Yay, Jacky!

Well, I liked the story overall, and I sort of found the romance believable but I thought the big kiss scene was not good.

I liked it. The time jumps in the story were clearly delineated. There is a rape in the story, but as someone who generally avoids reading rape stories, it didn't make me put down the book. Some things were pretty obvious and I did find myself yelling at Hester to just realize what was going on already. Overall though, a good story.

I really enjoyed this one. It took me longer than I expected to read. It is a bit of a tome--485 pages. The other reason is that so many science fiction references are scattered throughout, I wanted to go and research them all. I think knowing the basics of those references does increase your enjoyment of the book, but if you don't, perhaps it will inspire you to learn more. I know I asked a lot of questions about Martian Manhunter after reading it.

Zeke Reynolds has been invited to an intergalactic study-abroad type situation as the "random." The other delegates are all exceptional children. They also leave Zeke out, because statistically it is better for them to do so. Can Zeke still have a good year, despite being left out?

It's hard for me to give too much of a synopsis here, because I don't want to spoil anything. If you have readers who love science fiction that are in grades 4 and up, this book will be a winner.

It feels weird to say "it was amazing!" about a book that deals with an abusive relationship, but this one truly is. I was curious about how I would deal with this book knowing that it was about an abusive relationship from the start--would I still fall for Alec? Or would that ruin the book for me? The truth is, it adds an interesting layer. For me, I was constantly stating on Twitter about how I wanted Zephyr (the main character) to not be interested in Alec, and yet you can totally see how she falls for him. There is something dark and charming about him, even as you realize that he is bad news. And hopefully, you will realize it before Zephyr does. And hopefully that realization will help young women as they navigate relationships in their teen years and beyond. An essential for library and personal collections.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for review.

Creepy plant horror--probably like the original Little Shop of Horrors. I enjoyed learning a lot about plants, without it feeling textbooky.

This book definitely had a lot of good coyote information and made me feel more sympathetic to them. However, the choice of present tense didn't work for me, and it really just wasn't my cup of tea. I think I would have rather read the same sort of information in a nonfiction title.

When a cat's rule in the house is threatened by a dog, she talks the dog into revolting and forming their own kingdom. Then begins a game of oneupmanship to see who can rule, with crazier and crazier animals being involved. For your fans of Bad Kitty and other similar zany animal novels.

It's hard for me to review this book, because it is hard for me to be objective about Jobs. I think it gives a good overview of his accomplishments. I also really like the technology section. I do wish the author had emphasized his shortcomings a bit more. If I didn't know more about Jobs, reading this book would probably lead me to believe he was an exemplary human, rather than the complicated being he was.