Book Review: The Summer That Melted Everything

About the book:

Title: The Summer That Melted Everything

Hardcover, 320 pages

Expected publication: July 26th 2016 by St. Martin's Press

Genre: Literary Fiction, tinge of Magic Realism

Rating: 4.5/5

Blurb: Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.

Sal seems to appear out of nowhere - a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he's welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he's a runaway from a nearby farm town.

When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.

About the author

Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows. She is also a poet, playwright, screenwriter, and artist. The Summer that Melted Everything is her debut novel. 

Find the author here: 

My Review:

Rarely do you come across a book that makes you excited about it, right from the title. The title reeked of a metaphoric significance which is when I took an uncanny yet immediate liking to it.
So the story is unlike anything I've read before.

I was obviously searching for metaphors throughout, and wasn't disappointed. The metaphors existed in the very structure of the characters, places, setting, and elements. The town, for instance is called Breathed (pronounced Breath from "He breathed" plus +ed)
The novel says about the place, "I once heard someone refer to Breathed as the scar of the paradise we lost. So it was in many ways, a place with a perfect wound just below the surface"
And the metaphoric characteristics do not just end there, the entire narration is replete with metaphors much to my sheer delight.

The story, I have to admit is quite different from what one might expect in the first, innocent instance. Different, as in, not a slight difference in tone, or language, but a major departure from the expected cliched plots. It is refreshing and new, and the new-ness takes one with surprise, because the imagination applied by McDaniel is active, pleasing and engaging.
Since the language is full of metaphors and words and phrases which aren't slang, it becomes difficult at first to draw a hold on the book. But once you're 30 pages into it, it becomes a test of patience not knowing what happens next.
And to an avid reader, nothing sounds better than quotable quotes, and this one is flooded with those.
Before picking it up, you may evaluate it, but it is worth a read!

Links to the book:

Book Trailer:

Quotes from the book:

"It's a waste of time to live better when you have got no one to care for and no one to care for you"

"It's a miraculous thing, how a ship floats. Always a tragedy when it sinks"

"He knew the resilience of a seed, and the vulnerabilities of it also"

“The heat came with the devil. It was the summer of 1984, and while the devil had been invited, the heat had not. It should've been expected, though. Heat is, after all, the devil's name, and when's the last time you left home without yours?” 

“A foolish mistake, it is, to expect the beast, because sometimes, sometimes, it is the flower's turn to own the name.” 

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Source of the review copy: NetGalley

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Book Review: I Love My Pet Elephant by Lauren Micchelli

About the book:

Title: I love my Pet Elephant

Published on: May 5th, 2015

Pages: 49

Genre: Children's fiction

Rating: 5/5

Blurb:A colorful tale of friendship and fun between a little girl and her best friend- her pet elephant! I Love My Pet Elephant is a delightful medley of reality and fantasy, with shenanigans and adventures brought to life through vibrant illustration and simple rhyming text. An adorable story that tickles the imagination and captures the hearts of young readers

About the author

Lauren Micchelli is a newly published author, having penned her first book in 2014. She has since continued the Snootzytime Adventures of Maddie and Murphy series, and went on to publish A Day Of What Ifs and I Love My Pet Elephant. Micchelli grew up in West Caldwell, New Jersey and currently resides in northern New Jersey

My Review:

I have never read such an adorable book.
The book is very short and sweet, and it summarizes the relationship that the child shares with the elephant. It is the best depiction. It does not leave out any part of the child's day, and with it's adorable rhyme scheme, it does not cease to entertain for even a while.

This is the kind of book you'd like to gift a child- it so beautifully captures a child's fancy as she spends her day - the accompanying pictures are no less of a treat.
By beautifully capturing the imagination of a kid and the relationship of friendship, this book is the perfect example of a children's book
                                                      

Links to the book:

Source of the review copy: Netgalley

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Book Review: Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy by Dinty W. Moore

About the book:

The personal essay has never been more popular, with the likes of Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling breathing new life into the genre. This innovative guide to crafting modern personal essays and creative nonfiction came about when acclaimed author and professor Dinty W. Moore solicited playful writing questions from today's top writers. He then penned witty responses in the format of a "Dear Sugar"-style advice column, illustrating each response with an original, humorous sample essay. In chapter 1, Phillip Lopate asks, "I am curious how you deal honestly with male-female relations in general and specifically your past girlfriends on the page without coming off as a male chauvinist pig," and Mister Essay Writer Guy pens a sage response and example essay dishing--respectfully--on all his exes. Cheryl Strayed asks for advice about her em-dash addiction, Julianna Baggott worries that to be a great writer you must become an alcoholic, Judith Kitchen looks for an excuse to exaggerate the truth to make it more interesting, and so on. Filled with modern examples of the creative forms nonfiction can take--including scribbled cocktail napkins, Facebook posts, and Google Map pins--this gifty little book is a hilarious relief for all essayists, memoirists, and creative nonfiction writers in distress.

About the author:

Dinty W. Moore is the author of numerous books, and has published essays and stories in The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Harpers, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Gettysburg Review, Utne Reader, and Crazyhorse. He edits BREVITY, the journal of concise creative nonfiction (www.brevitymag.com) and teaches at Ohio University.

Author website: 

http://www.dintywmoore.com

My Review:

Disclaimer: The tone and candour of my review is inspired from the writer's in the book. No offence meant. 

How can you read non-fiction like this and not fall in love with the genre? The whole genre owes you, sir. Or to your humor. I am not sure if we can separate the two, would you answer that for me.
Well, for starters you know you will fall into this book as soon as it opens because of well, this:

Hilarity ensues from page one. To say that the book has wit and sarcasm at its best seems an understatement. Our essay writer guy here answers to one of the letters, "I believe the best way to avoid coming off as a male chauvinist pig might be to not be a male chauvinist pig? Is that a stretch?"
And this is just the first answer, well, part of it. To think I was on a rollercoaster of laughter these entire 8 hours that I was reading the book. Okay, not entire though. There was this instance where the writer launched into some story about Zebras. I felt dozing off would be insulting so I just skimmed through it. But don't tell this to anyone- I've read the whole book otherwise.

From questions about em dash, and writing on napkins, to graphics that simply make you want to double up- what is not to devour in the book? The author has given and taken insults alike.
One thing is certain: the author will not write about his daughter. Why, you ask? "Whatever I wrote about my daughter, I had to live with it, and so did she, and I didn't want to screw the relationship up more than my ineptitude and the vicissitudes of her becoming a teenager already had."

The humor does not mean there's no wisdom. The author has cloaked the knowledge and insights about writing in wit. After all, what better way to teach than through humor- the universally attractive element?
For all people ho love words, who love to write, read or just devour essays, this book is a mus-read.
Will I buy this book? Most definitely I will! Do I recommend this book? In case you haven't read the entire review, most definitely I do!

Links:

An ARC was received from NetGalley

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Book Review: Propositions by Tania Joyce

About the book:

No strings attached ... or so she thought.
Following years of sacrifice and struggle, Jessica Mason now co-owns a successful marketing
agency in Sydney. All Jessica wants to do is focus on growing her business and maintain the
lifestyle she's worked so hard to achieve. But everything changes when her agency wins a
major contract for the opening of the new Somers Hotel and she has to take on the account.
Nate Somers is a workaholic trying to please his retiring father. When he meets captivating,
go-getting Jessica, the prospect of a short-term love affair sounds like a proposition he'd be
crazy to decline.
But when Jessica spends a weekend away at her favorite vineyard retreat, she runs into Troy
Smith, the ex-boyfriend who left her broken and vulnerable years ago. Things don't go to
plan when the well-kept secrets from her past are revealed and Troy starts weaving his way
back into her life.
With her business at stake and hearts at risk, Jessica's future is destined to change. Who will
end up making Jessica a proposition she simply cannot refuse?


About the author:
Tania Joyce is an Australian author of Erotic, Contemporary and New Adult romance novels. Her
stories thread romance, drama and passion into beautiful locations ranging from the dazzling lights of
Sydney Harbour or the glitter of New York, to the rural countryside of the Hunter Valley or Darling
Downs.
She’s widely travelled, has a diverse background in the corporate world and has a love for shopping,
shoes and Shiraz. She’s rarely seen without glitter, sparkle and stilettos. Her quirk is she collects key
rings everywhere she goes and often has an intriguing tale about each one.

Picture credits:  www.BurtonPhotography.com.au

Tania draws on all her real-life experiences and combines them with her very vivid dreams to form the foundation of her novels. She likes to write about strong-minded, career-oriented heroes and heroines that go through drama-filled hell, have steamy encounters and risk everything as they endeavor to find their happy-ever-after.
She grew up loving books like Anne of Green Gables, reading the classics like Pride and Prejudice,
and getting lost in the world of fantasy, like The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, before
finding her home in the romance genre.
Only unearthing the desire to write after having children, Tania now shuffles the hours in her day
between part-time work, full-time family life and never-finding-enough-time to write. One day she
hopes to find balance! She lives in Queensland with her husband and two boys. When she’s not
writing, she enjoys camping, hot yoga, and the company of friends and family – especially if it’s over a glass of wine!
Life motto: If in doubt – add more glitter! (Kylie Minogue, 2011)


My Review:

It’s just another client. Just another event. Clear the head. That’s it. Let’s go.
If only it was that easy. Welcome to the not-so-simple lives of our endearingly stubborn yet professionally ambitious, and emotionally damaged characters: Jessica and Nate. 

To have a female protagonist who is not a weak female, and one who accords just as much importance and priority to her work as her male counterparts, is such a refreshing change. For it is not often that books written in the erotica category cater to women readers while keeping their respect and professional life intact. 
It could have turned out to be just another Fifty Shades parody had it not been for Joyce's creative twist of characters and tale. Thankfully, the twists were convincing and imaginable. Both our hero and heroine share commonalities in the past: Nate is divorced, which happened because he apparently married a pest who was after his wealth, Jessica's past is even more complicated with a string of flings. So much so, that at a point, even she remarks, "I will have two kids with three fathers". She says it is insane, and oh, how right she is. 
I'll have o admit though, the book was very similar to FSOG trilogy when it comes to the crucial points. But, the narrative is fresh, which gives the book brownie points. It is a simple read and can be finished in a day, it so glues you too!
No mysteries, but there is a sense of tension which breaks at points which most suit the reader. 
The best part to look out for in the book are the business meeting. They are amusing, hilarious, professional, utmost business-like, and yet bring the edgy angle into the plot. 
The ending is the best part. The woman is not a timid human being who will give in to the man's will. She refuses to let go of her will and ambitions, after all it was this ambition and common passion towards their professions that brought the couple together!
And again, the narration is so good!

Even if you aren't a regular reader of this genre. this book might just strike as a recommendation. 


Links:

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Book Review: Nowhere to be found by Bae Suah

About the book:

NOWHERE TO BE FOUND is a starkly elegant story about a young woman’s search for meaning in contemporary South Korea that translator Sora Kim-Russell calls “a road novel turned inside out, a story of a woman’s journey out of and into desire told as only Bae Suah could tell it.” As the nameless narrator passes through her life haunted by poverty, conformity, and dysfunctional relationships, she learns to turn inward to discover the truth at the core of her imagination and ultimately to find value, if not reassurance, in her own existence.

Written in Bae Suah’s unique and interpretation-defying style, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in modern world literature

About the Author:

A writer and translator whose first English language work, the short story Highway with Green Apples, was translated by AmazonCrossing and published in the Day One literary journal in December 2013, Bae Suah has won the Hankook Ilbo and Dongseo literary prizes and been called “one of the most risk-taking, experimental writers active in Korea today” by LIST: Books from Korea.

My Review:

"And that is how I became an absolutely meaningless thing and survived time"

This is how the novella ends. And if this doesn't break your heart, I don't know what will.

The thing with the story and plot is- and it works out in favor of the book- that despite the cultural differences between the places there and here, the universal human emotions overpower the plot and it is a painful delight to read through the pages. A painful delight is an oxymoron, but the book which I believe is just the right length and just the apt descriptions, what with cliffhangers and a duspense looming large.

Then there is a poetic quality to the narrative and that makes it even more beautiful.

The plot initially describes how the woman battles poverty and an unsupportive family, while her younger sibling still dares to dream. The poignancy is felt as we can see that eventually the younger sibling too will have to give up her dreams and give in to her fate of abject poverty and penury. Life has no hope and direction and survival in itself is a burden. Enter love into this equation, and you have the perfect recipe for tears. The elder brother goes to a foreign land to earn for his family, and there is no shortage of ironies, for it is known yo everyone that chances of him not returning are major.
The beginning desriptions and turn of events tore my heart into more pieces than one can count, and I had this urge to cry throughout the pain of the protagonist.
I especially empathised with our protagonist over her struggles with the lack of means
To me this book remains a lesson in humanity


This review was done in exchange for a copy by netgalley.

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Book Review: Love, Latte and Mutants by Sandra Cox

About the book:

Finding love is hard, even when you are a mutant.
Like most seventeen-year-olds, Piper Dunn wants to blend in with the crowd. Having a blowhole is a definite handicap. A product of a lab-engineered mother with dolphin DNA, Piper spends her school days hiding her brilliant ocean-colored eyes and sea siren voice behind baggy clothing and ugly glasses. When Tyler, the new boy in school, zeroes in on her, ignoring every other girl vying for his attention, no one, including Piper, understands why...

Then Piper is captured on one of her secret missions rescuing endangered sea creatures and ends up in the same test center where her mother was engineered. There she discovers she isn€™t the only one of her kind. Joel is someone she doesn€t have to hide from, and she finds herself drawn to the dolph-boy who shares her secrets. Talking to him is almost as easy as escaping from the lab. Deciding which boy has captured her heart is another story...


Author website: http://sandracox1.com/


My Review:

The story is meant to make you fall in love with it. Tyler is the ultimate male protagonist every fangirl will obsess about. These are the kind of YA book series we all wish to read every day. So, here's the deal. The female protagonist of our story is Piper, a dolph girl. And at school, she tries to keep a low profile to keep her secret a secret. But as luck would have it, keeping company with Holly and Tyler, the popular twins, defeats her purpose. And she lets go, because, well, Tyler is someone you'd do that for. Her character is the one that drives the whole plot, and that is delightful for YA readers. She has a family history, she has a secret, she is the one Tyler is chasing, she is the one who will decide how this story twists. Her attempts at keeping a low profile, like wearing oversized clothes and donning nerdy glasses, multiplied how adorable and endearing she was to us.

At one juncture, the story takes a turn and frankly, had it not turned bak to where this all had started, i would have been heart-broken.
There is an element of hilarity as well. Although why anyone with a name like Edgar should be arrogant is beyond me. Even this Edgar guy, the character is so well-etched, underneath his social facade of arrogance is meanness and cruelty, and that goes on to point how shitty High school can get.
The story never got boring, and I liked it the way I like reading Jenny Han.
I am definitely looking forward to the next in the series, and hoping it has more of latte.

This book was received from Net Galley for review.

Book review: A girl's guide to life

About the book:

A Thought Catalog Book

A Girl's Guide to Life is a timeless book of warm and sensible advice for young girls, originally written by a mother for her own eight-year-old daughter. From compassion and empathy through self-expression and creativity, from thoughtfulness and helpfulness and good deeds through gratitude and heartfelt apology, from the incomparable joys of friendship to the importance of learning how and when to say no, this little book offers wise counsel that will be of use for many years to come.

Age Range: 7 - 11 years

Grade Level: 1 - 6

Hardcover: 80 pages

Publisher: Prospecta Press (January 6, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1632260204

ISBN-13: 978-1632260208

Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 7 inches

About the author:

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Michelle has lived for many years in Columbus, Ohio, where she directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing and lives in a century-old house with her husband, the painter Glen Holland, and their good dog, Molly. Their daughter used to live there too, but she is all grown up now. 

My review

"Your life is the reason you should read this book"

This book is simply put, a piece of advice from a mother to a daughter, and although it has been recommended to lower age groups, the relevance of these thoughts never fails to catch you off-guard. The author herself writes in the introduction, "Because here's the thing: even as you grow older, you are going to be the very same person you are now. And no matter how grown-up you become, it never hurts to be reminded of the things that are really important in life."

When I decided to read this book from NetGalley, I had surmised it to be a didactic  sermon on how we should live our lives. I couldn't have gone any more wrong. This is the most heart-warming, comforting string of words ever pulled together that I have read. It is a Thought Catalog Book after all, I should have known better!

The language is lucid, effortless and endearing. Even if you are all grown -up and happy in your zone, the reader is bound to be moved by the rules of the book. It is a book for life. I myself am surprised that a simple writing, adorned with simple illustrations and written in the most simple manner could make me revisit all life lessons I have learnt. 

What makes this book special and worthy of your time is that these are rules to living a fulfilled and more fruitful life, and this book works at the learning stage as well as at the reminder level. We need to be reminded that more than anything in this world, we need to hold on to the inherent goodness in us.

I especially liked the fourth part: All Play and no Work. And how in a precise, succinct two-pages, it reminds us how good it feels to help someone without being asked to.

Since I am always pondering a lot about friendship and the like, I was curious to read what was contained in that section, the last one of all.

And I did get my answers.

I will wait for other books by the author too.

Last words:

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!

Review copy: Netgalley ebook