Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review: The Crossing Hour by Quoleena Sbrocca

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The Crossing Hour by Quoleena Sbrocca

A Science Fiction (Historical Fiction) Novel published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform(1/29/15)

 

Summary:

“Oh Travis, child, what is fear ? Fear ain’t nothing but a thing that moves us forward and makes us fight ’till we ain’t afraid no more.” (Kindle Locations 4362-4364).

After he discovers the phenomenon of one way time travel, Stanley Graf sets his granddaughter Leigh upon the task of personally welcoming a Traveler from the past. They don’t know who will appear or what year they will come from, but the Grafs do know that the time travel doorway opens up every four years and that there are other restrictions on those who travel. The next Traveler to enter through the doorway in Delaware may be the Graf’s most important discovery yet! When plans to send the Traveler back in time at the appointed hour, exactly one year after the doorway first delivered the Traveler, start to unravel, could history itself be changed? Leigh has the important task of making sure time and history are not altered and the weight of this responsibility rests heavily on her shoulders, “To protect our visitors from the past, so that we may preserve history as we know it, and the future as we hope it will be.” (Kindle Locations 5303-5304).

 

Keywords:

 Time Travel, Harriet Tubman, Historical Fiction, Female Main Character, Independent Women, Strength, Fear, Hardship, Inner Strength, Family, Loyalty, Science Fiction, Destiny

 

My Review:

Time travel is completely bogus and entirely unbelievable as a premise, but Sbrocca takes the concept and convinces me of its truth. She gives underlying scientific technological explanations that had me believing in her time travel theory being plausible. And who better to travel through time then the historical figure she chose! Sbrocca’s premise and usage of time travel were both clever and riveting. The author chose a good idea and then made it into an excellent book.

From the very first pages, Sbrocca delivers tension and intrigue in a powerful beginning to her novel The Crossing Hour. If I were to choose one word to describe this book it would be ‘authentic.’ The characters were believable and felt real, even the ones from other times and places. The characters’ motivations and desires were real and authentic. The dialogue was authentic and sassy and fun.

I am absolutely smitten with Sbrocca’s clever idea of using a time traveler to introduce a specific speech pattern (19th century runaway slave) while still being set in modern, familiar USA. The reader is given a teaser into the past and how people spoke, but is not overwhelmed by this perspective.

Every character has their own story and personality without being over the top or overly unique. The characters from the past stayed true to what I know of them historically. I loved that their personalities and actions stemming from who they were matched my perspective of how I thought those particular people would talk and act and what they would do in certain situations. This is a super cool technique and makes for great historical fiction writing.

Two specifics: The chapter that went back in time to 2011 was a great idea and worked quite well in clearing up any questions that still lingered in the back of my mind. Second: after spending some time in present day technology cluttered USA, wouldn’t any curious time traveler simply ‘google’ themselves to find out why they are so important? This question nagged at me so persistently, but I was able to suspend my disbeliefs in sight of such an entertaining and well written story.

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on January 29th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0

 

Links for more information:

Quoleena Sbrocca’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: An Unlikely Goddess by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

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An Unlikely Goddess by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

A Historical Fiction Novel published through Createspace Independent Publishing Platform (10/14/13)

 

Summary:

“A straight man who won’t sleep with you because he wants to be serious? Marry him,” Manoj said, “Be happy and have lots of babies.” (Kindle Locations 3601-3602).

An Unlikely Goddess focusses on the cultural traditions of an Indian family in both India and America, with a specific focus on the first born daughter Sita. From her very birth, where she was supposed to be a boy and not a girl, she disappoints her mother, father and herself. She must figure out what she believes in order to find her way in a world where she is considered an outsider. Sita’s family is seen by Indian relatives and neighbors as the opulent immigrant family in America, where wealth is taken for granted, but their reality is far different. Sita’s family struggles to stay afloat in America and this borderline poverty affects Sita and her own struggles to be American and fit into the unforgiving expectations of the American schoolchildren.

 

Keywords:

Culture, South Asia – India, Immigrants, Fitting In, Breaking Away, Poverty, Expectations, Faith, Stuck, Happiness, Freedom, Female Main Character

 

My Review:

I will jump right in and say that Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is like the South Asian version of Amy Tan. Rajakumar’s story in Unlikely Goddess is about a young girl growing up as a woman, an Indian immigrant displaced into a vastly different culture than the one she grew up in, parents who want their children to stay true to their culture and traditions, the oppression against females and their independence, and more. Unlikely Goddess is a brilliantly written, masterfully told, powerful story about Sita.

Rajakumar was able to weave a story that was as fascinating and informative as any of Amy Tan’s novels about Chinese immigrants or turn of the century China. An Unlikely Goddess was a story alive that gave me an unusual insight into Sita’s life. Sita was a fascinating character. Her story was the main focus, but through her the reader is privy to the angst a teen feels in America as culturally and ethnically and financially set apart from her peers. Sita’s discomfort was the reader’s discomfort. Rakajumar is able to translate the book’s emotions so that the reader is involved in Sita’s life and her emotions and desires.

It is not just Sita that the reader feels compassion and understanding toward, but also her mother Mythili. Through books like these readers can gain a true understanding of what it’s like to be thrust into an environment where you are the one apart, where you are the one that is different, where expectations are placed on you for your gender and your culture and your skin color.

This book blew me away and I appreciated Rajakumar’s prose and style and story so much that I plan on reading everything else she has written.

This novel was published through Createspace Independent Publishing Platform October 14th, 2013 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar’s Website

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Book Review: From the Wreckage by Michele G. Miller

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From the Wreckage by Michele G. Miller

A YA Romance Novel published by Enchanted Ink Press (06/11/14)

 

Summary:

“Don’t waste a day wondering what if.” (Page 88).
From the Wreckage is a book that explores the above quote. For Texas teen Jules Blacklin, everything changes in one day when a natural disaster tears her small town apart. Her life is turned topsy turvey following the tornadoe’s wake. She has lost one of her best friends. Her town has a lot of recovery to go through. Her school was decimated. The aspect of her life that changed the most; however, was realizing that it isn’t worth it to stay in a relationship that isn’t the same anymore and that she shouldn’t put off her own happiness.

 

Keywords:

Contemporary Romance, Natural Disaster, Loss, Grief, Texas, Small Town, School Rivalry, Friendship

 

My Review:

This book throttled me as hard as the tornado devastated Jules’ town. The description of events leading up to and during the tornado were like a scene from the classic movie Twister. I was on the edge of my seat and my eyes were wide with the tension. The author really does capture the emotional upheaval and turmoil that goes along with escaping the clutches of a disaster. And this was less than a quarter of the way through the novel.

How could it get more tense? How could there be more excitement? Well, there wasn’t. Michelle Miller climaxed less than 25% through the novel and spent the rest of the plot and character development in limbo. It was like if I stay by Gayle Foreman, where you’re waiting for the big punch, only to be disappointed by the almost lackluster and anticlimactic ending. Miller set herself up for this when she gave away her big emotional roller coaster so soon. The rest was just the aftermath.

I thought the book could have been shorter. After all, how much resolution can there be after a climax so soon? Still, I wasn’t disappointed entirely because the novel fits quite well into young adult literature, giving me all the angsty teen drama I could want. I just wish it hadn’t been preempted so soon with such a whirlwind beginning. For this unequal pacing I was annoyed, but not too much because I loved Miller’s writing style and how she painted her characters.

This book wasn’t about the action so much as about the characters. It was fascinating to watch Jules go through her own stages of grieving and loss. Her conflicted thoughts on her relationships with both the football star and West Rutledge were the highlight of the book in my mind.

The second major nuisance of the novel was the way Miller presented the story. It was told mainly through the narrative of Jules herself, as she tells the story for the video documentation of the high school seniors. This is so annoying and unnecessary that I skipped almost all the parts where Jules is in the present commenting on the past. The second major nuisance of the novel was the odd sounding tense used (third person present). It was jarring every time I picked up the book and made the entire thing difficult to read on a sentence by sentence basis. For these two reasons alone this book will never be a five-star book, at least in my opinion. If the story is in the past, let it be in the past and don’t pull us out of the narrative to let us know Jules is sad again in the present. Let the story tell itself! Still, if I had noticed these errors before I had begun reading, would I do it again? Yes, because the story was interesting, the characters were fascinating, and the emotions were real.

This novel was published by Enchanted Ink Press June 11th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Michele Miller’s Website

Book Review: Pieces of Me by Carrigan Richards

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Pieces of Me by Carrigan Richards

A YA Novel published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (01/26/14)

 

Summary:

 “One thing I’ve learned is that those who won’t support you aren’t worth your time.” -Scott (Kindle Locations 428-429).
What if you were responsible for the death of a loved one? Corinne fell asleep for an instant, but that’s all it took for a chain of events to lead to her brother’s death. She should have been the one to die instead of him, or so she thinks. When those around her blame her for his death too, she internalizes the guilt even further. Headaches from the accident and panic attacks from her own remorse build up until she can no longer take the pain and the guilt. After being sent to Fairview Mental Institution, Cor meets others who are trying to heal or have tried to end it, just like her. She is not alone, even though she thinks those most important to her have abandoned her. It will take all her strength and willpower to work through her emotions and finally open up to her doctor about what happened.

 

Keywords:

 Teen Angst, Emotional, Suicide, Mental Institution, Abusive Relationships, Love, Infatuation, Imperfections, Female Main Character, Death, Accidents, Guilt

 

My Review:

I wanted to like this book. It has everything a teen wants to read: angst and struggle, a female main character, a romance, relationships between friends and lovers. I think this would be a great book for a teen to read if they can look past its faults and stick with the core theme and message presented.

Corinne was supposed to be likeable, even with her faults. The reader is supposed to, if not relate to her, but sympathize with her. I thought Richards was trying too hard to get me to sympathize with Corinne by making the other characters around her unrealistically put her down and make her life harder. In making Corinne a stronger and more dynamic character, Richards made her other characters stereotyped and one dimensional. Lisa was too mean. I’ve never thought a girl deserved to get punched in the face as much as Lisa. If she had been a guy someone would have done it. Even though she was given the motivation to behave the way she does, I thought her character was over the top while at the same time too shallow. Corinne’s mom was too unsympathetic to Cor, to the point beyond abuse. Both Corinne’s parents, actually, behaved unlike parents or people. They were robotic, only serving the role of parents, with the dad being the helpful parent and the mom being the conflicted unhelpful parent throughout the entire book until the resolution.

James. The love interest. He was the worst. There is no teenager alive like him. He was the most unrealistic character of them all. Instead of being perfect prince charming he was flat and annoying (i.e. too perfect). Prince Charming has to be at least flawed enough to imagine in real life, unlike perfect James who loved Cor from when he first set eyes on her and loved her with all his being immediately… Why does he even like her? We are shown an average girl of at least above average beauty who apparently has very few hobbies and talents and seems quite unremarkable, yet James falls instantly in love. Not just in love, either, he was puppy dog love obsessed in love.

The dialogue was idealistic for teenagers. They spoke quite well and communicated very, very well for being conflicted and emotional and young. A teen reader may not notice this, but I thought it was unusual for characters to be so well-spoken in the midst of such emotionally charged events.

The second half also become quite repetitive and the author pushed her point over and over again before finally bursting through the climax and on to the resolution.

Richards handled the ending very well. She gave us almost all the resolution that was needed. The only resolutions I wanted more of were those with Corinne’s mom and Lisa and Will (albeit a minor character). Even though Corinne resolved her conflicts with Lisa, I felt that Lisa’s conflict was still unresolved and perhaps a book two would take over Lisa’s story?

Overall, despite the flaws of the book, I thought it was interesting to read and worth the time of any conflicted teenager as I thought it was emotionally authentic, showing how Corinne felt and what she was going through in a way anyone in a similar emotional state could relate to.

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform January 26, 2014 and is available on amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.00

 

Links for more information:

Carrigan Richards’ Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales) by Starla Huchton

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Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales) by Starla Huchton

A Fantasy/Fairy Tale Adaptation published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (11/03/14)

 

Summary:

“Strength comes in many forms. Beauty is but one.” (Page 28).

Raelynn is both beautiful and strong and when she overhears that the Queen is in trouble, she cannot but try to help. Rae has a magical gift that helps her remain unnoticed as she attempts to help the Queen. In the form of a lowly, simple stable boy she is still able to charm the young Prince Leopold, but when he is in danger himself, she must try to save him as well. Forever late, even in birth, can Rae protect the Prince from his evil stepfather?

 

Keywords:

 Fairy Tale Adaptation, Contemporary Fairy Tale, Magic, Wards, Glamour, Survival, Family, Love, Romance, True Love, Souls, Strong Female

 

My Review:

The messages in this fairy tale adaptation ring loud and true. Starla describes animals that have intelligence and feelings, life having souls, being strong even after victimization, standing up for beliefs, perseverance and hard work paying off, love being the highest form of magic. Each ‘moral’ is layered into the novel so that none come off as too obvious. There were so many wise words in this tale, so much one could learn, so many beautiful quotes. Starla is wise beyond measure and is able to communicate through her novels these lovely themes.

Starla’s characters are the noblest and the most evil. They became larger than life for me and I loved all of them, even the evil stepfather, because they were each and every one so well described, unique, and so real you could sink your teeth into them.

The main character, Raelynn was very well written and I fell instantly in love with her. She is stubborn but resilient. She is well meaning but can’t always talk about her feelings. She has a resounding character flaw that isn’t so much a ‘flaw’ but an event that is cataclysmic in her need to help others when she can and to do everything to shield herself for protection. She doesn’t hesitate when it comes to duty.

Prince Leo falls in instalove with Rae, but for good reason. She is wonderful, with passion and care for those around her and for what she believes in. She is beautiful and kind, but also timid at times and brave when she needs to be. She is the ultimate strong female character, even though she is constantly plagued and haunted by memories of a tragedy that happened in her past.

This book contains magic, but not in the over the top kind. The use of magic is not a crutch for the author but a wonderful new imaginative tool.

I loved the special bond between the seven sisters.

The author’s clever interweaving of subtle hints of common fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White was awesome and so very, very clever.

The character’s never break character and fit so well into the world/environment that Starla has created for them in this book.

My only critique would be to get rid of the epilogue and do away with the introductory bit in the beginning.

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform November 3rd, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.00

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Starla Huckton’s Website

Book Review: Coordinates For Murder (Geocache Series Book #1) by Darren Kirby

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Coordinates For Murder (Geocache Series Book #1) by Darren Kirby

A Thriller/Horror Novel published on amazon.com (02/18/2012)

 

Summary:

 Sammy and John are two friends who are in to geocaching. They plan a camping trip out into the woods to find a new cache – a multi-cache – but when they find the first part they are surprised by something they have never seen before. After following the series of caches deeper and deeper into the woods, they get so much more than they bargained for. They find the Woodsman, a sick creep bent on their destruction. Scenes of torture full of blood, gore, and horror-type things occur. Tied up and bleeding, will Sammy or John get out of the lair of the Woodsman’s elaborate setup?  They were the first to find. They might be the first to die.

 

Keywords:

Hiking, Woods, GPS, Murder, Torture, Psychopath, Thriller, Geocaching

 

My Review:

REVIEW BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

The start of this book was promising. Sammy is a fun character who likes to mess around with his landscaping crew. There is a fun action sequence to start the book off on its toes, creating a mild amount of tension and creating a fun atmosphere. The dialogue was interesting and light. The characters were shown through their actions and words. The reader got to see a fun competition.

The title of the book contains the word ‘geocaching.’ The description is of a dashing cache hunt and a daring hope for escape and rescue. The real description should account for the miles of lost words describing John getting lost in a cave and the overlong scenes depicting the mad Woodsman’s maniacal torture. The author does a great job with these sicko scenes, but it was not what I was looking for nor what I thought the book was going to contain as it wasn’t in the book’s description.

There is something wrong with the Woodsman. The reader is not given much information into who he is or where he came from. The reader gleans from his actions and what he says that the reason he does what he does is because he is -presumably- a psychopath. He is only described as a large muscled man. He has a peculiar way of speaking, an intriguing bit of slang to make me think there is more going on than we are told. The author gives us a glimpse of this enemy early on and he is accompanied by a shorter companion who disappears immediately after with no indication of why this happened or where he went.

There are several plot inconsistencies that had me confused. Why wouldn’t the two boys take one vehicle to get to the campsite? If the Woodsman could find something lethal in the lair, why couldn’t Sammy? Why would the boys think there might be another cache when they’re in the middle of nowhere?

One of my chief criticisms is the boys’ lack of fear or any emotion similar. From the very initial creepy part, they are not at all worried or afraid or reticent to continue. When they meet the Woodsman they are not afraid, they only react to what he does. I’m sure they must be afraid, but the author never describes their fear it or tells us how they are afraid.

For me the ending was unsatisfying. Was this a series I didn’t know about? So many questions to answer, but even if it were a series I wouldn’t want to continue reading.

 

This novel was published through Createspace Independent Publishing Platform 02/18/2012 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 2.50

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Smashwords

Book Review: The Heist by Shaun Jeffrey

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The Heist by Shaun Jeffrey

A Thriller Novel published by Deshca Press (02/05/2013)

 

Summary:

The Heist opens with a high stakes robbery at a theme park, resulting in the deaths of 87 innocents when the gang leader blows up a roller coaster as the robbers escape. Months later the lead investigator in the robbery/murder case Kurt Vaughn is out for a nice family day in the park with son and wife when they are all unwillingly thrust into the gang leader’s newest plan.

 

Keywords:

Heist, GPS, Murder, Deranged, Thriller, Geocaching, Puzzles, Multicache, Investigation

 

My Review:

I picked up this novel because it involved geocaching and I wasn’t disappointed. There was a multi-cache with some cool puzzles and interesting hiding places. The author used some of the more clever points of geocaching, although technically only one geocache was involved. This story was like the geocache version of Dan Brown’s clever clues in The Da Vinci Code.

For such a simple story, at approximately 24k words, it was quite intriguing and the author kept the tension throughout, climaxing in an exciting hold-your-breath way and ending just the way I wanted. There were a few plot holes and inconsistencies, but they didn’t detract from the thrilling plotline. This could have been a longer story had the author filled in details between the heist and the time we meet Kurt and his family, but I thought the novel worked quite well just as it was.

 

This novel was published by Deshca Press 02/05/2013 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TLDR Star Rating: 4.25

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Shaun Jeffrey’s Website

Book Review: Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets by Jeffrey Cook

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Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets by Jeffrey Cook

A YA Science Fiction Novel published by Fire and Ice (01/29/15)

 

Summary:

Mina has always been the good influence, but when she strikes out on her own to clear her friend’s name she runs into all sorts of trouble. Mina hoped to get the ballerina chip, but was resigned to follow in her parents’ footsteps running the family business, Emerald City Flowers and Design. Instead she got way more than she could have hoped for: The Inquisitor Chip for the Secret Police. Flower deliveries is the perfect cover for a member of the Secret Police and her first assignment is to lay low and observe. She’s young, she’s confident, and she has not yet learned to follow directions. How could she when she suspects something more sinister is going on and doesn’t know who to trust within the Allied Investigative Agency? Along with her friend Amiko, the reliable antique Chevy Vlad, and her own natural inquisitiveness, Mina will do everything she can to solve the kidnapping of her friend Scott and find out what’s really going on in the AIA.

 

Keywords:

Strong Females, Diverse Cast, Action, Thriller, Mystery, Seattle, Secret Police, Futuristic, Technology

 

My Review:

Mina is a character I can relate to because she doesn’t get everything that she wants. She’s confident in what she believes. She stands up for her friends and seeks out action. Not everyone gets to be a ballerina, and Mina is no exception. She is too short and stocky, in her mind, to be chosen for the elusive ballerina chip.

In a world where adolescents can work their hardest trying to paint their own futures and make their own destiny, it is their chipping that ultimately decides their fate. This is a wonderful and very futuristic technology that Jeffrey Cook exploits to the utmost of his imagination. “Implanting someone with everything they needed to know to do their assigned job perfectly had become a mostly exact science in the century-and-some it had been in use, but complications still came up.” (Page 23).

This is every school kid’s fantasy. What if you didn’t have to read and study for years on end, what if you could just download all that information? I bet most kids have salivated over this kind of technology at some point in their lengthy education. Cook fleshes out what it would really be like to be able to download a college’s worth of information in an instant and be able to hop right into the middle of a career. Of course, it’s not without its limitations. To be a ballerina one must have the years of physical training and ideal body type. To be a member of the Secret Police requires similar physical training and a great cover identity. “A chip might give an ambitious buyer perfect knowledge of human anatomy and perfect reactions to deal with every mishap that might arise. If, however, the recipient didn’t already have perfectly steady hands and a curiosity regarding the connections of muscles, nerves and organs, the chances of a surgeon’s chip malfunctioning went up exponentially.” (Page 23).

One of my favorite parts about Mina Cortez: Bouquets to Bullets was the world Jeffrey Cook built and his fascinating tidbits of futuristic technology. The way people communicated was different. The way people traveled was different. Every so often Cook would throw in something specific that was different more than a hundred years in the future.

I loved all the main characters. They each had a unique trait that the reader could hold onto as an identifier. Miko has a lead foot and a penchant for aikido. Scott is addicted to video games and is a picky eater (allergies). Mina never seems to be able to stick to her Inquisitor instructions and she’s constantly getting into and out of a sticky situation. She also can identify both her assailants and her friends through scent alone. How cool is that?

If you want action, you’ll get it with Mina Cortez. If you want a strong, kick-butt female main character and a chirpy optimist sidekick, Bouquets to Bullets is your book.

This novel was published by Fire and Ice January 29th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Jeffrey Cook on FreeValley Publishing

Jeffrey Cook’s Facebook

Book Review: Shift! by Bill C. Castengera

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Shift! by Bill C. Castengera

A Literary Science Fiction Novel published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (08/18/14)

When I first picked up Shift! By Bill Castengera, I thought it was a very different book and that I didn’t quite like it, and yet, I couldn’t seem to put it down. It is different. I didn’t put it down. If you pick up this book, I would suggest not putting it down either, because it’s worth finishing. This book is like a clever science fiction novel masquerading as literary fiction, or is it the opposite?

After finishing Shift! I’m still not sure I know what to think.

Castengera is either a genius who doesn’t play by the rules of the genre or I didn’t understand what the genre was before I started reading. Castengera had me at the premise and the book held me because it was well written and was very good at hinting at an intrigue I just had to know about.

The story starts off a bit haphazardly, jumping from person to person while staying in an impeccably detailed and close view of the conflict so that it is invisible until the circle slowly widens and at the same time closes in on itself so that the imminent conflict is obviously apparent. As a reader, you know more about what’s going on in the minute sense until given the overall context and so feel completely removed from the story, like you are watching from afar. By the time the story and external conflict reveals itself, you won’t be able to put the book down. Castengera has revealed the story and the overall structure very differently than your average book.

Castengera has an odd way of using language that is not so confusing as a Clockwork Orange, but not as clear as any pop YA out there. It’s intriguing. The narration is not full of direct thoughts or feelings but facts that could be thoughts. Sometimes the narration strays to what seems off topic, but usually in humorous narrative asides. Castengera reminds me of Douglas Adams in his overly-wordy writing style, where every extra word is cherished. Here is one example of the odd wandering type of narration:

“The nurses, and I say ‘nurses’ not meaning just women or even just men, but both genders, for I am aware of the fact that people consider nurses as women so I felt I must make the point clear.” (Page 64).

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform August 18th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

TLDR Star Rating: 4.00

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Bill C. Castengera’s Website and Blog

Book Review: Intrigue in the House of Wong by Amy S. Kwei

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Intrigue in the House of Wong by Amy S. Kwei

A Early Reader/Teen/YA Novel published by Tats Publishing (06/01/2008)

 

Summary:

 Wendy Wong and her close-knit Chinese family move from familiar Chinatown to the Upper East Side so that she can attend a posh private school through partial scholarship. The Wongs go into debt purchasing the restaurant under their apartment. A stop work order on the renovation and sketchy thugs hanging out in the alley threaten to shut down the business, but the Wongs, along with their newfound friends and allies, will stop at nothing to save the House of Fortune. Their plans almost fall apart when one of their friends’ lives is threatened and Wendy is torn between obediently following her family and doing what she thinks is best.

 

Keywords:

 Chinese-American, Chinatown, culture, understanding, being uprooted, teen issues

 

My Review:

Wendy is not a complex character, she is just going through that period of time when she is confused about who she is and how she relates tot the world. Her Chinese culture butts heads with her new American attitude and she is forced to choose between the two in some circumstances. “Wendy never dreamed of doing anything shocking or scandalous.” (Location 90).

This book highlights the lives and feelings of Chinese living in present day America, their trials and tribulations and the way they are perceived by others. “…the Chinese were unwelcome guests, and the American Chinese would be foolish to act as if they were equal citizens.” (Location 575). Wendy herself feels like she is straddling two worlds and ultimately she feels alienated from both.

This book starts out slow, but soon progresses into a thought-provoking stance on cultural integration and how some people are not willing to change, not ready to change, or can’t change to fit in. Wendy learns that it is hard to be in a new place with new people who don’t know or understand where she is coming from. Not everyone is born equal, therefore there cannot truly be equality in this world, but you can try to treat everyone equally. Wendy comments that “Yeah, when you’re not on your guard, everyone seems to slip into group think.” (Locations 1572-1573) and that “In times of mass hysteria, people can forget to be human.” (Locations 1413-1414).

Kwei gives the teens slang that seems out of place, just like how Wendy and her friend Debbie sometimes feel out of place. The two teens want to fit in, but even their speech is not normal. The style of narration in the book is even subject to the semi-halting lilt of a young teenager’s emerging style and of one experiencing sudden change.

This is a book for teens and so the villains are softer and more subdued than the average bad guy you read about. These villains reveal their plans directly to the kids and act in stereotypical villanous fashion straight out of a Disney movie.

 

This novel was published by Tats Publishing 06/01/2008 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TLDR Star Rating: 3.50

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Tats Publishing

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