One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

One Plus One is the story of Jess, her daughter Tanzie, stepson Nicky and Ed, a man who begins as a client of Jess's cleaning business, but eventually becomes a friend and more to this misfit family. The story is told from the perspective of all four characters, who narrate both different parts of the plot, and occasionally the same situation from different points of view. It would be an understatement to say that Jess is down on her luck, but when math-genius Tanzie is offered a scholarship to a prestigious private school, needs $5000 to begin, and is told winning a math Olympiad will help her get money, the family embarks on a trip from England to Scotland chaperoned by Ed, a computer coder who inadvertently gave insider trading information to a lover and is facing legal issues. They make quite a group, and during their trip everything that can go wrong does, and things seem quite hopeless. Jojo Moyes tells this tale of multi-layered characters who don't seem to quite fit in anywhere with humor, candor and tear-inducing frankness. It is well-crafted, the characters very authentic, and an extremely compelling story of what it means to be human. A gripping, uplifting tale, well worth the read. ARC provided by Netgalley

A review of Pack of Strays by Dana Cameron

Pack of Strays was a bit of a directional turn from the first book, Seven Kinds of Hell. While Zoe, our heroine, is still mostly a loner, she picks up a group in this book, including her cousin Danny, as well as Vee, an oracle and Toshi, a vampire who lost his closest Family. I again enjoyed the country-hopping, although there was much less in this book than the first. I found some of this book rather confusing, though. While Zoe doesn't understand what's happening with the "integration" of the artifacts with her physical self, and the introduction of "the lab", a sort of internal haven Zoe can project to and solve problems, most of these scenes are difficult to follow. The ending was a bit of a gyp. The last book felt like a continuation, this felt like it was purposely cut off in the middle of the action to get you to buy the next one. In all, I liked the story but less than the first. I will probably continue to read it when the next one comes out.

The Mistress of Night and Dawn by Vina Jackson

The Mistress of Night and Dawn is an exquisite perversion, a vivid tale of a thing, rather than the people inhabiting the story. The story is about Aurelia, the one destined to be the next Mistress of the Ball- an annual celebration of hedonism and sex, held for those who are invited to indulge in its excesses, revelry and celebration of sexuality and humanity. However, her story, and that of Andrei the Protector of the Ball, sent to find Aurelia, with whom she falls in love, is not really about her. I did enjoy the sensuality of the characters, their abandon and joy in their sexual being, and even though I don't love the idea of a person having their personality broken down to become something else, I recognized that Aurelia's consent was imperative to continue the story. It felt like a cross between The Story of O and The Night Circus, especially the flowing language and languid pacing of the story. The elements of dominance and submission are hardly new, but treated respectfully here. In all, I enjoyed the book, even if it lacked some originality, it was interesting and very hot.

A Review of Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

An excellent beginning to a new UF series. I enjoyed Zoe and her group of friends, as well as the author's world building about Fangborn. I would enjoy more history, which I am hoping is forthcoming in the second installment of this series. I greatly enjoyed the world-traveling in this book, and the descriptions of Italy and Greece were fun. In all, a great start.

A Review of The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

The Butcher was an interesting murder mystery, in that there was no mystery- we find out in the beginning of the story who the murderer is. What keeps the reader's attention is trying to figure out how the other characters may or may not discover the Butcher's identity, and if it will be too late. This gave the story a bit less urgency in some ways and a bit more in others. I did like Sam's character, although she seems a bit clueless, but that's easy for the reader to say when the reader knows what she doesn't. I also liked Matt Shank's character, or rather, disliked him but liked how the author wrote a main character devolving in his basic human decency. It made for some very tense scenes that were interesting to read. In all, I enjoyed this story.

Relatively Strange by Marilyn Messik

Relatively Strange is the fascinating tale of Stella, who uses the term "Strange" to categorize her extraordinary abilities. Stella, who lives in 1960's England, is telekinetic, pyrokinetic, can levitate, read minds and do quite a few other impossible things. Much of this story is about how Stella navigates a normal life while being something other than normal herself. There are encounters with others like herself, as well as a nefarious group of "medical" people who have no morals or ethics whatsoever. I found the historical background of Stella's family to be interesting. A post-WWII, post-Holocaust Jewish family trying very hard to continue to be perceived as normal despite their daughter's differences. This was a subtle reminder that. Not too far in the past, any "otherness" was an offense, punishable by death. And yet, they accept her, for the most part, as different, but not wrong or bad. It was, in fact, the great compassion of many of the wildly fascinating characters in this book that kept my attention. It was a great deal of fun to read. I would recommend it to all readers. ARC provided by NetGalley

A review of Angeli by Jody Wallace

Angeli, by Jody Wallace is an interesting story. The premise being that some aliens have come to rescue Earth, or Terra, from another species that seek to suck the souls or kill humans. These aliens, called Angeli, have determined that the easiest way to get humans to accept them is by masquerading as angels sent from God, the Christian god specifically. The story begins with Gregori, the head Angeli, as he is fighting some daemons on Terra after the "apocalypse" has already come. He meets Adelita, a 20-something law student trying to fulfill her bucket list before she dies. The beginning of this story is extremely confusing. It took a good 30 pages before I could make sense of what was going on the story. However odd it may have seemed, the story definitely held my attention. There was a definite romantic note to the story, once Adelita, a religious Catholic, understands that Gregori is not an angel, but a humanoid from another planet. There is a bit of a subplot involving the intentions of Ship, the sentient computer that is the vessel the aliens travel on around the galaxy. In one humorous scene, Adelita makes a pro and con list labeled "Hal or Not Hal", a fine nod to classic alien movies (2001, specifically). It seems that from Adelita's perspective, Ship's motives are not as pure as Gregori and his team would like to think. In all, this was a fun book to read, although a bit light on the specifics, details and facts. The action was well done, and overall, I would recommend this book to sci-if fans. ARC provided by NetGalley