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Elma York, often referred to as The Lady Astronaut, is bound for Mars.  After the meteor strike that destroyed Washington, Dc and triggered a global, catastrophic event, mankind began the earnest search for a new home. Elma is part of the second expedition to Mars but as she arrives she quickly realizes that something isn't right and that there may have been many problems on the First Mars Expedition that were never reported. In addition to dealing with whatever mess was left for her from the previous expedition, Elma has to deal with more emergent issues. While making Mars habitable for families is one of the goals, hence the number of couples on the mission, having a baby is not part of the plan. But an unplanned pregnancy is just what she has to deal with. There's no question in the mind of the pregnant astronaut that the pregnancy should be terminated, but the very question brings about turmoil on earth. Challenging the support on earth brings about other concerns over poss...

It's hard not to want to read a book about writing.  Especially a happy one! And author Marissa Meyer gets us with just that title. Meyer, the author of a a couple different fantasy YA series lays out a plan for writers to achieve a happiness in their writing routine. It's part 'how-to' and part 'self-help zen'. I've read a LOT of books on writing and I've rarely read anything new (Chuck Wendig comes closest with  Gentle Writing Advice ). The truth is, there are no secrets. There are no shortcuts. Of course this particular book isn't about how to write.  It's about how to find more joy in your writing  - and thereby become more prolific which will ultimately equate to more success, and so it IS a how-to for writers. It's just approached in a unique manner. Like all such books, there are plenty of nuggets of wisdom to take to heart ("this story was worth starting. That means it’s worth finishing"), and I also appreciated the recognit...

Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster is the titular warriorborn member of the Spire Albion nobility. He has much more advanced senses and abilities. He is sent on a special reconnaissance mission to a colony spire that has very suddenly stopped answering all call.  He is sent with three warriorborn prisoners as his backup. This, of course, is to create plausible deniability should the mission fail ... which it most certainly will. The book is billed as a Cinder Spires novella, but at only 137 pages (compared to book one's 650 pages and book two's 610 pages) it comes across as more a short story than a novella. But this is okay because there's enough action and story from start to finish to satisfy most readers. I've admittedly been slightly less than enamored with this series - I'm not a huge fan of epic fantasy which the Cinder Spires books seems to be. Mostly because I'm not patient enough for the format - I want more character and action instead of history, plotting, ...