Waiting on Wednesday: That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston

A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: That Inevitable Victorian Thing Author: E.K. Johnston Published: October 3, 2017 by Dutton Books for Young Readers (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Set in a near-future world where the British Empire never fell and the United States never rose, That Inevitable Victorian Thing is a novel of love, duty, and the small moments that can change people and the world. Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendent of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history two centuries earlier. The imperial practice of genetically arranged matchmaking will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage like her mother before her, but before she does her duty, she'll have one summer incognito in a far corner of empire. In Toronto, she meets Helena Marcus, daughter of one of the empire's greatest placement geneticists, and August Callaghan, the heir apparent to a powerful shipping firm currently besieged by American pirates. In a summer of high-society debutante balls, politically charged tea parties, and romantic country dances, Margaret, Helena, and August discover they share an unusual bond and maybe a one in a million chance to have what they want and to change the world in the process —just like the first Queen Victoria.

Why I'm Waiting:

I have read a few of E.K. Johnston's books and they were pretty good. I liked A Thousand Nights but I loved Exit, Pursued by a Bear. It was one of my favorite books of last year. After really enjoying that book I decided I wanted to try more of the author's books. This is the perfect opportunity to do just that because on top of enjoying the author, this is a total me book.

For one thing this is an alternate history. I have been really loving alternate histories lately. I used to think that I didn't really enjoy them because it messes with the historical fiction aspect of the book. But then I read few that really blew me away. I think I'm realizing that the alternate histories I prefer are ones that take place in the future after something different happened. That's what this is.

So the thing I am most excited about when it comes to this book is the world. It has that Victorian era thing about being about court politics, debutante balls, society, and such but it also involves unique and interesting things like sci-fi or steampunk elements. Plus it mentions pirates so like, sign me up for that!

Plus can we talk about this cover? First of all it is purple which is my favorite color. Any book with a purple cover I am on board with. But on top of that you have the dichotomy of the tree and what looks like maybe parts of a motherboard. Either way, it's science-y. Also, it's shiny! It's going to look so pretty in the final hardcover.

I was really hoping that there would be copies of this at ALA and I was so glad to hear that there were. I of course picked up a copy it looks quite pretty just in the ARC format. But I am so excited to read it!

What about you? What are you waiting for this Wednesday? Are you waiting on That Inevitable Victorian Thing along with me? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Book Review: Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

Title: Exit, Pursued by a Bear Written by: E.K. Johnston Published: March 15, 2006 by Dutton Books for Young Readers (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Veronica Mars meets William Shakespeare in E.K. Johnston’s latest brave and unforgettable heroine.  Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.  In every class, there's a star cheerleader and pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she's always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The assault wasn't the beginning of Hermione Winter's story and she's not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale.

I'm not sure I knew precisely what I was getting into when I picked up this book. But I read a preview and loved the voice so I preordered a copy because I needed to know what came next. I'm glad I did because this is a beautiful, deep, and important YA contemporary.

On the barest level, this book is a retelling of A Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare which is one of the major reasons why I read it right away because this is retellings month (and side note, I'm so glad I did read this right away). As someone who is woefully behind on reading Shakespeare, I'm not very familiar with A Winter's Tale. But this book made me interested in the original story. I am familiar with the general plot and some of the characters and it had me looking up more information about it and wanting to read the original. Which is, I guess, the mark of a good retelling of something that you aren't super familiar with. But in general. I really liked the way that the author took the original and brought it into the modern era. She played with the world and the characters in an interesting and creative way. I love those kinds of Shakespearean retelling. You see them a lot in movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and She's the Man, but it was great to see that in a book. It worked really well to create a framework for an interesting and dramatic story but that is only on the most superficial level of this book and this is a very deep story.

Because even though it is inspired by Shakespeare, this was a completely modern story that deals with some really serious issues. If you go deeper into the book you will find that it's about a teenage girl who is dealing with the consequences of her sexual assault and the way society handles these kinds of incidents. This is the part of the book that I didn't know I was getting into and honestly the part that impressed me more than anything else. The more of the book I read, the more of an impact it made on me. It's such an important and empowering book that shows the characters overcoming such a horrible situation and making tough decision after tough decision, including whether or nor she should get an abortion. The aftermath of sexual assault and the attempt to cope is not always easy and the author really expresses the turmoil but also the strength a lot of women show in the face of such adverse situations. Hermione was a character I completely supported.  I was initially interested in this book because of the Veronica Mars comparison and there are a lot similarities with Veronica and Hermione. She was sarcastic and tough but vulnerable and uncertain. She was real. When I read a preview of the book it was the character and her voice that convinced me I needed to read more of this book.

But if you go even deeper into this book you will find a tremendous story of friendship. Hermione is not the only amazing character in Exit, Pursued by a Bear. When Hermione is trying to cope she has an amazing support system behind her between her parents and her cheerleading team. Her parents were great and involved in the way I think you don't see in a lot of YA. They wanted what's best for their daughter but they still let her make her own decisions and were there to catch her if she fell. The friendship and comradere that the team shows was also inspiring. Most of them rallied to her side and even the ones that didn't gave the book a realistic feel. But my favorite relationship though is the one with Hermione and her best friend Polly.  I'm not a big fan of romances but I love books about friendships, especially female friendships, and this was a fantastic one. The two were an inseparable team and it was great seeing the love and support they had for one another. The friendships in this book was such a bright spot.

But the friendship was not the only bright spot of this book. Johnston's writing is beautiful and important but at the sane time has a slightly lighthearted tone. You may think that this wouldn't do such a serious issue justice but it does and it makes it feel even more realistic. It perfectly portrays the ups and downs of life and trying to make your way through it. It shows the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of life and especially when it comes to getting over trauma. And for me that made it all the more interesting a read. That to me is the perfect contemporary, when if walks the fine line between serious and lighthearted. I'm not a huge fan of books that are super serious even when they are issue books and I think here Johnston brilliantly walked the line between dramatic and funny (which by the way is also very Veronica Mars if you ask me). It had a message and made its points without being preachy which I appreciated tremendously. Plus the characters used humor to cope and they also did their best to focus on the positive. Because of that, it felt like an honest portrayal and made all the more of an impact.

On the whole Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a beautiful and impactful book that is not just a Shakespearean retelling. It's a story of friendship, overcoming adversity, and contemporary life. I'm so glad that I took the time to read it as part of my retellings month because this book is so much deeper than that and a brilliant read. It is one of my favorite reads of the year so far.

I give Exit, Pursued by a Bear 10 out of 10 stars

(This was a really hard book to rate. I did love it and it totally blew me away. There is nothing that I didn't like about it and I think it will stick with me for some time but I was till reluctant to give it 10 stars for some reason. But in the end I had no reason not to).

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy. I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone. If you are a fan of modern Shakespeare retellings in the vein of 10 Things I Hate About You then check this out. But even if you are not and you are looking for a story with great female friendship or a book that is a serious issue book that still has lighthearted moments then pick this up.

Have you read Exit, Pursued by a Bear? What did you think? Leave me a comment. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Book Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

Title: A Thousand Nights Author: E.K. Johnston Published: October 6, 2015 by Disney Hyperion (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.  And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.  Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.  Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster

I won a copy of this book from the lovely ladies of Read Sleep Repeat as part of their ARC August celebrations. I totally forgot about it so imagine my surprise when not one but two gorgeous copies showed up at my doorstep (check out my Twitter for a giveaway of the extra copy). I had a hole in my TBR waiting for new releases to come out so I dived right into it. And while there was a lot to really like about A Thousand Nights, it didn't blow me away.

One thing that did blow me away was the author's writing style. The prose here is incredibly gorgeous and engaging. It had a beautiful and poetic quality that flowed so well. It also had this old world quality to it and felt almost like epic poetry or some kind on ancient story being passed down to the reader. It absolutely fit with the plot and setting of the story and added a lot of dimension to the book. It also helped set the scene. From the descriptions of everything from the clothing to the locations is was all very lyrical and descriptive. It definitely helped you to immerse yourself in the world of the book.

Which was another thing that I really liked about it. The world that is created here is so lush and interesting. From the dessert setting to the politics and culture of the book even the magical system, it was all really engaging. I feel like books with desert settings are really popular right now in YA and going in I was a little nervous that it was going to feel very similar but it absolutely didn't. This had much more of a historical feel to it. The author definitely did her research into what life was like in the Middle East during the bronze age. Both the desert civilization and the palace setting felt detailed and realistic in an entertaining way. But the most entertaining thing about the world was the magical system. I'm always looking for a unique magical system and I found one here. It's interesting because not only was there specific and clear rules but there was also a lot of mystery around the magic too.You learned about it slowly and methodically. And the magic of the book wasn't a huge part of the overall plot development but it was the best part.

Unfortunately, the overall plot of the story did feel like it was a little lacking to me. I'm a very plot driven reader. I need there to be a really strong plot development and I didn't find that here. The best way to express this is that Tuesday I was travelling for work and one of my coworkers asked me what I was reading and I just couldn't really explain it. I wasn't entirely sure what was happening at all. But that may have been exacerbated by the pacing of the book. It's nor super long but I was just cruising through it mostly because so little was happening. The real plot didn't kick in until about 75% of the way in and the rest of it just felt like exposition and build up. I expect that a little bit from first books in a series but this is a standalone. Most of the plot development was just creating and explaining the world and magic. For me I think I would have liked it a little bit more if the larger narrative had come in a lot earlier.

But that may be because this was more of a character driven story. I think? I can't even say. But that may have also been because the characters didn't blow me away. I mean the main character was fine. I admired her love for her sister and the fact that she would risk her own safety and happiness to protect her. She was also incredibly brave and selfless when it came to other people around her but she just didn't jump off the page. And the antagonist Lo-Melkhiin was pretty ruthless and easy to root against but I would have liked there to be a little bit more depth to him. He felt a little flat. The thing that redeemed him a little was his mother and his love for her. She was pretty interesting though she didn't have that big a part. Same thing with the main character's family. I can't believe I'm going to say this but this book may have benefited a little bit from multiple perspectives. There was a little bit of that but it was all still through the MC's eyes. I think a little bit more exploration of some of the other character's thoughts and action would have helped me connect with them and the MC. On the whole none of the characters really made a big impression.

A Thousand Nights was an engaging read but it didn't quite blow me away. The writing was beautiful and the world was interesting with a great magical system but I didn't connect with the characters and would have liked more plot development.

I give A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston 7.5 out of 10 stars.

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Borrow. If you are looking for something a little different and a fast read with an engaging world and interesting magical system then check this out the next time you are at your local library. I would say that fans of historical fiction or historical fantasy may like this one a little bit more than fans of straight fantasy. There were some really great elements especially the writing but it didn't blow me away

Have you read A Thousand Nights? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!