The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway
Copyright 2013
Dutton - Historical-Contemporary Fiction/Time Travel
452 pp.

Going back to my 2007 Q/A format for this review.  I must confess it blows my mind a little to realize just how long I've been doing this blogging thing.

What led you to pick up The River of No Return? It was that beautiful cover (posted by the author, a Twitter friend) that led me to the book's description and from there it went straight onto my wish list.

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending: Lord Nicholas Falcott was about to be killed on a battlefield during the Napoleonic War when he was ripped away from the battlefield and lapsed into unconsciousness.  Awakened 200 years later in London hospital, he found that he'd jumped forward in time.  A representative of the Guild, a secret organization of people who have jumped forward on the "River of Time", informs Lord Falcott what's happened to him and then he is spirited to a facility in Brazil, where he is trained to live in the modern world, told where he may and may not go and given plenty of money to start his new life as Nick Davenant.

But a second shadowy organization works in opposition to the Guild and after 10 years of living in the United States, Nick is summoned by the Guild.  He is needed to help find an unknown talisman, figure out what has gone wrong within the time stream of the future and prepare to fight the opposing Ofan.  Back in his own time period, Nick becomes reacquainted with Julia Percy, a neighbor whose grandfather was able to manipulate time.  But, Julia is in danger.  A distant relative has inherited her grandfather's estate, he believes she knows the secret to her grandfather's ability, and he has a dangerous temper.

What did you like most about The River of No Return?  I love time travel, in general, and I was very fond of the two main characters.  It was fun to follow Nick back to his home in Regency England and I liked the slow unfolding of the plot, revealing that something has gone wrong.  I also loved the fact that there were characters who had jumped from a variety of other time periods.  Just getting a glimpse into where they had come from and how they lived was kind of a kick.  There is also an element of romance but it's not dominant, which is how I prefer romance in a book.

Thoughts about the plot:  This is my kind of book.  I love escaping from reality without that escape become so ridiculously far-fetched that it's beyond my grasp.

Share a favorite scene from the book:  My favorite scene is actually a spoiler and I don't want to ruin the read for others so I'll just tell you I really, really enjoyed the scenes that involved the manipulation of time.  I could easily visualize them as movie scenes -- and, in fact, similar has been done but I still think it would be fun to see The River of No Return made into a movie.

In general:  As per my 2007 format, I'm going to rate this book (surprise!).  It's a 4/5, which means I really enjoyed it.  I loved the characterization, found much of the dialogue plausible and entertaining (especially the parts during which Nick confused the modern speech he's practiced for 10 years with his old Regency lingo - some of the Guild's discussions were a yawn) and absolutely loved the paranormal/time travel aspect.

I did, however, come away from the read feeling that it was missing something, but I wasn't sure exactly what, hence the delay in reviewing. I needed to give the "missing something sensation" some thought.  In the end, I decided it was the fact that there was a good bit of telling in regard to the River of Time.  I would have liked to travel in time a bit more, rather than reading Guild talk about the time stream and taking that single jaunt back to the one time period.  That's obviously just a personal preference.  And, there were a few repetitive phrases unique to the author, which I found annoying.  While the ending was not as firmly wrapped up as I like, it wasn't cliff-hangery enough to frustrate me and I will definitely want to read the next book in the series.

My thanks to Bee Ridgway for kindly having her publicist send a replacement copy when the copy sent by a friend was stolen in transit.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Copyright 2009

Dutton Books - Young Adult

199 pages

I got a copy of the sequel to If I Stay from Dutton Books, so I rushed out to my public library to check out If I Stay and read the two books back-to-back. I feel very fortunate for having the opportunity to read them that way, since my library's Young Adult section, while growing, is still pretty thin and I doubt Where She Went will show up for quite a while after its release.

If I Stay is a tragic story and I'd actually avoided it because I kept hearing what a tough read it is, but I've read some difficult books. I told myself I'm tougher than I look. I look like a jelly roll. We won't go there, though.

17-year-old Mia has a lovely, funny family that she adores and a boyfriend she loves. But, she is a brilliant musician and she must choose whether or not to leave her family and boyfriend when she's offered a spectacular opportunity to continue her musical education far from home.

Then, suddenly, tragedy strikes and Mia has a completely different choice to make. I love this part of the blurb on the cover flap: "If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make."

Here's where I put up a spoiler warning. If you haven't read If I Stay, skip down to The Bottom Line!!! I'm not going to give away the ending (unless you move on to read about Where She Went, which will spoil the ending of If I Stay) but there might be some spoilery bits and I'd prefer not to ruin this read for anyone. ***SPOILER ALERT!!! You have been warned.***

Mia and her family go for a drive on a snowy day. One minute, Mia is enjoying the music, the scenery and the company of her family. The next minute, she's on the ground. She walks around and discovers the mangled bodies of her parents, then sees her own body and watches as paramedics take her away. She can hear her rescuers and follow along. She knows she's alive but she doesn't have any idea how she can see what's happening or what it means. She's afraid to find out whether or not her beloved little brother Teddy has perished along with her parents.

As Mia lies in a coma, she reflects on her romance with her rock guitar-playing boyfriend Adam, her family life, and how she came to play the cello and grow in skill. Meanwhile, she's also able to walk around the hospital, look down on herself during surgery, see people coming and going and hear what they say. I won't spoil how she comes to make her decision to live or die or even what the decision is, but the book ends on a surprisingly hopeful note.

***End Spoiler Warning***

The Bottom Line - I thought there were times If I Stay was just a little slow and it is a roller-coaster, emotional read, but I loved the story. I was crazy about Mia's family -- her father, in particular, reminded me of my own light-hearted father (whom I was constantly told was "such a cool dad") and I found the dilemma so compelling that I couldn't bear to put the book down till I finished. I liked the writing and was impressed by the musical detail. And, I loved the relationship between Mia and Adam. While the book has been referred to as "tragic," I think it's also uplifting and thought-provoking. I definitely recommend it but I recall thinking it deserved a PG-13 warning for some sexuality.

Please don't read the following review unless you have read If I Stay!!! Again, skip to The Bottom Line for my thoughts. There WILL be spoilers in the text of this review!!!

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Copyright 2011

Dutton Books - Young Adult

272 pages

Release Date: April 5, 2011

If you read If I Stay and enjoyed it, you will definitely want to read on. Where She Went is even better. Three years have gone by since the tragic accident that changed Mia's life forever.

When I saw there was a sequel to If I Stay, I wondered if Mia had chosen to live or die. It could have gone either way. A sequel could easily have taken her to a spiritual world or she could have become a ghost who helped Adam find new love, hence the bold spoiler warnings. I think it's best not to know in advance how If I Stay ends.

But since you've read it, you know she chose to live. Now, we find out that Mia walked out of Adam's life; eventually, the author reveals her reasons, but you're kept in suspense for the majority of the book.

Adam has gone on to become a rock star with a celebrity girlfriend. Mia is a rising star at Juilliard and is getting set to go on her first tour. While Adam is in New York, he sees a poster about Mia's debut and quietly shows up to see her perform. But, Adam is too well-known to sneak out unnoticed and Mia finds him. Thrown together for the first time in three years, Mia and Adam spend all evening and the next day together, exploring Mia's favorite sites in her new home, revisiting their mutual grief and rekindling their romance. But, both of them are scheduled to tour the world and they're going in opposite directions. Now that Mia and Adam have found each other, can they work out a relationship? Or is this goodbye for good?

The Bottom Line - Where She Went is told from Adam's viewpoint and the differing perspective gives the story told in the two books a fullness that would likely have been missing, had the sequel continued in Mia's voice. Like If I Stay, I found Where She Went utterly impossible to put down. Because Adam loved Mia's family and shared in her grief but had to grieve in silence, he's really kind of a wreck and you can't help but hope they'll at least resolve whatever caused the rift between them so that Adam will be able to move on. But the story is better than that, so much better. It is equally emotional and stunningly satisfying. For those who have read If I Stay, Where She Went is not to be missed. Again, the book contains sexuality and language, so I'd say it's a PG-13. I'm anxious to find out what else Gayle Forman has written.

In other news:

I mentioned that I'll have less time for blogging. We've got not one but two family weddings coming up, this summer. I mentioned needing to get in shape for the weddings to a friend, L. L told me she attends a local gym with dance aerobics classes, including Zumba, and my ears perked up. She invited me to go as her guest and I had such fun I immediately signed up for a 6-month membership.

The anecdote that goes with this tale:

At Bible study, last night, I asked one of the women who routinely goes on mission trips about the upcoming mission. The timing is all wrong, so I can't go but she mentioned the meetings and said feel free to come if you want to plan ahead for next year. L said, "Oh, we can't come that day. We have to dance," and I laughed and said it's true, we've got to groove. That perked up another woman's ears and there may soon be three of us grooving together. What fun!

So, the blogging thing:

Well, I'll just get to it when I can. There may be times that I'll need to write a week's worth of mini reviews. If so, I think I'll attempt to write them as separate posts unless I'm so pressed for time that I need to combine a few for the sake of catching up. I haven't had much reading time, lately, so that's kept me from falling too far behind on reviews. And, I'm just not going to kill myself trying to keep up, for now. If I have time to read and review, great. If not, I'll get to it when I get to it.

A Cat Tale:

Isabel jumped into the tub and chased her tail, one day (fortunately, when there was no water in the tub) and that night I dreamed that she jumped in the tub and it was filled with blue water, so as she chased her tail she turned her white fur blue. It took me a while to figure out where the blue bit came from. Husband had painted a second coat on the office walls, that day, and I'd been slightly worried that the cats, who watched in utter fascination as the paint roller went up and down, would end up rubbing against the wall and come away covered in blue paint. They didn't; both girls were actually very well behaved and didn't get in the way or into the paint.

I have a Kiddo anecdote to share, but this post is getting a bit long, so I'll save it for another day. Happy Reading!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Dewey's Nine Lives by Myron & Witter

Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron
with Bret Witter
Copyright 2010
Dutton - Non-fiction/Animals
306 pages

We don't love cats out of need. We don't love them as symbols or projections. We love them individually in the complex manner of all human love, because cats are living creatures. They have personalities and quirks, good traits and flaws. Sometimes they fit us and they make us laugh in our darkest moments. And then we love them. It's as simple as that.

Dewey's Nine Lives is a book of nine stories -- two Dewey tales and seven other stories about cats who in some way deeply touched the lives of their humans. I gobbled down the first half of the book so quickly that I actually set Dewey's Nine Lives aside to force myself to extend the joy. I enjoyed it that much.

Each chapter of Dewey's Nine Lives is headed by the name or names of the cats whose stories are revealed within the following pages. I had some personal favorite stories, like that of Mr. Sir Bob Kittens, also known as "Ninja", a cat who was reserved enough that he was practically unadoptable but made his humans laugh when they discovered why he'd originally been nicknamed "Ninja". You just have to read it to believe it.

What I loved about this book:

As I read each of these stories, I couldn't help but think of my own cats and how they've touched our lives, often in similar ways. Our Sunshine, for example, was the most outgoing, empathetic and intelligent cat I've ever been owned by. I'll never forget the time I was crying and she climbed up on my chest, licked the tears off my face then tucked her head under my chin and stayed with me until I felt better. Most of the cats in this book are in some way special because of how they responded to their people, kept them company in their darkest hours, made them laugh, came running when they called. I smiled a lot while reading this book and occasionally wiped away tears.

What I disliked about this book:

These are small complaints, but the stories are often a bit meandering. Sometimes it takes the author a long time to get to the actual cat portion of a tale, although I always found that the background was relevant and helped you to understand the reason a particular cat was so special or important to helping a human get through rough times. I also kind of disliked the way the author inserted her own story into those of others -- although, again, there was a relevance to her comments about her own experiences and I've found that even as I'm writing this review there are many, many stories that I'm bursting to share. So, I can certainly understand why the author chose to do so.

Highly recommended to pet lovers everywhere.

Dewey's Nine Lives is a feel-good book about cats that any pet lover will appreciate, even those who aren't enamored of cats. I was surprised and pleased at the final story of the book, a continuation of the author's tale that connects to the story of another person with a very special cat.

The author politely warns readers that some stories may make them cringe and she doesn't necessarily condone how the humans chose to care for their cats. I felt that way about the many cats who spent their days outdoors and those who were not neutered, although we have always neutered but we used to have indoor-outdoor cats. After our Spooky was injured several times (once by a pack of dogs that nearly killed her) and after I read about how cats are contributing to the sharp decline in songbird populations, we opted to make our cats indoor pets. During her last years, we accompanied Miss Spooky outdoors and called her back if she started to walk out of sight. It's difficult to turn a cat who loves spending time outside into an indoor-only pet, so we started out fresh with Fiona and Isabel. They like sitting in open windows, but that's as close as they get to the outdoors.

My thanks to Dutton books for the Advance Review Copy of Dewey's Nine Lives! My copy will be traveling to the home of a cat-loving reading buddy in Upstate New York.

In other news:

Saturday's 24-hour Read-a-thon wiped me out, but I recovered pretty quickly. I've just been busy. We returned Kiddo to school on Monday and then went shopping for necessities and to check out whether or not Bookfool had a preference for particular monitor sizes (I'm not picky). Husband surprised me by ordering a new computer almost immediately. It will be a relief to have a computer that doesn't continually lock up. It's taking me forever to accomplish anything online. I'll warn you when I go offline to switch out computers.

Just walked in:

The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham - about Margaret of Anjou (from Sourcebooks)

The plan, such as it is:

Since I managed to finish three books and a graphic novel during the read-a-thon, I've got a bit of a backlog of reviews to complete, now. I don't want to give any of them short shrift (although I confess I might just skip Fables: Legends in Exile) but I don't plan to review them in any particular order, although I seem to be doing best alternating between adult and children's books, lately, so I may continue to review that way.

This post obviously requires a cat photo and today is Wednesday, so this one's a Wahoo!

I love it when my kitties hang out together harmoniously. Always very wahooey.

Happy Wednesday!

©2010 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.