The Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Etta remembered being pushed through a barrier of loud buzzing noise at a New York museum, but she woke on a rocking ship in the middle of the ocean.

Henrietta (Etta) Spencer is a 17-year-old girl from New York in present time. She is forced into traveling back in time to 1776, a talent/trait she was unaware she possessed. Etta wakes up to find herself a Passenger on a ship. She soon after is forced to travel to varying times and places in search of an important artifact that has been lost for many years. The artifact was hidden so well that important factions of time travelers are all battling each other to find it first. Etta, unskilled and untrained, has to find in order to save the life of her mother and be able to return to her own time.

She finds an ally in Nicholas Carter, the captain of the ship she first lands on. While Nicholas is liked and respected by his crew, he is widely disrespected by all of society in 1776 because of his mixed race. This adds an interesting layer to the story. Etta is not bothered by his skin color, but Nicholas is naturally conscious of it throughout their travels in time. She comes from a time period that isn’t perfect but is far more accepting of interracial couples. Nicholas can’t quite fathom that such a thing is possible in any time or place.

Nicholas and Etta naturally grow close and develop feelings for each other. Together they face several instances where other time travelers and time guardians are trying to capture and/or kill them. At one point they find themselves stuck in Paris during WWII. Needless to say there is plenty of adventure in this story. What’s the catch then? Etta wants to destroy the artifact, but Nicholas doesn’t. He has a secret of his own. He has an alternative reason for helping Etta track it down through time and places. Their relationship will be tested when they both are forced to reveal their secrets. Even if they could move forward past betrayal on both sides, which one of them will sacrifice their whole existence for the other?

Kudos to Alexandra Bracken!

It was refreshing to see the complexities of an interracial couple. It is not often enough that I see these relationships portrayed in books, movies, commercials, etc. This isn’t important to everyone, but being half of an interracial couple, it is important to me.

Side note: Her amazing “Darkest Minds” series is currently filming a movie adaption.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy. Must. Die.

Excuse me? Why? Well because in this story of OZ she is not sweet and kind. Dorothy made it back to OZ a second time and became a power-hungry princess who is a mean and scary dictator. Her ruby slippers are instead magical ruby spiked heels. The winged monkeys are not evil but they are enslaved by her to fly her magical carriage. She has loyal followers who enjoy evil the way that she does, there are followers who pretend to like her out of fear of punishment, and then of course there is a resistance.

I thought it would be difficult to get into Dorothy Must Die. I’ve seen the movie many times, and Dorothy and her friends are sugary sweet and like-able. Dorothy even has a face that just can’t appear evil to me. It is a testament to the skill of Danielle Paige that she could sway me to the resistance against Dorothy and friends. The tin-man has knives for fingers, the lion feasts on fear, and the scarecrow experiments on people!

Amy Gumm is a “normal” (how do we define normal?) girl who gets swept up in a tornado and lands in Oz. She recalls the story of Dorothy that we all know so she has a hard time reconciling that with what she hears from people living in OZ under her rule. “Glinda the Good” is a loyal follower of Dorothy. Glinda has enslaved munchkins to drill out magic from OZ for Dorothy’s use. Meanwhile, her Wicked twin Glamora is part of the resistance. Wicked witches like Glamora are banded together to stop Dorothy. Something that Amy is told by everyone she meets is that she should trust no one. What Amy is certain of is that Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good, and she is magically bound to the Wicked resistance and MUST kill Dorothy. Can she actually do it?

I’m hooked on this series. Thankfully I discovered this one late and all of the books have been released already.

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

“Knowledge is all. The Library’s motto … it meant that nothing – nothing – was more valuable. Not even lives”

My love for books came a little late in life. At the time, I was a reader of physical books in hand. Since then I have only kept my favorites in print and have adopted various editions of kindle readers. Sure, I love the feel and smell of a book, but I love the convenience of an e-reader more.

Illustration of the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt.

Whether or not you agree with me, Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine will transport you to a world where it is illegal to own real books. Imagine that you’re only allowed to own “blanks” which will provide you with the information and stories approved to be read by “The Great Library” of Alexandria (google for a history lesson). If you are caught in possession of an original work, it is confiscated and you are prosecuted. The wealth of information and knowledge is protected and distributed by The Great Library.

This control of information creates a huge black market for books. This is how we meet our main character Jess, known as a “cutter”, which is a runner of books. People pay high prices to obtain original works, and Jess is one of many kids who must run across the city with the books in hiding and avoid capture. Capture can lead to immediate death for the cutter and all of their connections. Following an unfortunate occurrence where Jess witnesses the destruction of an original book that he treasured, Jess no longer has the grit for being a cutter. He’s offered a reprieve by his unforgiving father but doesn’t realize until years later that it was all just clever scheming by his father for the use of Jess as a spy.

The power of The Great Library is maintained by its scholars, obscurists, and High Garda (library army). In Ink and Bone we see how little regard the elder scholars hold for human life. Nothing is more important than knowledge, but said knowledge must be controlled. Innovation is unwelcome. Those who wish to challenge or improve the system are silenced.

While working to become a trusted member of the Library, Jess will face situations where his loyalty will be tested. He faces the chance of death many times. There is heart ache and tragedy in this story but plenty of intrigue and suspense.  I promise, you won’t want to put this book down.

Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

Scorpius left few survivors. One of them is a gorgeous ex-gang member turned army man, turned post-plague leader named Jax Mercury.

Whenever I read a book that is themed with a post-apocalypse or plague setting, I find

myself wondering how well I would do at survival. If I’ve learned anything from all the books I’ve read, it’s that in a crisis like this you first scrounge for weapons and food sources, then start setting up your barricade to keep protected. These guys managed to round up boxes of condoms too.

Jax Mercury is the leader of a group of random survivors in downtown LA following the outbreak of Scorpius. Scorpius wiped out most of the population. Those who survived either evolved into sociopaths or completely mindless people who can be treated like animals to bite others, thus spreading Scorpius. However, if you’re kept up-to-date on treatments of Vitamin B through the recovery process, you can come out ok. Enhanced mentally, but ok.

Lynne Harmony travels on foot into Jax Mercury’s territory. She is at great risk there because of her known status as one of the first survivors of Scorpius. Many people believe she created it, and many more think that she contains a new strand which is even more deadly than the original. Lynne needs help and protection from Jax. Jax allows her to stay in his territory because he hopes she will find a cure, but of course their professional relationship turns into something much more personal very quickly.

Despite how Jax is depicted on the cover of Mercury Striking, I think he looks more like this guy

(Theo James). I tend to envision characters naturally on my own when I read their names rather than how an author describes them to me. When Rebecca Zanetti introduced us to an ex-gang member turned military leader of a surviving community post Scorpius, this gentleman came right to mind. Imagine that.

This book was a great introduction into the battle against Scorpius. We’ve grown attached to certain characters, several of them are harboring secrets and hidden agendas. Naturally these will be revealed in future books. I couldn’t stop “turning” the page of this book (kindle user) because of the suspense. There is more than one enemy coming at Jax and Lynne. The odds are so highly stacked against them. Can Lynne really find a cure? Where is the mysterious bunker that everyone thinks contains Government resources as well as the cure?

Rebecca Zanetti has released the prequel novella, originally only published in another anthology and unbeknownst to me. So excuse me, I need to go devour the novella right now.

Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline

Who is donor 3319?

Christine and her husband Marcus utilize the sperm donation of a man known as donor 3319 after a long struggle with fertility. Christine was already worried about her husband moving past his insecurities surrounding his inability to produce sperm. She fully believes that Marcus will be a great father and is their baby's true father. Imagine Christine's emotions when she sees a serial killer's arrest on TV who looks just like donor 3319. She becomes obsessed with identifying her anonymous donor 3319. Is he the serial killer on TV? Will her child have violent tendencies?

Naturally, this causes a rift between Christine and her husband. The baby is all they've wanted for so many years and now they disagree about what is important and how to proceed. This story brings up the nature vs. nurture debate. One side thinks that violence is learned in their environment while others believe in the "warrior gene" and that people can be predisposed to violence.

What can be done?

Is the sperm bank responsible for not screening a potential sociopath? Lisa Scottoline did some serious research regarding sperm banks for this book. I hope that the actual banks are more careful with screening their donors than the banks in this story. According to Most Wanted, egg donors are more carefully screened than the sperm donors. Imagine that.

It is tough to imagine being placed in this kind of position. I found myself angry at Marcus and thinking he was a total jerk, and then later I was mad at Christine and thought she was acting crazy. I couldn't keep to one side of their marriage. That was part of what kept this story interesting. Of course I was interested in whether or not Zachary (arrested serial killer) was actually donor 3319 but I also was worried about whether their marriage would survive all of these hurdles. Then of course I was embarrassed for Christine as she became a self-made detective/paralegal. I was curious like she was but I couldn't relate to her. I couldn't picture myself behaving the same way in this situation.

All in all, there was just enough suspense to keep you entertained.