131. Frostbite by Richelle Mead

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Mead, Richelle. Frostbite. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2008. Print.

327 pages

Reviewed by Jessica d'Artagnan Love

I don't know what it is about Thanksgiving but it seems that I am always drawn to reading vampire lore around this time of year. It is actually Thanksgiving day as I sit and write this review. It seems every year there is a different series I read about vampires in late fall. 

Mysterious timing aside, Frostbite is the second book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series. The first chapter or so of the book was a recap of the first book, Vampire Academy, which I appreciated. It has been nearly a year since I read the first book and was a bit fuzzy on characters and story line. The quick recap easily jogged my memory and made it easy to dive back into the story.

In this installment, Rose is still battling feelings for her teacher, Dimitri, as she trains to be a guardian for royal vampires. There is a string of murders targeting royal vampires that shakes up her community and makes her training even more important. 

As far as vampire fiction goes, this isn't the best I've ever read, but it also isn't the worst. The world building is a bit flimsy, but there is at least enough structure that it wasn't distracting and the story could still be entertaining. The prose is pretty simplistic but Mead does do a nice job of painting a character. The first seen with Adrian Ivashkov was so vivid he felt like someone who could actually exist. Honestly, I've met my fair share of human men like him and she did a good job distilling the essence of this kind of guy.

If there is anything that would make me stop reading this series, it's the protagonist, Rose. Rose is immature and psychologically abusive of the people who care about her. This isn't someone I want to be represented as a heroine. Interestingly, by the end of the book, there was a hint of explanation as to why she behaves this way, so I will continue forth with the next book in the series.  

Would I read it again? 

I don't know. I think it will depend on how the rest of the series turns out. If future books suddenly turn amazing, then I probably would re-read the first two books again. If the rest of them are duds, then no, I wouldn't.

Recommended for

Vampire fiction fans who don't want to think too hard about what they're reading.

Not Recommended for

Vampire fiction fans who want complex world building. 

Word Bank

• None. The language is pretty simplistic.

3 stars out of 5

Richelle Mead's website: http://www.richellemead.com/

Richelle Mead on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/137902.Richelle_Mead

Connect with me!

Instagram: @ladylovestead

Twitter: @ladylovestead

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

130. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Word Bank

• natatorium 

3 stars out of 5

Sarah Shepard's website: http://www.saracshepard.com/

Sarah Shepard on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93970.Sara_Shepard

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

129. My Year of Big Books

This year, I'm attempting to read 10 big books. I defined "big books" as books of 500 pages or more.
I did some browsing and thinking about the big books I've wanted to read but not made time to.
Most of these are books that have been sitting on my bookshelf.

The books and schedule I determined for myself is below (keep in mind I'm not starting this until
three weeks into the year):

Weeks 3 - 8

The Count of Monte Cristo

Weeks 10 - 17

Les Miserables

Week 18 - 21

East of Eden

Weeks 23-24

Paradise Lost

Weeks 26-29

The Mists of Avalon

Weeks 31- 34

Anna Karenina

Weeks 36-37

The Canterbury Tales

Weeks 39-43

Don Quixote

Weeks 45-48

The Fountainhead

Weeks 50-52

Middlemarch

I haven't broken each of these schedules up by chapter just yet but I have scheduled out my first book.
If you want to read with me through my Big Book Challenge, here's my schedule for The Count of
Monte Cristo

January 14 - January 20: Chapters I - XXI

January  21 - January 27: Chapters XXII - XXXVII

January 28 - February 3: Chapters XXXVIII - LIV

February 4 - February 10: Chapters LV - LXXIV

February 11 - February 17: Chapters LXXV - XCII

February 18 - February 24: Chapters XCIII - End

For each of these books, I'll be doing blog check-ins at the beginning where I'll share some basic
information about the history, context, and author. I'll check in halfway through. Finally, I'll check in
at the end with my final thoughts.

I would LOVE it if you joined me! I'll be using #YearofBigBooks as the tag for this project. I'm also
not going to be super rigid about the timeline. If this list goes into 2020, so be it. Life happens and
there has to be wiggle room for the unexpected.

I'll pop in tomorrow with my first check in of The Count of Monte Cristo!

d'Artagnan

128. Paper Towns by John Green

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Green, John. Paper Towns. New York, NY: Penguin Random House, 2008. Print.

305 pages

Reviewed by Jess d'Artagnan Love

My YouTube Review

"Paper towns" are town names that map makers use to catch plagiarizing competing map makers. The towns don't actually exist in reality. This concept of perception versus reality is a theme of John Green's novel. The enigmatic Margo is missing and her childhood friend, Quentin, is searching for her. She's left a series of clues for him to follow and each clue leads Quentin to question how well he really knows Margo. 

A fan of one of Green's most famous works, The Fault in Our Stars, I read this with high expectations. By the end of the novel, I found myself disappointed. Paper Towns lacked the finesse and sophistication of his other work. Some of the dialogue felt forced. It was typical teenage dialogue with lots of "dudes," and "likes," scattered in for age appropriateness.

Ben and Radar, Quentin's two friends, could easily have been just one character. There weren't many differentiating qualities between the two and I found myself not able to keep track of who did what. In my head, they just became one merged character. The same happened with the two supporting female roles. They would have worked just as well being one character rather than two. 

I did like the discussion of perception both how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. This discussion is what got me through the end of the book. I wasn't attached to the characters or the plot, but I was curious about how perception was discussed. 

Overall, not a bad read, but not a great one either.

Would I read it again? 

No, but I will keep reading Green's other work. Other fans I've discussed this book with agree that Paper Towns isn't his strongest work..

Recommended for

John Green fans who already know he's a good writer.

Not Recommended for

Readers who haven't read Green yet. Start with The Fault in Our Stars.

Word Bank

• None

3 stars out of 5

John Green's website: http://www.johngreenbooks.com/

John Green on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1406384.John_Green 

John Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johngreen

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

Coffee Break!

Hello LoveBirds!

I'm taking a social media coffee break for a bit. I'll be back in January 2019!

127. "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. The Naturals. New York, NY: Hyperion, 2013. Print.

308 pages

Reviewed by Jess d'Artagnan Love

My YouTube Review

The FBI has set up a program for gifted teenagers called the "Naturals." Cassie, the protagonist, has the gift of reading people. She is recruited into the program and learns that every other teenager in the program has secrets. Dean, another expert people reader, is the child of a serial killer. They work closely together in their training and eventually Dean learns Cassie's secret--her mother was murdered and the case was still unsolved. When Dean and Cassie learn about the FBI's current case, one that seems eerily connected to her mothers' murder, the "Naturals" come together to keep Cassie safe.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes works as a professor of psychology. She has degrees in both psychology and psychiatry and has a degree from Yale. This shows in her writing. A lot of this read almost like a textbook on forensic psychology. The prose often felt clinical and the content was heavy on expository about how to profile an UNSUB. This is the first book in the series, so it might be that Barnes was setting up the rest of the series by focusing on how Cassie learned to profile and perhaps things will pick up in the subsequent books. I will give the second book a fair shot before I decide to stop reading the series entirely.

Aside from the clinical prose, the characters were moderately developed and the plot did pick up pace toward the end. The resolution of the case was interesting, though not entirely surprising. It may be that I'm so accustomed to reading adult mysteries that adjusting to the tamer YA mystery was difficult. I just wasn't drawn in to the tension or excitement, but I might have if I was reading this at 15 years old. I think this is a great book for its target audience. 

Would I read it again? 

No, but I will give the next book in the series a shot.

Recommended for

Teenagers who want a good mystery/thriller

Not Recommended for

Readers who are used to adult mysteries--this will be too tame for you.

Word Bank

• phenomenological (p. 78)

3 stars out of 5

Jennifer Lynn Barnes' website: http://www.jenniferlynnbarnes.com/bio.html

Jennifer Lynn Barnes on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/164187.Jennifer_Lynn_Barnes

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan

126. "The One World Schoolhouse" by Salman Khan

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Khan, Salman. The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. New York, NY: Twelve, 2012.

256 pages.

Reviewed by Jess d'Artagnan Love

My Youtube Review

Salman Khan is most well known as the creator and leader of the Khan Academy, a tool used frequently across education facilities. I think he prefers to go by Sal so he isn't confused with the famous Bollywood actor, Salman Khan (rawr). The One World Schoolhouse documents the process Khan went through in creating Khan Academy. It all started when Sal started tutoring his niece long distance and needed tools to make their work together more effective. This resulted in a set of videos that taught basic math and a fledgling Youtube channel that made the videos easily accessible.

Khan attempts to provide a broad history of the American education system and why the system functions the way it does. This section was highly problematic. Khan cherry picked his research, failing to show the entire story and leaving out seminal, groundbreaking work by scholars like Jean Piaget and Benjamin Bloom. It was almost unethical the way the information was presented. He made it seem like he was giving readers the full story but he wasn't. I couldn't help but feel like he could benefit from taking a few more courses in research and writing. He bias towards math and sciences over art and humanities was painfully obvious. The arts and humanities were always mentioned as secondary to STEM rather than being a critical part of education. 

Another problem with Khan's assessment of the educational system is that he functions under the assumption that the only way students' learning is being assessed is through standardized tests (think bubble sheets and scantrons). This is far from what educators are actually doing to assess student learning. Educators are using tests, yes, but they aren't idiots. They understand that a test isn't necessarily the best was to assess learning. That is why there are other assignments (the dreaded HOMEWORK that Khan bagged on in one of his chapters) such as papers, multimedia projects, and group assignments which Khan fails to mention in any way except negatively. 

The rest of the book can be summed up by the last part of the title: reIMAGINED. Imagined. Imaginary. The rest of the book where he discusses the future of higher education was a rambled fantasy. It had no basis in reality or in current research or academic trends. I wish I could meet him so that I could say, "Hey Sal, my university has been doing the things you describe in your book for almost a decade before you published your ideas." Truly, the ideas he had that were solid weren't entirely new (and not ENTIRELY HIS. He tap danced on plagiarism through the whole book!) and the ideas that were new had no basis in research or educational theory, or even economics. 

Bottom line: the best part of this book was learning about how the Khan academy was developed and that would honestly be better told in a magazine article rather than in a book. 

Recommended for: readers who like Khan academy and what to learn about how it was create BUT who can also read with a critical eye toward the lack of research in the rest of his writing.

Not Recommended for: readers who want an ACCURATE depiction of the educational system.

Word Bank

• balkanizing (p. 49)
• bedeviling (p. 216)
• idyll (p. 113)
• remunerative (p. 93)
• simulacrum (p. 108)

2 stars out of 5. 

Sal's Twitter: https://twitter.com/salkhanacademy

The Khan academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Connect with me!

Instagram: @jdartagnanlove

Twitter: @jdartagnanlove

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8035862-j-d-artagnan