Red Rising by Pierce Brown follows Darrow and his fellow Reds as they toil in the brutal mines of Mars, enslaved by the cruel Golds who promise their labor will someday make the surface habitable. Hope for a better future keeps the Reds working, but an incredible tragedy reveals Darrow's entire world is a lie. To expose the Golds' treachery, Darrow is thrust into an…
Read moreThe Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand explores how the death of friends can affect people differently. This beach read does a good job of examining love and death from a variety of angles, allowing readers to become fully invested in the story. When Greg and Tess MacAvoy, a young couple with children dies unexpectedly, the lives of their friends (three other married couples) are changed in…
Read moreI Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton The everyday life of Pusheen the Cat is chronicled in a series of ridiculously adorable comic drawings. Pusheen is cute, chubby, extremely lazy, and has toes that look like beans. She enjoys lying completely still, exercising her imagination, and modeling the latest human mustache fashions. This is her first journey from the animated webcomic to the printed page. Margaret…
Read moreThe Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg Two soul mates discover they cannot come within two feet of one another. Determined to find a cure for their fate, they marry anyway. But, how do you pass the years with a mate you cannot touch? With stories and legends of course! Discover a world of irreverent mythology, all lushly illustrated with Nordic inspired art. Beth @ East
Read moreA Highly Unlikely Scenario or, a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor In a future ruled by feuding fast food corporations, where philosophies are expressed through pizza formations and Heraclitan Burger Grills are under attack from neo-Maoist revolutionaries, one Neetsa Pizza employee has been compelled by mysterious forces to abandon his post handling customer complaints and go forth to save the…
Read moreBandette in Presto! by Paul Tobin, art by Colleen Coover Bandette, a très chic French thief, steals unique objects of art and literature from the undeserving rich like a modern day Robin Hood in this graphic novel. Using social media, her cute charm, and ninja abilities, Bandette is a fabulously fun role model perfect for any girl who prefers her heroes to wear sensible flats and…
Read more"You Really Got Me You Really Got Me You Really Got Me" When Ray Davies spewed those teen angst lyrics in his cockney voice over the driving guitar riffs from his brother Dave in 1964, the Kinks legend was born. While the Beatles were "cute" and honed, the Kinks were shaggy, unruly and jagged. They were awesome. Fast forward 40 plus years and, though the Kinks have…
Read moreJohn Scalzi's Hugo-winning book Redshirts is an odd duck, to be certain. As it starts, it seems like an excellent pastiche of the sci-fi phenomena of the 'Red Shirt'. For those not up on their tropes (and haven't gotten themselves trapped reading everything on the site I just linked), the Red Shirt is a character who is introduced solely to die for dramatic effect. In…
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