Roger's Reads – Page 55 – Author & Book Reviewer

Review of The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

February 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’ll tell you straight away that I love Shaun David Hutchinson’s writing and as such, I’m a bit of a fanboi. That being said, I loved The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza and felt that the author once again did an amazing job, with an intriguing (if not zany), unique plot and a cast of lovable, intertwined characters.

The blurb is as follows:

Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth.

This can be scientifically explained (it’s called parthenogenesis), but what can’t be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl she’s had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. What also can’t be explained are the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place.

As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of all—that the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it.

Introducing Elena Mendoza

The book centers around a bisexual high school girl of Cuban descent named Elena Mendoza who was the product of a virgin birth (yes, really! It’s a scientific process called parthenogenesis where an offspring is born from an unfertilized egg) and because of it, she is often the target of ridicule at school, as many of the students call her “Mary”.

It’s also important to note that strange voices speak to Elena regularly, often coming from stuffed animals, corporate logos or from other inanimate objects (my favorites were baby Cthulu and the girl on the tampon box). Now nobody knows about the voices — Elena has kept them a secret from everyone around her, more or less ignoring them because what they’ve had to say in the past has never been really all that important — until the day when the apocalypse of Elena Mendoza began.

The Day the Apocalypse Begins

The story begins at Starbuck’s where Elena spots her crush Winifred (”Freddie”) Petrine sitting at a table. Elena’s best friend Fadil convinces her to walk over to Freddie’s table and talk to her. Working up her courage, Elena heads toward the table, but as she does, a boy from her high school draws a gun and shoots Freddie’s in the stomach.

Elena rushes over to her and out of the blue, the voices tell Elena to heal Freddie, that she has that ability. Elena, not quite believing the voices, places her hands on Freddie — and lo and behold, the bullet hole disappears and Freddie is indeed healed. But that’s not the only “miracle” that takes place. The moment Freddie is healed, a blinding flash of gold light comes down from the sky and sucks up the shooter. In other words, he was raptured up.

Choices that Impact Humanity

From that moment on, the voices grow more insistent and prevalent (as well as irreverent), as they encourage Elena to go out into the world and heal more people — or else the world will end.

But as she soon learns, all is not “love and light.” There appears to be a hefty price to pay for what she is doing, and she begins to question whether that price is worth paying.

It’s also during this time Elena begins to wonder (as does the reader) whether the voices truly have humanity’s best interest in mind, even though they insist their goal is to save the world. Hell, we don’t even know who or what they are.

The Character of Elena

The story is told from the first-person point of view of Elena, and I loved her character. I also appreciated the fact that she was a sure-of-herself girl who had no heart-wrenching coming-out issues to deal with. She knew who exactly she was and was not afraid to stand her ground when necessary.

As such, Elena is a strong, likable and dynamic character who has to struggle with making a very difficult decision, one that could impact the entire world. I think that the author handled her dilemma in a new and interesting way, especially once Elena decides on the route she’s going to take. I was truly impressed.

Excellent Secondary Characters (mostly)

The characterizations are excellent in this book and the author not only brings all of the characters vividly to life, but he makes the reader care about them. The secondary characters, Freddie and Fadil, were well-fleshed out and like all of us, were messy, confused, complex and insecure people. In this way, all of the secondary characters are colorful, realistic, well-drawn, and add to the impact of this book.

Being human, they all made mistakes which added to their completeness. But in spite their shortcomings and “humanness,” they are a positive force in Elena’s life — even her ex Javi (who in the past consistently tried to get Elena into bed) ended up redeeming himself as the story progressed.

I liked that the relationship between Freddie and Elena was complicated and enjoyed seeing them both grow as characters. In fact, all of the characters in the book went through significant changes throughout the story, a sign of the adeptness of the author.

The one exception is Sean, the deadbeat dad who though was mostly harmless, eventually crossed the line, but I felt that his character was handled well by the author. He outlined the complexity of Sean’s relationship with Elena’s mother and her kids, making us realize that situations are not always as black and white as they may seem.

Those Darn Voices

I have to say that the voices at times were hilarious, even though we had to decide, as a reader, whether or not to trust them, as they were usually quite vague about what was going on and tended to evade Elena’s questions. But that aside, I found them to be a side-splitting at times, and I loved the snappy banter between them and Elena, as they harassed her more and more via the inanimate objects around her.

It Does Tackle Some Serious Issues

The author wasn’t afraid to tackle some difficult issues in the book: teenage shooters, identity, depression, bullying, domestic abuse, suicidal thoughts and making life-altering choices; but he did so with finesse. He also showed us the importance of finding the courage to speak out, even if things may not turn out the way we hope. I felt that Hutchinson managed to confront these sensitive topics with deftness and aplomb.

Verdict

This was a fresh, compelling and unique story that was a delight to read and hooked me from the get-go. Sean David Hutchinson has a knack for grabbing me from the first page and keeping you interested until the last — he certainly knows how to capture a reader’s attention.

I loved this off-the-wall book with its lovable characters and fresh, mysterious plot. This was a moving tale that gives the reader plenty to think about afterward. The ending left me satisfied and happy that I came across this beautifully written novel. This is another 5-star read for me. Recommended!

You can check out the Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza HERE

Review of Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

February 20, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

When this book caught my eye, I realized that I had never read a John Green book — not one — which is strange considering that I enjoy contemporary YA books and I’ve faithfully watched John and Hank Green’s weekly vlog Brothers videos for several years now. Since Turtles All The Way Down is his most recent work, I decided to start with that one.

The blurb is as follows:

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

The Missing Billionaire

The story starts out when Russell Pickett, a billionaire goes missing just before his arrest, and there’s a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Aza and her best friend Daisy search for clues about his disappearance, hoping to collect the reward. It’s worth mentioning that Russell Pickett is no stranger to Aza — or at least, his son Davis isn’t.

As it turns out, Aza and Davis were at a summer camp together years ago (which they named “Sad camp” as it was for children who’ve lost one of their parents). Once Aza and Daisy stumble onto the Pickett property and subsequently get caught, they are taken by security to the billionaire’s son, resulting in Aza inadvertently rekindling her friendship with Davis.

Davis and Noah

Davis and Noah are Pickett’s two children who are now left to fend for themselves, supervised only by paid house employees while authorities search for their fugitive father. Davis figures out what Aza is up to, and pleads with her not to search for his father. He doesn’t want to put his brother Noah (who’s only 13 years old) through the agony of seeing their father arrested and the subsequent media circus that’s bound to follow. Aza is torn, especially once she begins to fall for Davis. She also discovers a protective instinct seems to surface within her whenever she’s around Noah.

Where’s the Mystery?

So as I’m reading along, I noticed that not all that much is really happening in regards to the search for Russell Pickett. Aza and Daisy seem to have given up their quest, and there’s not really any other action going on relating to the billionaire’s disappearance. That’s when it hit me: Turtles All The Way Down is not about the mystery of a fugitive billionaire: it’s something completely different. The book has very little to do with what’s going on in the physical reality — it’s really about what’s going on in Aza’s mind.

Into Aza’s Mind

Rather than a mystery, this novel is instead a powerful story about mental illness. The story is told from the first-person point of view of Aza, who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which manifests for her as thought spirals which grip her and refuse to let go. That is to say, once she grasps onto a thought, she cannot pull herself back up from it, no matter how hard she may try. She’s trapped in her own mind.

For Aza, one particularly disturbing spiraling revolves around a fear that potentially fatal bacteria has gotten into her body somehow and will lead to her passing away from C. Diff (Clostridium difficile).

The Main Story

In this way, the disappearance of the billionaire is secondly to the working of Aza’s mind and how her OCD affects her relationship with Daily, her mother, and Davis. The story is heartbreaking at times as Aza struggles with her desire to be a “good” daughter, friend and girlfriend, but her mind simply doesn’t allow it. It’s not surprising that this all leads to significant self-confidence issues and depression on Aza’s part as she fears that she’s making everyone around her miserable.

The book wasn’t always easy to read, and I think that was the point. This is a book that hurts your heart as we experience first-hand what it’s like to be in her mind and witness how anxiety can completely take over a person’s life.

Through Aza, we gain insight into what it might be like to live with constant runaway intrusive thoughts and how difficult it is to keep a grasp on reality. For me, this story provided an eye-opening and raw portrayal of what’s the struggle might be like — a struggle that others around you might not always understand. For example, Daisy considers Aza as kind of self-centered and selfish, obviously not fully understanding that Aza had no control over her thought spirals.

Though it dealt with serious subject matter, the book was also light, humorous and laugh-out-loud funny in places. Green did an excellent job of balancing the seriousness of the book’s theme with playfulness and lightheartedness, and in so doing, I couldn’t help but fall in love with all the characters in this book.

The Verdict

Turtle’s All The Way Down was about a young girl’s struggle to find her place in the world and figure out her part in the big picture of things, something that many of us struggle with from time to time.

This was a beautiful engaging book not just about OCD, but also about friendship, loyalty, about finding yourself and about sticking by and being there for one another throughout the thick and thin of life’s experiences. It was also a gentle reminder of the importance of stopping and putting ourselves in the shoes of our loved ones from time to time.

The book was a powerful character-driven and unique story that was heartbreaking in some places and funny in others. The ending was perfect and hopeful — overall, a brilliant story. Another excellent 5-star book for me. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Green’s work. Recommended!

You can check out Turtles All The Way Down HERE

Review of History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

February 16, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for an author who’ll rip your heart out from your chest and make you cry, then Adam Silvera is your man. I knew going in that History Is All You Left Me would be a heartbreaker but I was amazed at the intensity and range of emotions I experienced while reading this exceptional and at times emotionally draining story of love, loss, friendship, grief. . . and hope. Now I don’t want you to think that this book is one huge downer because it’s really not…there’s so much more to it.

The Blurb is as follows:

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Theo’s Funeral

The story opens at the scene of a funeral. Told from the first-person point of view of 17-year old Griffen, we learn that the funeral we are seeing is that of his ex-boyfriend and first love Theo. Griffen is devastated by this grief and through the narration, Griffen continuously “talks” to Theo in his thoughts as though they were both in the same room together. At first, I thought this was kind of morbid but then, how many of us think of our loved ones who’ve passed and talk to them in our thoughts, thinking perhaps of what we’d say to them were they still here?

Griffen’s heart is ripped open even further the day of the funeral when Theo’s current boyfriend Jackson shows up and shares his memories of Theo during the service.

The History

What’s interesting about this book, is that the chapters alternate between present day (the funeral day and the following days afterward) and the story of Theo and Griffen’s history together. Via the “history” chapters, we learn how they became friends and fell and love, how they both came out to their parents together, the first time they have sex together and the reasons behind their breakup, all leading us to Theo’s passing.

A big part of the story – both past and present – is Griffen’s attempt at dealing with his OCD. We see him trying to deal with Theo’s death while trying to keep what he refers to as his “compulsions” in check: obsessively counting (no odd numbers allowed), ensure that nobody is ever situation on his left side at any time, etc.

Alternating the chapters between past and present provided a nice balance in the story. In one chapter, we read through grief and pain while in the next, we experience the exhilaration of an exciting first love. The author did an excellent job with this, and the past and present method of storytelling really worked well for me.

Jackson

Jackson, who is staying with Theo’s parents, surprisingly reaches out to Griffen and an unlikely friendship develops between the two of them, as they share their memories of Theo and end up supporting each other through the grieving process.

Though Griffen feels as though he should hate Jackson given that Theo replaced Griffen with Jackson, Griffen discovers instead that Jackson is the only person he can talk to — the only person who truly understands what he himself is going through.

I applaud the author for not making Jackson into some kind of villain, given that he was the one who stole away our protagonist’s first love. Jackson ending up being not only an interesting character but also a rather likable character and someone with whom we empathized.

The Themes (as I saw them)

As Theo and Jackson shared their memories, I was struck by the repeated message of how important it is for us to appreciate the people in our lives while they’re here.

Another one of the themes that seemed to run throughout the novel was that though we may have grandiose plans for our future, there’s no guarantee that we or our loved ones will be around to carry them out. So in this way, it’s essential that we “live in the moment”, and not postpone living for some later future date which may never come.

Life isn’t always going to turn out the way we intend and we don’t always get to choose our future. And when life does throw us for a loop, we have to realize that it’s okay to experience all the emotions that come with it because that’s what living is all about. Sometimes messy, sometimes scary but there are always more surprises for us around the next corner.

Griffen’s Journey

By seeing the past and the present firsthand, we accompany Griffen on a journey of the excitement of first love, his challenges with OCD, the emptiness he feels when Theo moves on, the jealousy that Jackson’s presence instills in him, the terrible grief and gut-wrenching heartache he goes through when Theo dies and finally, moving on.

Now it’s worth mentioning that Griffen doesn’t necessarily handle each situation in the best way — but do any of us? Especially when faced with such extreme situations? His failures and foibles just made him even more human and someone I think most of us can relate to.

But There Are Surprises

As we experience Griffen and Theo’s past, we expect a simple and tender story of two boys falling in love, resulting in tragedy. But there’s much more to it than that. There was one surprise twist that I did not see coming. Additionally, the mystery surrounding Theo’s death finally comes out into the open at the end of the book.

The Verdict

Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was hesitant going in — I mean who can approach a novel about death, grief, and pain without more than a bit of hesitation? But what I found instead was an incredible emotional and gripping character-driven story that was tender and raw at the same time.

I don’t want to give you the impression that it was a depressing downer of a book. It wasn’t. Now I’m not saying that it’s an easy story to read because it’s not. But what it is (in my humble opinion), is a beautiful, well-written emotional story with deep (though flawed) characters that is well worth reading.

It’s not only a book about love and loss, but also about forgiveness and hope. History Is All You Left Me is definitely a 5-star book for me. Recommended!

You can check out History Is All You Left Me HERE

Review of Release by Patrick Ness

February 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I enjoyed reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness awhile ago (the movie was quite good as well) so I was eager to pick up another book by this same author entitled Release, which I believe is his latest work.

The entire novel takes place during the span of one day and focuses on: 1) The life of a young man, Adam Thorn, who following a series of events and situations, feels undeserving of love and 2) A murdered girl who returns from the dead to obtain vengeance for her death — oh, and she’s sharing a body with otherworldly queen.

The blurb is as follows:

Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life.

Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela.

But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

An Unusual Format

This is an unusual book in that it follows two separate stores, with each chapter alternating between the two. One is a modern realistic storyline depicting an interesting day in the life of a gay teen. The other is a paranormal story, featuring a resurrected murdered girl who is sharing a body with a Queen of another realm.

Adam’s Story

The first story follows a day in the life of Adam Thorn, a young gay teen living in an extremely religious household (his father is a pastor). This isn’t one of those stories when a gay teen is deeply in the closet or shunned by his parents, thrown out, or otherwise abused. The author does manage to illustrate, however, the manner in which certain religious beliefs can damage relationships and tear a family apart.

But Adam is comfortable with his sexuality, even though it isn’t a subject he ever discusses with his parents, even though he’s fairly certain they are well aware that he’s gay.

Because of his parent’s beliefs and their unwillingness to acknowledge Adam’s sexuality, however, he feels rejected and unloved by them but forges ahead despite their distance. This is depicted perfectly by his father’s off-handed comment to Adam:

“You have no idea how hard I work to love you.”

Adam is also, suffering from a broken heart. Though he is currently dating a boy who adores him (Linus), Adam is unable to completely commit to him because he is still pining horribly for his ex, Enzo, who didn’t treat Adam all that well while they were dating and subsequently dumped him. A going-away party is planned for Enzo later that evening, which Adam will be attending with Linus.

Earlier that day, Adam’s brother Marty (who is training to become an evangelical preacher like their father) drops a bombshell on Adam, which kind of shakes Adam’s foundations to the core (as well as results in a full-blown family crisis). While trying to be understanding and supportive of his brother’s predicament, Marty makes a hurtful comment regarding Adam’s sexuality, which kind of sets the tone for the rest of the day.

The day continues to challenge Adam when at work, his boss makes unwelcome sexual advances toward him and gives him a creepy ultimatum if he wants to keep his job. Then to top it all off, Adam learns that Angela — his dearest and best friend, confidant an emotional crutch – has another bombshell to drop on poor Adam.

There is a lot more going on with Adam but suffice it to say that by the end of the day, he’s able to overcome everything that the fates have thrown at him and, perhaps for the first time in his life, he is clear on who he is and what is really important to him. He understands that in this life, we have the option of choosing our family and by the end of the story, Adam is ready to reshape his life and move forward with his head held high.

Additionally, though things started out rocky with him and his brother, I was happy to see their relationship strengthen by the end of the book, as they formed an alliance in preparation for the new challenges they’ll both have to face.

The Paranormal Story

The second storyline follows the tale of a murdered girl who was a drug addict and killed by her boyfriend. She emerges from a lake and is followed by a Faun, who is invisible to her and who continually refers to her as “My Queen”. The body appears to be inhabited by two spirits: the spirit of the murdered girl and the spirit of a Queen of another realm (from what I can gather, although it wasn’t quite clear to me where she was from).

The girl has one plan for the day: to get revenge on the person who killed her. The Faun’s goal is to make the Queen remember who she is, for if the Faun is unsuccessful, the entire world will be destroyed — so we have the element of the “ticking time bomb” thrown in for extra suspense.

This tale, though it seemed separate from Adam’s story, does merge together with Adam’s life at the end, in a surprising and satisfying way.

The Verdict

I admit that it took me awhile to adjust to the strange format of the book with the seemingly unrelated alternating storylines but it ended up working for me as it all came together in the final pages.

This was a wonderful book and I loved how the author portrayed Adam and his friends talking openly and positively about sex and being gay, all behind a very powerful message: We deserve to be loved.

The book deals with several real-world issues: sexual harassment, shame, religious extremism, love, family bonds and being true to oneself. There is certainly pain and heartache in parts of the story and it is an intense read. But there is a lightness to it as well, and the overarching theme is a positive one. Because of this, I found Release to be a beautiful, heartfelt novel that was life-affirming and a delight to read.

The characters are realistic, vivid and well-developed, and you can help falling in love with them by the end of the book (well, maybe except for Enzo). Recommended!

You can check out Release HERE

Review of Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

February 13, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Spoiler Alert: This book is the sequel to “Anna Dressed in Blood”, the first in the series and this review gives away what happens at the end of that book. So if you plan on reading Anna Dressed in Blood (which I heartily recommend), you may not wish to proceed forward with this review.

Okay, so you’ve been warned.

The Girl of Nightmares begins several months after the massive battle that took place at the end of Anna Dressed in Blood, and Cass, Thomas, and Caramel are still dealing with the fallout.

The blurb is as follows:

It’s been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can’t move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live―not walk around half dead. He knows they’re right, but in Cas’s eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he’s seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he’s asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong…these aren’t just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn’t know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn’t deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it’s time for him to return the favor.

Is Anna Really Gone?

It’s been four months since Anna sacrificed herself to save Cas and his friends, and Cas is trying to come to terms with losing Anna. But he’s having a terrible time of it, and he can’t seem to get her out of his mind. Moreover, he’s been seeing her and hearing her voice everywhere, both while he’s awake and in his dreams. It must be his imagination or hallucinations, he thinks. Anna is gone for good. Everyone tells him that Anna is gone for good. So it must be true.

Finally, however, Anna manages to appear to him in person and communicate with him, but only for a moment — and from what Cas can gather, Anna is in a terrible place, is in terrible trouble and is suffering horribly. She’s trapped. And only Cass can set her free.

The Order

This is perhaps the most dangerous situation that Cass has ever gotten involved with and from what he’s been told, moving forward with this venture will result in a terrible price (“there’s always a price”). Everyone tells him to let it go, to let Anna go, to walk away. . . but he can’t do it. This is Anna, after all — the only girl he’s ever loved.

But as he soon learns, he can’t rescue her alone. He needs the help of a creepy somewhat cultish esoteric Order who may not have Cas’s best interests at heart; in fact, some of the members would be well-served by (and are hoping for) his death.

The Main Event

Against the advice of his family and friends, he decides to forge ahead and undertake the dangerous journey along with a member of the Order (Jess, who was trained by the order to replace Cas) to rescue Anna from the horrible place in which she’s been trapped.

This is where the story really heats up as there is a desperate race for time, and Cas has no choice but to put his trust in the Order.

If he doesn’t manage to find and rescue Anna within the allotted amount of time, he dies. And if he does manage to rescue Anna and bring her back, there’s a very good chance that the Order will try to kill her. But he’s determined, so he goes deeper into the darkness then he’s ever gone before.

The Verdict

The first book (Anna Dressed in Blood) was a complete novel in an of itself, and the ending seemed well-wrapped up and final — so I was surprised to learn that The Girl of Nightmares was actually a continuation of that first book — an amazing sequel to a powerful first book which completely sucked me in.

I loved the new worlds that Blake created in this book, including the Suicide Forest and Hell itself. There were also plenty of surprises in the story, and we learn more about Cass’s father, Gideon’s history, the history of the Athame and the old Order which ties them all together.

Reading about Cass, Thomas and Carmel felt like I was reuniting with old, dear friends, a testament to the author’s character building ability. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about my favorite characters once again, and it was interesting to see how they matured from the first book.

Like the first book, The Girl of Nightmares is told from Cas’s first-person point of view, and he’s once again an excellent narrator. Like the other characters, I loved seeing how much Cas had changed and grown over the past several months.

The Girl of Nightmares was eerie, gripping and suspenseful, with vivid, believable characters and entertaining dialogue. It was scary and quite tense in places and kept me on the edge of my seat, dying to know what was going to happen next. The plot was fast-paced and exciting, with plenty of twists and turns to add mystery and surprise to the story.

It was a roller-coaster ride of a story; at times, light and full of humor that made me laugh out loud; other times, full-on terror that made me leery of turning to the next page. The pacing was perfect and at no point during the story did I feel bored or disinterested.

I felt that the story of Anna and Cas was nicely wrapped up at the end resulting in a satisfying though bittersweet conclusion. That being said, the story felt resolved and complete to me, though I suppose it’s possible there could be another book. If so, I’d definitely rush out to get it, I love this world that Ms. Blake has created that much. Kendare Blake is definitely on my insta-buy list.

This is another 5-star book for me. Recommended!

You can check out the Girl of Nightmares HERE.

Review of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

February 10, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Rather, it is simply the tale of how two people can be important to each other their whole lives, and then, one morning, quite without meaning to, one of them wakes to find that importance has been magnified into a sudden and intense desire to put his tongue in the other’s mouth. ~ Henry (“Monty”) Montague

I can’t begin to express how much I loved The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. This is not just an LGBT romance – it’s a wild, funny, adventurous and often harrowing romp through 18th century Europe. This book absolutely wrecked me in the most delightful and unexpected ways, and I could gush on and on about how much I loved it.

The blurb is as follows:

A young bisexual British lord embarks on an unforgettable Grand Tour of Europe with his best friend/secret crush. An 18th-century romantic adventure for the modern age written by This Monstrous Thing author Mackenzi Lee—Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets the 1700s.

Henry “Monty” Montague doesn’t care that his roguish passions are far from suitable for the gentleman he was born to be. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quests for pleasure and vice are in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

So Monty vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Introducing Henry (aka “Monty”)

The story takes place in the 18th century (around 1720, I believe) and revolves around Henry Montague, who is known as “Monty” by those closest to him. Monty, the spoiled, reckless and egotistical son of Lord Earl Montague, has a reputation for being a flirtatious self-centered “rake” and a rogue, much to the chagrin of his domineering father. In addition to heavy drinking, gambling and being overly “generous with his affections”, Monty is also known for bringing both ladies and lads into his bedroom — quite scandalous behavior for the 18th century England, especially given that sodomy was still illegal and severely punished during this time-period.

During the opening chapters, we learn of his contentious relationship with his father, but we quickly learn that there is more than what we see at the surface, especially Monty cringes and draws back every time his father lifts his hand. It doesn’t take a lot of detective work to see there’s some abuse going on.

There’s also a boy that Monty is especially sweet on, a neighbor who has been by Monty’s side for years. The only thing, is that this boy doesn’t know how Monty feels, and perhaps fearing rejection, Monty has no plans on telling him. As such, a good part of the story revolves around Monty’s longing for . . .

Percy

The mild-mannered sweet Percy, Monty’s longtime best friend and the object of his affection, is an adorable character. It’s worth mentioning that Percy is biracial and because of this, encounters difficulties that the privileged Monty doesn’t always understand or cannot relate to.

The two of them, though not romantically involved initially, seem to have a special relationship, though Monty finds it more and more difficult merely being in Percy’s presence and finds himself falling even more desperately in love with him. This quote by Monty (thought to himself) sums it up:

Oh, by the way, could you perhaps not touch me the way you always have because each time it puts fresh splinters in my heart?

The Tour

After a brief introduction to the characters, the novel begins to take off as Monty, Monty’s younger sister Felicity and Percy are about to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe. Monty considers this trip as the opportunity of “sewing his wild oats” and looks forward to a year of debauchery with Percy. His father has different ideas, however. He assigns a guide called a bear-leader to ensure that Monty doesn’t embarrass the Earl — and to make sure that Monty brings no lads to his bedroom.

So the Tour begins not quite as exciting as Monty had hoped, being under the watchful eye of the bear-leader, and consists mainly of museum exhibits and evenings at the opera. But this changes one night when he’s invited to a high-society party at Versailles where he quickly makes an enemy of the Duke of Bourbon. The evening ends with Monty running naked through the gardens of Versailles being pursued by the palace guards.

And Then Things Get REALLY Interesting

Rushing away the next morning to avoid the inevitable fallout of Monte’s ungentlemanly behavior of the evening before, their carriage is stopped by Highwayman, the 18th-century version of bandits. Henry, Monty, and Percy manage to escape but they have no idea whether their bear-leader survived the attack.

With no luggage and no money, the trio makes it to a lively fair in the next town, where they learn that it is actually King Louis’s men who are pursuing them because of an “innocent” object that Percy stole from the Duke of Bourbon’s office the evening before.

Pirates, Alchemists, and Zombies!

Once the three are on the run, the adventure really begins as their days are fraught with peril and treachery. They get captured by pirates, encounter murderous alchemists, get arrested, end up on a sinking island and..yes, even encounter a zombie-ish character. But to go into any more detail would dangerously head into spoiler territory.

But let’s just say that the novel suddenly transforms into a nail-biting, page-turning, heart-in-your-throat wild ride at this point and we learn that nothing is quite as it seems; especially in regards to our main three characters, as there are quite a few surprises in store for the reader.

But It’s Not All Fun and Games

Though the book is a humorous and quirky romp, the story does touch on some serious issues such as racism, homophobia, PTSD, sexuality, mental health, disabilities, abuse, misogyny, privilege and the reckless misuse of power. The author flawlessly weaves these themes into the story, however, without diminishing the overall humorous feel or levity of the novel.

The Verdict

To start with, the characters were amazing! Each character went through a major transformation by the end of the novel and there were no cardboard cutouts here; every character was well-developed, realistic and compelling. It was a treat watching them interact and observing the sometimes tense dynamics between them.

The narration, told from Monty’s point of view, was exquisite and the author really did an excellent job of portraying the time-period of the novel and Monty’s social position (also his more-than-occasional daftness). Insufferable as Monty was at times, he quickly wormed his way into my heart.

The relationship between Monty and Percy was also expertly done and tender, with their romance evolving slowly along with their personal transformation throughout the novel. Felicity’s character was amazing – a strong and intelligent woman with a scientific mind for medicine, who was born a couple of centuries before her time. In fact, I’d love to see an entire book from Felicity’s point of view.

All in all, the Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was a delightful beautifully-written witty story with excellent characters, perfect pacing, an ever-twisting and surprising storyline, lots of diversity and plenty of heart. This was a most exhilarating journey and one that I’m grateful I took. Recommended!

You can check out The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue HERE