Quiet

Quiet by Tomie dePaola
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I love the concept: how everyone is hurrying, even in nature, and how essential it is to take time to be quiet and still. Unfortunately, Tomie dePaola's style of artwork isn't my cup of tea, and in this case that mattered more than with many of his other books. I didn't find it restful, as it really should be for maximum impact. And my kids, who usually ask me to read books over and over (and over and over...), never requested this one beyond the first time, which tells me it didn't resonate with them either. But other reviewers have had the opposite opinion, so I'm glad they liked it!

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A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's Sunshine Vicram's first day on the job as Sheriff of Del Sol County, New Mexico. She got elected despite being unaware she was even running, thanks to her parents, who were determined to both bring her back to Del Sol and get rid of the corrupt, inept incumbent. Within minutes of her arrival, homemade muffins are delivered, horrifying her staff, who have long since learned that the size of the muffin basket portends the scope of the crazy or catastrophic cases coming their way. Today's basket is huge, and sure enough, a short time later a Mercedes crashes through the front of the sheriff station, driven by a desperate mother whose teenage daughter has just been kidnapped--an event the daughter has been predicting since she was a little girl. Sunshine and her deputies have only three days to find Sybil before her captor kills her.

I stayed up WAY past bedtime because I couldn't stop reading until I finished this book. The writing style is very witty (quite similar to Jones' Charley Davidson series) and just as fast-paced as the plot. In fact, the relationship between Sunshine Vicram and her daughter Auri reminded me a lot of Lorelei & Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls. Well, except that Lorelei knows from the beginning who Rory's father is, and Sunshine doesn't figure out Auri's until WAY WAY WAY after the reader catches on.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, language is secondary. The closest genre this book/series fits into at the moment is humorous mystery/suspense. There is a strong romantic subplot, (well, two, actually, and a bit of a third) but it will probably take another book or two (or 5, at the rate Sun's going) to develop into anything like a real relationship. There is one dream sequence that counts as a sex scene and some sexual references. Since the plot of the book focuses on a current and a past abduction, there is also reference to rape, in case that is a trigger for anyone. Also some off-screen violence, a bit of profanity sprinkled throughout, and on-screen teen bullying of Auri by a Mean Girl & her lackeys.

The diverse, quirky characters include many with brown skin in various shades and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, chiefly Latino, African, and Apache. The father of one character is deaf, and another character is on the autism spectrum, so ASL is mentioned semi-frequently. Unlike with Jones' Charley Davidson series, there is only a hint of anything possibly beyond normal human experience. It's not urban fantasy. A minor character from the Charley series has a small cameo, however, and that was fun!

I read a free ebook ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for my honest review. The only bad thing about that is that now I have to WAIT for the next book in the series to be written. Waiting is HARD.

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Father of Lions: the remarkable true story of the Mosul Zoo rescue

Father of Lions: The Remarkable True Story of the Mosul Zoo Rescue by Louise Callaghan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Father of Lions is a fascinating glimpse into life in Mosul before, during, and after ISIS (Daesh) control. Until the last quarter of the book or so, it focused far less on the zoo and the few animals struggling to survive than it did on the humans, however. I hadn't expected this, so it seemed almost like reading a civilian survival story and its animal-rescue-themed sequel. Louise Callaghan has done an amazing job of evoking the tense, dusty, waiting and mortar-driven hiding inherent in an urban battlefield. Her pacing intensifies throughout, although sometimes the timeline gets a bit confusing with seasons apparently passing during the span of days, and at times she dwells a bit too much on the pre-ISIS backstory of the participants. For a Western reader many thousands of miles from the fighting, however, Callaghan's portrayal brings the conflict down to a comprehensible human (and feline/ursine) level. It should appeal to anyone interested in either animal welfare or the fight against ISIS.

My thanks to Bookbrowse.com for the ARC they provided in exchange for my honest review.

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Highfire

Highfire by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished reading the ARC from NetGalley a couple of weeks ago, and even with that amount of time to ponder, I still am not quite sure what I thought/think of the book. It is definitely unlike anything I have ever read before! From the description, I was expecting something much less dark and violent. Yes, there is a great deal of humor, but it's not a lighthearted read. Characters die, nearly die, and lose body parts. The vast quantity of profanity starts on page one, the crude sexual references and jokes not long after.

You can't help but root for teenage (Everett) Squib Moreau, and I grew fond of Vern, the depressed curmudgeon of an ancient dragon, as time went on, too. Constable Hooke freaked me out--he's a ruthless psychopath who has been getting away with murdering people for years, beginning with his cruel zealot of a father.

On balance, I think I'm glad I read the book because it was so unusual and kept me reading to find out what would happen. But it's not one I'll re-read. I prefer my escapist fiction to be more laugh-out-loud and less dark. I'm sure other people with different reading tastes will love this, though.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is perhaps primary? Readers will need an incredibly high tolerance for bad language, sexual references, and on-screen violence. Vern is, he believes, the last of his kind--a fire-breathing dragon ("Vern" is short for "Wyvern"). The closest genre it fits into is contemporary fantasy because the story revolves around a dragon living/hiding in a swamp in a modern-day Louisiana bayou.

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The Girl and the Bicycle

The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely LOVE this sweet, wordless book about a girl who spies a bicycle in a store window and does chores all year to earn money to buy it, only to discover it's no longer available. She chooses kindness and generosity to her little brother instead, despite her overwhelming disappointment. And there is a surprise waiting for her at the neighbor's house when the children return home.

I checked this out from the library last week, and my son has been fetching it, asking to read it to me--yes, I have my kids tell ME what's happening on each page--every single night since then. That makes my librarian-mama's heart so happy!!

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Enemy Pie

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a story about a little boy who experiences jealousy when a new boy moves in next door to his best friend and invites the friend to play but not him. He decides the new boy is his enemy. Thankfully, he has a wise father who suggests feeding the new boy Enemy Pie, which is guaranteed to get rid of enemies. The catch is, he has to play nicely with the boy all day first, before they eat the pie. Unsurprisingly, playing all day teaches the boy that the new kid is not that bad...in fact, he's pretty great! Enemy pie becomes friend pie that the boys and the dad share together after dinner--delicious!

Ultimately, this is a story about how kindness and spending time getting to know a stranger breaks down barriers and heals misunderstandings. I read (watched) the TumbleBooks version of this book, so I'm not sure what the static pages look like, but it looked to me like the characters were all white males, although hair and eyes were brown, so it's hard to tell for sure.

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Wolfie the Bunny

Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not your usual new-baby-jealousy book, as Dot the bunny has reason to be wary of her new brother the wolf, because, you know, wolves eat bunnies! But this wolf loves his big sister, and when put to the test, Dot gets fierce in her defense of her (big) little brother. Sweet and funny!

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