Review: Rippler by Cidney Swanson

I think I have finally been drug out of my reading funk by this great book. It was intriguing and fast paced so as to keep me reading from start to finish. I had a lot of "false starts" over the last month. I would read a few chapters, put it down to do something else and then never really have the drive to get back to it. Rippler, on the other hand, kept me reading almost "cover to cover". I read the first 78% of it (I was reading on my Kindle so I only know the percentage not the page) in a single sitting - only stopping because it was after midnight and I knew I needed to get up the next morning!

Book Description: Samantha Ruiz has a freak gene that makes her turn invisible, or ripple. She can’t control it, and it’s getting worse. Afraid of becoming a lab-rat, Sam keeps her ability secret, until fellow runner Will Baker sees her vanish into thin air. Will promises secrecy and help, and Sam begins to fall in love. Together, the two discover there are worse things than being a scientific curiosity. Someone’s been killing people who possess Sam's gene. A mysterious man from France sends letters that offer hope for safety, but also reveal a sinister connection with Nazi experiments. The more time Sam spends with Will, the less she can imagine life without him. When Sam uncovers secrets from her past, she must choose between keeping Will in her life or keeping Will safe.

About the Author: Cidney Swanson is the author of The Ripple Series. She began writing at age seven; her first novel began with “Ouch,” and her characters have been suffering ever since. Cidney lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband, three kids, two cats, one dog, and entirely too much rain.
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Read a Sample of Rippler

Buy the Book: Rippler: Book One in the Ripple Series (Volume 1)

Here's What I Think: Most of you know that I am a bit of a book nerd. I love to read books - especially books in a series. I am part of a book club full of moms - mostly - that just love to read in their spare time. Rippler is the book that was chosen for my October book club and so of course I was willing to give it a shot. I mean isn't that the whole point of a book club - to try titles you wouldn't normally pick up on your own?
Well Rippler was one of those wonderful surprises. It is an incredibly well thought out and complete novel. It has action, fun, romance, mystery, and a twist of science-fiction. Sam and Will make this wonderfully well-rounded companionship - that goes so much deeper than just a partnership. The whole idea behind the book - it's hard not to spoil it by giving much detail - is intriguing because while it's hugely impossible - being able to be invisible - it has an element of plausibility - the idea that our genes can be tweeked and changed by singular interventions in our conception. I love love love stories like this. They use some of the simplest most basic concepts that we know about our lives and change them just enough to make us think "What If?"

I had the amazing honor of actually meeting the author of this book and getting to find out more about how the book was written. As a reader, I have always had this idea of how a book was written - and I now know that I was incredibly wrong! The way that a story evolves and grows can be vastly different from the first idea. I was so happy to be able to tell the author that she is a very talented character creator. The characters in this book are so clearly defined without be specifically labeled and categorized. I am planning to start the next book in this series - Chameleon - tomorrow so that I can be sure to have it read before the third in the series is released at the end of the year.

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated to publish this post. These are my real and true thoughts.

Review: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Book Description: This is an intriguing YA urban fantasy in the tradition of Holly Black and Wicked Lovely. Set in New Zealand, Ellie's main concerns at her boarding school are hanging out with her best friend Kevin, her crush on the mysterious Mark, and her paper deadline. That is, until a mysterious older woman seems to set her sights on Kevin, who is Maori, and has more than just romantic plans for him. In an effort to save him, Ellie is thrown into the world of Maori lore, and eventually finds herself in an all-out war with mist dwelling Maori fairy people called the patupaiarehe who need human lives to gain immortality.
The strong, fresh voice of the narrator will pull readers in, along with all the deliciously scary details: the serial killer who removes victim's eyes; the mysterious crazy bum who forces a Bible on Ellie telling her she needs it; handsome, mysterious Mark who steals the Bible from her and then casts a forgetting charm on her. All of this culminates in a unique, incredible adventure steeped with mythology, Maori fairies, monsters, betrayal, and an epic battle.



About the Author: Karen Healey is a New Zealander living in Australia. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. She's writing a dissertation on the fan culture of American superhero comics, but her real expertise lies in discerning which of the Birds of Prey is objectively the most awesome (it's a tie between Oracle and the Huntress).

Here's What I Think: I can always go for a YA sci-fi book and this was a great one! This book is an interesting mix of mythology and romance that keeps you turning the pages to find out just what will happen to Ellie next despite it's slightly slow beginning. Not really a knock to the book as it has become my understanding that books that take place in an "alternate" yet "parallel" universe (set in what we know as the real world with the addition of something totally unreal like fairies) tend to require a bit more stage setting so that you can understand what's happening. As with most books in this genre, there isn't anything hugely ground shaking or life changing in the story, its merely an entertaining bit of literature that I read and didn't feel that I wasted my precious reading time - which in my opinion is saying a lot!

*BTW I usually can find the same cover art as the one that I read, but for some reason I just can't find a digital image that matches mine, so if you are like me a often scan the bookstore shelves for the cover art more than the title - be aware, it might not look like the above image.

Disclaimer: Although I did receive this book for review purposes, I was in no other way compensated to publish this post.

If you are an author or publisher and would like an honest review of your title, please contact me at polsen11atcomcastdotnet