Shelf Full of Books

Ericka, one of Landry’s two best friends insists on Landry and Tori going to the mall with her to enter the modeling tryouts to be on the American Ingénue show. Landry only very reluctantly agrees to enter when Ericka insists they both enter with her. Landry was surprised at the result of the tryouts, but more than shocked by her friends’ reaction.

I liked Landry’s down-to-earth nature. The story was written from her point of view, sharing her thoughts and feelings. I could really relate to her because I was always invisible, didn’t have many friends and didn’t feel like one of the pretty girls or have a great self-esteem either. I give her a lot of credit for getting up there and participating in the first modeling tryout in the first place. I know I wouldn’t have done it – no matter how much prodding from my friend!

The one person in the novel I didn’t like was Devon. She was a master manipulator. I found her to be very self-centred and demanding, always wanting to be the centre of attention. She was always talking down about people when they weren’t around and getting mad at her friends when they didn’t go along with what she wanted. She held grudges and refused to speak to them when she was mad at them.

I think the modeling tryout for American Ingénue and the following aftermath, while not pleasant for Landry were good for her in that they really helped her to grow up and understand what real friendship is, and how to be genuine with those around her. Some of the twists and turns in True Colors really showed how artificial or even two-faced people could be. Her experiences helped her to grow as a person, learn more about herself, be strong and believe in herself and reach out and make new true friends.

Mixed in with all of this was Landry’s confusion over her parent’s relationship. She lived with her mother in Grand Rapids and her dad lived in Chicago, but they weren’t officially separated or divorced. Developing a friendship with someone she could talk to about someone she could share her troubles with helped her figure out some strategies could help her deal with her home situation.

The teen years are notoriously difficult for young women. Peer pressure issues, self-esteem, hormones and everything else that goes on including the granting of greater freedoms, curfews, boundaries and so on can make this time especially difficult for those without strong friends or mentors with whom to talk things out.

I thought the author did an excellent job of writing a book that really speaks to the issues of teen girls today. While the girls are a little boy crazy sometimes, the book was clean and fun and I think it really hit the mark. If you have a teenage girl, this may be a book you want to pick up for her. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-true-colors-by-krysten.html

What child doesn’t love dinosaurs? While this dinosaur story is more fantasy than science other than the dinosaur names children will still love this book. Anky, a dinosaur has daydreams when a purple teardrop falls from his eye. Actually he is glimpsing into the future and these glimpses cause him to do what appear to be strange things.

One day he tosses his sister’s favourite dinner away – an egg. His mother makes him go find her another one. That sets him off on his adventure.

Beautifully illustrated, The Lost Egg has Anky trekking through dangerous territory running from dangerous dinosaurs and making new friends.

Anky and his friends demonstrate the themes of friendship and cooperation on their adventures through the jungle as they help Anky make his way back home. All three dinosaurs learn something from the others and are better for it.

One thing that I did notice however is that the story said that in Anky’s daydream Pooka’s egg was green, but in the illustration the egg was purple. I think the illustration and the text should have matched (pg. 9).

I thought this was a fun adventure story that very young children to older children who can read for themselves will enjoy. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-lost-egg-anky-daydreaming.html

Westly: A Spider’s Tale was an excellent story. I found it to be immediately engaging. Westly a scrawny, ugly little caterpillar was supposed to be the son of the Monarch Butterfly King, but when he emerged from his cocoon, he was not a butterfly at all, but a spider! Since he wasn’t a butterfly he could neither rule the after his father nor remain in the kingdom.

Now, of course, we know that spiders hatch from egg sacks and butterflies take weeks to hatch from their cocoons, but this story is a fantasy/fairy tale and so the author has taken liberties with reality and we allow him that. Besides, it makes the story flow more quickly and this story isn’t based in reality anyway since the insects all talk.

I thought the theme of the story was an important one – discovering who you are and believing in yourself– Westly really had some identity issues. He wasn’t one of the sky dwellers, he didn’t feel like one of the dirt eaters and in trying to discover who he was, he got himself and everyone else into a whole mess of trouble. The story touched on a few other themes as well such as family, friendship, loyalty and cooperation.

There were a lot of twists and turns in this novel. They kept the book moving along very swiftly, making the story a fairly quick book to finish reading.

I enjoyed the author’s personification of each of the insects. I thought he did a great job of bringing each one of them to life. The creatures in the well I found rather disturbing, but kids being kids, they will probably love that – most of them anyway.

Westly: A Spider’s Tale was a great adventure story. I really liked the cover of the book. It’s actually what attracted me to the book in the first place. If your child enjoys fantasy stories, I would suggest you pick this book up for him or her. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publishers for providing this book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/westly-spiders-tale-book-tour-with-bria.html

Website Directory is a very comprehensive compilation of websites on just about any topic you might want to find information about on the web. If you start browsing the sites in the book you will literally spend hours going through the book. When I started reviewing the book I visited a few sites from each topic and after an afternoon had passed I had only gotten to the letter “D”. I had passed up a lot more websites that looked like they might have been interesting to visit too.

The websites are worldwide, so you’ll find things from every country. I liked that the topics of the websites were categorized alphabetically as this made it easier to look them up.

Families, students, children and businesses will find Website Directory useful as there are plenty of websites included in it that each of them will find valuable. I did however find that some of the links were no longer active or could not be found but I do not believe that is the fault of the author. Also, while his listing of websites is comprehensive, I am sure there are websites that have been left out of his book. I’m sure his book would never have gotten to print if he waited to include every single website he could find!

I thought that Website Directory was an excellent resource for any family or business to have on hand to begin an internet research on a topic. It’ll give you a good place to begin. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

I purchased this book on Amazon.ca

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-website-directory-by.html

Generally the reviews I write are on books that have been recently published – usually within the past year or two. But this book is the beginning of where things all started in a small town called Miller’s Creek. The books are actually all stand-alone but there are characters that do overlap from book to book so you do get to know the residents of the town.

Dani Davis has travelled to Miller’s Creek to visit her aunt whom she barely knows but comes to love quite quickly. Dani thinks Miller’s Creek might be a good place to start over after some recent events in her life.

Mayor Steve Miller is trying to revive his dying hometown, Miller’s Creek. However, when some vandals set some of the recent renovations on fire, Steve suspects Dani of setting the fire due to her suspicious activity.

I liked this novel because of the element of mystery and surprise in it. Nothing was cut and dried. There were lots of twists and turns that kept the readers interest. The pace was quite quick and there weren’t a lot of mushy romance scenes. There was a real story to the novel.

The theme of this novel was about fitting in and finding home, a place of belonging. I liked the message that the only time you’ll truly feel that you’ve found that place of belonging is when you let Jesus take residence in your heart. Then you’ve found home.

Texas Roads was a very engaging and easy book to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I gave it a rating of 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-texas-roads-by-cathy-bryant.html

Big Fish starts out as a story about a fish wanting to fit in but he is too big to fit in with the small fish, so he tries to be a bad fish, then a good fish, but he is not accepted by either. After that the story more like a folktale about how Big Fish became friends with the moon and how the rain comes when Big Fish cries.

I liked the pictures that went with the story. They were all line drawings and were very simple. The story was simple and the simple drawings went well together with them.

The story seemed like it was about one thing at the beginning and changed theme in the middle. I can see the connection in that Big Fish made friends with the moon but the whole feel of the book changed from the beginning which was simply a story to a folktale was a bit jarring. As a folktale it was an interesting concept. As a story about fitting in I thought he should have been accepted by the little fish or there should have been some big fish to find who did good things.

Because of the jarring quality between the first half of the book and the second half, I gave this book a rating of 3 stars out of 5.

Thank you to Ahmad Amani for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-big-fish-by-ahmad-amani.html

Imagine discovering you’re adopted. You find out from reading your mother’s diary after she has passed away. Your father and grandmother are still alive and neither of them has thought to mention it to you. Sudden identity crisis? Yes!

Rose wants to know who she is and who her birth parents are since she feels she never really fit into her family. As a journalist she has the skills to do the research required to get the information. What she finds totally surprises her.

Ignoring Gravity is full of twists and turns and surprises. There are hidden family secrets and lies that should have been brought out into the open years ago. Heartache abounds but wounds heal.

There really are a lot of surprising twists and turns in this novel. Ignoring Gravity was a compelling read that was difficult to put down. I think for Rose it must have been quite an awful shock to find out the way she did. If I were an adopted child, I would rather be told I was adopted by my adoptive parents rather than discover it by accident as an adult.

I thought there were some interesting insights as to how adoptions were handled in the 1950s and ’60s compared to how they are handled today and the sensitivity (or lack of sensitivity) towards the birth mother.

I gave Ignoring Gravity 5 stars out of 5 for being a thought-provoking read on a sensitive and sometimes difficult subject. Knowing who you are and where you came from is important whether you are adopted or not.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-ignoring-gravity-by-sandra.html

What seems to be the work of a serial sex killer doesn’t quite fit the usual modus operandi. The victims are of different ages, don’t look alike and don’t seem to have anything in common. Because the mayor is concerned that Montréal is going to become known as the murder capital of North America, he wants Martine LeDuc, the city’s directrice de publicité (publicity director) to be the liaison between his office and the police director.

Martine was paired with Lieutenant Detective Julian Fletcher. Martine took a more active role in the case than simple liaison when the police seem determined to sweep the entire situation under the rug by indicting a homeless man for the murders.

Martine LeDuc was an interesting character and I found I quite liked her. The story was told from her point of view, with some journal entries of an orphan named Gabrielle from sometime in the 1940-1950’s interspersed throughout. We got to know Martine quite well, and what she thought about the other characters in the book. Martine was a complex character, uncomfortable as a stepmother, with a courageous desire to see that justice was done.

Martine felt very French to me – probably because of the amount of French that the author used in the book. I liked that too. The English translation was given or the context and English equivalent were close enough that high school English were sufficient to confer the meaning of the words. It was nice to be able to read a book and expand a bit on my French skills at the same time.

The mystery of what connects these four women was fascinating and very unexpected. It was actually a lesson in history for me as I had never heard about these events before. I had no idea when I started to read this book that the story was based on real events. The author had obviously done a lot of research on her topic and knew it well. The fictionalize portions meshed with the real events seamlessly to create a book that was truly difficult to put down.

The italicized diary portions that began Asylum: A Mystery and were interspersed throughout the novel were both riveting and horrific. The acts contained within those sections were not just horrible (nothing graphic) but horrific when you realize by the end of the book (be sure to read the Author’s Note) that much of what happened in the those portions were based on actual events from the 1940’s through the 1960’s.

Asylum: A Mystery was fast-paced with many twists and turns in the plot. With the various points of involvement of the Québec government, the Catholic church, the American CIA and pharmaceutical companies, the novel leaves you thinking long after you’ve finished reading it. And as you read some of the names of the minors that they have been able to identify as having died and been buried at Cité de St.-Jean-de-Dieu asylum you’ll be left wondering how it could ever have happened.

If you are looking for a riveting book in the mystery/thriller/suspense genres this one may just be to your liking. I rated it 5 stars out of 5. It will definitely stick with you after you’ve finished it.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-asylum-mystery-by-jeannette.html

Danielle Matheson’s good friend’s mother Susan Kilpatrick has taken a turn for the worse in her fight against cancer and is now dying in the hospital. Her friend Christy had met Jillian and her genetically gifted siblings in Nadia’s Tears (Book 2) when they had gotten into some trouble. Danielle, feeling conflicted because she knew that Malia and her siblings had the gifts which could potentially heal Christy’s mom, didn’t know whether it would be right or wrong to ask for help from them or to just watch her die. Her dear friends however, sensed her quandary and offered to help as long as it was kept secret since the world really wasn’t ready for people with their abilities.

If the government found out about them, they would love to get their hands on the children to study them. But that’s not the only danger. There are those who are out to harm Christy’s younger sister Dominique and another organization that wants to get their hands on Malia and the gang.

The twists and turns in this story are wild as Jillian, Malia and Michio work on fighting the cancer and Varick and Danielle do their best to keep everyone away from the room and keep Christy and Dominique distracted. Danger is around every corner and it takes all of them working together to stay a step ahead.

One of the lessons that can be learned from Malia’s Miracle is what can happen when we allow bitterness to seep into our lives. For most of us it doesn’t go to the extent it did to the individuals in this story, but the lesson is still there – it damages relationships. I also liked the other themes of the importance of family and the need to work together. They too are important.

Malia’s Miracles, was written in the same format as the first two books as journal entries from different persons. This worked quite nicely for this novel as there were two groups of individuals often doing two different tasks and so we could get first-hand information from each group this way.

I found this book a refreshing teen/young adult book to read and I love the new cover the author has given it. I gave Malia’s Miracles 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-malias-miracles-devyas.html

When monster rats start destroying Melbourne Airport, people put the blame on dogs. The relationship between dogs and their humans is being destroyed so it’s up to the organization to solve the mystery of who is behind this heinous crime and restore the relationship between man and his best friend. Commander Rocky sends his operatives out across Australia to spread the word to the dogs of the country to be on their best behaviour as they work to discover just who is behind the devastation at the airport.

Animal lovers (dog lovers at least) will love this crime-fighting organization of canines. I liked that each of the characters are based on real dogs and cats. The author has done all her own illustrations for the book.

In Rampaging Rats we get to know some of the team members that we haven’t really gotten to know too well yet in the first two books as they are sent on their missions across Australia. Each of the dogs has their own personalities and though they are serious about their business, you’ll definitely see them as dogs because they continually do the things that dogs love to do – chase balls and sticks, run, pee on things – typical dog behaviours.

The plot moves along quickly and is full of humour. Adults will enjoy the story as they read the book along with their child. The mystery is full of twists and turns and is sure to delight your middle-grade child.

Rampaging Rats is available separately or part of a box set. I would recommend it for middle-grade readers. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to the author who provided a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-rampaging-rats-by-susan-day.html

Jeremy Barnard, a lifelong severe stutterer becomes the unsuspecting subject of the testing of a new drug, but in its natural form – as the flower petal of the plant. Though Jeremy was able to get a degree in criminal law, he was not able to try his own court cases because he could barely speak two words without stuttering severely. This left him working in the background doing research, basically working as a clerk. His first bite of the petal of the Wachuga flower changed his life. He could speak clearly and fluently and was able to show everyone what a brilliant lawyer he really was.

The way The Wachuga Project was written at first seems totally disconnected as the Prologue, Part One and the first portion of Part Two of the book tell about different characters and what they are doing. The remainder of the novel does collect all these pieces so the book does come together quite nicely as a whole.

The story is moderately paced and filled with characters that seem quite realistic. Some of them are quite likeable like Jeremy’s mother and Samantha who never made Jeremy feel bad about his stutter, but gave him the time he needed to let him finish what he was trying to say. Then there were others who were definitely not likeable like his father who berated him and put him down because of his disability. I really liked that his boss from the library assisted him in securing an internship so that he wouldn’t have to interview.

The twists and turns really kept the story moving along. I thought The Wachuga Project did a great job of showing (as opposed to simply telling) an audience what can happen when people are used in experiments without their knowledge or consent in an uncontrolled environment.

I really enjoyed reading this psychological thriller novel and would heartily recommend it to others who enjoy this genre as well. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

I purchased this book on Amazon.ca.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-wachuga-project-by-douglas.html

I Need a Hero is a lovely summer romance read written at a pace that moves along pleasantly. This enjoyable novel is a clean romance with some humour and even a cat with good taste in men.

Every woman wants a “knight in shining armor”, none more so than romance writer Bronte Huntington. She has sworn off dating until “my hero, the one who takes my breath away and changes my life forever” arrives.

I loved the characters in I Need a Hero. Bronte was so in love with the idea of love that she couldn’t even listen to her own heart. She really knew the answer all along though, because it came out in the novel that she wrote. Bronte’s best friend Camille was loyal and helpful. Ryan was the quintessential gentleman and an excellent next-door neighbour. He’s the kind of person I would choose for my hero. Sebastian was extremely handsome and the son of Lord and Lady Fairfax.

The twists and turns in this novel were excellent. I found it totally amazing how long it took Bronte to come to the conclusion for her life that she had resolved much earlier in her own novel. The question was “Was she too late?”

Although it was obvious to the reader who Bronte should choose, it was great fun to read this light-hearted novel to see what happened. What I liked was that the novel really pointed out that a hero doesn’t necessarily have to do huge “hero” things like save a life or rescue a “damsel in distress”. “Hero” things can be smaller things too like give someone a ride when their car breaks down or even just being there for them when they need a friend.

I gave this thoroughly satisfying and fun clean romance 5 stars out of 5. I would highly recommend it.

Thank you to the publishers for providing a copy via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-i-need-hero-by-emma-bennet.html

Patrick and Ann Duncan are FBI agents involved in the raid on Asan and Amelia Kiverson’s family home. The Kiversons were part of a larger well-known crime family whose extended family members were known for drug trafficking, murder, fraud and the support of terrorists. The plan was to arrest Asan and Amelia, and bring in their 3 children aged Kevin aged 25, Angela aged 18 and Benjamin aged 16 for questioning. Things went well until Amelia managed to kill herself with a poisoned razor blade despite Ann trying to wrestle it away from her.

Kevin vows revenge on the Duncans for murdering his mother. He forces them into playing a “game” with him in which someone will die at each stage if they either don’t participate or they fail to meet the target in time.

The Kiverson Case is not the first time we have seen Patrick and Ann Duncan working together. In the previous encounter they were not married, but got to know one another and fell in love. In this book they have been married awhile and now have an infant child, Joseph. I like that we get to see this young family grow and change. We also get to follow Jonathan Parker and his wife Rachel who we met in the previous book (The Collins Case) and follow their friendship with the Duncans.

The twists and turns in this case get more and more harrowing in this case as the clues that are given for the “game” are few. The Duncans are given the time the task must be complete and a short poem with a clue and from that derive what the task is and where each must go to complete it.

In a strange turn of events Ann must put her life on the line, trusting solely on God to keep her safe, in order to save Benjamin Kiverson from Kevin Kiverson. One thing that I found interesting and refreshing about The Kiverson Case was that the characters of the antagonists (the Kiversons) were also developed quite a bit as well. It was interesting to see the changes in the characters of Kevin Kiverson across the course of the novel as well as Benjamin.

One of the best things about this novel was its clean content. This was a suspense/thriller novel like any other, yet without any foul language. I found that refreshing, and didn’t miss that kind of language at all.

Of course, The Kiverson Case is does also fit in the Christian category also, and so that also shows through in the book as well, but the book is not preachy. Basically Patrick and Ann simply just pray for assistance from Jesus and ask his blessing on those that need it

I thoroughly enjoyed The Kiverson Case and I hope the Julie Gilbert continues with this series. If you like moderately suspenseful thrillers, this may be the book for you. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-kiverson-case-by-julie.html

When the other animals just stared at Gail as she tried to make friends with them, Gail thought perhaps she should try to be more like them. As she found out, that didn’t work either. The important lesson she learned was to be true to herself and just be who she was. Gail discovered there was something she could do that no one else in that group of friends could do, just because she was tall.

The other animals were a little shy of her because she was so much taller than the rest of them. It could have easily been some other physical attribute – skin colour, disability, a wheelchair, a different language. A Strange Friend is a great book to read with children as we think about heading back to school and meeting new friends in new classrooms.

Every child will feel a little shy about what the other children think about him/her. What they need to remember is just to be true to themselves and accept the other children for who they are because each of us is different.

I especially liked the rhyming style and meter of this story. It flowed very well. The pictures were fun to look at too. In the Kindle version that I had pictures alternated with pages of text. Occasionally a page of text would also have a smaller picture on it as well.

This book works well as a read-along for younger children. I liked the lessons in friendship and self-esteem. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-strange-friend-by-nadav-sham.html

Humans who had melded their minds with nanotechnology and became human/computer hybrids or the ascended generations ago now ruled over what was left of the human race. Those humans were kept for their genetic code and were no longer allowed to ascend except for once a year at the Creative Olympics. Competition in Dance, Art, Storytelling, and Music rather than in Sports of centuries past, the winners in each category were given the opportunity to join the ascended and become human/computer hybrids with perpetual life.

The Legacy Human was a riveting story that left me wanting more. Each group of people from the Ascended, to the competitors, to the dissenters seemed to have their own secret agenda, causing dangerous events to unfold at every turn.

I found the concept of the ascended and how they were careful to keep the genetic code of the legacy humans untainted very interesting. It was painful to see how that affected the legacy humans since they did not receive the medical care that would have afforded them cures to some of the ailments that made them ill. This is in fact one of the reasons that Eli was so determined to enter the Olympics and win – ascending would allow him and his family – his mother, suffering from end-stage leukemia to leave their human bodies behind along with all human illness and live perpetually.

There were so many twists and turns in The Legacy Human and a rapid pace that the book does an excellent job of holding the reader’s attention. This book is about much more than what it seems.

I enjoyed the interaction between Eli and the other competitors in the Olympics. The characters seemed realistic. I loved Cyrus’ loyalty; helping his best friend trying to reach his goal, which if Eli did, would leave Cyrus bereft of friend and mother figure.

Eli’s discovery of the dissenters and of who was involved in it was a twist in the plot and a surprise to both Eli and the reader. How that will play out in the second book will be very interesting. I thought the plan the resistance had set up for the Olympics if their contestants had made it to the medal platform would have been fascinating to see.

I also thought that what the followers in the resistance believed was quite interesting; similar in one way, yet diverging in a very significant way from the ascended. Those of the resistance believed in eternal life – but eternal life of the soul, which the ascended may or may not have. Those of the resistance believed in a God but I think most of the ascended believed they were gods.

Eli’s growth as a character was evident in his ability to control his fugue state. Additionally he discovered something about his past that would affect his future and the future of so many others – ascended and human.

The Legacy Human is not a book to be missed if you enjoy science fiction. With action, romance and vividly creative writing that will make you believe you are there with Eli, this novel will likely be one of your favourites of the year. I have given this novel 5 stars out of 5. I would happily reread this book again. I can’t wait for the sequel!

Thank you to the publishers for providing this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-legacy-human-singularity-book-1.html

In this post-apocalyptic novel “the event” happened about 12 years ago. That event left Meritropolis as the only civilization left surrounded by forest and savage beasts that have been changed the event.

Charley, the protagonist has just been promoted to aboveground from belowground and is learning how the system works. The system involves weekly evaluations of a person’s worth to the community and when the population in the community rise over 50,000, a gate ceremony is held and anyone with a score of less than 50 is ejected from the city. Charley’s younger brother had a gate ceremony when Charley was much younger and within days of Charley arriving aboveground, he sees a young girl about to be given a gate ceremony.

I liked Charley because he was a man of strong beliefs and was not afraid to act on them. He was rather rash and didn’t always think through what he was going to do before he did it, but that was his inexperience showing. Through the novel he seemed to get better at making decisions.

Meritropolis was fun and creative with the different creatures that were found outside the city. In a way these creatures were probably more realistic as creatures because they were combinations of other animals that exist in nature. On the other hand, they were less realistic because that is likely not how animals would have been affected by nuclear war.

There were a lot of twists and turns in Meritropolis and it was evident that the people of the city were being lied to. What was not evident was the true purpose of the lies and where it was going to lead.

The crossing of the two premises of “Sacrificing one for the good of the many” versus “Everyone has equal value” was a very thought-provoking idea behind Meritropolis. The system on which the city had been run focused on the former with total disregard for the latter sacrificing the ill, weak and elderly. This affected the way the residents treated each other and often how they thought of themselves.

Meritropolis was extremely engaging right from the first sentence to the last. There was lots of suspense and the pace was rapid. Meritropolis is the first book in a series.

I thought this post-apocalyptic dystopian novel was very much worth reading. I gave it 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-meritropolis-by-joel-ohman.html