Book Club: Princess in Pink

The Princess Diaries Book Club is an ongoing collaboration with my friend Cilla and her blog, Paved with Books. We decided that we would reread this series, at our own pace, and always come back to our blogs and each other to discuss the story and how we feel about it now. If you are interested in joining us, please do!

Title: The Princess Diaries (The Princess Diaries #5) 

Author: Meg Cabot

Rating: ★★

Provided Synopsis: Princess Mia is dreaming about the prom – and contending with a hotel workers’ strike – in the fifth, supremely hilarious episode of Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries. This time, Mia’s in the pink about the upcoming Albert Einstein H.S. prom, and she’s crossing her fingers that Michael will ask her to go. (They’re in love, so why wouldn’t he ask her, right?) But during Seven Minutes in Heaven at her b-day party, Mia learns that Michael is not the prom-going type. Good grief, what’s a princess to do?

To make matters worse, Grandmere has gotten a busboy fired due to a mishap with her pooch, Rommel, at a swanky restaurant, so when all of the city’s busboys go on strike, it causes a chain of events that result in Grandmere crashing at Mia’s mom’s place, her pal Lilly Moscovitz picking up a picket sign, and the prom being brought to a screeching halt.

Thankfully, staunch yet boy-wise Grandmere has a plan to change Michael’s mind and put everything back on track, making Mia the happiest “prom princess” on this side of the Atlantic – and readers more starry-eyed than Molly Ringwald in her prettiest pink frock.

Review: Time to admit something: if it were not for audiobooks, it is very likely that I would have to give-up on the Princess Diaries book club. As much as I loved these books when I was in my pre-teens and early teens, there is very little I can relate to with Mia in my current age. While I go through these stories I find myself frustrated with the immaturity of her problems and lack of communication skills.

Mia, if you want to go to the prom, then tell your boyfriend you want to go to the prom. He cannot read your mind, not matter how many times you refer to him as a genius. And please stop using the word “self-actualization,” because going to the prom is not going to help you reach your full potential.

Pros of this book:
1. The escape of Boris
2. Mia laying down the law to Lily in regards to how she will proceed with Boris from here on out
3. The baby’s name – it made me smile

Cons of this book:
1. Lily – her treatment towards her boyfriend and friend is awful
2. Mia’s obsession and research of autism — it made me cringe
3. The repetition of the words prom and self-actualization
4. The lack of communication on behalf of Mia
5. The way Mia’s father’s contract is apparently going to be reneged upon

I am going to continue on, because I figure that Mia has to grow up eventually, and I really want to be there when that happens. Have any of you read Princess in Pink years later? How are you faring with the jarring immaturity of the protagonist if you are much older than she is? Is there any hope that the next book is going to be better?

Monthly Recap: January 2016

January sure did seem to fly by, did it not? I hope you all had a great month. Here comes the list of the books I read; if there is a link that means I wrote a full-length review that you will be directed to.

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman — 5 out of 5 stars

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatrice Williams — 3 out of 5 stars

I Kissed An Earl by Julie Anne Long — 4 out of 5 stars.
A perfect mixture of adventure and romance. When Violet Redmond uses her powers of deduction, there is only one thing apparent: that her brother is the sought-after pirate Le Chat, and that she must do whatever it takes to bring him home and escape the noose. Thus, she wheedles her way onto the ship of the earl tasked by the king to capture Le Chat, and embarks on an adventure. This story really did have it all in terms of pirates, life upon a ship, and action. I am always in search of historical romances that do more than linger around a house party or a ballroom, and this one delivered.
The romance between Violet and Captain Flint was also good. Both engaged in a sensual game of chess with the other, pulling the tension to delicious heights. All in all, this was a good story about the lengths a person will travel for the love of another, and the ability of that love to bring out the hidden qualities within.

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin — 4 out of 5 stars

Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato — 4 out of 5 stars

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling — 2 out of 5 stars

Demelza by Winston Graham — 4 out of 5 stars
What is it about this series that is so compelling? The characters, with all of their flaws trying to exist within the same community. Even further, the in-depth look into a mining community filled with hardships as befitting the time interest me. This is great historical fiction, and while I did like Ross Poldark a little bit more there are plenty of good things about Demelza. (I listened to the audiobook)

Top Ten Tuesday #8: Top Ten Historical Settings You Love or You’d Love To See

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about historical settings I love, and I also decided to incorporate historical settings that I would love to see. It should be known that I am a massive fan of the historical fiction genre; this topic is perfect for me.

1. Ancient Greece — I have a minor in Classics. I became a Classics minor because of my love for mythology and the civilizations of the ancient worlds of our past. Nothing makes me happier than finding a story set within the ancient world of Greece. Bonus points are also given if the Gods and Goddesses are included.
2. Ancient Rome — Because of the reasons mentioned above. There is so much to work with if you take the time to look into the history of the Roman Republic, or even the Empire! Give me some stories about Caesar, Augustus, Nero, etc. The Empire expanded so far that the opportunities are limitless.
3. Ancient Egypt — For the same reasons as mentioned above. And also because I so rarely find books set in ancient Egypt during the time of pharaohs. I think the YA genre in particular could benefit from this setting since many of the kings and queens began their rule at young ages…
4. Tudor/Elizabethan England — Simply because this setting never manages to get old.
5. Regency England — I really love romance books set in this time period. Maybe it has something to do with how strict the rules were, making every glance, word, or touched exchanged infinitely important.
6. Atlantis — The Lost City!! Come on! Why are there no book on the market about this? It could be about the days leading up to the disaster; it could be about a team going underwater to find the city, and discovering an alternate dimension that sucks them back in time a la Outlander; it could be anything.
7. Mesopotamia — Sand as far as the eye can see. The jinn. The caravans. I am ridiculously in love with books set an a desert landscape.
8. Africa — Let me be honest: I come across a lot of stories set in Africa, but they always seem to be told from the same demographic’s point of view. How about we have some more stories set in Africa about Africans?
9. The Wild West — I have only recently begun to search for books set in the Wild West of the Americas due to how much I enjoyed Vengeance Road. I am also going to include within this category a desire to see more books set on the Oregon Trail.
10. The Yukon — While we are on the subject of trails, let us move into the topic of the gold rush during the 1980s in the Klondike. The journey there was dangerous, and if you did manage to reach your destination, the hardships did not let up. I think some good stories could be told here.

What do you think of my list? What are your top historical settings? I’d love to hear from you!

Review: Why Not Me?

Title: Why Not Me?

Author: Mindy Kaling

Rating: ★★

Provided Synopsis: In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it’s falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you’re constantly reminded that no one looks like you.

Review: Why not me, indeed. Or more like why am I the only one I know not connecting to this book?

I decided to read this on a lark, not knowing anything about Mindy besides who she is (as a celebrity), but being interested in one day watching her show. But maybe a memoir works better if you have some familiarity with the author?

As it stands, this book just was. The essays went from one to another. I wondered where the continuity was, along with questioning if this book had a concrete theme. Some moments are definitely funny. The essay I enjoyed the most was her telling of a failed love affair with one of Obama’s secret service agents; that is a fantasy I did not even know I had until I read it. Everything else in this book seemed to ramble on and I’m unsure I’ll remember any of her anecdotes a month from now.

Review: Beatrice and Benedick

Title: Beatrice and Benedick

Author: Marina Fiorato

Rating:  ★★★★

Provided Synopsis: When nineteen-year-old Beatrice is brought to live at her uncle’s court in Sicily to be a companion to his daughter, she first meets Benedick, a young soldier who is there with a Spanish lord on a month-long sojourn. As they begin to wage their war of wit, their words mask their deep love for one another. But the pair are cruelly parted by misunderstanding and slander. Heartbroken, Benedick sails to England on the ill-fated Spanish Armada. Beatrice returns to her home in the North and an unwanted betrothal. While Benedick must fight for his life on board ship, Beatrice fights for her freedom from an arranged marriage.

From the point of view of Beatrice and Benedick we hear the lovers tell their own story, taking us from the sunlit southern courts of Sicily, to the crippled Armada on the frozen northern seas, to the gorgeous Renaissance cities of the north.

Review: With no disrespect meant to Claudio and Hero, when most people think of the play Much Ado About Nothing they think about the lovers Beatrice and Benedick. Through their quips to one another it can easily be read that there is a history to these two, and Marina Fiorato uses her imagination to describe just what that story might be. Do not think of this as only a retelling, however, for this incredibly well written book also features significant moments in 16th Century history while simultaneously weaving in the story of the bard, Shakespeare.

Beatrice and Benedick meet for the first time at the Sicilian home of her cousin, Hero, for a month’s celebration of the Ascension. Drawn together and torn apart by each other’s tongues, the two go on to engage in a game ever searching for the truth of feelings while also struggling over who is to be the victor. I had not read the play in a long time, but I was able to easily imagine this as how things could have been between these characters, particularly because I think Fiorato was able to get the characterizations correct. I felt for both of them; and when a misunderstanding forced them apart, I was convinced my interest in the book would wane. After all, I wanted to read about these two — together.

But Fiorato goes on to do an interesting thing: she shifts Benedick to Spain, where he becomes swept up in the Spanish Armada. I have not read much about the Armada, and found myself riveted with the details of the preparations, the hubris, and the destruction. Beatrice, meanwhile, must return home to Verona, where she continues to grow as a woman who sees herself in her own right. Here, another play of Shakespeare comes into play as well, which really goes on to make the reader think of how all of these stories could be connected if the theory used by the author is correct. Like I said before, do not only think of this as a retelling because there is some rich history and theory presented here.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this story, especially if you are a fan of historical fiction, or an admirer of the bard’s plays. I had not read Much Ado in some time, and that did not negatively affect my experience with this if that is a concern to you. The references to the play are, of course, present, though this book works just as well as a story of love.

Review: Wolf By Wolf

Title: Wolf By Wolf (Wolf By Wolf #1) 

Author: Ryan Graudin

Rating: ★★★★

Provided Synopsis: The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule the world. To commemorate their Great Victory over Britain and Russia, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s ball.

Yael, who escaped from a death camp, has one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin’s brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

Review: Premise, premise, premise: say it with me now, because this one was golden. In Wolf By Wolf, Ryan Graudin asks her readers to imagine a world in which Hitler and the Axis Powers win the war. All of the atrocities of his tyranny continue on, leading a Jewish child into a concentration camp where she becomes the subject of experimental trials to purify genetics. After all that had been done to her, this girl grows up and goes on to join with resistance fighters who give her the mission to kill Adolf Hitler.

Now, this is the point where my knowledge of the book stopped and my assumptions began; if you want to go into this story blind like I did then I suggest you stop reading immediately.

Otherwise, I want to talk about my assumptions, which based upon the book’s title had me thinking that the experiments performed on Yael had given her the ability to turn into a wolf. Imagine it, if you will: girl gets the mission to kill Hitler, and she attacks him: as a wolf! This is not what came to pass, but how wonderful could that have been?

I digress, however, that Yael’s experimentation gives her the ability to skinshift, and she uses this talent (for lack of a better word) to masquerade as an Aryan girl who has been within close proximity to Hilter before. In order for Yael to be close enough to complete her mission, she will have to take Adele Wolfe’s place on the Axis Tour, which is a motorcycle race from Germany to Japan taken by the strongest teenagers in both superpowers. The book becomes a high-action-paced story with betrayals, and lies, and strength, and the will to do whatever it takes to survive. Even more interesting is the underlying struggle of Yael as she must pretend to be another while coming to terms with the loss of her own identity so many years ago because of what was done to her people and so many others.

I would recommend this book for the premise alone; it really is unlike anything I have come across in YA fiction before, and it did deliver in terms of interest. All the other factors that come with the premise are also strong, particularly the ending with the way it concludes this chapter of the story (yes, this is a series) while setting-up another interesting story to come.

Top Ten Tuesday #7: Top Ten Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s topic is kind of perfect for me, mainly because it was not too long ago that I was blog hopping and came across many books that I want to read. I don’t know about you, but I always retreat to my blog or my Goodreads page when I am out shopping for books. There is something about lists that I love. So here we are: Top Ten Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR.

1. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi — Look at that cover. Now go look up the synopsis about a cursed horoscope promising a marriage of Death and Destruction. This one sounds like it is going to be incredible, and I am very much looking forward to the diversity this book will bring as it is inspired by Indian mythology.
2. Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare — Another story in the Spindle Cove series! I didn’t even find out about this one until I was wandering aimlessly around Goodreads. Very much looking forward to this one because Dare is one of my favorite romance authors.
3. Traitor Angels by Anne Blankman — A new story from the author of Prisoner of Night and Fog focusing upon Milton’s Paradise Lost.
4. The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye — A story set in Fantasy Russia? I’m here for it.
5. My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem — Like many of you, I have also joined Emma Watson’s feminist book club, and this book is her first choice. My library’s  hold list for this one is unfortunately pretty long, so I guess I’m going to be reading it after everyone else…
6. 6. Living Color by Jodi Picoult — Her upcoming book about racism. I hope she does this well.
7. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton — I really like books set in the desert. I think the setting is magical and always becomes a character of its own within its story. This book has been reveiving a lot of praise on Twitter, making me add it to my list as a must read.
8. Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor — Time-traveling YA historical fiction to the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The email I received about this book from Netgalley said it was perfect for fans of Outlander, so…
9. Red Rising by Pierce Brown — The final story in the trilogy is being released this year; I now feel ready to read this one since I have heard so many wonderful things about it but was wary about having to wait for another series to complete.

What books have you recently added to your TBR?

Review: Along the Infinite Sea

Title: Along the Infinite Sea

Author: Beatriz Williams

Rating: ★★★

Provided Synopsis: Each of the three Schuyler sisters has her own world-class problems, but in the autumn of 1966, Pepper Schuyler’s problems are in a class of their own. When Pepper fixes up a beautiful and rare vintage Mercedes and sells it at auction, she thinks she’s finally found a way to take care of herself and the baby she carries, the result of an affair with a married, legendary politician.

But the car’s new owner turns out to have secrets of her own, and as the glamorous and mysterious Annabelle Dommerich takes pregnant Pepper under her wing, the startling provenance of this car comes to light: a Nazi husband, a Jewish lover, a flight from Europe, and a love so profound it transcends decades. As the many threads of Annabelle’s life from World War II stretch out to entangle Pepper in 1960s America, and the father of her unborn baby tracks her down to a remote town in coastal Georgia, the two women must come together to face down the shadows of their complicated pasts.

Review: After successive novels by Beatriz Williams that did not appeal to my tastes, I was wary and hopeful at the same time. The former because I did not want to be disappointed and not finish another of her stories; hopeful because I find Pepper to be the least nauseating of the Schuyler sisters and because the cover was gorgeous. The synopsis also appealed to my interest in historical fiction, as Pepper becomes acquainted with a woman who buys Pepper’s car due to the role it played in her escape from Germany in the year 1938.

Along the Infinite Sea follows the life of Annabelle, beginning as she meets a man named Stefan along the coast of France and falls in love with him. Circumstances of their own making and of outside forces go on to bring them together and pull them apart during this three-year time span, and the answers revealed at the end of Annabelle’s story color the action of the narration being told from Pepper’s perspective in 1966.

Unlike the model she used in the books I did not like, Williams focused this story nearly entirely on the love affair of the past. And that is why I enjoyed this book — the lives of those from the past have always been the most interesting for me to read about in Williams’ novels. Rather than drownAlong the Infinite Sea with too much drama in Pepper’s life, or a rapidly moving insta-love trope, she delved more into the historical fiction to share a story that held my interest. If you, like me, have had issues with this author’s books in the past because of the issues mentioned, then I can see this one holding more appeal with you.

Review: Vengeance Road

Title: Vengeance Road

Author: Erin Bowman

Rating: ★★★★★

Provided Synopsis: When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers—and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of allies, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.

Review: Life changes forever when Kate Thompson returns home to find her house burning and her father hanged. Along the road, she can see the dust as those responsible flee on horseback, spurring her to seek revenge, and to seek answers about why her father was killed and by whom. Thus an adventure is set, moving across the Wild West of Arizona, entangling Kate with two brothers on her trail, and a quest for gold that can leave them all dead.

And I loved every minute of this one.

First of all, it is refreshing to come across a story in the YA genre that is something other than contemporary or fantasy. Vengeance Road did not shy away from the staples of a good Western story, containing action, saloons, gangs, stagecoaches, shoot-outs and rugged terrain. Violence and the consequences of actions spurred by greed or single-mindedness are never shied away from. The author did a fantastic job to place her readers within the setting; Kate speaks with a dialect straight from a Western, and every location was clearly painted, especially once the Superstition Mountains are reached. In addition, I thought the main characters were real. I understood Kate’s need to seek justice and answers; she never came off as a character putting on airs to suit the story that needed to be told. Even when she discovers romance with another character it felt true and never distracted from her goal and the story.

I come away from this one with an entirely new appreciation for Westerns, while hoping that I will encounter more excellently plotted ones in the future. Take a chance on this one, even if Westerns are not your usual style, because I do believe the other elements of the story will please every reader.

A Note of Reflection + Top Ten Books of 2015

It has become the custom around here for me to reflect on the year we are about to leave behind, and then name my Top Ten Books of the Year. So here we are, another year at cammminbookland completed, and me another year wiser.

I think that what I want to reflect upon in this year’s post is change and the journey. As I have said before, this year was a busy one for me: I finally obtained a job that I love, but I also kept a hold of my other one. Working two jobs was not only time consuming, it was exhausting; in the end, I was left with less time to read, as well as less energy for writing any sort of review once I finally finished a story. Thus priorities shifted: I began to only write reviews on some books, while jotting down a few thoughts for the rest.

I think that model worked well for me… After all, I still kept the conversation about books alive, which is why I began to blog in the first book. If I am to be honest with myself, however, it still feels as if something is missing. I want more conversation, more interaction with all of you. I looked at some of my old reviews and found that I missed that level of completion as there once was. But will I ever find that again? It was once so easy for me to tap into my review-writing mode and now it is much more difficult.

But I will try, and I thank all of you for sticking with me during this time of shifting priorities. If anything, a blog is a journey, and looking through mine I can so clearly see the rise and fall. Think of this as that lull in the story before the action picks up again. It will take some time to rediscover the groove of things. Still, my hope is to return better than ever before. Please continue to talk books with me. I love talking about them with you.

Now, without further delay, my Top Ten Books of 2015 (in no particular order):
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
2. Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
3. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom
4. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin
5. The Martian by Andy Weir
6. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
7. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
8. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
9. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
10. When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare