Blind Your Ponies

Title: Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

There's not a lot of hope left in the fading town of Willow Creek, least of all for the high school basketball team with their ninety-three game losing streak. But the people of Willow Creek aren't quite ready to give up on their dreams, and Coach Sam Pickett and five young men are going to provide the strength and courage they need to bring joy and ambition back to their town.

Blind Your Ponies is a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down.

In the book, Stanley Gordon West created not just one or two fully developed characters but an entire town of them. Their lives are intricate and intertwined but not to the extent that the reader is distracted from the story by trying to keep track of all the subtle details. Within pages, I was completely invested in the characters and their happiness, from the grief-striken coach to the humble giant of an exchange student to kooky grandma Chapman.

Over the course of the story, the townspeople come together to support their underdog basketball team and begin to grow closer. It becomes clear that there's a lot that they don't know about one another and my one complaint about the book is that it almost seems like there are too many secrets for this tiny town. However, most seem to fit with the overarching story of these courageous boys and their fellow townspeople. And as they open up to one another, they learn that sometimes life gets better when you have someone to lean on and share your burdens.

To quote some cliches, it's the story of hope and hard work overcoming adversity, of getting up again when the world knocks you down. After so very many losses, almost no one believes that the boys can win a game, let alone the state-sanctioned conference, but with Coach Pickett and Grandma Chapman cheering them on, the boys are willing to believe in miracles.

Blind Your Ponies is an absolute must-read. It's one of the best books I've read this year and is definitely being added to my favourites list. I can't wait to see what this once-self-published author comes out with next.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5

Bruno isn't sure exactly what his father's job is, only that he's "a man to watch," and that his new promotion has forced the family to move to a horrible place called "Out-with" where there's no one to play with and a fence runs along the property as far as the eye can see. He's been told to stay away from the fence and the strange people on the other side but one day while exploring Bruno finds a young boy sitting just on the other side of the fence. Though their circumstances differ greatly and they can never actually play together, the two boys strike up a strong friendship with unforeseen consequences.

I absolutely loved The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The Holocaust is a very difficult topic to deal with but I thought Boyne did a fantastic job, despite a slightly awkward beginning.

I found the eight-year-old narrator completely believable. Though he's sheltered by his parents and naive about what is actually going on, he does seem to realize that there's something strange about his new home and all of the people on the opposite side of the fence. He even picks up on the barely restrained rage of one of his father's lieutenants. As well, his difficulty in pronouncing some of the words was realistic and I loved that he referred to Hitler as the Fury, giving a little humour to such a large villain.

This book was originally written for children and so glosses over, rather than highlights, some of the atrocities that would have been occurring at the time. But even without the gruesome descriptions, Bruno's growing confusion over the treatment of his family's waiter, his separation from his grandparents and the circumstances of Shmuel's life, so very different than his own, emphasizes the injustice of the Holocaust and provides the book with some truly emotional scenes.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is both a heartwarming and heartbreaking book, and I highly recommend it. It's one I expect to reread in the future.

Outlaw by Angus Donald

Title: Outlaw by Angus Donald
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Rating: 3/5

From the back cover:
"When he's caught stealing, young Alan Dale is forced to leave his family and go to live with a notorious band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest. Their leader is the infamous Robin Hood...But Robin is a ruthless man - and although he is Alan's protector, if Alan displeases him, he could also just as easily become his murderer..."

I found Outlaw by Angus Donald a bit difficult to get into. The writing at the beginning was a bit dry and the plot a little slow, but I found the second half of the book much more interesting.

While I admit that my knowledge of Robin Hood is patchy and comes mostly from a handful of books and movies, Donald's Robin seems like a much darker character than he's normally portrayed. I'd always thought that Robin ruled through kindness to the less fortunate, but here he rules with fear, torturing and murdering those that betray him or stand against him. It's an interesting twist, at least for me. Tuck's description of him as a "cold-hot man" seems very fitting.

I really enjoyed the backstories provided for some of the secondary characters. Some authors don't consider Little John and Tuck important beyond the role they play in the love story of Robin and Marie-Anne, so it's nice to see stories explaining their history, even if it's only in the context of how they met Robin and joined his band of outlaws. However, I would have liked to see more of them throughout the book. Hopefully, they'll play a larger role as the series continues.

In the end, I'd probably only recommend Outlaw to those interested in the Robin Hood legend or to readers that enjoy a violent story. And I haven't decided yet whether I'll continue with the series or not.

Hidden Wives by Claire Avery

Title: Hidden Wives by Claire Avery
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/5

Fifteen-year-old Sara and her sister, Rachel, are members of a polygamist community and will soon be married to much older men chosen for them by the sect's Prophet. Distraught in his choices for their husbands, they begin to question their faith and must find the strength to leave behind the only life they've ever known.

Hidden Wives is a real page-turner. I was emotionally invested in the characters and wanted to know how everything worked out for them. Sara was stubborn to her core and has such a deep desire to learn. And poor Rachel is so very naive but so very loyal, even to her own detriment. My one complaint with the book is that it's almost too negative and biased; Sara, Rachel and Luke seem to be the only redeemable people in the entire community, while the other members commit evil act after evil act. However, Avery redeems herself with a talent for imagery. Her descriptions were vivid and realistic. This is not a book to be missed.

The Passage

Title: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Genre: Paranormal, Fiction
Rating:3/5

When a government experiment to improve human cellular regeneration goes horribly wrong, a nightmare beyond all imagining is released on the world. As civilization falls, one young girl is sheltered by an FBI agent who is haunted by his role in the catastrophe. But her survival is only the first step in much longer journey, one that will span decades, to bring an end to creatures that never should have existed.

The Passage by Justin Cronin is beautifully written and just brimming with vivid imagery. Cronin's talent with the written word is evident from the very first page.

As one of the most talked about books in North America last summer, I've been waiting months to read The Passage. At more than 750 pages it was obviously going to be a longer read, but until I actually started it, I didn't realize how truly dense the story was going to be. The book begins with several different story lines that slowly weave together until they join at the point where the experiment subjects break free of the compound. Unfortunately, this does mean that the first third of the book feels a lot like backstory and that the main storyline doesn't begin until 250 pages in, when we're presented with a whole new cast of characters.

This isn't the type of vampire story that's been popular for the last few years. These vampires aren't the friendly, vegetarian vampires of Twilight, but brutal and gruesome killers. In fact, with the virus-like way in which the vampirism spreads, the book is actually a really interesting combination of the vampire myth with the modern-day zombie apocalypse. And Cronin's writing style is very much in the vein of Stoker's Dracula - it's a literary, Gothic epic.

Although I was really intrigued by Cronin's idea, I wasn't captivated by the story itself. I had no problem putting the book down when other things came up, and I probably wouldn't have finished as quickly had I not been commuting at the time. Moreover, there's no true ending to the book as Cronin intends this to be the first book in a trilogy.

Although I wasn't overwhelmed but the book, I do recommend The Passage to other readers, particularly those interested in darker literature. As for me, I'm waiting to give the next book in the trilogy a try.

The Icing on the Cake

Title: The Icing on the Cake by Alison Kent
Genre: Non-fiction, Romance
Rating: 5/5

Michelle Snow was happy with the path her life was taking when her friends convinced her to try Match.com. Unwilling to settle for anyone but the man who would complete her, finding Todd Bracken's profile within her first set of matches seemed too good to be true. Will their love survive their unconventional meeting and the many obstacles that stand in their way?

The Icing on the Cake is a wonderful love story and a testament to how dreams can be realized with a little help and encouragement. And as the second of two good reads I've received from True Vows, it's leading me to expect great things from this line.

I really enjoyed Alison Kent's writing. It was extremely smooth, with minimal disruption at point-of-view changes. Even the emails were so expertly woven with the surrounding story that you weren't jolted out of the narrative. And her descriptions of Michelle's fabulous creations and of the treats she tries on the bakery tour were mouth-watering. I've never craved cupcakes as much as I did while reading this book.

And I loved the characterizations of Michelle and Todd immediately. They were interesting, complicated and balanced; there was none of the flatness that can be found in other biographical works.

The only thing I found disappointing was the lack of any overwhelming drama. Don't get me wrong, horrible things happened to both Michelle and Todd - she lost her job and he had to deal with his father's illness - but nothing truly seemed to threaten their relationship, the way relationships are threatened in fictional romances.

A wonderful and heartening book, The Icing on the Cake is a must-read for all romance fans. And True Vows is a line to watch in the future for talented writing and moving stories.

Thanks to Health Communications, Inc. for the review copy of The Icing on the Cake. The views expressed above are my own. For more information on The Icing on the Cake, check out the True Vows website.

The Man with the Golden Torc

Title: The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery
Rating: 4/5

The Drood family has been protecting humanity from the things that go bump in the night for centuries upon centuries. Eddie Drood, the family's black sheep, is one of the best until a mission proves to be a deadly trap. Declared rogue, Eddie must team up with the wild witch, Molly Metcalf, in order to find out who's trying to kill him and what horrid secret is at the heart of the family's power.

I really enjoyed The Man with the Golden Torc, though I found Green to be a bit long-winded with descriptions at points. Or maybe it was just that some of the descriptions seemed a little unnecessary. But since it's the first book in the series and he's setting everything up, I suppose I can forgive that. One thing I did love though was the chapter titles. Normally I don't pay much attention to them in books (since they're often quite boring and self-evident) but most of these were witty and fitting. I also liked the variety in the supernatural/science fiction/horror elements: all the elves, demon cars, aliens, robots and serial killers. It doesn't seem like it would work, but it does.

I really enjoyed Eddie as a character, he seemed pretty well-rounded with some faults but generally a good guy who does what he thinks is right. And Molly was fantastic. I thought she was going to be a little too much or too perfect at first but her naivete when it came to some of her friends and associates kept her realistic. And I loved Mr. Stab (aka Jack the Ripper). I always find it interesting to see how authors deal with people or characters that the reader is already familiar with.

I definitely recommend this book to other readers. And I'll be giving the next book in the series a try; it'll be interesting to see how Eddie deals with how things are left off in this book.