Surviving the Angel of Death
By Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri
Summary courtesy of goodreads.com

Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death.

Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele's twins were granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiements or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp.

In a narrative told with emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child's endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue on Eva's recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis.

Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.

Review

Surviving the Angel of Death is a harrowing read but a necessary one, its a reminder of mans intolerance and hatred of their fellow man, and of one mans horrific experiments on pregnant woman and twins.

Although this subject is horrific the author has aimed this at young readers, she hasn't sugar coated any of the events and gives an honest pro trail of this abhorrent moment in history.

I felt a range of emotions while reading this book- sadness, hope, fear and admiration. I would definitely recommend this book to any reader over the age of twelve years old.

5 Stars

THE ROSIE PROJECT
BY GRAEME SIMSION
SUMMERY COURTESY OF GOODREAD

“I am thirty-nine years old; single, intelligent, fit, in excellent health and I have a relatively high status and above-average income as an associate professor. Logically, I should be attractive to a wide range of women. In the animal kingdom, I would succeed in reproducing.

However, there is something about me that women find unappealing. I have never found it easy to make friends, and it seems that the deficiencies that caused this problem have also affected my attempts at romantic relationships. The Apricot Ice-cream Disaster is a good example.”

These are the words of Don Tillman, an odd, charming, highly successful Professor of Genetics, whose long history of ‘not fitting in’ has convinced him that he is not wired for romance. But at weekly dinners with his elderly neighbor and valued new friend, Daphne (Don can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand), she convinces him to re-evaluate his prospects.

And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he embarks upon The Wife Project, designing a questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner: a punctual, non-drinking, non-smoking female who will fit in with his regimented lifestyle.

When Rosie appears on the scene, it is clear that she fits none of his selection criteria: a spontaneous, outspoken barmaid who smokes and curses, and simply adjusts the time on Don’s clock when he complains that they have fallen off his carefully planned schedule. Yet an unlikely partnership blooms when Don agrees to help Rosie search for her biological father. As Rosie pushes Don out of his comfort zone again and again, he finds to his surprise that he may be having fun. But can a real relationship take root if Don isn’t wired to feel emotion like everyone else?

Graeme Simsion’s moving and comic novel, sustained by a remarkable narrative voice, takes the reader on an immensely satisfying journey as Don seeks to see more within himself than he ever thought was possible.


Review

Graeme Simsion has produced a book unlike anything I've ever read before, its quirky, funny, witty and intelligent. The characters were well developed and the writing was compelling and had me super glued to my e reader from the first paragraph.

This book had me laughing out loud and then wanting to weep as I turned the page as once again things didn't turn out well for Don. My heart went out to this somewhat odd college professor right from the very start as he made his way through life, just slightly out of step from the rest of the world around him.

Don Tillman has Asperger’s. He knows he’s ‘wired differently’ (he reminded me of Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory),but 'he also knows that he deserves somebody special in his life. After much thought Don creates the Wife Project; a 16-page questionnaire.

Don meets Rosie who immediately fails on two Wife Project counts.(she drinks and smokes). Although Don and Rosie have nothing in common they are drawn together in the hunt to find Rosie's biological father.

Rosie is a complete contrast to Don,shes modern, unreliable and full of emotion. Rosie's interactions with Don are hysterical,she draws him out of his world and helps him see the world differently which ultimately leads him to finding love and acceptance hes always dreamed of.
This heartwarming, witty book is sure to bring a smile to readers.

5 plus stars

Scrap
By Emory Sharplin
Summery courtesy of goodreads.com


On the brutal streets of Hellip, a village in the vast empire of the cruel King Ibis, you either become good at running from the king’s Blackcoats or you die. This is the lesson that twelve-year-old Tucker Scrap, abandoned as an infant among the orphans of Hellip, learned early.

Along with her friends Ash and Kally, Tucker spends her time keeping one step ahead of the unjust laws, stealing what she needs to survive, and pondering her own unknown origins—and those of the enchanted bracelet with which she was found.

Now, both Ash and Kally have vanished from the orphanage, perhaps headed for the faraway city where Ibis still rules. When a mysterious girl named Vivian arrives in Hellip with a strange invitation to Tucker, the leader of the orphans decides that this may be her opportunity to find her missing friends. But more than this: it may become an opportunity to recover her hidden inheritance, and to change the fate of an entire kingdom.

The introduction to a fantasy world rich with ancient magic, enigmatic gypsies, palace labyrinths, and deep woods haunted by strange and forbidding creatures, Emory Sharplin’s debut novel tells the story of Tucker Scrap: a bold, memorable heroine at the center of a centuries-old mystery, stepping into her destiny at last.

Review

Once again I've been suckered in by a beautiful cover and an interesting blurb, only to be disappointed by a disjointed plot. Moreover this author doesn't understand that less is more - come on
Street rats, a mssing princess, the assassination of a Queen, cruel kings, poverty, Blackcoats, a missing Duchess, friends gone missing,proper, life in the rich lane, enchanted jewelry, magic, gypsies, almost-rape scene, it was all just to much.

The attempted rape scene was fobbed off by Tucker as funny, WTF- THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT RAPE and I'm sure I won't be the only person who is offended by this, Emory Sharplin was so disconnected and derogatory and dismissive in her attitudes about some female characters.
This book totally pissed me off.
2 STARS

LETTERS FROM SKYE

Letters from Skye
By Jessica Brockmole

Summery courtesy of goodreads.com
A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.

March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.

June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago.

Review

I cannot tell you how much I loved this book, it was charming, it was heart wrenching but above all this, its my favorite book of 2013 thus far. Some of you who know me will laugh - wheres the body,violence and detectives, or teen aghast or fantasy.

This book had none of that it charmed me with its simplicity,and reminded me of the power that the written word carries between people when there's no other means available.

Elspeth and Davey charmed me, firstly with their friendly banter and then with their all encompassing love. This beautifully told tale spans two world wars separation and misplaced honor.
Highly recommended.
5.5 stars

25 Perfect Days

25 Perfect Days
By Mark Tullius
Summery courtesy of goodreads.com
A totalitarian state doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a slow, dangerous slide. 25 Perfect Days chronicles the path into a hellish future of food shortages, contaminated water, sweeping incarceration, an ultra-radical religion, and the extreme measures taken to reduce the population.

Higher taxes, strict gun control, an oppressive healthcare system. Complete media control, genetically modified food, experimentation on citizens. The push of depersonalizing technology, unending wars, government sanctioned assassinations. Is this collection of stories merely science fiction or soon to be fact? Are these policies designed for the greater good or disguised to benefit a chosen few at the expense of the masses? Is this brave new world the best we could do or part of a sinister grand plan?

Through these twenty-five interlinked stories, each written from a different character’s point of view, 25 Perfect Days captures the sacrifice, courage, and love needed to survive and eventually overcome this dystopian nightmare.

Review

Thank you NetGalley and Vincere Press, for giving me the opportunity to read 25 PERFECT DAYS, I got exactly what I was hoping for and so much more it was a disturbing but mesmerizing read. Move over The Hunger games and Divergent,Mark Tullius has done the impossible; hes produced a dystopian novel that teens and adults will both enjoy; thanks to the array of characters you encounter throughout the 25 short stories that make up 25 Perfect days.
In this post apocalyptic world, everyday life is a struggle and you do your to survive and get by., if life doesn’t kill you, your lucky because it will try again.

Each story has a cast of characters that are trying to get by. In this world the religious leaders have determined they know best and as long as you agree with that doctrine you will be okay. You lose all your independence and most of your money and belongings but you survive. The religious dogma floats through most of the stories here.

4 Stars