Brain Camp by Susan Kim, Lawrence Klavan, and Faith Erin Hicks

Brain Camp written by Susan Kim and Lawrence Klavan, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks
Published by First Second, an imprint of Macmillan

Jenna and Lucas are forced to attend summer camp by their parents. Once they arrive, they quickly realize two misfits are better together than apart, so they form a fast friendship. Things at camp seem okay for a while, but suddenly the two of them see some strange happenings – kids are disappearing, others are becoming strangely much smarter than their normal selves, and they see counselors sneaking into campers’ cabins at night. Jenna and Lucas quickly realize that they must get to the bottom of this before whatever is happening starts to happen to them too.

Typically, graphic novels are targeted toward a pre-teen and teenage audience, and while I’m much older than that, I tend to still get some kind of takeaway from them. Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly the case with Brain Camp. While I didn’t dislike the book, I didn’t find anything of particular significance in it which admittedly made it difficult for me to really sink into the book.

I think the issue I’m having with Brain Camp is that I wasn’t expecting it to have such a strong sci-fi/body-snatchers vibe. Definitely this is my problem and not the book’s, but all the same when I understood where the plot was going I was not exactly thrilled. I don’t love these kinds of stories so I wasn’t surprised when I closed this book feeling less than excited about it.

But the good news is that this is just my opinion, based on my own bias toward these types of stories, which I almost never enjoy anyway. Brain Camp itself had really great artwork which I definitely liked, and an important message at its heart about how difficult it can be to fit in and how it’s so crucial to just be yourself even during those painful teenage years. So, yes, there are valuable and even excellent things about this book. But for me, I wasn’t jumping up and down about the overall experience.

So, while Brain Camp wasn’t my favorite graphic novel by a long shot, readers looking for a more lighthearted, funny story that involves some sci-fi elements will probably enjoy this one much more than I did.

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins
Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley

When Conor Grennan was twenty-nine years old he decided that his boring life needed a little sprucing up, so he took a year-long trek around the globe, beginning with a stop at the Little Princes orphanage in Nepal. The time he spent at the Children’s Home changed him for good and after his trip around the world was up, he returned to the orphanage, with a new commitment to return these children, who had been pulled out of their lives by child traffickers in this war-torn country, to their families once again.

If this book does not inspire you, you have no soul. Okay, that might be a little harsh but truly - Little Princes takes the concept of an inspirational memoir to the next level. Everything about this book won me over – the children, the amazing people working at the orphanage, the plight of the country of Nepal, and even Conor himself.

Conor does a fabulous job in Little Princes of mixing in the history of Nepal’s issues with the actual story of what he did at the orphanage and for the kids there. I never felt bored or uninterested, and in fact I wanted to know even more about this country and its people because the children in the book really warmed my heart. It absolutely broke my heart to learn that parents in Nepal will give their children to strangers in the hopes that these strangers will provide a better life for their sons and daughters, when in actuality these strangers are child traffickers looking to sell the children to the highest bidder. It’s unbearably sad that the parents don’t understand this, or worse that they are so poor that even if they did understand it, they’d have no choice but to let their children go anyway, as they can’t afford to feed them. What Conor did with these children, reuniting them with their families, is amazing and a little bit miraculous. He literally traveled across all of Nepal – through dangerous situations, over rough terrain, etc. – just to find these kids’ parents. Absolutely amazing.

Conor himself definitely had my heart too. He started out this journey as just a regular person, not sure how he could make a difference in the world and not at all sure if he even wanted to try. But once he came to the orphanage and met these children it was like a lightbulb went on and he just knew that his purpose was to help these children find their families. And he told his story with such grace and humor, it was such a joy to read.

I cannot more highly recommend Little Princes to anybody and everybody. I absolutely loved everything about it.

Armchair BEA: Nurturing Relationships

Today’s topic for Armchair BEA is all about nurturing blogging relationships. While I have formed relationships with various authors, publishers, and bloggers over the past three and a half years of blogging, I want to talk about one particular (very recent) relationship that has meant a lot to me.

Just over a month ago, I met up with several Florida bloggers for a dinner after the UCF Book Festival. I was sad that I wasn’t able to attend the book festival, as my work schedule got in the way, but thrilled that I was going to meet bloggers in person for the first time ever. We all had such a fabulous time and I’m definitely hopeful that we can do something again in the future with these Florida bloggers.

While at dinner, Sandy and Heather mentioned that they are in a book club together (which I think I already knew, hazily, from reading their blogs) and invited me to join. I can’t tell you how excited I was – would you believe I’ve never been in a book club before? So I happily accepted, and last week I came to their book club meeting for the first time to discuss Bent Road by Lori Roy. All the ladies were so welcoming and friendly, and I honestly had such a fantastic time. I felt so much a part of them from the moment I walked into the woman’s home. It was really a fantastic experience.

So, thank you Heather and Sandy for inviting me, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you both even more in the months to come.

Now I have a book club, and new friends, all thanks to blogging. Yay for book bloggers – they are really the best people around.

Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Grace by Elizabeth Scott
Published by Dutton Children’s, an imprint of Penguin

Grace is living in a world similar to ours but either in the future or in an imagined alternate place, in which she is an Angel, trained by the People to be a suicide bomber for their cause of fighting against the totalitarian regime of the current leader. At the exact moment of Grace’s supposed purpose in life, just when she is supposed to detonate the bombs that cover her body, she decides to flee the country and escape from the life she’s always known. This story is told in flashbacks as Grace along with another boy attempt to run away on a train toward the border and possible freedom.

Elizabeth Scott has done it again. What amazes me about her is that she writes hugely different books – both YA romances and also much more serious books like this one and Living Dead Girl - but no matter what the topics of her books are, they are always excellent. Her writing flows beautifully and her stories spill across the page in a way that makes it impossible for me to put her books down. I can’t possibly give a better compliment than that.

Grace is a short novel, but it’s an incredibly powerful one. The writing is stark and left me sort of breathless, as I couldn’t believe the kinds of things Grace was experiencing and living through. Elizabeth Scott lays it all out there, this one girl’s entirely sad and depressing life, in a way that made me believe it completely. Grace as a character was honest, raw, and incredibly realistic – her situation may not have been all that realistic, but the way she reacted to it was. She was in this insanely abnormal situation but still thought about things just like any other teenager would. It was chilling.

If I have one complaint about this novel it is that the world Grace lives in was not fleshed out enough for me. I wanted more – more information, more background, more knowledge about how the People came to be, how the totalitarian regime took power, what life was really like there, etc. I understand that’s not where Scott was going with the book, but for me personally I would have loved to know more about this world she created.

Grace is an absolutely breathtaking novel, one that will leave you heartbroken but ultimately illustrates the power of going your own way, of making your own decisions in the midst of having no real choice about anything. I have yet to dislike anything Elizabeth Scott has written and I believe I will attempt to read her entire backlist – her writing is just beyond.

Giveaway of Crush edited by Andrea N. Richesin

Remember last year when I told you all about the essay collection What I Would Tell Her? I really enjoyed that collection of essays, edited by Andrea N. Richesin, written by a bunch of dads who love their daughters. Since I so loved that collection, I was thrilled when I was contacted by Ms. Richesin herself telling me she has a new book coming out, called Crush: 26 Real-life Tales of First Love. I haven’t finished reading the book yet, which is why you haven’t seen a proper review, but I’m partway through and I can already see that this is another awesome collection of essays. There are some amazing writers who share in this book about their first crushes – Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ann Hood, and David Levithan, just to name a few.

For those of you thinking, “wow, that sounds like an interesting book, I’d really love to read that” I have the perfect gift for you! A big thank you to Andrea N. Richesin for offering to give away one copy of Crush to one of my lucky readers! To make this giveaway a little bit more fun than your average contest, I’m going to ask for your crush stories. Whether it was your first crush or the crush you have right now, tell me about it! I will choose the winner with the best crush story and repost the story here when I announce the winner on Saturday, June 4th – which just so happens to be the 4-year wedding anniversary of my crush/hubby and I! I thought that was appropriate timing.

This giveaway also coincides with Armchair BEA‘s giveaway day! If you haven’t yet checked out all the happenings at Armchair BEA, please do! The coordinators of it have put together a fabulous event with tons of fun things going on. At the very least, head on over and check out what other giveaways are happening.

I can’t wait to hear all of your crush stories! Good luck!

EDIT: In order for your comment to count toward the giveaway, you must give me your crush story! I have had several readers enter without this, and you will be disqualified unless you tell me about your former/current crush! Thanks everyone!

Armchair BEA Introduction: Hello Everyone!

Hi everybody and welcome to Book Addiction, a place where I talk about my crazy addiction to all things bookish. I’m thrilled that you’ve stopped by and very excited to be participating in Armchair BEA this week. Of course I’m sad that I can’t go to the BEA in New York City this week – vacation time at work and my travel budget for the year did not allow me to do so – but I know that the organizers of Armchair BEA have created something really special and we will have an awesome time this week from the comfort of our own homes.

As far as this blog goes, I read and review books across multiple genres – adult fiction, YA, nonfiction about various topics, graphic novels, mysteries, “chick lit”, historical fiction, you name it. I welcome new visitors and of course I always love comments. So don’t be shy, introduce yourself!

I’m excited for Armchair BEA because I definitely want to meet new bloggers (always) and am looking forward to the blogger interviews. Although I am not participating in that particular event, I’m interested in reading other bloggers’ interviews! Physically, I’ll be blogging from my home in Central Florida and while of course I wish I could be in New York City this week instead, Armchair BEA is going to be extremely fun too!

I hope to get to know many of you this week. Thanks for stopping by!

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels – A Love Story by Ree Drummond

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels – A Love Story by Ree Drummond
Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins

Many people know Ree Drummond from her very popular blog, The Pioneer Woman, but in this memoir she takes the reader on a journey through her past, giving her fans all the details of her love story with her husband, a man she calls Marlboro Man.

I am a fan of PW’s blog but haven’t been reading it all that long, perhaps a year at most. For me, although I had an idea of the story behind Ree’s romance with her husband, most of the details she provided in this book were new to me. I have heard, however, that for long-time fans of Ree’s blog, this book was somewhat repetitive. Luckily for me, I didn’t have that problem and thus enjoyed reading this story very much.

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a sweet romance and what Ree Drummond gave me in this book definitely fit the bill. What can I say, I just love the idea of love! The story of Ree and Marlboro Man is such a sweet one, he really won her over with his charm and calm demeanor and she literally changed her entire life in order to be with him – what’s not to love about that? What I also love about their story is that they both allow each other to be who they are. Put more coherently, they each have their own quirks and neither one tries to change the other – they love the parts of one another that other people might find funny or irritating or whatever. It was just such a fun ride to read about a real couple truly in love.

What I’ve seen some readers complain about is that Drummond didn’t really get too detailed about Marlboro Man’s personality – it was all about how he looked, how he smelled, etc. but some readers didn’t feel like they got to know him as a person. While I can see where they are coming from (there was a lot of “and boy did his butt look good in those jeans” type comments), I have to disagree. I think Drummond showed us who her husband is by his actions, by how he took care of her and exposed her to life on the ranch, by how he proposed sweetly and loved her family and gave her gifts from his heart. Sure, she didn’t document many heartfelt conversations between the two of them, but those things are personal. What I got out of this book is that Marlboro Man is a hardworking guy, deeply in love with his wife and his family, and not afraid to show it. Those are not bad characteristics for a man to have!

I want to mention that I listened to The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels instead of reading it in print, and I’m so happy I did that because looking back I wouldn’t have it any other way. Drummond narrates the book herself, and it gives it such a great feel – like it’s the reader and her, sitting down together with a glass of wine, reminiscing about her life. I truly felt like she was telling me her story, herself, and it was such a fun way to experience this book. I would definitely recommend going the audio route if you plan to read this one.

All in all, I really enjoyed this memoir. If you are a fan of The Pioneer Woman blog, a fan of Ree Drummond herself, or just like a good real-life romance, this book is for you.

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas
Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins
Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley

Eleonora Cohen is born in 1877 in Romania to her father, Yakob, and her mother who passes away immediately upon her birth. She is raised by Yakob and her stepmother, Ruxandra, and lives a perfectly normal and boring childhood until she teaches herself to read. This discovery causes Yakob to realize that Eleonora is brilliant, a child prodigy even, and he sets about trying to convince Ruxandra that she should be allowed an education. When Yakob travels to Stamboul to sell his carpets, Eleonora, distraught at the idea of being away from him for a month, stows away on the ship. Upon their arrival in Stamboul, Eleonora meets and stays with her father’s business partner, Moncef Bey, and is exposed to a whole new life, the likes of which she’d never before dared to dream of.

The Oracle of Stamboul starts out with a bang: Eleonora is born and Yakob, grieving at the death of his wife, brings in Ruxandra to help him care for his infant daughter. Eleonora is a precocious child, plucky and not happy doing the cooking and cleaning that Ruxandra would have her focus her attentions on all the time. Instead, Eleonora wants to spend her time curled up with a book, going on adventures through her reading, and she takes to sneaking books when Ruxandra limits her reading to one book per month.

I loved the imagery and evocativeness of the writing, especially when Yakob and Eleonora get to Stamboul. Lukas really created a sense of place, and I was more than happy to experience the sights, smells, and sounds with the two of them as they did.

Unfortunately, while I loved the character of Eleonora and the writing was very good, the rest of the novel didn’t work as well for me. After a pretty big event happens soon after they arrive in Stamboul, I expected the plot to propel like a jet engine from there, but it seemed to just sputter along. I was expecting a much different second half of this novel than what I got. Although I know that my expectations may have been to blame for my disappointment, I do feel that Lukas could have done something different with the novel. Either way, I had to slog through the last 100 pages or so and I just did not find it to be all that enjoyable.

While the imagery and characterization in The Oracle of Stamboul were done very well, the plot really left something to be desired, for me personally at least. Ultimately, I found myself disappointed with the book although it definitely had a promising beginning.

Split by Swati Avasthi

Split by Swati Avasthi
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House

High school student Jace Witherspoon has just been kicked out of his home in Chicago by his abusive father. Scared and lonely, he goes to Albuquerque to stay with his brother Christian whom he hasn’t seen in six years. Although Christian has been hiding from their father all that time, he reluctantly lets Jace in and they attempt to rebuild their relationship. Their mother, also a victim of their father’s abuse, has promised to run away herself and join them for Thanksgiving, and while Jace believes that she will do this, Christian is a little more skeptical. While the two brothers work on becoming a family again, Jace has to work through his own issues – turns out he learned well from his father, and lashed out at his own girlfriend before coming to New Mexico.

Split is an emotionally charged novel, almost difficult to read in the way that most important novels are. The situation Jace escaped from with his father is terrifying but unfortunately to many families it is reality, and I felt that Avasthi depicted life in an abusive household with brilliant honesty. Jace and Christian both have bruised and battered souls, as a result of their father’s treatment of them over the years, and they both have to work though a lot of emotional pain and issues in order to become a family again. The fact that they watched their mother be beaten all those years adds more pain too – they both have feelings of guilt and shame at the fact that they could not protect her, and also feelings of anger towards her for never leaving their father. Avasthi did an excellent job illustrating the complex dynamics of an abusive home with this novel.

What makes Split so interesting is the dynamics of the bothers attempting to rebuild their bond. Their personalities are so opposite – Christian is standoffish and quiet, slow to emotions and doesn’t let anyone into the emotional walls he uses to protect himself, while Jace is emotional, more open with his feelings (good and bad), and outwardly craving a relationship with his brother. Plus, Christian is harboring feelings of guilt for leaving Jace behind for the last six years while Jace (rightfully so) feels that Christian abandoned him to take on all their father’s blows. The fact that Jace is hiding the fact that he hit his own girlfriend makes their relationship really strained, as the reader knows there’s this big secret but Christian does not. When it finally comes out, things get… interesting.

I read Split as an audiobook, and it was really fantastic. The narrator, Joshua Swanson, was very effective at channeling the emotional nature of Jace’s character. He communicated the story so well, I was certainly hooked! I would definitely recommend the audio version of Split.

While Split isn’t the easiest novel to read in terms of the subject matter, it is a quick read and one that you won’t soon forget. The characters are compelling, the story is one that needs to be told, and Avasthi’s writing brings everything together perfectly. If you can handle a story about child/spousal abuse, Split is an absolute must.

The Midwife’s Confession by Diane Chamberlain

The Midwife’s Confession by Diane Chamberlain
Published by Mira, an imprint of Harlequin
Review copy provided by the publicist

Noelle, Tara, and Emerson have been close friends since college, when Tara and Emerson were roommates and Noelle was their RA. Now, in their forties, Noelle has committed suicide, leaving Tara and Emerson shocked, as Noelle, a midwife, had never showed any signs of being depressed or wanting to end her life. The only clue the women have as to why Noelle did what she did is an unfinished letter written to a woman named Anna, apologizing for some unknown grievous action on Noelle’s part. With this letter in hand, Tara and Emerson go on a search to understand their friend, to learn things about her they never could have expected, and to uncover the truth about what made Noelle feel so guilty that she had to end her own life.

I’ve been hearing great things about Diane Chamberlain’s novels for years, but for some reason have never thought to read one. Thank goodness I was contacted by the publicist for this one, because I absolutely loved this novel and will definitely be reading more of Chamberlain’s books in the very near future.

One of the reasons I enjoy women’s fiction so much is how deeply these books tend to explore women’s friendships and relationships with one another, and that was done so beautifully in The Midwife’s Confession. Tara and Emerson are BFF’s – the kind of friends who know every single thing about one another and are always the first person each other calls in times of trouble. Even their daughters, Grace and Jenny, are best friends. The dynamic of their friendship, although they are a bit older than I am, reminded me a lot of my relationships with my closest friends. I loved reading about their history as best friends – how they met in college, and afterwards their husbands became friends and they all lived in the same town, etc. Their friendship isn’t perfect – at one point Emerson learns some information that could really affect Tara and doesn’t tell her until days later – but it was realistic and I loved reading about it.

The plot of this novel really kept me on my toes, and it is the kind of book that was incredibly difficult for me to put down. I was sucked into the story and was just as anxious as Tara and Emerson to find out the truth about Noelle. I have to admit that I correctly guessed a pretty major plot point; however the fact that I knew what would happen did not damper my enjoyment of the story – rather, I was excited to continue reading to find out if I guessed correctly or not! When all was said and done, I found myself extremely satisfied with the ending – it was sweet without being saccharine. The perfect ending to an overall excellent and compelling read.

The Midwife’s Confession really made me think about how well we know the people we are closest to. Tara and Emerson thought they knew everything about Noelle, but it turned out that she had so many secrets. It left me thinking about my own friendships – how would I react if one of my best friends turned out to have a ton of important stuff hidden from me? I’d like to think I would embrace it, but if these secrets turned out to be as damaging as Noelle’s were, I’m not so sure I could.

The Midwife’s Confession is a compelling family drama with lots of excellent characters and a plot that never stops. I highly recommend this novel for fans of women’s fiction. I definitely plan to read more of Diane Chamberlain’s work as soon as possible.