Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield

Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield took me by complete surprise. Nowhere in the description of the book does it mention time travel, quantum physics, or parallel universes, but this coming of age love story truly does have it all.

Sovren (misspelled because at an early age her dyslexia made Sovereign impossible) finds that her life has spiraled out of control since the death of her mother. On the anniversary of her death, Sovren's boyfriend dumps her, and she has a snowboarding accident that awakens her again to life.

Despite Sovren's dyslexia, she's a mathematical genius, and the new boy she meets makes her investigate quantum physics, quantum entanglement, parallel universes, and M theory. The author uses this science to create a lovely romance that hints a bit at reincarnation. This science fiction also has some fantasy in that the characters are able to travel through time, but are unable to choose the moments they travel.

Sovren must come to terms with her own reality, her loss, and her loves, and she learns that she can love someone who has died as well as loving life as it becomes, not simply as it was. 

The message that dyslexia doesn't make someone stupid is very clear. Sovren has great coping mechanisms, and they allow her to make her genius shine.

One thing I would change would be how abruptly the book ended. The climactic event of the book is very traumatic, but Sovren doesn't tell us much about how she will cope or does cope with these events. I would have liked an epilogue or a bit more to tie up her relationship with her boyfriend at the end. 

I did enjoy this book very much. Recommend.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Lumiere The Illumination Paradox (Book 1) by Jacqueline Garlick

Lumiere: The Illumination Paradox by Jacqueline Garlick is the first book in this series. 

The book sucks the reader in from the very first scene at the carnival, and each individual scene along the way is important to the plot and the characterization. Both main characters, Eyelet and Urlick, grow from beginning to end, and the additional characters are important and meaningful. Each character has some physical flaw which does not change their value to one another which is a welcome change from perfect boyfriends, amazing magicians, and other unrealistic characters usually found in this genre.

Although the book is set in the Victorian Age (the dates clearly put it in the 1890's), it's not a familiar London or United Kingdom. It's set in the Commonwealth, and the utopian Bretheren and Academy have become corrupt. The characters live in a dystopian world forever changed by an event in their childhood, where both of their fathers worked for the Bretheren. Since that event, the air, water, and world has been corrupted, and the Commonwealth has been changed. Outside the Commonwealth are zombies and ghouls as a corruption of the people.

Eyelet and Urlick must work together, each hoping that the machine built by their fathers holds a cure for them (Eyelet's epilepsy and Urlick's birth mark).  As they come together, their romance blossoms. As in most romance, their relationship grows quickly and their attraction is intense, a relationship forged in desperate times full of teen angst. Despite their physical flaws, both Eyelet and Urlick are capable creators, and the book is full of wonderful steampunk creations with just a hint of magic thrown in. 

I enjoyed and recommend this book.Book 2, Noir, will be available soon and is also a great read.  

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Noir The Illumination Paradox (Book 2) by Jacqueline Garlick

Although Noir is the second book in this series, I jumped into the book and caught up on the characters and plot very quickly.

Ms. Garlick has created a believable world, very much steampunk with a touch of post-apocalyptic destruction: murky air unfit to breathe, water unfit to drink, and a despotic ruler. For paranormal fans, the vapors that create ghouls and things that go bump in the wood also add to the world building.

There's a lost prince, a girl destined to save the world, two desperate women trying manipulate others for power, and a truly motley set of side-kicks (and they are actually from a freak show).

Ms. Garlick creates many moments with the characters, where the reader feels the connection each has to another. There's a chance to laugh, to cry, to feel jealousy, and to build friendships.

This book is well crafted, but most of it was one escape attempt after another. The amazing spaces they escaped from, and the unlikely ways they made their escapes were well thought out, but it was a series of escapes from beginning to end.

I would recommend this book, but there is a very strong romance story where our main characters take their relationship all the way. For my audience, I would probably keep this book as a "behind my desk" book with that caveat. I really enjoyed this book, and I would read the third book in the series.

Following Her by Melody Anne

I have read several books by Melody Anne, and they are entertaining romances that always guarantee a HEA.

The heroine in the novel is a strong woman, a lawyer, who's been played by her former boss and love-interest. She's caught him red-handed and helped build a case against him. His associates are making threats and accosting Ella. Her cousin, an Alpha Male from another book in this series, insists his partner protect Ella.

From the beginning of the novel, Axel and Ella collide. She's headstrong, and he's an FBI agent who's not going to be derelict in his duty. Over the course of the novel, the two tango through their attraction, their ability to intrigue one another, and to irritate one another. Their chemistry is good, and their dates are adorable.

My one complaint is the many scenes with Ella's girlfriends. Perhaps they will be getting their own spin-off books, and this book serves as their introduction to the reader. There were several times I wondered why I needed to spend so much time inside her relationship with her "chikas."

The book had a nice resolve, a great happily ever after, and was fun to read.

It's definitely for adults as there is sexual content, but it's definitely a ladies' romance to enjoy.

The Battle for Oz by Jenna Grace

Recently, I discovered a site which would allow me to read galley copies of soon-to-be released books. The first book I read was called The Battle for Oz.  I am a confessed Oz fan (owning most of the original Frank L. Baum Oz books) and my favorite book is Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by  Lewis Carroll.

This book has an interesting premise: if Oz is a magical world people can travel to, can people also travel between other magical worlds, like Wonderland. It starts with an invasion of Oz from Wonderland, and our two heroines of the original books, Dorothy and Alice, must return to save Oz and defeat the nemesis of Wonderland.

Of course, Dorothy and Alice have grown up. However, they don't feel like the Dorothy or Alice we know from books or movies. In fact, they are very flat. The reader is left to fill in who these young women are from previous readings or movies of Oz and Wonderland.

In some places, the stories overlap in truly odd ways. There's a mixture of real people (The Brother's Grimm, who have seemingly traveled Oz and are perhaps Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum from Wonderland), and an odd reference to the Munich Pact of 1938 and an odd reference to the Nazi Party and Hitler. The marriage of real people and fictional characters creates a disconnect in the suspension of disbelief required for the story to flow.

While this book reminds me of The Looking Glass Wars, I would have preferred more show versus tell from the author. The characters seem very one dimensional, and there's much exposition instead of letting the characters tell their stories through dialogue and character development.

At times, I was unsure of the intended audience. While the story is easy to follow and there's no problem with the teen/YA, Dorothy and Alice are consistently killing or destroying trolls, guards, and other characters. They are remorseless, and that is completely out of character for either of them in their previous novels. Understanding this is a war, Dorothy carries a pretty deadly whip and odd cookies and candies that do unusual things, like creating a shape-shifting Toto. Alice carries a sword and has specialty potions from Cheshire Cat that make her a formidable foe. A lot of characters are simply wiped out at the end of the novel.

Would I recommend this book? I consider it a "mash-up" that reminds me of the TV show Once Upon a Time. I won't purchase this book for my classroom, but I can see that people who are nostalgic about Oz will read this book, especially people who have loved The Looking Glass Wars or Alice in Zombieland.