Review: Great American Outpost

Great American Outpost by Maya Rao

Rating: 4 Stars

I've spent almost my entire life in southwestern North Dakota, only a few hours away from the epicenter of the recent oil boom in the Bakken. And even down here on the fringes of the boom, it's hard to believe how much has changed in such a short period of time. 

Maya Rao spent two years in the Bakken, investigating these changes, talking to farmers and ranchers, oil workers from around the world, oil executives, and government officials. Rao has written a book that brings to light how complicated this boom has been for everyone involved, while keeping an open mind and remaining neutral. The boom was romanticized, then villainized by everyone who has survived it (depending on which side you're on, of course). Rao is unbiased in her reporting of the issues, making this a perfect read for anyone who is interested in learning what life was and is really like in the Bakken. As someone who lives on the very edge of the oil activity, it gave me a much more clear idea of what happened during the boom/bust to my neighbors to the North. It's not as clear cut as some would believe, and Rao does an excellent job showing both sides of the story. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in learning about the largest oil boom in modern history, told by the people who lived it.

Thank you to NetGalley who provided me an advanced copy of this book.

Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz

Rating: 2.5 Stars

I, like most of America, have been swept up in the story of Alexander Hamilton and his family, including his wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Eliza was so much more than Hamilton's wife; she was an independent mind, who was years ahead of her time. So I was very excited to read this fictionalized account of their romance. Unfortunately, I feel that this book fell flat in that regard.

The whole story seemed very shallow. De la Cruz paid very close attention to detail and attempted to paint a picture of the time period, but in my opinion the attention to the day-to-day detail took away from the characters. I never felt that any of the characters were truly fleshed out, and it seemed like a very small percentage of the book was spent on interactions between Alex and Eliza, which was what I was there for! It came across as much more of a tell instead of show situation. Toward the end the reader is told how much Alex longs for Eliza and how much he loves her, but I didn't believe it. They'd barely spent any time together! The other characters all came across as two dimensional for me as well. No one lived up to their full potential.

I also felt the pacing was a little off. And maybe I felt that simply because it seemed like there was so much of the novel where nothing was really happening. It just plodded along, with no emotion behind any of the plot points or decisions the characters made.

It is aimed at young adults, so the writing style is different than what I'm used to reading, adult fiction, but that doesn't excuse a boring story, slow plot, and no character development. If you're really into young adult historical fiction, give it a try. If you're interested in reading about the passionate love story of Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler, I would skip it and try one of the other fictionalized accounts out there.

Review: The Secret of Flirting

The Secret of Flirting by Sabrina Jeffries

Rating: 3 Stars

I enjoyed this installment in Sabrina Jeffries’ Sinful Suitors series. Even though it is the 5th book, it can easily be read as a stand alone. 

This follows the same formula as most historical romances: the couple meets, falls in love, some sort of conflict occurs to keep them apart, and the conflict is resolved. However, Jeffries does an excellent job of weaving in historical accuracy and political details of the time so well. The characters also are all very fleshed out, and have flaws that give them depth and keep the reader rooting for them throughout the story. I also enjoyed the secondary storyline with Lady Ursula. Even though it was a minor part of the story, there was a twist there that I wasn’t expecting, and I definitely enjoyed that. 

All in all, this was a great book to escape into, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good historical romance.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this book.

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Rating: 4 Stars

This was the first book from one of the reading challenges that really took me outside my comfort zone. I chose this for Popsugar's cyberpunk prompt. I didn't even know cyberpunk was a genre! Since I'd never heard of the genre, I turned to the Goodreads message boards to find a book that would fit the prompt. This book was the most recommended by far, in part I'm sure by the fact that this is being adapted into a movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, that will be released in March. 

This is a book set in 2044, which is actually not as far away as it once seemed. But in this book's 2044, reality is even uglier than we could imagine. And because the world is so ugly, everyone takes part in the OASIS, a virtual reality utopia. The man who invented the OASIS dies and starts a quest that takes place through the course of the book.

This book is very heavy on the 80s references and computer/tech world, which is not something that normally interests me. However, Cline does a wonderful job of drawing the reader in with the story, regardless of how into tech you are. The story is an adventure story at its core, so if you're interested in stories about quests, or adventures, or the future, this is the book for you!

Expanding My Horizons and Reading Challenges

As I was reviewing my Goodreads challenge from last year, I discovered that I read a lot of romance. Contemporary, historical, New Adult; I read it all. I even went through a phase where I read a bunch of books that I'd read before. Now, none of this is bad. I love a good romance! Romance novels are my happy place. I love happy endings, I love the predictable story lines, I love romance series with lots of characters, I love it all!

However, there are many other books outside the romance genre that I want to read that I never seem to get to. I found myself never expanding my horizons, never picking up anything a littler harder, with a little more depth. And I'm not saying this is a bad thing, either. I know plenty of people who only ever read romance, or sci-fi, or whatever genre, and are perfectly happy, fulfilled readers. So I'm not trying to shame anyone, or say that what's right for me is right for you. I just decided that this year, I needed to stretch myself a little. This is how I ended up committing to three reading challenges in 2018.

I'm hoping to complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy Challenge, the Popsugar Reading Challenge, and Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge by the end of 2018. If I don't duplicate any books, I'll have read 84 books. That's quite a bit lower than the number of books I read last year, but I am looking at some more challenging reads. Also, I'm sure I'll still get plenty of easy reads in as well, so I'm expecting to make my Goodreads goal of 100. And if I don't make that goal, that's okay too.

I've seen some discussion about the reading challenges taking the fun out of reading and making reading more work than it should be, which discourages some people from doing them. My answer to that is that these challenges are what you make them, personally. For me, it's a way to motivate myself to read outside my wheelhouse once in a while, for others, it's work. It really is what you make it. One piece of advice I have for someone who isn't sure if doing a reading challenge is for you: don't take it too seriously. When I was sick earlier this year, and didn't feel like doing much of anything, I plotted out the books I want to read for each challenge task. I chose to do this because I was bored, but you certainly wouldn't have to go that far. I've also already changed my choices for a few tasks, and expect that I'll make many more changes before the year is out. But I don't let it stress me out because while I want to expand my horizons, I still want reading to be fun. So this year, I plan to read some new things, try some new genres, and see where the books take me!

Review: Year One by Nora Roberts

Year One by Nora Roberts

Rating: 4 Stars

This year I'm participating in a number of book challenges across the web: Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, the Popsugar Reading Challenge, and the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. This is an attempt to broaden my reading horizons and read books with more substance. I love a good romance, but I find myself going to that all the time, and there are so many other books I want to read! I'm hoping doing these challenges will help me push myself a little harder in my reading.

That being said, I'm easing into the challenges with the newest Nora Roberts novel, Year One. I used this to fill the "book with a cover you hate" category in the Read Harder Challenge. And I do hate this cover. I don't like birds, and that is a horribly ugly, creepy black bird!

I've been a Nora Roberts fan for a long time, so I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book when she announced last year that she was going in a different direction with her new trilogy. I like Roberts in a lot of ways because her books are similar in style and plot, so I was skeptical about this new direction, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

This is a definite departure from Roberts' traditional style, but I think she executed it well. I love dystopian fiction, and that's clearly what this is. It's got more magical and fantasy elements than the dystopian fiction I usually choose, but it fit together well for the most part. I did question some the idea that magical beings suddenly cropping up all over and everyone seemingly accepting it with no question. But other than that, the story flowed well. 

Some critical reviews have complained that the story dragged in the middle and that they didn't like the part about the settlement of the new towns. To me, that added to the story, and it helped me get to know the characters better, which got me more invested in the story. I did feel like the last bit, the last 100 pages or so, was a little rushed, but it did leave me excited for the sequel!

If you're looking for a slightly different take on dystopian fiction, or a Nora Roberts fan, pick this one up! 

Welcome to the new Jean's Book Bag!

Welcome to my new blog! I found that Tumblr was no longer the right platform for my blog posts. It's too cumbersome for what I hope to do with this blog, which will mostly be book reviews. So I loaded in the best of my old posts, and hope you bear with me as I learn this new platform.

Part of the reason I wanted to get this blog up and usable is because Amazon is apparently really cracking down on reviews of advance reader copies (ARCS), and I want to continue to get free books. Supposedly it's a matter of wording in the review, but it seems like it's getting more complicated than it needs to be. 

This blog will be a spot for book reviews and other bookish topics. I hope you enjoy it, and forgive me if I'm not very consistent in posting. Thanks for reading!