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The earth is protected by superheroes - who are really nothing more than vigilantes with some sort of unusual power. But this book isn't the story of one of those superheroes ... not really.  This is the story of one of the many, an innocent bystander who happened to be in the area where a superhero and a supervillain are squaring off. Former Navy SEAL Jon Hayes and his wife Melanie (pregnant with their first child) are witness to a moment when superhero Captain Light is attempting to bring the criminal Jade Shade to justice. A super-powered battle is always going to draw attention and a news helicopter was already in the area to get the best shots. The fight was reaching a fevered pitch, creating a stampede of people trying to get out of the way of the supers. The fight takes to the air and Jade Shade reaches out and grabs the helicopter to hurl it at Captain Light, who knocks it aside. But by knocking it away, it goes hurling into the stampeding crowd below, which has swept up Me

What happens when the ancient gods are no longer worshipped the way they once were? They begin to lose their godly powers and take on some mortal characteristics. For instance, Artemis, the Virgin Goddess of the Hunt, now Selena DiSilva investigates the murder of a woman she discovers on the shore of the Hudson River. The discovery reminds Selena/Artemis of a promise she made a very long time ago to protect the innocent, and the method and brutality of the murder remind her of an ancient cult  who must be stopped. Selena finds herself teaming up with a Classics professor, Theo, who knows the ancient Greek and Roman gods and goddesses ... perhaps better than she who is a goddess. Selena will need to call on some friends who may have to dig deep to pull up their godly powers to help Selena and Theo. Who doesn't like a good novel featuring some of our favorite Greek and Roman gods? Rick Riordan made it cool to put the gods in contemporary stories again, and we've seen plenty of th

Atonement for one's sins comes not by way of a priest's blessings or forgiveness, but by the eating of specific foods. A Sin Eater leads an unusual life - when one is on his or her deathbed, the Sin Eater is summoned so that the dying might confess their sins and the Sin Eater puts together a list of foods so that the Sin Eater (and the family?) might eat away the sins so that the dying person can go to meet the Maker free of the burden of sins. For those who pass on before they can confess their sins, a general meal is prepared. But other than this one moment in a person's life, a Sin Eater is shunned and avoided.  Touching a Sin Eater is bad luck. And except for the Sin Eater's prayer and requesting first a confession and then call for the foods, a Sin Eater does not speak. Fourteen year old May, living in 16th Century England, is arrested for stealing some bread.  She sits in prison for many weeks, having already seen the judge, and she watches others come and receiv

What I know (or knew) about apples: There a many different kinds.  Some I like and some I do not. In this book, author Tom Burford has opened my eyes somewhat to a veritable cornucopia of apple varieties. So many, in fact, that this was almost overwhelming. Almost. Burford gives a great deal of information on nearly 200 varieties of apples (this is not a complete list ... these are the 'exceptional varieties' according to the book's subtitle). This information generally includes a brief history of the variety, other names it might be known as, a description of the exterior of the apple (ie: shape, size, color), a description of the interior of the fruit (such as crispness, sweetness, etc), the productivity of the tree,  the fruit's disease resistance, the ripening season, storage quality, and uses for the variety (desert, baking, cider-making, vinegar making, etc).  I thought it was interesting that only five of the 200 listed mentioned that they were good for 'eati

 A week before Christmas, a wealthy business man, Tom Underwood, disappears into thin air.  The Ontario police assign new recruit, Kala Stonechild - a member of the First Nations reserve, to the case. Her boss is Detective Jacques Rouleau and he has his hands full trying to control her.  Together they discover that there is a large pool of individuals who would want to see Underwood dead. This is one of the oldest books in my ARC-TBR queue and based on the description it sounded like something I really might enjoy. Given my rising interest in mysteries and my continuing interest in indigenous cultures I really felt that this was a book/series I might gravitate toward. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The book opens with a brutal rape and murder scene, so well written that I wasn't sure I wanted to read any further. The rest of the book, however, is quite tame by comparison. But the connection between the characters in the opening scene and the rest of the book is also a myst

In the mid-2010's Daraya, Syria - a small community just outside Damascus - was a focal point of the Syrian Civil War (which is still going on).  Bombs and chemical weapons would rain down on the community daily - as much to wear down the morale of the citizens as it was to kill them. A group of youth, determined to resist the attacking forces, would walk through town after a bombing raid to search for survivors. In addition to the occasional survivor, these youth found books.  Books. And more books. Soon what this band of rebels had was an underground library. The story was brought to the attention of Delphine Minoui, a French-Iranian journalist who managed to make a connection with the youth stocking and protecting and sharing the library. What she found were smart, dedicated people just looking to hang onto their homes, and with nothing to do day in and day out but wait for the bombs and search for survivors, these young people became voracious readers who also looked forward to

Andrea Stern was once a respected FBI profiler, but she gave it up to be a stay-at-home mom to her four children (with a fifth very much on the way). She now lives in the suburbs (West Windsor, New Jersey) with her children and husband (a convicted white-collar criminal). When one of Andrea's very young children is desperate for a bathroom while driving home, Andrea pulls her car into a service station and tries to hurry her daughter to the bathroom when they are stopped by two patrol-officers who are starting to tape off a crime scene at the location. Just as the officers inform Andrea that she and her daughter need to leave, the little girl pees all over the area, contaminating the crime scene. And so begins Andrea's involvement in a homicide in her own community. Andrea finds she's missed using her skills and she's serious about the murder of the young man at the service station mart. With the help of a journalist friend, Kenny Lee, who's badly in need of a good

I no longer request an ARC of a book unless something about the book (sometimes the author, sometimes the description, sometimes even the publisher) attracts me to the title. So it should go without saying that I genuinely want to like and enjoy each book that I read.  Sadly, that is not always the case. Five children have been abducted from a very small town in the past four months.  The FBI send agent Eliott Cooper to investigate. But what Cooper thought would be a pretty straight-forward investigation takes a sharp turn as an ancient evil begins to reveal itself in the woodlands around the community. Cooper is in for more than he ever bargained for. This book was a bit of a slog to get through. The mystery premise of the book was interesting and I was initially looking forward to getting more into the investigation. But the supernatural element just didn't play well.    But the problems here are more than just an element that isn't presented cleanly.  The writing itself ofte

  Gina Meyers is a private investigator with a gift. Her gift is that she's a witch, with full spell-casting abilities. But that gift may also be a curse as Gina wonders if she's worse than the criminals she catches. She believes she's unique with her ability, but of course she's not and she's soon recruited by the British super-secret spy service (MI666). I found this book to be quite average.  If supernatural mystery comics are your thing (and it is for many) than this is probably a really good book for you.  But for the average graphic novel reader, there isn't much here to attract the reader. MI666 comes off less of a Harry Potter version of the Avengers and more of a military outfit that enchants their weapons and shields. There seems to be potential in Gina's character but so far in these collected comics I didn't feel any connection or reason to want to follow her exploits. And I wanted to. I wanted to find a reason to really get into this because

"Tess Heiden, twenty years old, born in 1993. A difficult childhood. Mother a junkie. Like you, she had numerous stays in psychiatric institutions. Father unknown… At the age of ten, you were placed with a foster family, the Heidens, who adopted you officially two years later, despite your… unstable behaviour, to say the least. Your adoptive parents died in a car accident in 2010…" With this report, young Tess Heiden is recruited for a highly unusual, supremely secretive organization - the T.I.M.E. (Tachyon Insertion in Major Event) Organization. She must agree to work for the organization without knowing too much about them or what it will entail.  To her surprise, she is teleported into the future and her 'essence' is placed in a new receptacle (human body).  There she meets other recruits, brought in from other eras, other times, and perhaps from other worlds (it's hard to tell since they are all placed in current bodies).  They must train together and learn to

  There are certain YA books that I recognize I am probably not going to enjoy. I would base this partly on themes, publisher's descriptions of the book, and even, yes, book covers. Don't judge a book by the cover? Well, yes, to some extent you can and should.  Why?  Well, that's probably worth a blog post in itself.  But let's leave it with the idea that I would not have requested or accepted this book if the above book cover had been presented to me.  Instead, the book I have has a moody, angry looking teen in a dark, ominous forest.  That, with the description of a young girl fighting against the idea that she might be 'the chosen one' in a fight against an undead army, sounded pretty cool. I received this book though InstaFreebie - a site where self-published authors try to get their books out to a new audience. I read and review a lot of books, and while most of these are from established publishers, I really enjoy finding a self-published author whose work

Celia and Tyrus are both library nerds - Tyrus because he loves to read and Celia because her mom is the new librarian in town. The two strike up a fast and sure friendship and Celia reveals to him her personal issue ... she's dyslexic. Most people don't understand what that means and she's usually assumed to be, at best, stupid and at worst, carrying a disease. Tyrus is the first person who really seems to get Celia. In their new-found friendship, they find that they share a love of the works of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and Tyrus informs Celia that Charles Dodgson kept diaries his whole life but after his death, his family discovered that four of the diaries were missing.  Celia admits that she's actually related to Dodgson - his great, great, many great grand-niece. Going through a collection of old books in a box belonging to Celia's family, they come across four leather-bound books. With awe, Tyrus announces that he believes they are Dodgson's mis

This is an INTENSE book.  The faint-at-heart may want to stay away. Mattie lives with William, alone in a remote location in a small wooden shack on a mountain. Mattie must always obey the will of her husband.  She must keep quiet, keep out of sight, and fulfill all wifely duties.  If she questions William, it is the same as questioning God and therefore she will be punished by William's wrath.  She knows what William is capable of and she does not want to make William upset. One day William takes Mattie with him as he goes further up into the mountains to explore an old cave.  Mattie sees the mutilated body of a fox and senses something evil, something ancient, something primal, nearby and she desperately wants to get away - so much so that she's even willing to defy William and suffer his abuse. Later, Mattie encounters three hikers looking to record the presence of an ancient creature. Despite her protestations to get away, they insist on searching.  Mattie's sure that i