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Feb 01 2014

February BOTM

Author: Bibliowhore • Discussion: No Comments

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“Repressive societies always seemed to understand the danger of ‘wrong’ ideas.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Kindred

In honor of Black History month my February pick is Kindred by Octavia Butler. It is an amazing book that I read many years ago. It is powerful in its message and likely one of the most profound books I’ve read to date. I believe everyone can benefit from reading a book like this. 

February Book of the Month Synopsis 

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

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About Octavia Butler 

Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant.  
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Nov 01 2013

November BOTM

Author: Bibliowhore • Discussion: No Comments

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November Book of the Month Synopsis 

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view .. until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Tomboy Scout Finch comes of age in a small Alabama town during a crisis in 1935. She admires her father Atticus, how he deals with issues of racism, injustice, intolerance and bigotry, his courage and his love. 

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South ― and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred. 

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior – to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

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Oct 05 2013

Surrender to Fate Blog Tour

Author: Bibliowhore • Discussion: No Comments

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Synopsis

Some say fate holds the cards. But what if love deals the hand? No love goes untested. Ever. Indeed, true love is left to prove itself. And that is exactly where fate steps in to play the game.

For William and Sarah, that game begins with growing up, in the unspoiled mountains of Colorado. In a time and space as clear as the Rocky Mountain skies above, these young souls together learn about life, what matters most, what endures, what doesn’t, and about love. Innocent young love moves ever so surely toward lives they both can picture, lives spent loving each other in a place they know so well and cherish.

Will and Sarah are ecstatically swept away in the swells of new love. And it is in their rarefied bliss that they make the fragile promise of first love, a promise that fate will soon rock and pound into doubt, guilt, and epiphany.

Unexpected and unprepared, these young lovers are suddenly torn apart, first by distance, and then by the far greater pressures of temptation that test the very fidelity of their heart-held promise. No longer able to console each other, hold each other, touch each other, they face the inevitable decision: move on to other loves, or cling to the faith that they will someday be together, again.
Will and Sarah stare down an unknown path, sensing destiny will not wait long before it comes to take them. Wracked with doubt, they wonder if their love was real. Caged by guilt, they both feel tempted by others intent on stealing their hearts.

Fate plays hardest when love is tested. And Will and Sarah are no exception, letting go of their happy past to embrace hope for an uncharted future. Love plays hardest when fate tests. And so it is, even through their trials of the heart, Will and Sarah never really stop loving each other. Theirs is a love so real and pure that each just wants the other to find happiness, even if it’s with another.

But fate does not surrender so easily. Dealing blow upon blow, both Will and Sarah are each struck by jolting events that take them to the very edge of life, itself.

Sarah and Will hold tightly to their past, but steadfast promises begin to wane. Life continues, filled with romance, drama, and two souls yearning to understand the challenges brought with coming of age, and learning that fate is ultimately in control. What happens to love when life is on the line? Can they both relinquish control when love is on the line? Will fate even allow them to find out?

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My Review: 

Surrender to Fate drew me in from the beginning. I kept getting caught up with things in my life while reading this, but every time I tried to put it aside, I would find an excuse to finish another chapter and then another lol. The book isn’t my typical read, but I adored it. I am not usually one for books that take place in this particular time period, but this book drew me in and I could not put it down. The romance between Will and Sarah is sweet and beautiful, but you know something will inevitably draw them apart. Even though I knew it was coming I was incredibly sad when that moment took place, but when Sarah’s new love interest enters the picture I can’t help but like him. I completely hate Will’s love interest and want her to fall off of a cliff. She is conniving and manipulative from the very beginning.

I really was surprised at how much I loved this book…like I said it is not my preferred time period, but this book is incredibly special. The author paints a vivid picture and somehow makes the readers emotions mirror that of the characters. I shared their confusion, their pain, their anger, their joy, their sorrows but most of all their love. I felt every emotion, that is something that is often difficult for an author to accomplish with me as the reader. Jacelyn Rye does a phenomenal job engaging the reader.

Will finding a way back to one another prove impossible? Sarah’s love interest has grown on me…I don’t actually want him to fall off of a cliff lol. I felt like the question I asked myself throughout this book was…is it possible to love two people simultaneously? A big part of me hopes Will and Sarah do keep their promise, that “Me Ware Wo” means more than just words, but so much happens throughout the course of this book that all you can do it question if they’ll actually find a way.

This book made me question so many things, but it is a true example of a coming of age story. Watching these two grow and the decisions they make when faced with a separation like this must be difficult for two young people in love, but is a promise of love enough to keep two people together? Does distance make it easier to forget someone and move on or are you forever etched in their heart. The book took many surprising turns, but I can’t say it is wholly unexpected. I definitely got emotional a few times throughout the book and you will likely share in that reaction. I’m still not sure how I feel about how everything has played out so far, but I think I definitely need book two…and soon…to satiate my curiosity.

I don’t want to give away too much, but expect a cliffhanger…you’ll definitely want to grab the next book in the series to see what happens next! I’d rate this book a solid 4-4.5 stars!

Buy Surrender to Fate:

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oct 5thand 6th

 

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About the Author

Jacelyn spent her childhood growing up in the mountains of Colorado. After graduating from college, she moved to Southern California, where she still resides with her husband and two young sons.

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Aug 11 2013

The Kitchen House Book Review

Author: Bibliowhore • Discussion: No Comments

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Synopsis

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

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My Thoughts

I read this book a few months ago and I loved it. It is  a truly timeless masterpiece. The stories of Belle and Lavinia are reminiscent of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Deeply moving and intense.

This was an extremely powerful book. If you’re looking for historical accuracy reign in those claws, this is a novel, and while there are many accurate details concerning slavery and indentured servitude, don’t over analyze this book. I read a few reviews that bashed the book based on its so called historical accuracy. Let’s remember, this is a work of fiction, not a history book. With that said, it is an excellent work of fiction, especially for a debut novel.

The Kitchen House does a magnificent job of exploring families and what family truly means. The story is told from both Belle, a slave, and Lavinia, an Irish indentured servant’s POV. Belle becomes “the mother figure” to Lavinia after she is brought to the plantation. It is mostly told through the naive eyes of Lavinia who doesn’t even realize who she is. She doesn’t fully comprehend slavery nor her position in this society. In fact, she doesn’t recall many moments of her youth prior to her arrival on the plantation.  With her arrival they become an unconventional family. The slaves bring Lavinia into their fold and nurture and love her as their own but Belle keeps her at an arms length still hesitant to love and care for her.

Belle, the beloved but illegitimate daughter of the Captain (The Slave Master/Plantation Owner), is in charge of the Kitchen House. The relationship between Belle and the Captain, which unbeknownst to his own wife is one of a father and daughter, but gives her cause to speculate an affair. Her father loves her fiercely and it is obvious in all his actions but his lack of communication with his wife and family regarding his close relationship with Belle is a secret that causes a domino effect for years to come.

And yes, this book does have a few romantic trysts but the story is also laced with some pretty heavy situations that may make your stomach turn.

I would’ve loved to read this book from a few different character perspectives but Belle and Lavinia were an integral part of this family and their stories were meant to be told. This is a great read. I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction or cultural pieces. I rated this book 4/5 stars.

Purchase The Kitchen House for Kindle  |  Paperback
Author Links
Website  |  Goodreads  |  Facebook (The Kitchen House Fan Page)
 
Jul 08 2013

Girl in Translation Book Review

Author: Bibliowhore • Discussion: No Comments

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Synopsis
Introducing a fresh, exciting Chinese-American voice, an inspiring debut about an immigrant girl forced to choose between two worlds and two futures.
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worker in the evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family’s future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition. Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles.
Through Kimberly’s story, author Jean Kwok, who also emigrated from Hong Kong as a young girl, brings to the page the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to succeed in America, their duty to their family, and their own personal desires, exposing a world that we rarely hear about. 
Written in an indelible voice that dramatizes the tensions of an immigrant girl growing up between two cultures, surrounded by a language and world only half understood, Girl in Translation is an unforgettable and classic novel of an American immigrant-a moving tale of hardship and triumph, heartbreak and love, and all that gets lost in translation.
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Review
I read this book a couple of months ago and I really loved it but then I was left in a state of distress. An ending to a fantastic novel that fails to meet my expectations usually ruins an entire book for me, but this book was so well written and moving that I still can’t help but rate it high on my list. While I was disappointed with the ending the book deserves notable mention as a good read. I just felt a little warning was needed especially to those who are easily disappointed by less than stellar endings.

 

The story documents the life and times of a Chinese immigrant girl Kimberly Chang and her mother who are thrust into a new life in America, namely New York City. Their lives are rough from the start. I rooted for their success throughout the book, but how far would you go to escape poverty? How much would you be willing to sacrifice?
Kimberly was an extremely selfless person who considered the future of not only herself but those who would be affected by her choices. She grew up quickly and became the one her mother depended on due to the language barrier. This explores her struggles, her accomplishments, her decisions and the outcome. Her selflessness was noble but at what cost?

 

This book is a quick read and really explores the difficulties the protagonist Kimberly and her mother face adjusting to a new culture and country. I was all in, until the last few pages and not because there wasn’t a happy ending or it wasn’t necessarily a love story but it really was anticlimactic. I was disappointed, to say the least, but I really thought over how affected I was by the story as a whole and in retrospect, it was well written.

 

Jean Kwok paints a vivid picture of life as an Asian American immigrant. She adequately describes the struggles many immigrants face entering a new country and essentially a new way of life. It shows not only the American experience but the struggle to achieve the American dream. This book is definitely worth a read but I’m giving you fair warning you may or may not love the ending. I’d love to know your thoughts on this book so comment, email, tweet, facebook, smoke signal, whatever  ℓσℓ

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