Onyx & Ivory

 Power through that first chapter! ^_^

I may not be being fair to those first 16 pages of this book. I had just finished previewing a cute little mystery book for my daughter. And riding the high of a good crime story can sometimes color your opinion of what comes after. With that being said, the first few pages of this didn't really hold me or draw me in. What held me going were two things:

1. The summary in the dust jacket "They call her Traitor Kate." 

2. Stubbornness: Once I start a story, I have to know how it ends. 

Now, if you've seen my goodreads profile you know that I am "currently reading" about 17 books. I confess, I got distracted by shinier and newer stories. But I will eventually come back to them. Woven was on my want to read list for almost 5 years before I finally took it off the shelve and read it. So there's hope for all those seemingly forgotten titles. Of course, I digress. 

Kate Brighton is the daughter of a man who tried to kill the king. The man was punished for his crime (beheaded I think) but the one who really suffers, is his daughter. She did what we would all do to shake off shame. She changed her name, moved to a new town, found a job, and tried her best to scrape out a living. But it is inevitable that people would learn who she was. This discovery was helped along by the palace making sure to print her picture and distribute it around the entire kingdom so she would have no safe place. And with her secret out, people waste no time raining even more misery upon her. 

Of course, this book isn't about Kate's social position. It's about how her secret magical gifts and her new job as a Relay rider bring her back in touch with her old life. There is Corwin, the prince she used to love...still loves, and the family secrets she has yet to uncover. I would say more, but then I might risk spoiling it for you. 

Overall, I give this one 3.75 stars. It would have been 4 stars, but I'm docking the author some points for teasing me. There's one scene I was waiting for because it was just a natural progression for Kate and Corwin once they were reunited, but author Arnett is a dirty tease. (hint, hint, wink, wink)

And as I have nothing else...Happy Reading! 

Dry

 It is very rare that I give a book 5 stars. 

Even more rare is finding a book that draws me in so deeply, that I finish it in less than a day. If not for my day job, this definitely would have been a one sitting read. 

I can count the number of titles that have been given this honor on one hand. And for the pleasure of giving me such a great story to read, I wanted to express my thanks to both authors. Now for the gritty details of the review...

It is my policy to try and avoid spoilers. Despite my impatient nature, I'm not one of those weirdos who turn to the last page in the book and read it first. I want to reach the conclusion when I'm supposed to. So I will leave each of you to discover how the story ends on your own. 

In Dry, parts of Southern California end up in a massive drought called the Tap Out. So named because you turn on the faucet and nothing comes out. It's not as if the drought was an overnight event. It happened over weeks but no one was prepared or concerned until there was no water to be found anywhere. And humans, in their desperation will do anything and I mean ANYTHING to get a drink of water. For example, there was a part where teenage girls are selling their bodies to earn bottles of water for their family members. 

The book is YA fiction, so the author makes his point without needing to show the dirty details. I appreciate that because I passed this book along to my own 14 year old son once I finished reading it. Of course, we don't have too much time to feel sorry for these poor girls or to feel disgusted by the person exploiting them, because we are concerned how our main characters are going to survive without resources or their parents during this crisis.  

Overall, Dry had me feeling like I was reading the Doomsday Preppers Manifesto. Don't let that scare you. It wasn't preachy or creepy. It was more like an overly smug "I TOLD YOU SO." It left me thinking about all the luxuries I take for granted on a daily basis. And any book that makes you think or ask questions deserves to be called a work of art. 

There were places in this book that shocked me, such as pinning your hope for survival on a secret stockpile of supplies, only to arrive in the height of the crisis and find that one of your own family members has decimated the stockpile (I didn't see that coming). Or when a certain character is killed by his own parent. After you've lived a while or read a few hundred books, you start to spot the cliches and can easily predict where the story is going. It gets tiring to see the same thing a million times. So any time an author throws me a curveball, I fall in love with the story more. And it probably doesn't hurt that I spent 5 years living in San Diego County and being familiar with many of the places mentioned in the book. 

The basic point I'm trying to make is that Dry is worth your time. Put down that roku remote and happy reading!

Horimiya

I loved this anime!

It's been a while since I've seen a romance. I gave them up mostly because it's episode after episode of me waiting for the guy and girl to just admit they like each other, hold hands for the first time, and IF I'm lucky, they will kiss at the end of the season. Most of the time the writer leaves me waiting for the end of the series, all the while teasing with thousands of "almosts" that get interrupted with dumb gags or the relationship almost breaking apart because of a jealous meddler.

This one thankfully skipped most of the angsty drama stuff. The first 5 episodes are adorable, endearing, and a really authentic portrayal of how young relationships often begin. I watched them 3 times. Mainly because I just wanted to share this show with anyone in my house who was willing to give me 25 minutes of their time. But I've rambled long enough.

First, we have Izumi Miyamura and Kyoko Hori. They're in the same class but have never really spoken to each other. And they each have a secret: what they're like at school is totally opposite of what they're really like. For Hori, she's caught up in the reputation she's created at school. For Miyamura, he's just afraid to connect with people after having been bullied by others most of his young life. But thanks to Hori's younger brother Sota getting into a minor accident, these two meet and are able to see one other in their natural states. 

They become friends outside of school first and don't even begin to realize that relationship beginning to spill into their school world. Of course, one of the boys in class who has a crush on Hori does, and there is a brief moment where he tries to break them up before they get started, but Kyoko's not having it. In the end, he just has to get over her and get over himself.

And we're not left waiting too long for that first kiss. I don't have patience so I watched it subbed, but you can find it on Funimation in English if that's what you prefer. Overall, I give the story, the acting and the artwork 4 stars.