Keep Fighting

The Women by Kristin Hannah brought me through a roller coaster of emotions.

Frankie is from a well off family living on Coronado island in California. Her upbringing included glorifying the veterans in her family. Her older brother Finley is about to follow the same path. He is leaving for Vietnam after graduating from the naval academy.

Frankie decides to use her recent nursing degree to enlist too. Shortly before she is scheduled to leave, her family receives the horrific news that Finley was killed. Now she is sent to Vietnam with her terrible grief and a drive to help men like her brother.

The story gives brutal detail about the horrors and loss of war. Frankie begins completely unprepared but after two years leaves as a strong, competent nurse.

Retuning home brings new challenges. Her parents refuse to acknowledge her time in Vietnam, Americans despise Vietnam veterans, and she is shunned by veteran groups because she’s a woman. Through love and loss, addiction and post traumatic stress, she has two fellow nurses that are her rocks.

It takes time, but she finds her way. This book kept me turning pages and appreciating friendship, and more importantly, our veterans.

No Trust

The Resort by Sara Ochs is a twisty murder mystery set on an island.

Cass and Brooke alternate chapters. Cass is one of the residents on the island in Thailand, and Brooke is a traveling social media influencer posting about her trip.

Cass is part of a group dubbed the Permanents. All found their way to the island to escape their pasts. Cass is engaged to Logan, one of the guys in their group. All should be great except for when a note appears threatening to reveal her past.

Brooke begins getting friendly with the Permanents, especially Cass. A tourist was murdered shortly before her arrival, and now another girl and guy are found dead.

Cass and Brooke both want to figure out who is responsible, but they’ll need to get over their own pasts and figure out who they can trust to accomplish this.

Love or Friendship

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead is book four of the Vampire Academy series.

In this one, Rose travels alone to Siberia to find Dmitri who was turned into a Strigoi at the end of book three. She aims to fulfill their promise to kill the other if they ever get turned.

Rose meets a group of humans called Alchemists whose role is to keep vampires hidden from the regular population. She also meets Dmitiri’s family and contemplates staying with them for good. However, her quest is stronger. She joins a rogue group of Dhampir to hunt Strigoi in hopes of finding Dmitri. Things don’t go as planned once she is captured.

Dmitri is determined to turn Rose and is feeding off her to keep her weakened and dependent on him. Meanwhile, she keeps tabs on events at the Academy by slipping into Lissa’s mind and through Adrian’s dream visits.

Spoilers- Rose senses that Lissa is in danger due to another Moroi spirit user named Avery. This is just the push she needs to come to her senses and fight back. She manages to get away, but now the Strigoi she was chasing is after her. A twist is that there may be someone who can heal Strigoi, but he’s related to Victor (the Moroi they just had imprisoned for life). This will mean leaving the Academy again for a seemingly impossible fairy tale.

I can’t wait to see where this goes in the next and final book of the series.

Undercover Game

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston is full of secrets and twists.

Lucca has spent years of her young adult life on various undercover missions for her unseen boss Mr. Smith. Her current job places her in a relationship with Ryan in order to get as much as intel as possible on his illegal trucking company. She realizes that Mr. Smith may be setting her up to make this her last job.

Events become a game of who can be the first to outsmart and build an arsenal of people to take down the other.

The author does a great job weaving the story by alternating between her present time with Ryan and flashing back to her missions from the past eight years.

This is a fast paced and highly interesting read that will appeal to anyone who loves a good spy/undercover type story.

Dark Aura

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead is book three of the Vampire Academy series (two more to go!).

Rose’s Strigoi kills in book two further enhance her shadow-kissed state. Now she is able to see ghosts and has a physical reaction when Strigoi are near. Mason’s ghost keeps appearing and she realizes he is trying to give her a warning. Her bond with Lissa has also changed. Now she is taking on Lissa’s negative emotions which is making Rose more violent at times.

They travel to the royal court for Victor’s trial. The Queen makes her intentions clear- she wants Lissa close by so she can monitor her. She also wants to keep her away from Christian so she can try to match her with her nephew Adrian. Rose and Dimitri’s relationship also progresses, but hits a major roadblock at the end.

Mason’s warning plays out in a massive battle against a large group of Strigoi who manage to break the wards and stage an attack within the Academy. Lives will be lost or turned to Strigoi. Rose decides to leave the Academy, which is where the story ends for now.

Battle Lessons

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros is book two in the Empyrean series.

I usually have a tough time staying interested in a series, but this is not one of those times. Book two kept me just as interested as the first book (Fourth Wing).

Violet and her friends are now in year two. Her relationship with Xaden is put to the test now that he is stationed at a far outpost. They are only able to see each other once a week because of their bonded dragons. She is working with him to smuggle weapons as they figure out their own relationship amidst secrets and the presence of his ex-girlfriend.

The school has a new commandant who is determined to break Violet. She is pushed nearly to death. New enemies (and one old) are also introduced. Violet is working on honing her abilities while also further developing bonds with her dragons, Andarna and Tairn.

Ultimately, events build to another rebellion and a final battle amongst venin and wyvern. Riders and fliers will need to overlook their differences in order to fight together.

New Enemies

Frost Bite by Richelle Mead is book two in the Vampire Academy series. I finished it a while ago so this will be brief!

Strigoi are working with humans to attack royal families. The Moroi are fearful, but Christian’s aunt Tasha advocates them to use their powers to fight alongside their guardians.

Lisa and Christian develop a relationship while Rose is in a love triangle between Mason and Dimitri. The story reaches a climax when Rose, Christian, Mason, Mia and Eddie are taken prisoner by Strigoi. Not everyone will survive.

Vampire Hierarchy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead is first in a series. One of my library patrons couldn’t stop raving about this book so I had to give it a try. It took me a few chapters to figure out the terminology, and then I was hooked!

Rose and Lissa have a remarkable bond as guardian and Moroi. A Moroi is a good vampire who has an elemental power that mostly goes unused. Moroi have twelve royal families and Lissa is the remaining member of one family. They’re protected from evil vampires known as Strigoi by an assigned guardian (aka Dhampirs). Rose is training to be Lissa’s guardian.

They were in the top social group at their school. Things started to get very odd for them following the accident that killed Lissa’s parents and brother, and that almost killed Rose. These events lead to their escape.

The story is about the aftermath of their time on the run from the academy, while also slowly filling in the pieces as to exactly what prompted them to leave in the first place. Now that they’re back, they have to figure out where they stand socially, and Rose has to train more than ever if she wants to stay connected to Lissa. They also have to figure out why their connection is so different than others.

This was a great story with interesting characters, events, and some romance.

Truth Talks

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom follows events during and after World War 2, starting in Greece under Nazi invasion. Moments of absolute horror are graced by moments of kindness and courage.

There are four main characters and the narrator is Truth. Characters are brothers Sebastian and Nico, their friend Fannie, and Nazi Udo Graf. Their lives intersect and impact one another in different ways throughout the story.

Young Nico is separated from his family when he hides during their evacuation. Udo Graf is the ruthless Nazi in control who moves into Nico’s home. He uses Nico’s honesty to help his cause by having him assure his fellow Jewish people that boarding the trains (destined for concentration camps) will bring everyone back together to a safe, fresh start.

Sebastian resents his brother for staying behind. While on the train, he volunteers Fannie (his childhood crush) to be thrown off as an escape. This sets her on a completely different path.

Each character is in a unique but troubling situation. Sebastian is with his family (father and grandfather) at Auschwitz, Nico is constantly on the move and living a life of lies to survive, and Fannie finds refuge in unexpected ways.

Fannie and Sebastian find each other after the war. Eventually, all characters become reunited during a day meant to commemorate the Jewish people from Greece who lost their lives. Of course, I’m skipping the numerous moments that transpire between for the sake of keeping this brief.

This book reminded me a bit of one of my all-time favorite books, The Book Thief, due to having an omniscient narrator, strong characters and powerful messages about life/survival.

Dragon Riders

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is first in a fantasy series that I am hooked on! A student recommended this book, and it was a perfect read during the December break.

Violet is the youngest of three (sister Mira and deceased brother Brennan). Her father was a scribe, and Violet was happy to follow the same path in his memory. Instead her mother, General Sorrengail, forces her into the Riders Squadrant (same as her sister Mira). This is almost certain death considering her fragile body. Riders are given death defying stunts in preparation to become dragon riders and lethal fighters.

The tests are difficult enough for Violet, added to the fact that multiple students would love to kill her for her perceived weakness or as retaliation against her mother for authorizing the death of anyone involved in the rebellion against their kingdom.

The story tells how Violet manages to survive and become a fierce rider, as well as how she becomes aware of secrets being kept by those in charge.

While I am not normally a fantasy fan, this book had so much to keep my interest, including plenty of magic, action, romance, and of course, there are dragons.