Catch Up

Hey Ladies!

I know. Long time no post from me. I guess that's what moving to another state and having baby #3 will do to you! I do have some really fun books I've read lately that I thought you might be interested in.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund - A dystopian story that is loosely framed after the plot of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I was a bit skeptical, because sometimes mash-ups can be more amusing or plain stupid, but it is well done. The author does have her own twists on things and it doesn't feel like she's trying to hard to push the romance between characters. I really liked it.

Basically, after the apocalypse, the people who have survived are the Luddites, who shunned technology. They then form the aristocracy in the new world and have set up rules to ward against a recurrence of disaster. There are lower caste groups of people that live on the estates of the Luddites. The main character, Elliot North, is the daughter of a Luddite estate owner and she had a childhood love, Kai, who was a member of a lower caste. He leaves and comes back successful to the estate. What will happen??? You'll have to read it. :)

Matched by Ally Condie - Also another dystopian story that I've described to people as a YA version of The Giver by Lois Lowry. Basically, after the apocalypse, Society has decided to restrict all the choices people could make so that things will be safer. People are matched to their mates at the age of 16 and Cassia is no different in dreaming of her match. There is a love triangle here folks and lots of interesting questions brought up about choices. This is the first of a trilogy (Book 2 - Crossed and Book 3 - Reached). I've read the first 2, but haven't read the last one yet.

The Bromeliad Trilogy (Book 1: Truckers, book 2: Diggers, book 3: Wings) by Terry Pratchett - For you fans of Terry Pratchett, these books will have you laughing out loud! These books are about Nomes (yes, they are little people, but they aren't garden ornaments). These Nomes struggle to survive as a people among humans. The Nomes are reminiscent of the Wee Free Men from the Tiffany Aching series, but not so Scottish. :)