Saying Goodbye to Warsaw by Michael Cargill

The main characters in Saying Goodbye to Warsaw by Michael Cargill are Abigail ("Abbie), her brother Leo and her mom Chana. 

"Like any girl who is loved by her family, Abigail Nussbaum loves to chase butterflies, enjoys lying on her back looking for shapes in the clouds, and happily teaches young children to make daisy chains.

In the eyes of certain people, however, Abigail has committed a heinous crime. The year is 1940; the place is Poland; Abigail happens to be Jewish.

Along with half a million other Jews, Abigail and her family are evicted from their home and forced to live in the bombed out ruins of Warsaw, the Polish capital.

Although a handful decide to fight back, is the uprising strong enough to save Abigail’s spirit?" Goodreads.com

Saying Goodbye to Warsaw is an inspiring book. It sounds weird to say that about a book with such a horrible subject matter. The main two themes that run throughout the book are if you don't like something fight to change it and find something positive about your current situation. 

Often times, the main characters, like other Jews during 1940, had little or no food, lived in filth and were afraid of the German soldiers. Leo joins a revolutionary party to fight the Germans. He also finds a way to provide food for his family. Chana, who is hopeless of her current situation becomes determined to do something productive and helps out in the underground soup kitchens that provide the majority of her family's food. Abbie, find children to entertain and teach at the orphanage.

The book is not all inspiring because of the Nazi's. I am not one to cry at books but fair warning, a box of tissues should probably be nearby. I found myself cheering for the characters and shedding tears throughout the book. 

The ending is well throughout and matches with the theme of the book. However, I would have liked the ending of the book to gone a different way. I don't want to say too much about why because I feel it may give away too much of the book. I say read the book and then let me know if you agree. Most reviews I have seen so far agree with this. 

Saying Goodbye to Warsaw is an amazing book that should be read by all. It has made me favorite book of 2013 list.

Designed for Perfection by Elle Davis

When the topic first came up about reading Designed for Perfection, I was a little hesitant due my thinking it would be about a bunch of high school kids and their love story. Wow, was I ever wrong. I am so glad, I had the opportunity to read this book.

Designed for perfection is about not typical high school students. They had a little help from their parents in changing their DNA. The kids are the "perfect" students, athletes and models. Most people think having the "perfect" body, life and everything you wanted would make you happy, but does it really? What happens when you go through life without anything to challenge you?  In this book, you will find out...

The Designer, as the modified kids are called, are contracting a virus that is killing them. This is  story about Cat McCullough (Cat), her sister Claire, Ronan and the rest of the Designers. Cat and Claire are orphaned when Cat is in high school due to a boating accident. The Designers are abducted by supposedly the government to conduct testing on them and to eliminate them. 

I like that the kids still went through the same trials and tribulations that most kids go through. Often times, in our society, we focus too much on being perfect and not enough on enjoying life. The cover of magazines at the checkout line and covered with diets and works out. The tabloids make fun of people's bodies about being too thin or too fat. As a society, are we really heading in the direction of genetically altering our children while still in the uterus so they can be what our society dictates? It is scary to think about. If someone does think about genetically altering embryos, they should read this book first. 

The book does have some romance it in but it is not overly done. I am excited to read the next books in the series.

Bloom by Martin Kee

Bloom by Martin Kee is an unusual book. It is a book about two parallel universes that eventually become one. 

"Tennyson Middlebrook never considered himself a storyteller. The fairy tales he invented for his childhood friend Allison were only meant as a distraction from their troubled lives. For Tennyson, the stories were a whim, meant only to offer comfort in a bleak time of mass extinction and despair. The characters in his stories never even had names... But Lil'it is real, if not quite human. She is feh, a non-person, existing in a fractured world of hoarded knowledge where the simple act of writing is a crime punishable by death. At best she is property; at worst she is an exotic commodity, something to be sold off to rich, superstitious lords and bankers who would use her organs as aphrodisiacs. She lives in a cage, kept as a pet, her saliva a pathogen used to concoct potions. But when she is sold to the prince of a kingdom as a plaything, she discovers her world is much bigger, more dangerous, and far more terrifying than she had ever imagined from inside the safety of her prison. Tennyson's world has been afflicted by bloom, a parasitic fungus striking down the very people who might be able to stop it. For a disease that feeds on information, the minds and memories of humanity are the perfect food. As bloom scatters the remains of his species, Tennyson becomes separated from Allison. When he learns that she may still be alive, he must decide how far he is willing to go to see the end of the world with the only woman he ever loved... even if she has no memory of him." http://www.extaordinaryreads.com.

The two stories as standalone stories are incredible. The author is very descriptive and has an incredible imagination in terms of creatures that were added into the book.

Martin Kee switches between characters in the story each chapter. He does a good job of indicating who the main characters are in each chapter. Without this information, the book would have been difficult to follow.

However, I felt the book lost itself when the two stories were trying to be merged together into one. There was so much going on in each story that I think each one could have been a book by itself. I feel like the author had two good ideas  for books and could not figure out which one to follow.

I was a little disheartened by the ending of the story. I felt the book just ended without following through on all of the thoughts. I may just be hung up on the fact that I did not like how the two stories came together. It was more like fantasy meets sci-fi, which is hard to do. 

I felt this book had much more potential that what was actually achieved of it. I am happy I read it but it will not be a book I recommend to my friend or that I read again.

Midnight City: A Conquered Earth Novel

Midnight City: A Conquered Earth Novel by J. Barton Mitchell is a post apocalyptic fight for survival story of two teenagers (Holt Hawkins and Mira Toombs), a dog (The Max) and a child (Zoey). You may ask why no adults  are in the book? That is because when the Earth was invaded by Aliens, they brought the Tone with them. The Tone is a broadcast by the Aliens, that controls anyone who has been conquered by it. Only those who are over 20 are usually affected by the Tone.   

My favorite character by far in the book was Zoey. The author kept her child like qualities even though she was basically living on her own. She kept asking, throughout the book, if she could "ride the Max." It made me laugh every time. It is a question that most kids have when they see a larger dog for the first time.

I made the mistake of reading the description of the next book before I was finished with this one. I knew what was going to happen. Normally, that would spoil a book for me. Even after that, I could not get enough of the book. Midnight City is constant action from page 1. Mitchell does an amazing job of drawing in his reader and not letting go until the end. The end of the book wraps up this story but leaves you wanting to know more about their journey. I am happy to see there are more upcoming books.

Although, I love the book and it is has found its way on to my favorite book list, I did find some story flaws. I am hoping one of the next books either The Severed Tower (November 2013) or Winterbay (December 2013) will answer them. I was confused as to how Zoey, learned to function as a human, since she was captured by the Aliens before she could speak. Most of the time when someone is raised in another culture, they are not able to adapt to a foreign culture. Not all of our behaviors as humans as inherent. We have to be taught to speak, write, walk, etc.

Due to being a book blogger, it is rare that I have to purchase a book. I will be purchasing the rest of the books in the series. Keep an eye out for the upcoming reviews.

Broken Cogs by S L Koch

Broken Cogs by S L Koch is about a salesmen, Harrison, who finds his friends mysteriously dying. The more friends that die the more promotions for Harrison and his secretary. Coincidence or maybe is the statement, 'you can never escape your past' coming into play? That's for you to find out in this gruesome tale of murder and love. I would like to share more of the story, but that would take away from the fun of reading the book.

When I first read the author's description of the book, I was taken back a little. I was not sure that I wanted to read the book. Based on the description the book appeared to be more horrific than expected. I decided I was up for the challenge. Don't get me wrong, the book does have some gruesome parts in it, that you need to have a strong stomach to read.  It also, has some NC 17 parts as well.

I am, also, not a huge fan of love stories intermixed with murder mysteries. I often times find that the love story over powers the mystery. I was pleasantly surprised, that the love story was subtle and relevant to the story.

I found myself struggling a bit to get past the first 20 pages of the book. Once I reached page 30, I did not want to put the book down. I found myself chuckling, cringing at the victim's pain and the hair on the back of my neck standing throughout different intervals of the book.

S L Koch, is wonderful at using subtle foreboding hints. He also uses metaphors in a manner that is not overdone. Generally, each chapter, leaves you with a little or large cliff hanger to entice you to keep turning the pages.

I am looking forward to reading more books by S L Koch. Keep an eye out for more of his books on my blog.