Book Review-Audible- Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Who do you trust inside while fearing what is Outside?

Outside In (Harlequin Teen) by Maria V. Snyder

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (February 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373210116
• ISBN-13: 978-0373210114

Genre: Sci Fi Fantasy, Dystopian
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Product Description:

  "Me? A leader? Okay, I did prove that there's more to Inside than we knew.
    That a whole world exists beyond this cube we live in. And finding that led to a major rebellion—between worker scrubs like me and the snobby uppers who rule our world. Make that ruled. Because of me, we're free. I thought that meant I was off the hook, and could go off on my own again—while still touching base with Riley, of course. He's the one upper I think I can trust.
    But then we learned that there's outside and then there is Outside.
    And something from Outside wants IN."

Review: A good wrap up for Inside Out (see my review here.)  This could be read alone as the author recaps the events of first book but you would miss a lot of character detail and background so I do recommend  reading Inside Out first.

Young Trella was the catalyst for a rebellion of the Lowers in the first book, Inside Out.
Now that the Lowers have freed themselves from the control of the Uppers the society has a bit of a breakdown. A committee of Uppers and Lowers is formed to direct the new order but there is no clear leader, no clear direction and lots of distrust.  Since the Uppers haven’t started doing their share of the work, the workers (Lowers) are starting to strike and work isn’t getting done at all.  Some of the leaders, and especially the Lowers,  feel betrayed by Riley because she won’t continue her leadership role. She doesn’t see herself as having the skills to lead and she just wants to move in the shadows and let others make decisions.

Add to these problems there are acts of sabotage against vital areas of the ship that may be intended to allow one power group to gain control. The Committee doesn’t know who is responsible and slowly they are slipping back into old patterns of control with a new police force taking the place of the old Pop Cops but acting much the same.

Trella is helping out in the infirmary and trying to resolve her feelings about the Doctor who claims to be her mother. Riley pulls away from Trella as he too feels betrayed by her isolating herself from the ongoing problems. Trella finds it hard to stay aloof when attacks start hitting herself and injuring her friends including Logan who is needed for his computer skills if they are going to figure out who is behind the saboteurs.

The problems heat up even more when The Controllers take control of the systems and lock out the committee, and other human, input. Slowly they realize that there is an “outside” entity trying to gain control of the “inside”.  It is hard to tell who Trella can trust as two distinct groups are trying to use her and telling her different versions of the truth.

This second book had some additional influences that were a bit “out there” but on the whole it does a good job of expanding on the first book and wrapping up open issues. This one wasn’t quite as fully engaging as the first book and that may have been partially created by Trella’s character being wimpy about taking on responsibilities to help leadership.  (I had this similar reaction with The Hunger Games series as the heroine's character seemed to be weaker in the final book.) The author has again included good twists to keep you guessing and the conflict continues and keeps you alert to the very end.

The narrator does a good job with the emotions and characters although I felt the outside forces were not as distinctly portrayed through the narration as they might have been. A fine line complaint, I know, and it did not diminish the enjoyment of the good story.

Maria V. Snyder books are on my must get and read list! If you have not yet discovered this author you are missing some fine reading entertainment.

Book Review- Audible- Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

An exciting dystopia read. If you liked Hunger Games and other stories in this genre you will like this.

Inside Out (Harlequin Teen)  by Maria V. Snyder

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (February 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373210116
• ISBN-13: 978-0373210114

 Genre: Sci fi Fantasy, Dystopia
     My Rating:  4.75 of 5.0

Product Description
"Imagine every space in this room filled with people. Constantly being jostled and pushed. In the lower levels there is no quiet place. No peace. To a scrub, this room is paradise."
I drew a deep breath. I'd spoken more in one burst to this stranger whose room I'd invaded than anyone else in weeks. And with a single word he could alert the Pop Cops and send me to the Chomper. We stared at each other for a few heartbeats.
Before I could retreat he said, "My name's Riley Narelle Ashon. Any time you need peace, you're welcome to use my hideaway."
I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own...until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

Review:  This is a very engaging story and I listened to it in about two days as I didn't want to stop.

Trella is a teenage girl, a Lower,  who works as “a scrub”, cleaning pipes on "Inside" which is the world as she knows it. Her best friend, Cogan, is a leader among the Lowers who hate the Uppers who control them and keep them in their places of labor by threat of the Population Control Cops (Pop Cops).  One of Cogan’s friends, is a computer genius, Logan. Unknown to the Uppers, Logan makes all sorts of handy gadgets that help Trella to spy and gain information around the systems. Another friend  believes he has found information leading to Gateway which will lead them to “outside” with information that Trella can help gain.

Trella moves freely among the pipes, provided she gets her job done and shows up when expected so the Pop Cops don’t harass her.  While crawling through the pipes she discovers what appears to be an empty room - which is a luxury to the crowded Lowers. Then she meets a boy there, Riley, and even though he is an Upper they develop a friendship. There is mystery in how the Uppers lord it over the Lowers and Trella and Riley are surprised to learn that life “on the other side” is not as either has been taught.  Riley gives Trella a sheep stuffed animal which they call Sheepie. Ultimately that becomes the symbol of the Lower’s rebellion by a “force of sheep.”

This story moves along very quickly with good twists.  I enjoyed the characters, the story, the surprises and the good narration. This is YA but that did not lessen the enjoyment and I was anxious to listen to book two.  This is an author I really like. I enjoyed her early trilogy, the Study series which I recommend too.
My review of the second book, Outside In, is my next post.

Q&A Interview with Ciji Ware, Author of A Race to Splendor

Please help me give a warm welcome to Author Ciji Ware.

Q1. I'm always interested to discover the story behind the story. Where did the inspiration for A Race to Splendor come from?

Ciji:  When we first moved to San Francisco from Southern California in 1998, we rented a flat four blocks from the fable Fairmont Hotel, atop Nob Hill.  I soon discovered the apartment house had been designed and built by Julia Morgan, the first licensed woman architect in the state, in the wake of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and firestorm. Not long afterward, I learned that Morgan, at the mere age of 34, had also gotten the commission to restore the badly scarred Fairmont in a year’s time, all of which seemed incredible. I started digging and the story turned out to be so amazing…I knew immediately I had the subject for my next historical, A Race to Splendor—right in my own backyard!

Q2. Tell us one surprising thing about your experience writing this book, or about the research for this book.

Ciji: I was amazed to learn that the famous architect, Stanford White of New York (who built, among many stellar buildings, the Washington Square Arch), was originally hired post-quake in 1906 to restore the wounded Fairmont.  Three weeks after he got the job, he was murdered by his lover’s husband!  
In the chaos following the quake and fire in San Francisco, all the other local designers and builders were taken, except for the “Lady Architect,” who, at that point in her fledgling career, had a hard time getting hired--so Julia Morgan got the gig! It was a fluke, really.  Later on, she gained great fame as the architect and builder of the Shangri-la known as Hearst Castle on the central California coast—constructed during the years 1919 to 1947.

Q3.  Which did you find more difficult: writing nonfiction or fiction?

Ciji: This may sound strange, but I spent 23 years of my earlier career as a working reporter and on-air commentator, meeting deadlines every day when I was a broadcaster for ABC in Los Angeles.  For me, writing news and nonfiction was a “job” and I gained the confidence, toiling all those years, to do my “just the facts, ma’am” assignments with no fuss, no muss.  There was no time or room to indulge in “writer’s bloc.”  Writing fiction has always been for me an absolutely pleasure, and I suppose having to produce words each day for all those years with no excuses has rendered me one of those writers who simply write and don’t agonize over it much.

Q4. Is any of your writing from your own experiences or is it completely your imagination?

Ciji: My nonfiction (the latest of which is Rightsizing Your Life:  Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most) has parts of my own story woven throughout all the factual and prescriptive material in such a “self-help” genre.  When it comes to fiction, my commitment to getting the facts right (even if I’m chasing a story that’s two-hundred-years old) has brought after researching and writing six historical novels to the subject of “What were the women doing in history?”  And that’s probably because I was “the only woman in the room” years ago in many of my on-air jobs--a female broadcasting pioneer, I guess you’d say—and so I’m always seeking to find other women in earlier eras who broke those barriers in their fields.  I found women playwrights at Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres in London; I discovered women musicians in the court of Marie Antoinette; I uncovered women artists working for Josiah Wedgwood in his pottery factories.  I think my own experiences of working in fields dominated in the twentieth century mostly by men has been a central theme in my own fiction.

Q5. Do your work career/hobbies/interests influence your writing?

Ciji: It’s kind of the other way around!  After I wrote my first historical, Island of the Swans, a biographical historical centered on the life of Jane Maxwell, the 4th Duchess of Gordon,  I became what my husband of 35 years fondly calls “a Scot-o-manic,” dressing everyone in a kilt whenever the occasion slightly called for it.  During that period, I learned Scottish country dancing and even joined a troupe (akin to American square dancing), and, after living and working in New Orleans for a year writing Midnight on Julia Street, I became a passionate devotee of southern specialties like gumbo and grits and even bought a guest house in the French Quarter!

Q6. How long does it take to research and write your books?

Ciji: That’s actually been a problem in my career—I cannot research and write a decent historical novel in a year.  Because I’m such a stickler for the facts--and because I earn a living by my writing; it’s not a hobby--I have to work simultaneously at writing jobs that actual pay money. That has meant I always had a “day job” writing, as with my 17 years at ABC in LA, or I’d stop to write a nonfiction book which I found paid a living wage, or take a gig, as I did last year, writing a 9-part series for AARP, The Magazine.  Since my background was as a reporter (and even with the Internet saving huge amounts of time), I still insist on “going there” to see and experience what I’m writing about.  That has meant eight trips to Scotland; many to France, New Orleans, Natchez, or wherever else I set my books, since the setting is just as much a “character” in my books as the heroines and heroes.  My first novel took five years; Wicked Company took three; and I managed to do the paranormal historicals like Julia Street, A Light on the Veranda, and A Cottge by the Sea in two years.  My publishers would rather it be different, but they know I’m not a lazy bones…just fanatically thorough, I guess you’d say.

Q7. Do your characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?

Ciji: I feel the most awful pang when I finish the book and the characters stick with me for months afterward.  I’m currently having dreadful separation anxiety from Amelia Hunter Bradshaw and J.D. Thayer in A Race to Splendor.  These two, in particular, have been hard to let go of as I almost get the sense that they’re still walking around Nob Hill!  We’re having a big launch and costume party for the book at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel this month, and I fully expect Amelia and J.D. and maybe the “real” Julia Morgan to show up.  Many people will be in 1906 attire as we’re holding the event on the eve of the 105th anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake and firestorm.  Who knows?  Maybe they’ll turn up?

Q8.  Do you have any rituals that help you get in the mood to sit down and write?

Ciji:  A cup of tea by my side—but away from the keyboard, as I have twice tipped liquid into my laptop. Aaaarg!

Q9. What do you hope your readers get out of your books?

Ciji: I write to entertain and enlighten and I hope my readers, especially of the new one, A Race to Splendor, will come away from the book dazzled by the courage and moxie it took for these fabulous women to excavate and renovate a gorgeous beaux arts hotel in 1906-07! I also want them to revel in the story of a woman, Amelia Bradshaw (a composite character based on the lives of the people who worked with Julia Morgan restoring the Fairmont to its former splendor), who struggled with the same issues that many working women—and men—face: how to integrate their passion for what they do with the important “others” in their lives. Can they learn to balance love and work and responsibility?  By what means are genuine partnerships between men and women forged so that everybody wins?  These questions faced pioneers in any field, and they are central to what my latest book is all about. Plus, I want readers who don’t live in San Francisco to leave their hearts there when they close the book.  Those of us who do inhabit this wonderful region have already lost ours….


Q10.      If you could have readers finish a sentence what would it be?

Ciji:  What makes me happiest in all the world is_______?  (Not what you think should make you happy, but the thing or activity that makes your heart soar?)

 Ciji enjoys hearing from readers at www.cijiware.com

Thank you for such an informative interview, Ciji.
Check the Review and Giveaway for a chance to win the ARC for this fine book.

Book Review and ARC Giveaway: A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

This is definitely a rich and splendid romance.

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware.

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781402222696
• ISBN-13: 978-1402222696  

      Genre: Historical Fiction
      My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Product Description:
Set in the tumultuous aftermath of San Francisco’s devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, and based on the lives of several women apprenticed to famed Julia Morgan, California’s first licensed woman architect, this historical novel tells of the fiercely-fought competition between Nob Hill hotels to re-open their doors by the first anniversary of the disaster–proving to the country and the world that the city would rise from the ashes.  Amelia Hunter Bradshaw, fresh from earning her certificate in architecture at the prestigious L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, finds herself, through a series of flukes and mishaps, in the employ of the one man determined to best Miss Morgan, Amelia’s mentoress and friend.  Intrigue, political corruption, and an undeniable attraction to the mysterious James Diaz Thayer threaten not only to jeopardize her personal life, but also prove fatal to all she holds dear.

Review: This is a beautifully rich romance.

Amelia Bradshaw is a beautiful, bright woman who studied architecture in France. She returns to San Francisco to take over her Grandfather’s famous Bay View hotel. Unfortunately her father has lost the hotel in a poker game to James Diaz (J.D.) Thayer, the son of a city leader, and Ezra Kemp, a corrupt social climber. Amelia loses the legal battle for the hotel and agrees to work at night with her old school friend Julia Morgan who has already established an architecture office.

As Amelia begins to close up one dawn she feels the building shake. She is aware of pencils rattling in a cup and then she is struggling to get out of the building and stay alive. She dazedly seeks her father at the gambling club next to the Bay View and finds J.D. injured, her father with a broken back under a table and others dead.  Amelia’s father insists that she look for the cards he had as he claims that he won the hotel back with a royal flush but she only has three of the cards.

The fires that follow the quakes destroy the Bay View and the nearly completed Fairmont Hotel. The owners of the Fairmont begin to rebuild with the goal of opening by the one year anniversary of the quake. J.D. decides that he too will re-build the Bay View and the race begins. Julia Morgan’s firm is working on both structures until she fires Amelia over a disagreement. J.D. wants Amelia to be his architect so she stays on that project while Julia’s firm continues the work on the Fairmont.

The Bay View rebuilding is plagued with lack of materials and labor. The labor unions won't allow the use of the Chinese but Amelia and J.D. secretly use their labor at night. But the hotel suffers from sabotage as Ezra threatens J.D. to repay loans.  Amelia and J.D. grow close as they work together on rebuilding. Then Ezra  blackmails J.D. insisting that J.D. marry his daughter. Even though Amelia has hoped for more, she begins to believe that J.D. only cares about the building and not about her.Will they be able to complete the Bay View before the Fairmont is completed? And who will own the Bay View when it is completed?

The story is strong on details of the quake and fire. Even though some of the statistics reflected in the story were very interesting, I wasn’t sure that such precise details of the fire heat and extensive damage would be known so soon after the disaster. I enjoyed the vivid and rich descriptions of the earthquake and the rebuilding.  The characters are well developed and the interactions, from hate to love, between Amelia and J.D. are emotional, natural and make for a splendid romance. I look forward to reading more by this author.

xxx

Thank you to Sourcebooks for the book to read and review.

This giveaway is limited to US entries because of the weight of the book.  I hope many of you were able to get a copy of this marvelous book at the reduced price offered last week.
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE ARC COPY:

1.Visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you find there.
Please leave your e-mail!

2. For two extra entries comment on the Author's Interview.

3. For and extra entry answer the Question posed by the Author at Q.10.

4. For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

5. For two extra entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Seven total entries possible.)
It isn't necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is open to US only.
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on April 22, 2011. The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.

Book Review and PDF CD Giveaway: Woman of Honor by Nicole (Open Worldwide)

 A lovely medieval story of a young girl dreaming to be a Lady Knight.

Woman of Honor (Kingdom of Arnhem, Book 1) by Nicole Zoltack

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 428 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc (March 27, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0021L9YDK

      Genre: Fantasy, Historical Romance - Medieval
      My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Product Description
Aislinn of Bairbhe dreams of becoming a lady knight to honor the death of her fallen brother. To her mother's horror, King Patrick grants Aislinn's wish and she begins her long years of training.

Despite the mockery of the other pages, and the disdain of Prince Caelan who also trains to be a knight, Aislinn commits herself to her dreams and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and bravery. Through the years, Aislinn and Caelan grow from sparring classmates to good friends. They both know that someday Caelan will marry for the sake of the kingdom, but even that cannot keep them from falling in love.

The threat of war with the Speicans is a constant threat, and one that grows more frightening as she and Caelan train toward their eventual knighthood. Aislinn has committed herself to serving Arnhem, and has promised herself as King's Champion when Caelan claims the throne. She is willing to give up everything... her childhood, her life, even her heart for Arnhem. No matter the pain it brings.

Review: This is a sweet story covering the challenges facing a girl’s unique journey to knighthood...and more. The book covers Aislinn’s years from 1155 to 1169 AD.

Aislinn is a determined young girl of 8 when she seeks permission to train to become a lady knight. The King agrees to a probational two year period and her work and struggles against prejudice begins. The King allows another young girl, a street “rat” to train too. Instead of helping each other the girls are jealous and distrustful. Unlike the other outgoing girl, Aislinn, who has some reading and math skills already, has few friends among the boys.  She is lucky to get Geoffrey, a friend of Caelan, as a mentor and Prince Caelan himself as a silent watcher/companion.

As the pages grow to squires they grow closer together and Aislinn finds others to help her with the areas that she needs help with. The “brain” helps her with math. The stable master tries to help her when she is assigned a beautiful horse who just won’t respond to the reins. She figures out that she needs to start from scratch to train Dream Rider without saddle trappings and finally she makes head way.  Aislinn even takes secret weapon training from a mysterious Shadow Warrior, Ryu.  These warriors are not trusted by either Arnhems or Speicans and had something to do with the war between the two nations.

Slowly the other pages and teachers learn to respect Aislinn for her unyielding determination in tackling her challenges.  Aislinn struggles with her emotions as well as her mental and physical training. As she matures she also has to struggle with conflicting desires between her dream to be a lady knight and her growing feelings and friendship with Prince Caelan who is destined to be married for political and royal position.

Prince Caelan is quiet and intense. It is clear he likes Aislinn from the beginning even if they seem to quarrel and set each other on edge. He admires her and tries to help when her stubbornness will let her accept help. But he is the Prince and is well trained to understand his duties which will include marriage as arranged by his parents. He struggles with his clear feelings for Aislinn which conflict with the duty to his position.

This book is the author's debut novel. Although I feel the writing could use a little more depth, which I think will come with experience, the story concept, plot and action are sound. Also the book seemed well researched offering some interesting insight in the life of pages and squires. It is an easy going story with sweet primary characters, harsh villains, plenty of action, emotional stress, dangerous enemies, battles and magical mysteries. At the end of the book there are still open questions to be further explored in the next story in the series which I am confidant will be another lovely read.

I won a pdf cd copy of this book which I am passing on in this giveaway. This is light enough that overseas mailing would not be outrageous. The pdf can be converted for Kindle reading or read on PC. I am not familiar with converting for other ereaders. 
I will be doing an interview and hosting another giveaway with this author in the near future so keep an eye out for that. :-)

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THIS PDF-CD:

1.  Mandatory entry: Visit the author's website and tell me something of interest you find there.
Please leave your e-mail!

2.  For an extra entry, become a follower or tell me if you are already a follower.

3.  For two extra entries, blog, facebook, tweet (any of those networks!) about this giveaway and tell me where you did.

(Four total entries possible.)
It is not necessary to use separate entries unless you want them in different chronological order.

* This contest is open Worldwide
* No P.O. Boxes Please - for shipping reasons.
* This contest will close 10:00 PM (Central) on April 22, 2011.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.