Top 10 Tuesday – Top Ten Books Written in the Past 10 Years That I Hope People Are Still Reading in 30 Years

Each Tuesday The Broke and The Bookish provide a book related Top 10 theme.

This week’s topic is about books written recently that I hope people are still reading in 30 years.  

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – There are so many social undertones to this book that are relevant and I can’t see those not being relevant in the future.

2. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – I’m sure these will still be read, but I hope they are able to pull as many kids into reading since kids growing up today will have access to the movies instead.

3. The Help – Kathryn Stockett

4. Exile by Richard North Patterson – I’m fairly certain this won’t be widely read in 30 years as it’s not all that highly read right now, but it’s a fascinating book about terrorism and the historical conflicts that block peace in the middle east.

5. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – As awesome as I think this book is, the reason it made my list is that Rainbow is awesome and I want her to be read and heard for a long time.  (My copy of Eleanor and Park shipped today!)

6. The Passage by Justin Cronin – I put this on here because if people are still reading it in 30 years it will mean the sequels live up to the first book.

7. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Kraukhauer – Jon Kraukhauer is an amazing non-fiction author.  This is a look at a religion that’s history is based entirely in the US. 

8. Bad Girls by Laura Ruby – Or something similar.  I think this is a great book for teen girls to read so they can be aware of the effect of gossip and try not to judge each other based on sex.  They also need to be aware of the dangers of cell cameras and that digital pictures never go away.

9 & 10.  The Kite Runner / 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

The Catastrophic History of You and Me         
Jess Rothenberg
2012, 400 pgs                         
Library                                    

Book Summary from Goodreads

Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning…. Welcome to forever.

BRIE’S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there’s Patrick, Brie’s mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick’s help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she’s ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

My Summary

Emotionally, Brie was a totally believable teenager.  Everything is life or death – I think that’s what drew me to this premise so much – obviously having your first love break up with you is not fatal, but everything feels so much worse as a teenager. 

“Love is no game. People cut their ears off over this stuff. People jump off the Eiffel Tower and sell all their possessions and move to Alaska to live with the grizzly bears, and then they get eaten and nobody hears them when they scream for help. That’s right. Falling in love is pretty much the same thing as being eaten alive by a grizzly bear.”

I loved how much Brie worried/cared about her younger brother.  They had the exact same age difference as I do with my brother so I could identify.  The scenes where Brie got to get a little payback were funny and I know that I would have enjoyed that opportunity (especially in high school).

Patrick (her guide) is the right mix of mystery and supportive.  He’s almost a combined good boy and bad boy all rolled into one.   Brie also had some cute one-liners (usually when talking to Patrick)

“There’s no such thing as too much Disney.”

 “News flash, Bozo. Don’t ever tell a girl to relax. It only makes us madder.”

I can’t really put my finger on what was missing in this one for me, but I just thought it was cute.  I read it in two sittings (started at 9:00 PM read for 2 hours, slept, and then picked it up again) so I really wanted to know what happen.  And it did manage to surprise me – one of the twists I did see coming, but the other caught me off guard, but I thought it was cool.

Basically a cute novel that felt like it didn’t quite live up to the potential of it’s premise. 

7 out of 10 stars

Top 10 Tuesday – Top Ten blogs/sites I visit that aren’t about books.

Each Tuesday The Broke and The Bookish provide a book related Top 10 theme.

I’ve broken these out into categories.  I’ve gone months without checking some of these and then I’ll start checking them 2-3 times a day.

Diet/Fitness

I lost 28lbs last year and it’s 90% due to discovering Intermittent Fasting and 10% due to running.  These are my two favorite fitness sites.

1. www.fitnessblackbook.com
2. www.leangains.com

 Sports

1. www.huskermax.com – They comb through the universe for Husker news so I don’t have too.
2. www.espn.go.com

 General News

1. www.nytimes.com – I don’t get on here as much as I used to since they are limiting the amount of articles you can view without paying so much now.
2. www.omaha.com

 Pop culture

1. www.rainbowrowell.com – Sometimes this is about books (she is an author, but most the time it’s just about whatever is on Rainbow’s mind).  If you are a fan of Rainbow’s first novel, Attachments, you should head over to her blog.  There are three deleted scenes from the book.

 Home Improvement

1. http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/
2. http://www.younghouselove.com/ – Lately I’ve been on a DIY kick and this if my number 1 over the past month.
3. http://www.craigslist.com – Not exactly a home improvement site, but that’s why I’m on there.  I got a chandelier on craigslist this weekend for $20!

“Looking for Alaska” and “Paper Towns” by John Green

Paper Towns                           Looking for Alaska
John Green                             John Green
2008, 305 pgs                         2006, 221 pgs
Library                                   Purchase Kindle

“Looking for Alaska” Book Summary from Goodreads

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green’s arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction

“Paper Towns” Book Summary from Goodreads

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night – dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge – he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q. Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

My Summary

Parallels abound in these two books.  I wish I had read them at least a few months apart – I still would have noticed but I don’t think it would have been quite as distracting.  I read “Looking forAlaska” a few weeks ago on a Saturday and really enjoyed it. I read “Paper Towns” a few days later and it felt like I was reading the same characters.  Miles=Quentin, Alaska=Margo,  Colonel=Ben, etc. 

I also wish I had written my review for “Looking for Alaska” before reading “Paper Towns” because now it’s impossible to separate them in my mind.  So here are just a few bullet points of what I liked

• John Green’s characters have dimension – hobbies that are interesting and not typical, real conversations, and annoying habits. 
  • Miles in “Looking for Alaska” memorized famous people’s last words.
  • Alaska/Margo/Colonel planned elaborate pranks that required planning and were really funny.
• Both books made me laugh out loud.  I want to put quotes in here, but I don’t want to ruin the reading experience for anyone else.
• The boys (not the main character) fixation with Prom in “Paper Towns”.  It was funny to think guys really cared.
• “Paper Towns” made me think about how much of what I see in other people is just a reflection of myself.  “Looking for Alaska” make me think about life/death – which seems cliché to write that in print, but didn’t feel that way to read it
• The chants/cheers the Colonel led at the Basketball games in “Looking for Alaska”.  AWESOME!
• Both books have moments that point out where girls are being objectified. 

So how to rate these books?  I think I would have given “Looking forAlaska” a 7 or 8 on Saturday.  But I think if I had read “Paper Towns” first I’d have given it an 8 or 9, but since I read it second and it was SO similar to “Looking for Alaska” my enjoyment was probably closer to a 6-7. 

First of these two that you read – 8.5 out of 10 stars
Second that you read               - 7 out of 10 stars

Top 10 Tuesday – Top Ten Books from my Childhood

Each Tuesday The Broke and The Bookish provide a book related Top 10 theme.  This week the theme is “Top 10 authors I’d like to see on a Reality TV Show”.   I don’t watch enough reality TV to participate.  Seriously all of my authors would have to be on either House Hunters or Moving Up (okay, okay  – I do watch “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) but still not enough variety.  So I’m going back and doing one of the Top 10 lists from before I started blogging.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

I love this book.  I remember “reading” it to my parents when I was four.  I was not an early reader – just a really good memorizer.

 The Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain

I had a lot of these books.  I remember laughing hysterically at the one about Nightmares.

The Ramona books by Beverly Cleary

I’ve mentioned Ramona before, but she’s just that cool.  Also one of the movie adaptations of books that I thought was awesome.  They totally captured the spirit of Ramona.

Sweet Valley Twins by Francine Pascal (who know who really wrote them)

It’s almost embarrassing now, but I DEVOURED these when I was 8-10.   Looking at the synopses I think I read thru book 74.  If you gave me a number, I could tell you the book title.  In case anyone is interested they stopped at 118.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I still reread this one.   It’s the perfect mix of sad with a happy ending.  I really wanted to be like Sara – kind to everyone regardless of my personal circumstances.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This book felt almost magical to me. 

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Oh Anne.  I still love Anne.  Seriously wonderful literary character.  The perfect example of someone with flaws, but who you just love inspite/because of them.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Fun, fun, fun! 

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I can’t find my old copies of these and I have been yearning to reread them lately.  Half price book store here I come!

Bonus 2 – These were my favorite books to read to my brother when he was little

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr

This is just fun to read.  It’s sing-songy (and I love that)

Superfudge by Judy Blume

I enjoyed reading the Fudge books to myself when I was younger, but my biggest association with them is hearing my brother giggle when I read them aloud.  Might be my favorite sound in the world.

More Like Her by Liza Palmer

More Like Her
Liza Palmer
2012, 309 pgs
Purchased

Book Summary from Goodreads

What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences?

InFrances’s mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection.Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa’s too career-focused to find time for a family. And Jill’s recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage.

Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems–like Emma’s enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie.

My Summary

This book was a disappointment for me.  I’m going to start with the couple things I did like – the male romantic lead was Sam, and he was adorable, great Southern manners, tall, and just a great guy.  There were also a few great insights about how Frannie always assumes that how a relationship heads is a guys choice.  When Lisa tells Frannie “You choose where this goes” – I really liked that quote.

I don’t like the term “chick-lit” for quite a few reason, but the biggest one is that it’s used to describe to broad a range of books.  Here are some fairly prolific “chick-lit” authors (all of whom I like/love) and where they fall on the scale from super light reading to fairly heavy, tears will be involved, but will still end happy (I think there are three general criteria for something being labeled as chick lit –female author/protagonist, some romance, and a happy ending).

Very Light and Enjoyable
           Sophia Kinsella
           Meg Cabot

I love both of these authors, but these books rarely cause me to stop and think.  They are just fun, usually quick reads with likeable characters.

Still light, but with some insight and more depth
            Liza Palmer (current review)
            Lauren Weisenberger

Enjoyable, but with heavier themes, characters have more depth
            Claire Lazebnik
            Barbara O’Neal

So Palmer’s novels usually fit into the middle for me.  This book felt like she was trying to move into the more serious category, but didn’t make it.

The prologue starts with a 911 call (I’m not going to say what it was about) so you start chapter one knowing something bad is coming.  Then in the first chapter you’re introduce to the main character Frannie.  The book is written in first person and all the main characters, except Frannie, have four letter, very common first names – Jill, Lisa, and Emma.  I was at least 40 pages into the book before I was able to truly distinguish which character was which when they entered a scene. 

About the time I was actually starting to get into the book and enjoy it, the event that caused the 911 call happens, and it was just WAY too heavy for the tone of the book.  It was jarring and abrupt and since the rest of the book was Frannie dealing with the fallout from that event I never really got back into it.

Next, while I loved Lisa’s advice to Frannie, I felt like Frannie incorporated it into her life/actions too quickly.  When your natural reaction to a situation has been to do things a certain way for a decade, one piece of advice doesn’t change that in a week.

5 out of 10 stars

Updating My Kitchen

In case anyone else remembered I’m in the long process of updating my kitchen (as DIY as possible).  Well I have a mini update.  As I said in the previous kitchen post I don’t have a picture of the original fabulous fluorescent, but it looked similar to this

 

I had an electrician out to take out the fluorescents and run wires to where I need them now and my kitchen ceiling looking something like this.

After tearing down wood surround and flourescent fixtures

I got my drywall on and spent the better part of two weeks covered in dust.  Then repainted the ceiling (I never realized it wasn’t white!).

 

And then called my electrician back out to install the lights.

I rented a compound miter saw and attempted to cut the crown molding and failed miserably.  I’m going to ask a friend of my brother’s to help me with that once school’s out (college).  But even with the LED lights and wire still showing, I like this better than the fluorescent!

So here’s my full list of what I want to do in the kitchen.  It will probably take me the better part of a year to finish it all but here’s to one step at a time.  I crossed out three and added one – at least I’m still moving forward!

• Buy a hutch/additional cabinets (found one on craigslist FREE!)
• Eliminate the nasty light fixture and do something like this but the center fixture will be a semi flush mount. 
• Change out the light fixture over the eat-in area.
• Refinish kitchen table and chairs – from craigslist.
• Refinish the cabinets in a dark brown.  I haven’t decided whether to sand them down and commit to painting them or trying Rustoleum’s Cabinet Transformations.  I think paint might be slightly less expensive, but Cabinet Tranformations seems a little less labor intensive and is water based.  Oil based paint and my dog makes me nervous!
• Paint the walls a neutral color – probably a creamy white.  I like color and have it in most rooms in my house but the kitchen has been dark for so long I want something bright.
• Find new window coverings – vertical blinds are ugly and a pain!
• Replace the countertops.  I’ll probably price a white Corian, but end up just getting new laminate. 
• Put in a glass tile backspash – I’m hoping to find a mix of red, white, and clear tiles.
• New sink
• Run a gas line to the kitchen, I hope.  It will depend on price because this is not something I’m comfortable DIYing.
• Buy new appliances.  If I can’t do it all at once this is the order they’ll happen.
  • Oven/Microwave
  • Refrigerator
  • Dishwasher – This may be a ways down the line.  This one works great and dishwashers have such a short life span I don’t want to waste a min of one.
• Learn to cook ; )

Top 10 Tuesday – Top Ten Quotes from Books

Each Tuesday The Broke and The Bookish provide a book related Top 10 theme.

I tend to remember things that made me laugh so I think these are more laugh inducing then thought producing.  I started with 22 quotes and narrowed to 13 and I can’t choose any more to delete.  I love all of these – It’s John Green’s fault, no other author got more than 1 quote – I used three from “The Fault in Our Stars”.

1. “If God gave him a second brain it would die of loneliness”- Brenda in One False Move by Harlan Coben
2. “But the plans were on display…”
   “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
   “That’s the display department.”
   “With a flashlight.”
   “Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
   “So had the stairs.”
   “But, look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
   “Yes, yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”
   ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
3. “Is that a bulletproof vest? See, now that’s so insulting. That’s like saying I’m not smart enough to shoot you in the head.” – Eddie DeChooch, Stephanie Plum Series 
4. “I really am happy for Kiley. And for you and every other happily married lady. Except for that I’m not happy for you. I kind of want you all to drop dead.” – Beth in Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.
5. “This Book is dedicated to the rule breakers, the troublemakers, and the revolutionaries.  Sometimes the hand that feeds you needs a good bite.” – Dan Wells dedication in Partials
6. “Your brain, Peekay, has two functions; it is a place for original thought, but also it is a reference library. Use it to tell you where to look, and then you will have for yourself all the brains that have ever been” –  Doc in The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
7. “We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.” –   Veronica Roth, Divergent
8. “Emma, I’m sorry, I can’t help you. This is a disaster. You’re completely vulnerable. It’s like going into battle in a nightie.” ― Sophie Kinsella, Can You Keep a Secret?
9. “Don’t be jealous of anyone. I guarantee you, if everyone walked into a room, and dumped their problems onto the floor, when they saw what everyone else’s problems were, they’d be scrambling to get their own problems back before someone else got to them first.” ― Kim Gruenenfelder, A Total Waste of Makeup
10. “I’ve had many enemies over the years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s never engage in a fight you’re sure to lose. On the other hand, never let anyone who has insulted you get away with it. Bide your time and strike back when you’re in a position of strength—even if you no longer need to strike back.” ― Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
11. “We are literally in the heart of Jesus,” he said. “I thought we were in a church basement, but we are literaly in the heart of Jesus.”
    “Someone should tell Jesus,” I said. “I mean, it’s gotta be dangerous, storing children with cancer in your heart.”
    “I would tell Him myself,” Augustus said, “but unfortunately I am literally stuck inside of His heart, so He won’t be able to hear me.”
    ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
12. “To be fair to Monica,” I said, “what you did to her wasn’t very nice either.”
    “What’d I do to her?” he asked, defensive.
    “You know, going blind and everything.”
    “But that’s not my fault,” Isaac said.
    “I’m not saying it was your fault. I’m saying it wasn’t nice.”
    ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
13. “My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because-like all real love stories-it will die with us, as it should. I’d hoped that he’d be eulogizing me, because there’s no one I’d rather have…I can’t talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a Bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”
    ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Partials by Dan Wells

Partials
Dan Wells
2012, 468 pgs
Library

Book Summary from Goodreads

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.

My Summary

“This book is dedicated to the rule breakers, the troublemakers, and the revolutionaries.  Sometimes the hand that feeds you needs a good bite.”

This dedication at the beginning of the book put me in the perfect mindset to read Partials.  I almost want to get it tattooed somewhere.

Kira’s goal isn’t to be a troublemaker.  She just wants to make things better.  And sometimes to make things better you have to fight what’s established.

Due to the desperation at the time – since no baby has been born immune to the virus in over a decade – the Senate that presides over their small community has issued the Hope Act which requires all women originally over the age of 21 (but it keeps getting lowered until it is 16) to get pregnant as quickly and as often as possible to try to produce a baby that is immune.  Kira as a medic sees the damage of this daily in the young mothers’ heartbreak over continually losing their children.  When her best friend gets pregnant Kira becomes determined to find a cure for RM even if it means risking her own life and betraying the current government.

The world building is Partials is great – giving you all the information you NEED, while still leaving questions to be answered later.  I was tense most of the book due to all the compounding forces that could cause something to go wrong – The Senate, the Voice, Partials.  Essentially they are living in a powder keg.

I enjoyed the politics of the book.  Maybe enjoyed is the wrong word, but you can see how so much is relate-able to things we see today just in a more extreme form and it makes you ask questions.

Partials story depends on a fair amount of science, but I’m not a huge science person and could generally follow along with Kira’s research discoveries.

Kira is an excellent heroine.  My biggest complaint about her is that she’s too likeable – You heard me – too likeable.  I was trying to avoid comparing to other YA Dystopian, but I’m going to fail right now.  One of my favorite things about Katniss in the Hunger Games is that she isn’t always likeable.  Sometimes she’s downright irritating.  She’s not perfect, but you cheer for her anyway.  Kira felt a little too perfect at times.

I didn’t like Kira’s boyfriend, Marcus much at the beginning of the book.  He’s a great guy, don’t get me wrong, but overly protective and a bit stifling.  He improved in my mind over the course of the book, but I’m fairly certain that I am going to be Team…

SAMM!  Samm is the Partial that Kira comes into contact with.  Nothing romantic happens in this book – I’m just assuming it will in book two, because, Hey it’s a YA novel.  We don’t know a lot about Samm yet at the end of Partials because he doesn’t talk much, he lets his actions speak for him, but based on his actions he’s strong, loyal, and cares about Kira.  He’s protective but doesn’t try to stop her from doing what she thinks is right.

I don’t have any distance on this one yet – I finished it a few hours ago – and sometimes I’ll notice holes in the story after the fact, but I don’t think that’s going to happen with Partials.  It’s up there with The Hunger Games and Divergent as my favorite Dystopian.  Definitely going to have to purchase for re-reading!

9 out of 10 stars

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath
Brodi Ashton
2012, 370 pgs
Library

Book Summary from Goodreads

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld… this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she’s forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s…

My Summary

The book starts with Nikki already in the Everneath and as the story goes on there are flashbacks that unravel how Nikki ended up there.  I was immediately immersed in this story wanted to know how and why, and felt like I didn’t come up for air until I was done reading.

I like both Nikki’s – the typical teenage girl who loves her boyfriend, but never feels completely secure (even though he’s awesome) and the one who returns from the Everneath and wants to do as much as she can in six months to make amends to those who her absence has hurt.  Yes, the requisite teen angst exists, but without any accompanying whining.

Ah the boyfriend, Jack.  That perfect teen boyfriend who is equally friend.   You find out fairly early that Nikki voluntarily went to the Underworld with Cole because of something to do with Jack.  And the writer perfectly balances understanding why Nikki didn’t trust him, I don’t think the reader ever thinks it was anything other than a misunderstanding.  Jack is supportive, forgiving, and heroic.

The last main character is Cole the “bad boy” who took Nikki to the Everneath and fed on her for thousands of years (while only 6 months passed in her normal life).  I didn’t hate Cole and I’m extremely interested to get more of his story in the sequels because he’s very mysterious at this point.  He does seem to care for Nikki just not in a way that’s healthy.

The truly amazing thing about this book is that the love triangle didn’t bother me at all. I’m so sick of them in general that some good books lose stars just for having one.  I think it’s because this book is a retelling of Hades and Persephone / Orpheus and Eurydice – the triangle is so ancient that it had to be there.  Plus, it doesn’t really feel like a true triangle, Nikki feels physically drawn to Cole because she was literally attached to him for a thousand years – emotionally she wants Jack.

Overall excellent book – I was highly anticipating this one and it didn’t disappoint!

8 out of 10 stars