Meradeth Houston's Blog, page 32

After Reading: AT THE WATER'S EDGE by Sara Gruen

In her stunning new novel, Gruen returns to the kind of storytelling she excelled at in Water for Elephants: a historical timeframe in an unusual setting with a moving love story. Think Scottish Downton Abbey.
After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind. To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war. Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, now alone in a foreign country, must begin to figure out who she is and what she wants. The novel tells of Maddie’s social awakening: to the harsh realities of life, to the beauties of nature, to a connection with forces larger than herself, to female friendship, and finally, to love. (Goodreads)

It's a book review week as I'm so behind on revisions for my summer release that I haven't had time to think about much else, let alone come up with anything intelligent to say (though of course that's assuming I say anything intelligent to begin with, and that's highly suspect). Anyhow, if you come across this, it's probably me:
On to the book, and thanks to LibraryThing and the publisher for awarding me a copy in exchange for my honest review:

I have a confession: I haven't read Water for Elephants, nor have I seen the film. It's just not something I've been particularly interested in. However, throw in the Lock Ness monster, Scotland, and WWII? Well, that's another thing altogether. I went into this really excited, but I soon found myself a little less than enthused about Maddie. Let's be honest: she's kind of frustrating, particularly at the beginning. Self-centered, entitled, way too rich--pretty much characteristics that leave me a little put-off. She does grow quite a bit throughout the novel, and did grow on me as well, though I still found her a bit weak, even at the end. However, I don't think that all female characters must be crazy strong, as diversity in strength of character is needed as well. I just don't do so well with weaker females. Still, I did find her situation interesting and enjoyed her transformation. Her husband is horrific and I felt that part of the novel was particularly well done, even if it left a sour taste in my mouth. The romance left something to be desired, as I really didn't feel like the characters got to know one another at all and it almost came off as insta-love. Now, a strong Scottish man can pull this off, but Outlander has set the bar too high to be reached by many other Highlander men ;)

Overall, this was an interesting read and insight into a different social strata and way of life during the war. I found it engaging and definitely ripped through the novel, though overall I did find parts of it lacking.

Has Outlander set your sights high on kilted men? Do you believe in the Loch Ness monster? Shout it out in the comments!

After Reading: DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS by Laini Taylor

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. 
At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter? (Goodreads)

You know how there are some series that just kind of suck you in and don't let go? That leave you thinking about the characters for ages after you've finished? That make you re-read multiple times? This is one of those series for me. I love the writing, the world, the intrigue, Karou and Akiva (though I thought I might scream at the two of them a couple of times), and just the loveliness of it all. Mixed in with a whole lot of darkness, but let's be honest, I like that too :) It's amazing when I come across books that just seem to "get" me, and these definitely were. I put off this last book in the series for quite a while, mainly because I couldn't face the end. I loved it too much. (This is a dangerous habit of mine--something I do a little too often.) I'm glad I finally set aside some time to just delve into the world though, and I enjoyed seeing how everyone managed to work things out. I did think there were some added complications that seemed to be added in more for complication's sake than because they felt true to the story, but that's fine. I pretty much would read anything set in this world, so I really can't complain. And the ending left me hoping that somewhere down the line Taylor might share another fun tale from Eretz!

Have you had a chance to check out this series? What did you think?

Release Day for EMPATH by S. Usher Evans #dragons

A quick shout-out today for this awesome release from a great author! And who doesn't like dragons on a Tuesday? :)About the Book
Lauren Dailey is in break-up hell.
Stuck between moving on and letting go, she puts on a brave face while crying herself to sleep at night. But when a mysterious voice promises escape from her sadness, she is suddenly transported to a new world. And in this place, the slightest touch pulls her out of her tortured emotions into the mind of another - an empath.

The villagers - sweet Aerona and her mischievous twins, wise Siors, and hunky Cefin - welcome her and the blessings her empath powers bring. But this world is not without its dangers. The Anghenfil, a fire-breathing monster, has haunted the village for decades, and has a taste for empaths. And that mysterious voice promising escape from sadness? It's sounding more like a whisper tinged with smoke and embers.Preorder:
AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksAbout the Author S. Usher Evans is an author, blogger, and witty banter aficionado. Born in a small, suburban town in northwest Florida, she was seventeen before she realized that not all beach sand is white. From a young age, she has always been a long-winded individual, first verbally (to the chagrin of her ever-loving parents) and then eventually channeled into the many novels that dotted her Windows 98 computer in the early 2000s. After high school, she got the hell outta dodge and went to school near the nation's capital, where she somehow landed jobs at National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, capping off her educational career with delivering the commencement address to 20,000 of her closest friends. She determined she'd goofed off long enough with that television nonsense and got a "real job" as an IT consultant. Yet she continued to write, developing 20 page standard operating procedures and then coming home to write novels about bounty hunters, teenage magic users, and other nonsense. After a severe quarter life crisis at age twenty-seven, she decided to finally get a move on and share those novels with the world in hopes that she will never have to write another SOP again.Follow on TwitterFollow on Facebook Follow on Goodreads

Monday Mishmash

I have a potential cover for Travelers, my summer time-travel release! I can't wait to share it as is it EPIC!! :)One. More. Week. It's final's week, and I just have to get through it and reach the awesomeness of summer break and I will finally be able to sleeeeeep!! :) It's sad when that's the thing I'm seriously most excited about!I'm currently looking for a new place to live. I've come to a point in my life where being in a basement apartment with no windows is no longer something I can deal with (and is indicative of how how horribly they pay teachers and professors these days). I may hate moving, but the thought of finding a better place is seriously amazing!It is gloriously spring and warm and beautiful here now! Montana in the spring and summer, as short as they may be, really can't be beat!In grading papers (and papers and more papers...) this little gem came up in my Human Biological Variation stack and I thought I'd share for some giggles today: What's going on in your world this week?

After Reading: RED EQUINOX by Douglas Wynne

The Red Equinox has dawned, and the old gods who have slept for aeons are stirring. 

Urban explorer and photographer Becca Philips was raised in the shadow of Miskatonic University, steeped in the mysteries of her late grandmother’s work in occult studies. But what she thought was myth becomes all too real when cultists unleash terror on the city of Boston. Now she’s caught between a shadowy government agency called SPECTRA and the followers of an apocalyptic faith bent on awakening an ancient evil.
As urban warfare breaks out between eldritch monsters and an emerging police state, she must uncover the secrets of a family heirloom known as the Fire of Cairo to banish the rising tide of darkness before the balance tips irrevocably at the Red Equinox. (Goodreads)

Honestly, I don't think I've ever read something quite like this. I enjoyed it, but it was distinctly different, both in the mythology that was used, as well as the voice. Becca was an interesting character, flawed but relatable. Her growth was definitely done well. That being said, I never felt a deep connection with her, though perhaps that's just me. The story itself was creepy and fascinating, and the way the pieces wound together kept me reading. I did find myself wishing I knew a little more about Becca's family and background, as they were all kinds of different, though Wynne was quite good at giving enough details to allow the reader to figure out what was necessary for the story. Overall, it was an interesting read and well written. I'd pick up one of Wynne's other books for sure.

Thanks to LibraryThing for the copy en exchange for a review!

#FlashFiction: The Probability of the Impossible

It's that time again: I have a short story up over on the Lightening Quick Reads blog :) This months' theme is the Unbelievable, and I figured I'd have a little fun with super powers. (And because I'm a total nerd, they had to develop in a way that was actually maybe, kinda possible...kinda :). Check out the rest here, and be sure to leave a comment over there, as there's a giveaway going on!

*** SourceThe world is flat. The sun orbits the earth. Lead can be turned into gold. Continents don’t move. People can’t read each other’s thoughts.

Or so people used to think.

Not that anyone understood was my great, great, great, great (I’ve lost track—there’s supposed to be eight [or ten?] great’s) uncle Leonard could do. He just seemed to have a good sense of intuition with those he was close to.

And he and his wife had a ton of kids. Ten or something like that. And their kids who also had a bunch of kids? They were the ones who were like their dad.

The real surprise happened when two third cousins met and got married. They hadn’t even realized they were related (I mean, think about it—do you know your third cousins?). Their kids were the first ones where people took notice. When the scientists stepped in. The government.

None of us have really been free since then. Not until two years ago when I broke out with the rest of the group.

I gripped the steering wheel with my gloved hands. The leather squeaked under the pressure. It was the only clue to anyone paying attention. I hated any accidental touch with a stranger.

Hate’s a funny thing though. The scientists back at the lab told me the original mutation had been some random fluke. That was how it always worked—an accident in their DNA. An accident that allowed them to hold us all hostage. To breed us like cattle. To force us to work for them. Nothing compared to the hate I felt for them.

I took a deep breath. Thinking about that too much left me with a raging headache, and tonight I had to keep my focus. I was on a supply run (first time I’d been allowed back in public). We needed things and I had to get out and get back without anyone tracking me, or guessing who I was.

Not that most of the public knew about us. Sure, a couple of generations ago there had been news stories. Wild claims about what we could do, strange comparisons to those impossible mutations that people glorified in comic books. Reality was so much less fun.

The store was still lit, just twenty minutes until closing. Just as I’d timed it. I parked next to a lifted truck with a bumper stick proclaiming that the driver hunted wolves. I resisted the urge to take my key to it.

I had to peel off my gloves when I walked through the sliding doors. It was a little too warm for that to be normal.

The list in my pocket, on a crumpled piece of paper, had twenty items on it. That allowed me to take the express lane, and anything more might tip someone off that I was up to something.

Canned goods first. Mostly veggies, and a few fresh things as well. My mouth watered at the thought of a baked potato loaded with everything on it. How long since I’d had something that filling?

Too long. But it was worth it. Better than being a lab rat.

The medicine aisle gave me some trouble. I had to walk through it several times until I found the right stuff. The cold medicine would be invaluable at the compound, if only because it stunted our abilities. In a community of mind-readers, that meant peace unlike most of us could hope for.

I threw in chapstick before I could stop myself. My lips cracked and bled every day or two and I couldn’t handle it any longer.

Finally, I walked to the front. This was the hardest part. I could load my cart without ever having to speak with someone, but this store didn’t have self-checkout lanes. Which was why I’d been the one sent here. It had things we needed the other stores didn’t, but there were so many risks.

My cart had a wobbly wheel that listed to the right and squeaked as I walked to the front. Five minutes until closing.

The woman behind the conveyor belt read a magazine and glanced at her watch as I approached. Unloading my cart, she began ringing up my items as the register let out muted beeps.

I managed a weak grin as I walked up to pay. I had five crisp twenties in my wallet, each stolen, but I didn’t like to think of it that way. I’d spent the majority of my life working for the scientists without any kind of compensation. Same went for my parents, and everyone else back at the compound. Taking what was my due seemed like a much better way to phrase it.

The woman was efficient. Already most everything had been settled into white plastic bags, ready for me to collect. She didn’t do much more than glance at me as I waited.

I hoped the sweat gathering in my pits, along my lower back, didn’t show through.

Finally, she finished and turned the little screen with the total toward me without saying anything. I counted out the twenties on the little counter and let her collect them. Her hands stayed a safe distance from mine.

My total didn’t register until she counted it out for me, bills along the counter, which I snatched up and replaced in my wallet.

But the change. The total had included three cents, which I didn’t have, and meant I had $0.97 cents to contend with. And no way was she going to scatter that across her counter.

Go check out the blog to see what's got the MC so freaked out :) And leave a comment there to enter for a $10 giftcard! (And one here, too, if you're so inclined, but no giftcard giveaway here at the moment...)

After Reading: Prodigy (A Legend Novel) by Marie Lu

Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic's most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots - a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games? (Goodreads)

I read this one a while ago and haven't managed to get in a post about it. It was a good read, but again, I didn't find myself as drawn into it as I would have liked. In some way I think this has to do with the fact that the characters, whom I really like, are said to be only 15 years old. This just bothers me. While I'm reading, they are at least 20 or thereabouts. It's impossible for them to be so mature, and especially to have had so many of the experiences they've had, and be so young. I know that's rather silly, but it's something that keeps coming up to me as an issue. But, other than that, I found this to be an interesting read. I especially enjoyed seeing the gov't that's on the other side of the border from the Republic. Lu has some serious political undertones to her work that I found really interesting. That being said, I did enjoy this book and will read the last in the series, though I'd continue to age these people up a few more years :)

Movie Weekend: Age of Adeline, and Ex Machina: #AgeofAdeline #ExMachina

Hubby was in town this weekend and we did something I don't think I've ever managed in my adult life: we went and saw two movies :) There were a few out that we've wanted to see, and we both just needed to decompress. Did anyone else see these?? I'd love to hear what you thought!


Age of Adeline was just magical. It hit on themes that I find cropping up in my own writing a lot, which was probably why I liked it so much. Immortality, San Francisco (oh dear, I was so homesick!!), true love, and loss--all of it was so fun. The story line was weak, but the characters made up for it. And the costumes! I wanted every last one of Adeline's outfits. Also, someone to teach me how to do my hair in all the great '40's styles that I love.

Only one minor pet-peeve: the "scientific" explanation they gave to her condition was utterly cringe-worthy. As in, they strung together some "scientific" sounding terms that are peripherally related to aging and tried to make it sound smart. Look, movie people, either do it right, or just call it magic, and those of us in the crowd won't want to throw something at you :)

I left the theater very content after this movie. Also, thinking to myself that if you liked this movie, you're very much going to enjoy Coincidences (if I can ever sell it!).

Ex Machina was a fascinating film. I'm still thinking about it and parsing out the themes. Honestly, it was kind of a mind-trip. I walked into the theater thinking that it was going to be a scary film, and while I don't want to give too much away, it really wasn't frightening, at least not in a typical horror-film kind of way. Instead it was a glimpse into the not-so-distant future and some of the tough questions we'll need to be asking ourselves. I've watched quite a few AI films lately (one I saw in Spain that I can't find anywhere and it really annoys me because it was awesome!) and this one is near the top of my list in terms of addressing some of the weight of the topic.

The film itself was pretty heavy on the science side of the Turing test. Hubby and I have read a great deal about this, and it's one of our favorite dinner discussion topics (yes, we are that nerdy...and I'm sure we've given some people some strange ideas if their table is within earshot of ours). I found it odd that the film's previews and other marketing make it out to be more "scary", which came across as a bit of a misnomer. Not one I was sad about, but just something to think about if you haven't seen it yet :)

My 1000th Post!

I was getting ready to write some random and rather silly blog post about a book or two, but went to write it and realized it would tip me to my 1000th post here on this blog. And that kind of set me back on my heels. It's kind of incredible. I love this blog and keeping it up, and seeing as how I've been at it since February 2009 (and before that on LiveJournal, but let's not go there), it's pretty dang sweet. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by over the last 6 years, contributed posts, and basically made my online home a very happy place!

And just for randomness sake:

My most popular post: EugenicsMy most popular book review: Fire of Stars and DragonsMost common search to get to my blog: meradeth houston (props to people for spelling it right)Most random search term: Japanese headdresses, and science stuffNumber of books published: 4 (soon to be 5)Number of agents gotten and left: 1Number of posts where I thought I'd lose my mind: about 10Degrees received while writing: 1. My doctorate. Sometimes I think that should count for more.Number of jobs I've had while writing: 2. Grad student TA/instructor, and professor.Number of amazing people I've met: waaaaaay too many to count!
That's it from here today, but I hope you're all having an awesome week!

#TeaserTuesday from Coincidences

I'm home from my travels! Well, for the time being at least :) I had a blast at the conference in San Francisco, and loved getting to see my family (even if it was way too short). Anyhow, it was great being home, getting to explore, listen to some awesome conference talks (holy hannah were there a lot of people at the Society for American Archaeology meetings--5k+ archaeologists! That's a lot of flannel. And too few whips--sorry Indiana Jones ;). But because it's Tuesday and my house is a maelstrom of laundry and unpacking and student papers, I'm going to share a short snippet and a couple of pics!
I pulled into a parking spot two minutes late and rushed inside. Three faces turned to greet me and I slumped into the booth next to Luke, flashing him a tight grin. The cracked vinyl seat dug through my leggings and pinched, but I didn’t dare complain.

Luke pushed a mug of coffee to me, along with a slice of pumpkin pie. “Thought you might like that. It was the last one.”

I raised my brows, unable to help the incredulous look. “Thanks. It’s my favorite.”

He shrugged like it was no biggie and turned back to Theo.

Taking a quick bite, my mind couldn’t help going back to Mel’s earlier words. He’d gotten me pie. Somehow he’d know my favorite kind. And my favorite Indian dish. Did that mean something?

For crying out loud, it’s pie, I chastised myself. How many times had Luke made it perfectly clear he didn’t feel a damn thing about me beyond friendship?

When was I going to get that through my thick skull?

“What?” Luke’s voice cut through my thoughts and my fork paused in midair, loaded with another bite.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” I replied, taking a bite and keeping my eyes glued to the scarred, beige Formica tabletop.
I've shared this before but I still love it, so it's going here again :)
Note to self: stop broadcasting to Luke at random times. How long had I had that ability under control? Way, way too long to start screwing up now. Especially when I couldn’t stop the niggle of thoughts about what was going on with this job and its impact on ‘us.’