bunny drop, vol. 1

bunny drop, vol. 1
yumi unita
graphic novel/manga/drama
yen press
published 2010

Returning to his family's estate for his grandfather's funeral, thirty-something bachelor Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a much younger lover! Needless to say, the rest of the family is shocked and embarrassed by this turn of events, and not one of them wants anything to do with the little girl, who refuses to say a word. In a fit of angry spontaneity, Daikichi decides to adopt her! But is living with an overgrown teenager who can barely take care of himself the key to making Rin come out of her shell?

There's a bit of mystery to this story right off the bat.  Rin doesn't know her mother, yet there is no sign of a child living at his grandfather's house.  Daikichi is looking for clues as to where and who Rin's mother is, but instead of finding answers he just uncovers more questions.

He doesn't seem like the 'overgrown teenager' that the description would have you believe.  He's like a brand new parent.  Not quite ready, determined to make it work and trying the best he can.  It's fun to watch his thought process and see how quickly Rin comes to trust and love Daikichi.

It took a bit for me to get used to the manga style, but once I did it felt quite natural!

born in fire

born in fire
concannon sisters trilogy #1
nora roberts
fiction/romance
jove
published 1994

The New York Times bestselling trilogy of three modern sisters bound by the timeless beauty of Ireland begins.

Artist Maggie Concannon creates beautiful glass images through a blowpipe and with a fiery furnace, much as she herself was born and survived her mother's angry frustrations and resentment. Then Maggie falls in love with Rogan, her new agent, who brings her passion, fame, and riches.

More than 15 years I ago I read this book for the first time.  It was the first trilogy and only the second book by Nora Roberts that I read and it instilled in me a great love for her writing and an immense desire to visit Ireland.  I can easily say that Nora Roberts is one of my all time favorite authors and I own practically ever single one of her books.  Strangely, I have never re-read any of her books.  Thanks to the Book Bingo challenge I'm tasked with re-reading 15 books so after re-reading Cate Tiernan's Immortal Beloved I decided I wanted to go back and re-read Nora Roberts trilogies starting with the Concannan sisters.

The first time I read this trilogy I actually read the last book first.  This was before the days of Shefari or Goodreads so knowing the order of books wasn't as easy as it is now.  I didn't even know it was part of a trilogy at first!  But I loved it and found the other two and read them as quickly as I could turn the pages.

I still love this book.  The process of glass blowing is still beyond me, but the idea fascinates me.  However, the thing that still delights me is the setting.  Ireland.  How anyone can read this book and not want to immediately hop on a plane to visit is beyond me.  Someday....

crossed

crossed
matched trilogy #2
ally condie
dutton juvenille
published 2011

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky— taken by the Society to his certain death—only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia’s quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander— who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia’s heart— change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

The upside to this book was that we got to see things from Ky's point of view.  We learned more about who he was and what he's seen.

The downside is that is was just kind of boring.

Think about this: we've come to a place where children are being taken out to the desert and killed.  They have no hope, but three try to escape into a huge canyon (reminiscent of the Grand Canyon).  Constantly on the look out for the Society who will either capture them to return them to the 'villages' or kill them outright.

That sounds exciting, does it not?  Yet somehow, Condie was able to make it incredibly slow and boring.  She made it less about the action and what they were all trying to do and more about too awkwardly in love kids trying to figure out how to be awkwardly in love.  Maybe this is the truth in her book.  Most YA books center around two teenagers who desperately love each other and nothing else matters.  Their love is cement.  Here Cassia and Ky don't truly understand how to love each other except to make sure they find themselves together.  They are probably more realistic teens than any others I've read.

Cassia is still a worthy protagonist.  She's still so naive, but not in a weak way.  She wants to trust in the Rising so much, that this is what she was born for, that it will change everything.  She trusts that she loves Ky, but that she also loves Xander.  She questions the path she has chosen, but doesn't whine about the hardships she's facing.  Instead, she tackles them head on and still remains optimistic and radiant.  That in itself, a strong & capable female lead, is worth reading this series.

But that doesn't save the book from being ultimately quite snooze worthy.  I'm hoping with Reached we will get something worth ending.

gregor & the prophecy of bane

gregor & the prophecy of bane
gregor the overlander series #2
suzanne collins
fiction/ya/fantasy
scholastic
published 2004

Months have passed since Gregor first fell into the strange Underland beneath New York City, and he swears he will never go back. But he is destined to be a key player in another prophecy, this one about and ominous white rat called the Bane. The Underlanders know there is only one way to lure Gregor back to their world: by kidnapping his little sister, Boots. Now Gregor's quest reunites him with his bat, Ares, and the rebellious queen-to-be, Luxa. They descend into the dangerous Waterway in search of the Bane, and Gregor knows what is at stake. If he does not fulfill the prophecy, his life, and the Underland will never be the same.

Oooh, how I love Boots.  Again, tears were shed reading about Gregor and his adventures Underland.  There's not much I want to say because to say something would be to spoil this book for future readers.  But I can say this:  Suzanne Collin's Gregor books are a testament to true literature.  It doesn't matter if it was written for 5-year-olds or 50-year-olds because both can enjoy it thoroughly.  The themes are timeless.  The story exciting, thrilling and yet also grounding and sad.  Here we have a story written for children, but a gift to us all.

self-defense

self-defense
alex delaware series #9
jonathan kellerman
fiction/mystery/suspense
bantam books
published 1995

Dr Alex Delaware doesn't see many private patients any more, but for a young woman called Lucy Lowell he's prepared to make an exception. Referred to him by the police detective Milo Sturgis, Lucy had been a juror at the harrowing trial of a serial killer, and having survived that trauma is now being subjected to further emotional stress: a recurrent nightmare of a young child in a forest at night, watching something as furtive as it is disturbing.

Now Lucy's dream is starting to disrupt her waking life, and Alex believes the power of the dream and its grip on her emotions may be a repressed childhood memory of something very real.

Something like murder...

Boy, Dr. Delaware is always finding trouble!

For some reason Dr. Delaware's forays into crime solving never bug me the way Kay Scarpetta's do.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because you get a good sense that Delaware is going that extra mile for his patients.  He really wants to help them, really wants to make their lives better, their problems go away.  Plus, I think he's a sucker for a good mystery.

I liked the story quite well, but I have to admit that when one of the 'killers' was revealed I had to do a search on the kindle to see where they'd mentioned this guy before because I could not remember.  There were way too many character to sort through this time around.  Actually, this is probably not the first time I've noticed this.  But in this story alone there was Alex, Robyn, Milo, Del, Lucy, Puck, Ken, Jo, Buck, the Sheas, Doris, App, Mellon, Trafficant, the Bogettes, Nova, Sherrell, Karen, Dr. Embry, MacIlhenny, Bleichart, Leah, Chris Graydon-Jones, Barnard.....that's what I can think of and out of all of those only 4 are returning characters.  It was a lot to take in.  So the great reveal near the end was a kind of 'whaaat??' moment for me and probably not the 'whaaat?' moment Kellerman was aiming for.

But I really liked Lucy.  I rooted for her and didn't want her to be some nutcase that was playing everyone or making stuff up.  I would've gone to bat for her just like Milo & Alex did.

I still crack up that no one has a cell phone.

waiter rant

waiter rant
steve dublanica
autobiography
ecco
published 2008

According to The Waiter, eighty percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining twenty percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Waiter Rant offers the server's unique point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen bits of human grace transpiring in the most unlikely places. Through outrageous stories, The Waiter reveals the secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and how to keep him from spitting in your food. The Waiter also shares his ongoing struggle, at age thirty-eight, to figure out if he can finally leave the first job at which he's truly thrived.

Similar to the synopsis describes, Waiter Rant is 20% funny stories about working in the restaurant industry and 80% psychobabble and reflections by Waiter on why he's still a waiter.

Not to say that this was a bad book, far from it.  Steve Dublanica writes very well, but this wasn't really what I was expecting.  I was expecting a book full of funny, horrifying or sad stories about being a waiter in a high end restaurant.  Instead, I got a book about a man going through an early mid-life crisis bemoaning the fact that he was still, at 38, a lowly waiter.  The Waiter will quickly admit his faults, but one I think he's even slow to understand is that he does have a serious disdain for waiters.  He does believe that they are unworthy and have something to be ashamed of.  It comes across in his voice throughout the book.

He spends most of the book talking about his life.  What he did before becoming a waiter, what he'd rather be doing instead of being a waiter, what he hopes to be doing instead of being a waiter, etc.  He strives to show the reader how well read he is, how smart he is and how he knows everything.  It gets kind of boring after awhile and I found myself skimming over paragraphs about how he contemplates.  He says that word a lot (or at least it felt like it though when I did a search for 'contemplate' it came up with 5 different instances).

And revealing the 'secrets to getting good service' and all that jazz?  That's part of the '40 Tips on How to Be a Good Customer' thrown in at the end of the book as an Appendix.  He's also given us '50 Ways to Tell You're Working in a Bad Restaurant' (in which I'm pretty sure I could check off at least 70% of those).  And then finally there's 'Items a Waiter Should Carry at All Times (or Have Close By)'.  Both funny and slightly depressing.  I think I was expecting the book to be more like his blog, but it was more of the journey from his blog to this book and that's okay. 

The book brought back memories, both good and bad, of my waitress/cocktailing/bartending/managing experiences.  I wouldn't trade those days for anything, but sometimes his broad generalizations of how shitty things can get were spot on.  There were certain truths that made me miss working in a restaurant, having that group of co-workers unlike any other place I've worked.  Sure, you have the catty bitches you can't stand just like anywhere else, but there has never been a job where the people I worked with felt more like my family than my own family at times.

immortal beloved

immortal beloved
immortal beloved series #1
cate tiernan
ya/romance/supernatural
little, brown books for young readers
published 2010

Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe—until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

I read this book almost exactly 2 years ago, finishing it on February 27, 2011 and I loved it.  Reading it the second time I love it still though I can't put my finger on exactly why I love it.

There's no sweeping love story, no action packed fight scene.  No government conspiracies, no Hogwarts or Forks.  No vampires, no werewolves, no fairies, no CIA spooks, no mustered out soldiers or ghosts.  Yet somehow, there is a great story here.

Nasty is just another teenage girl, except that she's about 450 years over being a teenager.  She's an immortal and knows no rhyme of reason why her kind exists.  She only knows that the years have gone on and on and on and she's tired of being a drunken party girl.

The story is simply reminiscent of a substance abuser getting clean.  She's trying to find a way to a life that is worth living.  That hurts no one, especially not herself.  She's looking for a way back to caring and it's not easy.  She can tell that there are those who don't want her at River's Crossing, but she's not there for them.  She still acts like a spoiled teenager sometimes, but she's also figuring out how she can be better person.

Then there's the underlying threat of her 'friends' from her other life.  She feels like she needs to hide from them though she's not sure why.  We only know that they're now actively looking for her but Tiernan is saving that juicy part of the story for the next installment.

There's not many books that I can read more than once and not get bored with.  Surprisingly, this is one of them.  I don't even really know why!  I just really love it.  I feel bad that it's taken me this long to get to the next book!  When I saw I still had some B&N credit I bought all three in eBook form so now I have no excuses!