jenbsbooks's reviews
2276 reviews

I don't know that I LOVED this ... but I have to give it credit. I felt it was well written, I appreciated the set up (prologue, four parts with headers/44 chapters throughout, epilogue), extensive author's notes, discussion questions, a Q&A with the authors, and even "how the book differs from Hamilton: An American Musical".

I had this in all three formats. I'd picked up a hardcopy at a thrift store. Nice deckled edges. Like almost all physical copies today, no Table of Contents, which I feel is an omission. The audio had the author's notes, but not all the extras (just one reason why I always like to check the text when listening to an audiobook). Kindle and audio were easily available from the library (Libby, and on Hoopla). 

Told in first person/past tense ... conversational tone. The narration was good. The story didn't grab me right away. In all honesty, my mind was a bit muddled with other things going on and it was one reason I decided on this book. One where I was already a bit familiar with the "characters" and the story.  It pulled me in despite my frame of mind.

A little struggle at the start with the MC being referred to as "a Schuyler" and Betsy, but Elizabeth, and then Eliza (as was my thought coming in). 

I felt some connections, made some notes/highlights. Will think back on this book fondly. 

No profanity, and sex was closed door. 
Other words I note: loathing, cacophony, dais, hector, brusque, bucolic, manumission (which was in there a LOT). 

I can't remember for sure if I heard about this book in a FB group. I found a hard copy at a library sale, and saw the good reviews, so I figured I'd give it a go. I really liked this. 

My main complaint is about the narration in the audio version - narrated by Katherine Parkinson (Jen, in the TV series IT Crowd, which is a family favorite). She does a good job, BUT, this is 1st person from two different perspectives, a mother and her 12-year old son. Even though the narration switched up the voice slightly, I needed a BOY to narrate the part of the young boy. Not Jen from IT Crowd. I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it on my own, just because of that. 

The POV was listed at the start of each chapter ... Sadie or Norman. I wish it had also been noted in the Table of Contents (it didn't alternate exactly every other chapter, sometimes we'd get a few Sadie chapters in a row, a few Norman chapters in a row). Of course, the physical copy doesn't even have a TOC at all (par for the course for most physical books these days. A TOC with the POV WOULD be be helpful in my opinion). 

Despite my irks with the narration and TOC ... this story touched me. Very easy, conversational tone. From the blurb, it's indicated (and early on in the text, although still a bit obscure at the beginning) that the young boy Norman's best friend Jax died recently. Both mother and son are still struggling with the aftermath. Norman and Jax had planned to perform a comedy show ... can that still happen now, with Norman alone?

That's one part of the storyline. Then, there's a bit of a Mamma Mia premise. Who is Norman's father? It could be one of four different men ... 

Then, like some of the books out there like [book:Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting|59836844] or [book:Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers|61827543], we have a character (older in those examples) who ends up making a collection of friends from all walks of life. Here, that circles around Norman and his mom.  Quite a few adventures. 

I had this in all three formats, but pretty much went with the audio (as I have so much more ear time than eye time). I likely would have made some notes/highlights had I been reading on my own. There would be several items for discussion if this were to be used as a bookclub selection (although no questions were included, I really love when they are). 

I really liked the "Notes for Next Year's Fringe" ... an unlabeled epilogue. 

This had some proFanity (x12) which might keep me from recommending it to some people, but if that's not an issue, it is one I give a thumbs up - give it a go!

This book was getting some buzz, so I put it on hold at the library. A bit of a wait. Audio and Kindle, I went primarily with the audio. There were three narrators, and three voices, a present day (2006) Katrine, told in first person/present tense. Then Allina (starting in 1938) is the main story (3rd person/past tense) but Karl gets a few chapters, and there's a couple from Marguerite Ziegler's POV. There were headers in the text, but not in the Table of Contents (just the section headers at the five Parts) ... I find it helpful to have the POV also listed in the TOC (if I wanted to go back and check, knowing I wanted a "Karl" chapter or "Katrina" chapter, without having to manually flip and search. Here though, sometimes the POV switched mid-chapter. 

I think I had heard of this breeding program, although more of a mention, not the main premise as featured here.  While the "Sunflower House" played a part, it didn't seem to be enough to be the title/cover. 

I appreciated the Author's Note at the end, telling of her inspiration and research and further resources. No BookClub questions ... not included in the book or even anything online that I could find. That can help me delve deeper and appreciate a book more, taking the time to think of things I might not have on my own. 

Things I note: Song SUNG ... Silent Night lyrics were written in the text, and in audio, the narrator sang the song (as the character was in the writing). Well done.   ProFanity x4 ... other words: careen, pogroms, loathing (notice it since Wicked came out). Some sex/rape, not too explicit that I recall.

I've enjoyed other books from this author (Feed, Parasitology series) so figured I'd give this one a go. I have a mermaids/siren shelf, having read several books on that subject ... but never bloodthirsty menaces like featured here! Another review said this was "Oceanic Jurassic Park" and I have to agree. 

This also features ASL, which I didn't know going into the book, but was of interest to me. An Author'sNote about ASL needing to be written SEE for the book, even though that's not correct. Seeing deaf characters getting a large role. 

The book has several sections: Surface, Zone One:Pelagic, Zone Two:Photic, Zone Three:Aphotic,  Zone Four: Bathypelagic, Zone Five: Abyssopelagic, Zone Six: Demersal & an epilogue. The chapters (38 of them) start with Zone 1. 

The SURFACE section had several parts; a couple quotes, a post from an online forum, a "chapter" dated June 2015 introducing Anne and Tory, Anne's disappearance/death. "Footage" (transcribed) from July 2015.  Another "chapter" set September 2018 of another group on the water ... all setting up that "there's something in the water" ... cue "Jaws" type music, but it's not a shark. It's man-eating mermaids.  

3rd person/Past tense for the "story" sections (even from non-human perspectives at times) ... there are also several "transcripts"  from lectures, articles, quotes (from characters in authority) sprinkled in (at the start of the different sections).  LOTS of characters. I struggled a bit to keep track of who everyone was, backgrounds, connections. 

The chapters gave location/date with most of the action happening in August/September 2022. This was a slightly alternate timeline though ... medical science seemed more evolved that ours today, slight feature of autonomous cars, relationship/communication with working dolphins. 

Fitbit was mentioned ;) 

"I'm sure the sirens have encountered drunk humans before. They probably think we're even more delicious when we self-marinate." 

"Was it suicide when death was inevitable?"
"Sometimes silence was the only correct thing to say."
"Sometimes isolation was the only armor she had."

Audio pronounced "inuring" as "injuring"  ...
I had to look up "inimical" ...

Content: proFanity x27, some sex (nothing too explicit, a lesbian romance), quite a bit of violence and gore and death. 

I liked this fine. I went with the audio version, two narrators (male and female - I appreciated the distinction, even though it could have been a single narrator, all 3rd person/past tense) and I really struggled to stay connected during the Carpathia/Captain Rostron chapters. My mind just kept wandering. I had this in Kindle format too, and had to go back and re-read portions.  

Basic chronological chapters - no headers in the Table of Contents, just small ones listing which boat and the date ... I felt like that should have been included in the TOC, for reference, if a reader wanted to go and check, to know immediately which were Titanic chapters, Carpathia chapters, Lifeboat13 chapters, or once back on land. 

Between chapters, there were little quotes from various people.

It's fiction, based on some real people/events, researched ... the Author's Notes at the end were good (and included in audio, THANK YOU!) which clarified what events were fact based, what had been altered for effect, etc.

One thing I note, if a song/lyrics are written in the novel, how is this handled in audio? Spoken or sung? Pros and cons to each, but I generally prefer sung. Here ... sung, and sung well. Abide with Me was the first, and then there were a couple more (the female narrator Alana Kerr Collins).

Christian fiction - not overly religious/preachy. Clean. Words I note: route(pronounced "root"), cacophony, bespoke, deign, purloined

I picked up a physical copy (thrift store, for the LFL) and saw this had high ratings and was first in the series ...  I was going in knowing this was for younger readers, actually looking for an "easy" read.

There are SO many names (kitty characters ... Ferncloud, Dustpelt, Squirrelflight, Stormfur, Graystripe, Leafpool, Firestar, Spiderleg, Cloudtail, Brightheart, Ashfur,  SpottedLeaf), and the repetition ... HollyKit, JayKit, LionKit ... then the "kit" becomes "paw" and there's already Berrypaw, Hazelpaw, Bramblepaw, Cinderpaw, PoppyPaw, Mousepaw ...

I don't know if, even this being the start of a new series, if a reader really needs to already be familiar with the origin story, the world (as this is actually a spin-off, third series in this world)? It just wasn't grabbing me.  If it was too young?

3rd person/Past tense.
Basic chronological chapters (25 of them) ... I got through chapter 9 before calling it.

I'd picked up a used copy of the physical book somewhere (thrift store? little free library) and saw that this had high ratings, so I figured I'd give it a go, even though there isn't an audiobook for it. I was able to snag a kindle copy from my local library. 

Now ... this had the "C-word" ... CHURCH. (That's an actual joke/line from the book). I had noted it was "Christian fiction" and in truth, that's something I might shy away from. I just don't care for religion in books. This one was too much for me. I almost DNFed several times, but decided to push through. The MMC doesn't want to have a relationship with someone not of his faith.

I also struggled with the trope where the author drops these little ambiguous lines ... here, our FMC has "done something" in her past, alluding that she's responsible for the death of someone.  She's a tabloid reporter, so my assumption early on is that she exposed some bad behavior and the girl ends up killing herself. And yes, that's the case. I don't really think it's a spoiler, we are supposed to think that, unless we're really thinking she outright murdered the girl? Na. But it would just annoy me "the horrible thing she'd done" mentioned many times before it is actually clarified.

Then there's the whole Narnia angle. I like Narnia. It was just okay though, felt a little forced, like a ploy to get Narnia lovers to read this book, the hook. It worked on me. 

I assume if this was audio, it would be a female narrator, perhaps duel? 3rd person/past tense. 
Got annoyed at the FMC thinking of Peter as "the guy"  (the guy could come over ...)
Enjoyed "Smirky McSmirkster"

So, eh ... really had to push through to finish this one.
2.5 stars.

So, maybe not a full 5* rating from me, but I needed to differentiate it from the other 4* recent reads, as I liked this more. A bit of a story within a story ... our MC Emmeline, has written her memoir and is sharing it with new friends in a writing class. We get the current timeline (well, 1968 is the "present") and then the past. While I went with audio for the most part, I also borrowed the Kindle copy from the library and liked the visual presentation of the "memoir" pages - not differentiated in the table of contents, or even by a separate chapter, but with a slightly colored background for those portions. Not absolutely necessary, but it creates a nice distinction. The story also shifts from 3rd person for the "current" portion, to 1st person in the memoir, another way to keep the two timelines straight. 

I hadn't really read the blurb, and I think I enjoyed coming in cold. Vera's "character" was so much fun and could be the source of an interesting bookclub discussion

I mean, do we really think she talks? It's never really addressed. My assumption is it's all just in Emmeline's head. Nothing else paranormal in the book

  I really liked the cover tie-in, and the title-tie in ... and this made me want to collect spoons!

Here, we get a bit of background on WW1, which doesn't get nearly as much press as WW2 (so many novels on that subject).  The "memoirs" cover many years and adventures.  The TOC was simple, just chronological chapters. I almost wished there were chapter headings, something I could glance at and jog my memory of the contents.  22 chapters, and two chapters of "Letters" (which are absolutely part of the story). The Author's note (which was included in audio) was very interesting, telling us/the reader how family stories inspired several of the book's storylines. That the author's grandfather had two brothers who died in the war/a sister who traveled to reach one but he he died just before she arrived. 

I've written my own "autobiography" from birth through my 20s (getting married) and have an outline for the rest. My family has been very into family history, and we have a pretty complete genealogical record and many memoirs written. That the "memoir class" was featured in the book, the memoir itself almost half the story, and then it being inspired by true family stories ... it really IS an advocate for keeping family history researched and passed down to the next generations. 

Overall, some of Emmeline's life seems to have worked out a little too well (her employment and adventures through the years, her easy connections to all the new friends and family) but it was entertaining and enjoyable.

Actually ... maybe this was a 5* for me. It would be one I'd recommend to many. There were some things I wanted to stop and highlight/note, would like to discuss in a bookclub setting. I feel like I learned some history. It was one I wanted to get back to when I was forced to stop.

While I went with the audio, it isn't as readily available ... not on Audible (it is on other  platforms) and only at one library. I REALLY enjoyed the narration, the voices, especially for Vera and Harriet. 

Content: proFanity x5, and a small homosexual shift (never sure if that's something that some might take issue with). 

Other words I note: route(pronounced root), rifling, brusque, snuck, careen

I liked this ... although not getting around to my review in a timely manner, I'm finding myself thinking "what was the story?"  I had both the audio and kindle copy. I went with the audio, reviewing the text afterward. Making some notes (a few book quotes). For the rather dark start, it ended up more of a romantic comedy. It was fairly predictable (not all the little things along the way, but the ultimate resolution). 

This addressed Covid (just how it impacted things/relationships/employment ... part of the past memories). 

3rd person/Present tense ... which is not a combo I enjoy. Unless it's really well written, I'm always very aware of it, it feels like a screenplay. LOTS of "says" too ... kindle search, says was there 1902 times. 

This stays chronological (there are some flashback memories) and is set up in seven parts, seven days ... 1) Tuesday: The Opening Reception  2)Wednesday: Sailing  3)Thursday: The Bachelorette Party  4) Friday: The Blending of the Families  5) Saturday: The Rehearsal Dinner  6)Sunday: The Wedding  7)Monday: The Wedding Brunch  ... several chapters in each part (24 chapters total). 

ProFanity x85 and some sexual situations, nothing Harlequin.

Snuck. 
Whitman was right. How lucky it would be to die ...

3.5 stars. I liked this. Interesting and informative. I would recommend it to others. It could be a tad on the dry/documentary side and didn't really have anything I wanted to stop and highlight and discuss. I have a little more  background in deaf culture than I'd assume the average reader would have (my sister is an interpreter, I took several years of ASL/Interpreting classes). A lot of the background info on deafness and the deaf community was a tad redundant for me, but understandably essentially included for those without the background knowledge. 

I'm NOT a football fan (I have enjoyed my son's basketball and some books featuring that sport) and hadn't ever heard of 8-man teams. I think I tuned out of some of the sports talk.

The prologue is 1st person, the author telling us(the reader) how he came about writing the book. It switches to 3rd person (past tense) for the book. 37 chapters, all with unique chapter headings. As I finished the book and looked back, the headings didn't really jog my memory of the contents as sometimes happens. 

The book featured a few individuals. I struggled to really remember the individual names or stories. There was quite a bit of history of deaf culture along the way. As far as playing football, it was interesting to think about how the lack of hearing could be both a detriment, and an advantage at times.  There was an almost deaf boy on one of my son's basketball teams, I remember as the crowds on the other side would make derogatory calls, the student body on our side would chant "he can't hear you" ... I laughed out loud when the deaf team in the book was playing another deaf team and was so excited because they could finally trash talk! I learned that the "huddle" came about with because of two deaf teams playing each other, attempting to hide the signs/conversation - and was adapted by all other football teams. 

Covid got a mention, as the storyline/history overlaps that time. Interesting to think of the impact the isolation had on deaf students. 

No proFanity. Completely clean. Other words I note - route (pronounced "rowt" in audio), and then there was "rout" being said also. Snuck. Scrum.  Had to look up a couple of words: peripatetic and Pyrrhic, a couple other lesser used P words, prevaricate and prescience. 

I got the audio and Kindle copy from the library. The text copy has some photos.  v