When We Collided review

When We Collided by Emery Lord is one of those lover’s knot stories that sneaks up on you.  Straight off, you know these two characters, Vivi and Jonah, were going to fall in love and thus change something about themselves.  But, until the end Lord keeps Vivi’s façade up and running, focusing primarily on Jonah and his family.
There are times Vivi’s condition is hinted at and discussed but never in detail and never with Jonah.  That’s where the relationship fails.  That’s the ultimate breaking point for Vivi, I think.  She never told Jonah the truth until it was too late to matter.
I could spend all day breaking down every fine point in their relationship and what it meant or didn’t mean, but what it boils down to is the connection between them.  I call these types of romances lover’s knot stories because the author takes every detail about each lover and knots it together to make them not only individuals, but a single entity.  In Celtic tradition the lover’s knot has no beginning and no end, symbolizing an eternal love, it also cannot be untied, symbolizing an unbreakable love.
Lord uses modern language and spectacular knowledge of intimate relationships to bring this relationship to the forefront of the story, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention a few other characters as well.
Felix and his daughter Ellie show up in the story right when we find out about Vivi’s condition, Jonah still doesn’t know, but it emphasizes the loneliness they both feel even with each other.  Ellie stays close to Jonah after her reintroduction into his life because she knows his mom needs help.  After seeing her brother battle depression, she didn’t want anyone else she cared about to feel that pain.  Jonah’s mom is a constant in the story, you can always feel her in everything Jonah says or does, because everything he says or does is for his family, to keep his mom protected.
This was a remarkable work of fiction.  Having suffered through some of these things personally and seeing my friends suffer through them, I can say it’s one of the most honest portrayals of emotionally unstable relationships I’ve read.  Lord does an amazing job with her use of language, her spot on dialogue, and her subtleties.
Brilliantly done.

Borderline by Mishell Baker Review

Borderline by Mishell Baker is an artistic understanding of not only mental illness but the stigma associated with it.
Baker opens in first person POV inside the mind of a woman who had attempted suicide.  I love how she did this because it makes Millie more than a narrator or a patient or a character in the story.  She becomes vulnerable.  Human.
This helps provide a genuine contrast between the humans and the Fae.  It also allows a unique perspective of mental illness, suicide, and the stigma attached.  Since she wrote in first person, Baker was able to analyze not only Millie but those she comes into contact with through the lens of Millie’s Borderline Personality Disorder.  No narrator is perfect, every writer is unique.  But this is the first contemporary fantasy novel I’ve read that openly acknowledges and addresses a mental illness.
I applaud Baker on her blended style of contemporary fantasy and am truly grateful there is now fiction literature set in first person that steps boldly into the world of magic and the world of mental illness simultaneously.

Ella Review

Ella- Cinders and Ash by Erik Schubach is the third book in the Urban Fairytales series and it’s in this installment things start to change for our many and varied heroines.
Schubach uses his personal narrative spiced with the characters’ wit and banter to make for compelling drama.  Two, well three, new characters are introduced in this book: Parker, who is the narrator, Ella, and Marie, who shares Ella’s body.  They cause trouble from page one and are quickly teamed up with the Red Hood and Gretta Snow to go in search of the fourth avatar, The Briar Rose.
Erik Schubach is putting a whole new twist on fairy tales.  Kick ass heroines with no need of a dashing prince, blessings that curse, and darkness that threatens the modern world.  Now the four avatars of the original fairytales have to come together to defeat the evil of the Black Crown and save humanity from werewolves.
Brilliantly rendered.  A knock-down, drag out page turner no reader could put down.  You will read this in one sitting.

The Martian Review

The Martian by Andy Weir is the story of one man’s struggle to survive, that’s the punch for the book, that’s the tagline.  The book that I read gave me so much more than a cast away survival story.  This man, Mark Watney, beyond wanting to stay alive, he wanted to stay human, to not loose himself.
Weir took the knowledge that was so extreme and could have easily put readers off and had Mark explain it in his witty sarcastic logs.  It was fun to read Mark because you always know he’s going to say or do something crazy and that it’s probably going to work.
When I first started this book, I got a little nervous when I noticed it was written in logs by one man.  There would be no dialogue no character dynamic, none of those things that generally make an interesting narrative.  But then, Weir brought in NASA and the Ares 3 crew and it came together very nicely.
All in all this book combines solid science, classic wit, and human desire to make a riveting read.

Snow: The White Crow Review

Another Urban Fairytales book, another binge read.
Snow: The White Crow is the second in the series by Erik Schubach.  I am officially in love with this story and this author’s style.
For this installment, Schubach has once again chosen to write in 1st person POV, but he’s writing from a different character.  Instead of Daria and Maireni from Red Hood, he narrates with Gretta Snow.  It’s a style of serializing I haven’t seen before.  The story seems to follow a legend rather than a specific character.  This allows a first person POV to drop into whatever character is active within the legend in a given time.  It keeps the story moving and works very well for this narrative.
My other favorite thing about Schubach’s writing is that he writes lesbian romance that is fresh and somewhat innocent.  In Snow, the romance is more mature than it was in Red Hood, but it’s never gratuitous or erotic.  The love between the characters is a part of the story.  It’s something that actually propels the narrative.
I love reading these stories and will continue to do so as long as they keep getting written.

Red Hood: The Hunt Review

I picked up Red Hood: The Hunt thinking it would be a fun urban fantasy with a gay main character.  I could not put this book down.  Literally, I read it in one sitting.  Erik Schubach did an awesome job crafting Daria and Maireni the story around them and the love they fall into.  The most amazing thing about this to me, when I read it, I didn’t know it had been written by a man.
There was no eroticism in the love scenes.  Schubach left a purity there which was so refreshing and lets the reader focus on the story.  Plus the timeline of the love made sense.  I mean with werewolves at your gate, you’re hardly just going to run off with a strange woman.  Schubach is so smart with Daria’s character and incredibly brave, in my opinion, to write in first person.
The development is spot on, the characters are brilliant, and the legends and world building puts the reader in the story.
I’m hooked.

Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson

Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson is an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare; however, since I have not read the original Shakespeare in about 15 years I am going to review this as a stand-alone with no comparisons or analysis regarding the adaptation.
The relationship between the two groups of characters, the fathers and the children, is written broadly enough that the reader doesn’t get bogged down in characters but finite enough that each individual does stand out.  Once the main characters are introduced, the dynamic is immediately understood.  This makes the story easier to tell because there’s less exposition needed, so the narration is able to move a lot faster.

I thought the character of Shylock was a sort of manifestation of Strulovitch’s own insecurities, and to a point still do even though he did have a role in the narrative.  Shylock, for the most part, served as the Jew on Strulovitch’s shoulder, constantly trying to direct his actions.  The reason for Shylock’s interest in Strulovitch is the similarity between them, for Shylock also lost his daughter to gentiles.
For me, this became a lesson in keeping an open mind, learning from those around you, and knowing what love is.
Masterful work by Howard Jacobson truly enjoyable.