Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Jennifer Donnelly and me at the ALAN Conference, November 2015.

Andi is very troubled.  Her brother, Truman, is dead, and Andi feels she killed him.  Her mother loses herself in her paintings, and all of her paintings are of her brother, Truman. Her father is absent and appears not to care. The only way Andi is surviving is by pills and her music. Andi is also about to flunk out of her prestigious school - until her father has her mother admitted to a mental health facility and forces Andi to accompany him to Paris for winter break.  

While visiting her father's friends, Andi finds a guitar and hidden within the case is a diary of a girl. Alex is a young girl who lived in Paris in the 1770s.  Also hidden in the guitar case is the picture of a young boy who looks startlingly like Truman.  Andi realizes from the diary that Alex becomes the caretaker for the young boy, Louis-Charles, the king's third child and grows to love the boy. Andi is startled and chilled because Andi finds that her life and Alex's life become intertwined. Even stranger, Andi realizes that Alex wants Andi to know her story and to finish the job that Alex has started.  Andi becomes obsessed with Alex's story and the time period of the French Revolution.  

While Andi is working on her final thesis paper, she learns more about Louis Charles, a musician named Armade, and herself.  One of the most powerful themes in the book is the thought that the French Revolution didn't happen because of power hungry people like Robespierre or Marat.  "No, not because of Robespierre and Marat. Or people like them.  Because of people like us."  

People like us who don't do anything to stop the bad things from happening.  People like us who lock ourselves away from the tragedies of the world and pretend they aren't happening.  Let's make a change.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Elias is a soldier.  He has been trained at the Blackcliff Military Academy to keep the Scholars in order.  He and his best friend, Helene, know what is expected of them as Martials, and that once they graduate in a few days, they will make sure that the Scholars remain under their rule.  They wear Masks that have adhered to their faces so they become what the Emperors expects.

Laia is a Scholar.  The Masks killed her parents and her grandparents.  She knows they have her brother in a jail somewhere, and she has vowed to break him free no matter what the cost.  She must infiltrate the Blackcliff Military Academy to find out where her brother has been taken.  This means she must be the slave of the Commandant.  The last two people who were her personal slaves are now dead.  Before they died, they were horribly disfigured.  Will Laia survive long enough to find her brother?

Elias and Laia will soon discover that their lives will be become intertwined.  The future of the empire is at stake, and the Augurs have predicted a leader will emerge that will forever change the landscape of the world as they know it.  Will that leader be Elias?  Laia?

There are many, many unanswered questions at the end of this book, therefore, I am looking forward to book 2 of the series.  What is their Destiny?

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

What do a frat house, bubonic plague, an ex-hooker, and a bounty hunter have in common?  At first thought, one would think they have nothing in common, but that person has never read Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich.

I have reviewed Evanovich's books before, but if you haven't taken the time to read them, now is a good time to start!  Stephanie Plum and her sidekick, Lula, are always on the lookout to make some extra money - and have time to stop at the Cluck in a Bucket.  Invariably, these two always seem to find trouble - or trouble finds them!  This time trouble involves a missing fraternity brother, and some wacky professors.

Not only is there something strange going on at Kiltman College, but something strange is going on with Morelli, Stephanie's on again, off again boyfriend.  He feels he needs to take a break from her, and maybe his job.  Does that mean that Stephanie can run to the arms of Ranger, the mysterious hottie who runs a security business and helps Stephanie stay out of trouble?

Evanovich's' books are always good for laugh out loud moments, so if you haven't read them, you need to start with the first one One for the Money.  You might be waiting at the airport, doctor's office, or in the car, but know that you will have some good belly laughs at the antics of Stephanie and the gang.  Game on!