to resist Tamani’s lure? Stay tuned. Fine escapist fare, this neatly mixes the everyday with the otherworldly

The book drew me in from the beginning. The awkwardness Laurel felt as she started school was very much believable. She was also a very believable character. Her friend David was even believable despite everything. When things begin to change for her the awkwardness and fear she felt was also very believable.

What I especially liked was the fact that this was a faery book that was very different from others. The lore seemed to have been created from the author and I enjoyed that immensely, especially after reading so many books that followed traditional faery lore. I did find the Troll part to be rather strange though and could have done without that.

All the characters were pretty decently well rounded. I did wonder about David some and the way he accepted things so easily, but that seemed to be his personality. The friends that Laurel make are especially easy to believe and instead of being there 100 percent from the beginning had their own problems as well that showed up. However, since Laurel and David were the main characters they did not take up too much space in the book.

With that said, I thought the ending was a little different and I'm assuming there will be more books in the future because it ended with that very open note that made it possible for a sequel. The troll was never destroyed and there is a romance triangle between her, Tamani, and David.

While the plot was decently predictable, it still had a lot there for the reader. I also found it to a fun read and enjoyable. I do hope that there are other books in the future because I do wonder what happens. So if anyone is looking for a light, fun, and intriguing read with it's own lore I highly recomend this. Over all I give this a 7 out of 10. I'd go for a 6.5, but I want to stick with whole numbers and a 7 seemed more suitable than a 6.

Wake by Lisa McMann

I recently finished Wake by Lisa McMann. I decided to read the book after attending a signing for Casandra Clare when City of Glass came out. Lisa McMann was there as well and read part of her book. The book really drew me in, so I checked it out from the library. Here is a synopsis of the book:

Not all dreams are sweet.

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant....

The main character, Janie, is a very believable character in the start. She comes from a poor family and a detached mom. Her best friend is also from a similar situation, however doesn't really appear to be there for her. Which is apparent in the book. She then falls for a guy in her neighborhood who also has a similar situation. However, he's not so believable. If anything, he's almost too perfect in my opinion. Sure, he has his flaws. But over all I found him strange and not quite believable.

The synopsis makes the book seem like it'll be a twister and full of suspense. But in my opinion it lacked a lot of that. There are a few psychotic dreams and they are described, but it just ends short. The one dream that was from a criminal wasn't until the very end. The struggles the main character Janie go through are also cut short and solved way to easily. Even when she gets together with her boyfriend, it goes a little too fast. There is an additional plot thrown in there with her boyfriend as well that just went too easily.

The book is choppy, the way a dream would be at times, but I actually liked that part. I also enjoyed the way it started and how she feared students falling asleep in school and the flash backs of when she first started to get sucked into dreams. The problems it caused were very real as well. But again, she seemed to find a way to work with it way too fast.

Over all, I would have to say this book developed a little too fast and in some ways would not quite believable. I would have liked to know more about her mom and would have liked a more believable boyfriend. His personality was mostly believable, but other parts revolving around him that show up in the book weren't quite so believable. I'd describe more, but then I'd give it away. It was an enjoyable read though so I'd give it a 5 out of 10.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

I recently finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Here's a synopsis of the book:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code comes the explosive thriller that started it all. An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target. When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to his first assignment to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church. Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival. Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation. Critics have praised the exhilarating blend of relentless adventure, scholarly intrigue, and cutting wit found in Brown's remarkable thrillers featuring Robert Langdon. An explosive international suspense, Angels & Demons marks this hero's first adventure as it careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

The main character in the book was the Langdon, the same main character in The DaVinci Code. However, unlike a series, you did not need to read the previously published book to understand it what was happening. Much like the previous book, he was used for his symbology skills to help solve the murders. Langdon works closely with Vittoria, the daughter of the murdered scientist, to find out where the bomb is and stop the murder of the priests. There is some clear romance between the two of them, but the book does not center around it in any way. Rather is builds up on the mystery and suspense touching on the romance only enough until the very end. A lot of side characters are introduced in this book including the Roman Guard, Hassasin, and the Camarlengo. However it is not hard to keep track of all the side characters in any way. They add depth to the book and make it more real.

I personally found the book very slow in the start. The author spent a lot of time building the suspense slowly and would section of parts in a certain characters perspective. There were sections for the Hassasin, Vittoria, and of course Langdon. He even had a section from a reports view, one or two of the Roman Guard, and the Camarlengo. While it was nice to have all these point of views, I sort of wished it went a little faster. However, it picks up pace rapidly towards the middle and end and I couldn't read fast enough to know what happens. So in many ways, the slow pace just made the ending even more wonderfully surprising. The end was quite a twist!

What I especially enjoyed about the book was the fact that all historical locations and pieces of art, as well as the Illuminati, were based on fact. There's even a note on it at the beginning of the book. That just made everything much more real while reading it.

All in all, despite the fact that it didn't quite captivate me in the beginning, it did win me over in the end. So ultimately I decided to give it 8 stars. My reasons for the 8 stars was the fact that it went a tad too slow in the beginning and I actually did want a bit more of the romance between the two. It's clear Langdon has feelings for Vittoria. But it's not really until the end that it becomes apparant that Vittoria has feelings for him in return. Then the romance went much too fast in my opinion at the very end. I do highly recomend the book though!

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

I recently finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd in the adult Fiction section.

The summary available is the following:
"In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their South Carolina peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. These consoling fantasies are her heart's answer to the family story that as a child, in unclear circumstances, Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother. Although the plot threads are too neatly trimmed, The Secret Life of Bees is a carefully crafted novel with an inspired depiction of character. The legend of the Black Madonna and the brave, kind, peculiar women who perpetuate Lily's story dominate the second half of the book, placing Kidd's debut novel squarely in the honored tradition of the Southern Gothic."

I really enjoyed this book. I have to say that over all I didn't have many problems with it. The struggles Lily was going through on her identity really seemed to be something that would happen for her age, 14. The racial issues that come up were presented very well and realistically. Then end however, seemed to just come to a close too fast. The end starts on a climatic build as her dad finds her, then comes to a close rather fast. The author then quickly jumps in to a summary from Lily's perspective about getting settled in at the new home and how the case against Rosaleen, her African American neighbor that joined her, would be cleared in no time. So the end did leave me a little disappointed. I had sort of hoped for an epilogue rather than a very short summary of how things suddenly got better for her.

The characters were all very well done. Since it was a fiction piece I didn't have any problems with the eccentric sisters that Lily stayed with, rather it made the book quite fun to read. While I did have a slight problem with the fact that Rosaleen came with Lily on her journey and never argued with her about running away, I did take into account that she knew what was happening to Lily at home. She was also on the run from the law and knew that if she went back she would be arrested and possibly even killed. So that did make it a little easier to believe. The friends of the sisters were quite eccentric, much like the sisters were. But that didn't really get to me either. In general pretty much all the characters were either well done or believable.

Overall I would have to say that the book was very good. The book had a lot of thought provoking passages and the struggles of Lily were very believable. While I did find the ending rushed, it was still a very good book So after that thought, I would have to give this book a 9 out of 10. I really did like this book quite a bit and highly recommend it!

Betrayed by P.C. and Kristen Cast

I recently finished Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast. This book took me several weeks to read because it's not something I could not read for a long stretch of time.

This is a YA Fantasy book that is the second in the series of The House of Night. This is one of the many Vampire books available in the YA section.

This will be a very short review. I read this book because I knew it was not very serious. I wanted something cheesy to read between clients at work.

So with that said, the book did not exceed my expectations. It was cheesy and I wasn't able to read it for long stretches of time. Even if I had the choice to read it for a long stretch of time I wouldn't have. The main characters and her friends were prefect in every way and the antagonist was clearly seen. However I will give the author credit because the Main Character's friends didn't sense that the school High Priestess was really a bad person. Only the Main Character and one other student (of course because the main character wouldn't be alone) knew she was bad.

I will admit I liked the different vampire lore in this book. It was unique and it was interesting that the students at the school all understood they may not make it through the change alive. The idea of the Marks on the mature vampires was really interesting as well. The Marks symbolized their special area of interest in their gifts. However, the main character was way too perfect and way too gifted. She even had Marks already (rolls eyes).

So yes, if you want to read a cheesy book that won't make you think much this is your choice. I highly recommend though that you turn off your writing and critical brain while reading this book, otherwise the grammar errors and oh so perfect main character with amazingly perfect friends will annoy the heck out of you.

Rating wise, on the cheesy book scale I rate this a 7 out of 10
On the normal book rating scale I would rate this a 3 out of 10.

Paper Towns

I'm not Book Bundle, but a friend who agreed to pitch in now and again.

I recently finished Paper Towns by John Green. The book started out wonderfully and drew me in quite a bit. The author showing Quentin, the main character and his neighbor Margo as kids. They were riding their bikes to the park and discovered a dead body. The author then briefly showed how Margo was really curious and wanted to know what happened while Quentin goes home and his parents have a talk about life and death. I really wanted to know a bit more about that scene because the author really didn't go into it. I then struggled to find the connection of that scene to the sudden jump of Quentin and Margo in high school. The author didn't even show the connection until over halfway through.

I didn't find the book all that great after the initial chapter. The tone he had in the very beginning disappeared and it suddenly had a lot of similarities to An Abundance of Katherine's. While Colin only had one friend, Quentin had two and made more friends, much like Colin did after he relaxed a bit. Quentin had a life changing experience with Margo, Colin had a life changing experience with Lindsay. However Colin was a genius and Quentin was just an average teen who realized he loved Margo and that he hadn't really known her.

In addition to there being a lot of similarities with the main characters, the friends also had a lot of similarities. Both books had a Middle Eastern friend who was the closest to the main character who was a tad on the dorky side. Both books also had jocks and one main jock that screwed a girl over. I will admit that those are the only differences between the friends.

About the only differences I really saw in the characters were the girls in the book. Margo was different from Lindsay and we got to know one of Margo's friends, which wasn't present in the other book. However, Margo and Lindsay were both different from the main stream girls shown in both books.

If this was written from Margo's perspective I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more since it wouldn't have been similar to An Abundance of Katherine's. I know a lot of people will argue that fact that this book has a different plot line compared to the other, which I will acknowledge. It was different in that sense, but to me there were a lot of parallels. Especially the life changing experience both boys had gone through because of a girl.

So all in all, I'd give this a 6 out of 10 just because of all the parallels I saw.