Birthmarked and Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien

I devoured “Birthmarked” and “Prized” by Caragh M. O’Brien almost as fast as I did my Thanksgiving meal yesterday. Yum! I love a good dystopian and Ms. O’Brien’s story does not disappoint. It’s a very simple dystopian, but it works. The story is set in the future of Earth, hundreds of years after Lake Michigan dried up and resources around the world have become extremely limited. Society now lives in small little civilizations that are incredibly far apart and do not communicate with one another. In book one, “Birthmarked”, we meet Gaia. Gaia’s mother is a midwife and Gaia has been in training to be one too. We first meet her on her first solor birthing. Her family has faithfully served the Enclave, or so she thought. After Gaia is forced to separate the baby she just delivered from its mother and deliver it to the Enclave as is the law, she returns home to find out her parents have been arrested. Gaia doesn’t know who to trust anymore and how she’ll be able to save her family from the powerful Enclave.

That’s the basics of the story, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about a girl who has been treated by her society as damaged goods her whole life due to a scar across her face. She has to learn how to survive on her own and save her family. During all this, she’s confronted with so many obstacles including meeting a young man who drives her insane - in both a good and bad way. She has to make the decision between striking out on her own or trying to ignore what she’s learned and live a simple life in veiled ignorance. What do you think you would choose? Hrmmm....

The story evolves in book two and honestly, you could probably read book two without reading book one. The story is definitely ongoing, but once you settle in to the world, you’d figure out what’s going on. That’s all I can really say without spoiling it, but I really liked it. Gaia has to wrestle without a lot of emotional issues. There’s a bit of a love triangle going on. It’s interesting. I love how simple and clean the writing is. It’s an easy read, but not in a dumbed down kinda way. The words just flow. It’s easy to relate to the characters and understand the world they live in. It’s very cinematic. I could see it making an excellent movie. It’s solid and I say that as a huge compliment. I cannot complain about one thing.

Oh wait.. yes, I can. Book 3 doesn’t come out for awhile yet. I want to know what happens to Gaia. GAAAAAAAAH! ;o)

The “Birthmarked” series by Caragh M. O’Brien is published by Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan). I purchased “Birthmarked”, but I received an ARC of “Prized” from the publisher. (I know, I’m a very lucky lady.) Both books are available now - so go! Get a copy today.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

I enjoyed this book. What can I say? I’m a sucker for science fiction, or as I have recently learned the proper name for it - SPACE OPERA. I know, doesn’t that genre name just invoke images of the opera singer during the movie “Fifth Element”? Ahhhaaaaahhhhhhhh. (That’s me singing opera, which I can sort of do. I was pursuing it for awhile when I first moved out to California.) Anyways, it’s a fun twisty drama set in deep space. It’s not too science fiction-y as far as technical stuff goes, so true sci fi fans, this may not be your cup of tea. It’s similar to Beth Revis’ Across the Universe... ya know, bad stuff, happening in space.

So, the general premise is that sometime in the future, the earth is in such bad shape that we left to create a new world. We sent out two ships with people grouped together that would get along. On one ship went the more religious sect and on the other, the more secular or people from differing faiths. The religious group left a year before the secular, separatomg the ships by some great distance. However, at the start of the book, we found out that that religious ship (New Horizon) actually slowed down to rendezvous with the Empyrean (the secular ship). To keep this summary from getting ridiculously long, things are not what they appear to be and bad things happen. It’s twisty and turny all the way through the end.

There are no clear “good guys” or “bad guys” in this one, something I really appreciated. The characters are real and truthful. We all have a bit of good and bad in us. Evil can be committed by good people if they think they are justified or doing the right thing. I really loved our heroine, Waverly. She is strong willed, but not to the point of being a walking stereotype. She really emerges as a leader under crisis and at the end, is dealing with some major emotional issues. Of all the characters, I am most interested to see what happens to her in the next book. We left her in the middle of a major decision making process. The plot also follows Kiernan, her boyfriend and the “golden boy” of the Empyrean. He has to go through some major struggles to become a leader and in the end, turns to religion. To be honest, this is my one major qualm with this book. Maybe it will be explained later... but really? God talking to him? Maybe it’s because I just read a fantasy series that had God as a main character, but man, I really hope this doesn’t become a big religious drama set in space. I liked it more as the action packed, survival story that dealt with some morality issues. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens in book 2.

Until then, if you’re a fan of SPACE OPERA, la la la!, then you should check out “Glow” by Amy Kathleen Ryan. It’s action packed roller coaster ride of plot twists and turns.

I was provided with an ARC from the publisher, St. Martin's Griffin. “Glow” is scheduled to be released tomorrow, September 13th.

Audiobook Review - The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, Narrated by Jenna Lamia

Breathtaking. That’s the one word I keep using to describe this audiobook. It literally stole my breath while listening... from shock, from anger. I just couldn’t help but vocally react to what was happening to Kyra as I listened. This book is powerful and then when you combine it with Jenna Lamia’s amazing narration, beware. It will blow you away.

“The Chosen One” is the story of Kyra, who is a thirteen year old girl living in a religious polygamous colony. She doesn’t really know any other life since the leaders of her religion have isolated the colony from the outside world. She’s beginning to learn that something isn’t right when starts reading books from the county mobile library and also falls in love with a local boy. Then the Prophet, their leader, decrees that she is to become the seventh wife of her biological uncle who is sixty years old. Kyra faces the decision that will forever changer who she is - become the wife of a violent and domineering man and lose her identity or find some way to leave the colony. But can she leave her family behind. Will she be able to escape with her life?

I honestly am having a hard time putting into words how I feel after listening to this audiobook. The story is powerful and horrifying. I found myself yelling out loud for Kyra to leave and wanting to punch her uncle for being such a horrible human being. It really evoked an emotional response and I think anyone can connect to Kyra. She’s a very relatable teenage girl, despite her extraordinary circumstances. Ms. Lamia’s narration is so intense. She does a great job making distinct transitions between the large cast of Kyra’s family and really personalizes Kyra’s grief. The combination of the author’s words and Ms. Lamia’s narration was incredibly moving. You may want to avoid listening in the car. I was in tears quite a few times.

This audiobook runs 5 hours and 33 minutes. It’s no surprise that this one the Audie Award for “Solo Narration - Female” this year from the Audio Publishers Association. Congratulations to both Ms. Lamia and Ms. Williams. Audiobook fans, check this one out today.

I purchased this audiobook through Audible.com. “The Chosen One” is written by Carol Lynch Williams and published by St. Martin’s Griffin. The audiobook is narrated by Jenna Lamia and produced by Macmillan Audio.