Discussion Question: Should Authors Do More to Remind Readers of What Happened in Previous Books in Series?

I don't know about you, but it seems like most books I read these days are part of a series.  And I find it increasingly difficult to keep track of them.  Let's be honest.  I barely remember anything by the time the next book comes out.  But when you're talking about a year in between, I don't think there are that many people who do remember a lot about the previous book.  Why don't authors do more to remind us?  Even when we watch a TV series (if you do it the old-fashioned way of week to week), the new episode starts with "Previously on…"  and recaps what happened.  So apparently we can't remember what happened last week (well, let's face it, a lot of times I don't) but we can remember what happened last year.  Once in a blue moon you have an author who starts off the book with a recap (Karen Marie Moning's Fever series comes to mind) but most of them don't.  And they usually don't remind the reader throughout the book either.  It's as if they expect us to remember everything.  Or perhaps they expect us to reread.  So that's what I do, I reread.  But why should I?  I really think authors should do more to remind readers of what happened in previous books in series, either by providing a recap in the beginning of the book or explaining and reminding us throughout the book, weaving it in somehow.  Especially given that a lot of the series I read are not complete stories that stand on their own but are basically one big story divided into three parts. 

What do you think?

Posted by:  Pam

Book Review: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1)
Author:  Alison Goodman
Publisher:  Viking Books for Young Readers, 496 pages
Publication Date:  January 26, 2016

From Goodreads:
London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?

Review:

I really enjoyed this:  Demon hunters in Regency London…yes please!

Loved the world Alison Goodman has created, the different types of demons, what happens to the demon hunters when they fight the demons.  

And Lord Carlston…dark but not too dark…what happened to his wife????  Loved his relationship with Helen.

Also enjoyed how the rules of society interfered with demon hunting…poor Lady Helen really had to figure out how to get around that…quite refreshing when usually all of that is ignored (although it could be frustrating too, sometimes I wanted more action and less getting dressed up for parties, etc.).  

Also thought it was realistic that she didn't embrace her calling right away, she really didn't want to be a demon hunter, she just wanted to have the life she was meant to have.

Warning…potential love triangle (I think).

Loved this!!  Reminded me a bit of Infernal Devices, which is about the highest compliment I can give.

Posted by:  Pam

Book Review: Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Firstlife (Everlife #1)
Author:  Gena Showalter
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen, 480 pages
Expected Publication Date:  February 23, 2016
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads:
ONE CHOICE.

TWO REALMS.

NO SECOND CHANCE.

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…

Review:

This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. LOVED the concept, with two different places you could go after your "firstlife." It definitely made me think about what the world would be like if everyone knew for sure there was an afterlife.  Would that lessen how important your first life was?

But I had a lot of questions about the two places, especially that it seemed such a slam dunk which place was good and which place was not. Why was Ten so undecided? Not sure that made sense to me. I mean, come on, one place was in perpetual darkness, the other in light.

And I'm a big Gena Showalter fan (can I just tell you how much I loved Cole Holland from The White Rabbit Chronicles?) but I was a little disappointed with the love interest.  For some reason I wasn't feeling it, but that may be because of ultra high expectations.  Also, I wasn't sure who the love interest was going to be.  There are two guys and you think there's going to be a love triangle, but one ends up being a friend, like a big brother type (no romantic feelings on either side) and the other ends up the love interest.  But it seemed kind of sudden to me, no build up, etc.  It's like suddenly this guy is the brother friend guy and the other one is the love interest. And Ten doesn't spend that much time with either one of them so I never FELT the relationships develop.

Ten is a fantastic main character, the world is interesting, so I will be continuing the series.

Posted by:  Pam

Stacking the Shelves (119)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  It is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

Bought:

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry.  Friday Night Lights meets Time Traveler's Wife?  Yeah, my expectations are high.

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson.  Already read this and loved it.  Brandon Sanderson can do no wrong.  Makes me want to reread the first three Mistborn novels because things are really starting to tie together.

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman.  Demon hunters in Regency London?  No way could I resist that.

Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan.  This one has gotten mixed reviews but fantasy is my favorite genre so I thought I would give it a try.

From NetGalley:

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan.  The Lynburn Legacy…LOVED IT SO MUCH.  So excited to read her new book!

What books did you add to your shelves?

By the way, took about two months off from blogging (and visiting blogs) but I'm back.

Posted by:  Pam

Spoiler Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4)
Author:  Marissa Meyer
Publisher:  Feiwel and Friends, 827 pages
Publication Date:  November 10, 2015

From Goodreads:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

Review:

I liked this conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles, but I didn't love it.  Basically, it was my least favorite book of the series.  I loved the series, don't get me wrong, and I thought the book was really good (I rated it 4 stars), but I didn't really like Winter or Jacin and I didn't care about their love story.  I LOVED Cinder and Kai, Scarlet and Wolf, and Cress and Thorne.  I respected Winter and her choice not to use her Lunar abilities, but I never felt that connection to her that I felt with the rest of the group.  And Jacin…I really didn't like him.  That made it hard to love the book.  Maybe part of it was because they weren't the true focus of the book like the couples were in the other books…I don't know.

And even though Cinder and Kai were my favorite couple, once again they aren't together enough.  They're the only couple who doesn't spend a significant amount of time together and I was hoping we would get that in this book, but we didn't.

And I was soooo disappointed with what happened to Wolf.  Why couldn't they reverse his operation?  Why did he have to spend the rest of his life as a beast man?  It was amazing that Scarlet didn't seem to care, but HE did.  He didn't want it, it was his worst fear.  I mean, come on, this is a fairy tale, I would have bought that they could reverse it.  I just thought that was unnecessary to the story and it made me sad.

Finally, the big fight between Cinder and Levana was pretty meh.  And I didn't buy that just having her real face revealed would weaken her so much.  I read somewhere that Marissa Meyer said that she wished she hadn't made the Lunar abilities so strong because it put her in a tough position in the series and I think it shows with how Levana was defeated.  

So I know I've just complained about the book.  I read it pretty much in one sitting (even with it being so long) and I loved the touches of Snow White we got (I like retellings that are REALLY loose) and the cast of characters (at least six of them) were AMAZING.  Thorne and Cress ended up being my favorite couple in the end and their story and what happened with them was the most satisfying for me. Definitely recommend the series, I'm a huge fan, but maybe having eight main characters was too much.  

What did you think of the book?

Posted by:  Pam

Book News: The Shaw Confessions by Michelle Hodkin

Michelle Hodkin has confirmed that there will be a new trilogy, the Shaw Confessions, that will take place after The Retribution of Mara Dyer!!!!!  Noah Shaw's POV!!!!!  Expected publication is Summer of 2017.  Here's the Goodreads summary:

What happens after happily ever after? By the end of the Mara Dyer Trilogy, Noah Shaw and Mara Dyer discovered their world-changing abilities along with their love for each other. In the first book of The Shaw Confessions, Noah’s father is murdered, and Noah inherits unimaginable riches, terrible knowledge, and the chance to find other people like himself. But as Noah and Mara begin their global search, they’ll discover that they have very different goals: Noah wants peace. Mara wants power. When the girl of your dreams turns the world into a nightmare, what do you choose? The girl or the world?

I had so many unanswered questions after Retribution...I am beyond excited. 

Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw Noah Shaw.

M.A.D.N.E.S.S.

Anyone else excited??

Posted by: Pam

YA TV: Wolf Blood

Television Show: Wolfblood 

Series Dates: 2012-

Creator: Debbie Moon

Production Co.: BBC

I have recently made a commitment to exercising and am encouraging these healthy behaviors by watching YA television shows.  The first series I have chosen to watch has been in my Netflix queue for months and I am so excited to finally watch it. My only exercise rule is that I can only watch new episodes if I am on my elliptical machine.  Since I am loving this show, it's working really well.

The series was created by Debbie Moon for British television.  It follows the lives of two teenage "wolfbloods".  Wolfbloods can and have lived amongst humans for centuries.  While some wolfbloods live peacefully with humans others do not.  Maddy and Rhydian are the two main characters and they have to keep their secret from all their school friends.  While Maddy lives with supportive parents who can teach her about her heritage, Rhydian lives with foster parents.  Even though I have only watched four episodes they have all been great and addressed several important yet predictable themes in tween/teenage television: parental neglect, hostile teachers, and school cliques.

Wish me luck!

Posted By: Sheri

YALLFEST 2015

Fun Facts from YallFest

Julie Kagawa's literary crush is Valek from the Poison Study series.

Julie Kagawa only wrote The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4) because her editor said she couldn't end the series how she did.

Kiera Cass only read Lauren Oliver's Delirium (and not the rest of the series) because she thought the ending was perfect.

R.L. Stine's son has never read his books.

Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy was partially inspired from Romanian vampire mythology.

Margaret Stohl's worst year was the year the movie Beautiful Creatures came out.

Lemony Snicket recently donated one million dollars to Planned Parenthood.

Richelle Mead believes that strong female leads don't have to be violent in order to be strong.

We also absolutely loved visiting Charleston (can you imagine going to College of Charleston?) and agree that we do NOT like standing in lines.

Anyone else go to YallFest?

Posted by:  Sheri and Pam

Book Review: The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
Author:  Jenn Bennett
Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends, 304 pages
Publication Date:  November 3, 2015

From Goodreads:
Artist Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she's spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Leonardo da Vinci’s footsteps, she's ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.

Jack is charming, wildly attractive . . . and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is—and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in Beatrix’s own family’s closet tear them apart?

Review:
LOVED this one. Perfect combination of light and fluffy with drama/serious issues. It reminded me of My Life Next Door in the sense that the drama did not involve love triangle/relationship drama but family drama. Jack was absolutely adorable and the open discussion of sex was refreshing. At one point, he's asking Bex about her likes and dislikes when it comes to sex and when she's embarrassed to tell him he basically says, if we can't talk about it, how can we do it? LOVED that. For this reason alone, every teenager should read this book.  One minor complaint: Although everything was wrapped up in the way I like, there was one small detail that was left open. WHY????

The Anatomical Shape of a Heart made me smile and I'm definitely checking out the author's other books.

Posted by:  Pam