A Change of Heart by Sonali Dev

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After witnessing his wife's brutal murder, Dr. Nikhil Joshi runs away, as far away as he can go, becoming a cruise ship doctor.  He prescribes antacids during the day and gets blackout drunk at night, anything to stop himself from thinking of Jen.  But a woman confronts him on board, berates him for letting Jen's killers get away, and tells him he has to help her.  Because she has Jen's heart and she won't rest until justice is served.

 

I LOVE Sonali Dev.  I just love her.  This book was a magical whirlwind of action, adventure, love, romance, women's fiction and more.  Nik and Jen were so real and so wonderful, you couldn't help but root for them.  The pacing was excellent.  I never found a dull moment or a time where I could put the book away and leave it.  I was racing to the finish, desperate to find out the answer to the mystery, to find out if they would end up together, to find out how it all wrapped up.  *sigh* I'm just disappointed I have to wait for another.

The Story Book Knight by Helen and Thomas Docherty

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Leo the knight just wants to read.  But when his parents insist that he go out into the world to tame a dragon, he dons his armor, takes up his new wooden sword, packs a LOT of books, and sets out to face the dragon.  Along the way he runs into some rather impressive obstacles, but nothing that a little story can't fix.

This is adorable!  The story is clever - Leo uses his reading smarts to get himself out of trouble (and there's even a subtle poop joke for good measure).  The rhyming text has a wonderful rhythm to it and isn't so rhymey-whimey as to be annoying.  The illustrations are gorgeous and really feel like a classic children's book.  They reminded me of books that I had as a kid or ones that I loved (like Norman the Doorman - also about a mouse).  This would be a great storytime book, especially paired with The Sunflower Sword.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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Kady Grant and Ezra Mason somehow managed to survive their breakup. And an attack on their planet, home to an illegal mining operation. Now Kady and Ezra are separated by the vacuum of space - Kady on the science vessel Hypatia and Ezra on the United Terran Alliance ship Alexander - as both ships barrel through space, trying to escape the Lincoln, the BeiTech dreadnought that attacked their home. Told through a series of chat logs, internal memos, and surveillance footage, Illuminae is an no-name-taking, ass-kicking entry into the growing field of young adult sci fi. 

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I still can't even. I got a digital chapter sampler of this from First in Line and once I'd read the first couple of pages I knew I needed to read the whole thing. In my humble opinion, Kaufman and Kristoff have done what so many other YA authors have tried to do - make a readable, believable science fiction novel for young adults. So many times I've picked up what I thought was science fiction for YAs only to find the hard science aspect (the thing that makes hard SF) completely pushed to the side in favor of a love triangle. Kaufman and Kristoff manage to maintain the teenage connection between Kady and Ezra without it overtaking the main thrust of the novel. Not only is she successful in that, she takes this one action and manages to spin it out into a hugely complicated conflict. The attack by BeiTech results in complete catastrophe for the Kerenza refugees, but the actions and problems that arise from that never feel contrived or shoe-horned in. This is compulsively readable and like the tagline says: You've never read a book like this.

My copy courtesy of First in Line and Netgalley.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

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Sara fears that she has made a mistake.  A BIG mistake.  Everything was supposed to be straight forward.  She was supposed to fly into the United States, take a Greyhound to Hope, Iowa, and get picked up by Amy, her Iowan pen pal, for a two month reading and relaxing vacation.  Only Amy didn't show up.  Nobody showed up to pick her up.  Luckily for Amy, the townspeople of Hope are generous and offer her a ride to Broken Wheel (in spite of their own misgivings).  When she arrives, she learns that Amy is dead.  She is sad and resigned to heading back to Sweden, but the residents of Broken Wheel have another plan in mind.  

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a fun, light read.  Katarina Bivald creates a realistic portrait of small town life with Broken Wheel, highlighting the odd residents, the town loyalty in the face of a slow demise, and the intensely gossipy nature of a small, relatively closed-off community.  Bivald does well developing her female characters - especially Sara and Caroline.  I felt like I got a good picture of Tom, but the rest of the men were lost in my mind, and I frequently found myself reading a name and having to pause and think, "John...which one is John again?"  The plot is quaint and reminiscent of The Storied Life of AJ Fikrey, as mentioned in the blurb.  I love the premise and Sara's journey.  I did have a few reservations about one of the subplots (I think you'll know which one I mean when you read it), not because of its content; I'm just not sure it adds to the plot in a real meaningful way.  I really would have liked to see more development of Sara and Tom's relationship rather than this.  I have already passed on my ARC to another librarian and will definitely be adding this to our collection.  I can think of a dozen ladies who would be delighted by it.

Much thanks to Sourcebooks for the ARC!