AnneHannah

Ok, not really. I'm just a grown woman who loves mermaid stories...

So is Surfacing a good choice for someone (like me) desperately looking for a fishy tale?
Yep.
Is it the mermaid story that I've spent countless years searching for?
Nah.
But was good enough.

Surfacing is an interesting story that blends mermaids and sirens into one mythical being, and calls them finfolk. I'm not sure this is really a new idea, but it was still cool.

When it opens, Mara is on her way to meet her dad for the first time since she was a baby. And instead of finding herself with the father of her dreams, she ends up meeting a scruffy dude who looks like he's one step away from a homeless shelter. He's an artist and a fisherman, who (if his run-down house is any indicator) isn't doing so well financially. Bonus! Their relationship, while bad enough when it was non-existent, turns into a hostile mess once they are under the same roof. And to make matters worse, his specialty seems to be clamming up and walking out the door when things get awkward between them.
So. He's emotionally distant, poor, and looks like a hobo. 
Basically everything you could want in a father!

On top of her family problems, Mara starts to notice that something is really weird about Swans Landing. Not only is she being openly bullied at school for unknown reasons, but it also appears that none of the adults (including her father) are willing to step in and do anything about it. Even her father and his close friends are treated poorly by people from the town, and they seem just as unwilling to stand up for themselves as they are to stand up for her. Between the cryptic taunts and the crazy woman that keeps popping up out of nowhere to scream at her, Mara is pretty darn sure her new home is hiding a strange secret.
Unfortunately, no one will tell her what is going on.
I thought this part of the book was fairly frustrating. I get that her father didn't want to freak her out over the whole 'Hey you might turn into a fish!' thing, but it seemed to drag on a bit too long for my taste.

After she discovers who and what she is, there is still the problem of the regular humans in the town. It seems that at one point, the finfolk and the humans had a fairly peaceful relationship. The events surrounding what happened to create all of the animosity between the two groups becomes the second mystery Mara needs to solve.
Again, I had a problem with the way the humans retaliated against the finfolk. I didn't understand why they didn't 'out' them to the world if they hated them so much. The explanation given was that 'no one would believe them'. Eh? Has no one in Swans Landing heard of a video camera? If they know when and where they go to transform, then surely someone could sneak out there and record it, right? Seemed like a sketchy line of reasoning to think that no one would bother to at least try to expose their secret.

There is, of course, a love story running in the background. Now at first I thought the guy was a total douche, because he stood by doing nothing while his evil girlfriend picked on and abused Mara. However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed a tad more realistic that he might not want to stick his neck out for some girl he just met.
Wait. No, I still think he's a bit of a douche.
But by the end of the book, I felt he had redeemed himself. And once his secrets came to light, it was a little bit easier to understand some of his more questionable actions.

The story has a good resolution, but also leaves the door wide open for the next book in the series. That one seems like it will focus on one of the side characters from this novel who is out to solve the mystery about the role her family played in Swan's Landing's downfall.

Again, I think Surfacing is going to be more enjoyable to those in the market for a story about mermaids, rather than someone just looking for a new young adult book with a paranormal twist.

Another great novella in the Superlovin' series! I actually liked Super Bad a bit better, but I think it's just because I'm a fan of anti-heroines. This one was still a great read, and if you like superhero stories and romance novels you need to latch on to this series.

Super Hot picks up where the last book left off, with Dr. Eisemnann now dealing with his new (unwanted) psychokinetic abilities. Most supers who develop this power end up...well, dead. It's the most frightening super power, because there is usually little to no way to control it. Eisenmann has worked with heroes long enough to know exactly what's going to happen to him, and he's withdrawn from everyone he knows in an effort to protect them.
Nothing says 'friendship' like setting someone on fire...
He's also in a desperate race against time to find a way to cure himself. And he thinks he may have found a way to do it, but he's going to need to convince Tandy Nightwing to help him. Tandy is the only non-super in the famous Nightwing family, and if he can isolate the gene that kept her from developing powers, then maybe he can reverse what's happened to him.

Unfortunately, for Eisenmann Tandy isn't interested in being poked and prodded anymore. She's made her peace with not having any power, and she's manged to make quite a name for herself without one...thank you very much.
The only problem with that plan is that Tandy is still a Nightwing. And with the family name, comes a deeply ingrained sense of honor.
Honor...Guilt Trip. What's the difference, right?
Anyhoo, she decides that it won't hurt to let him test her blood. Besides, he's not the same Eisenmann that we met in the previous story. Nope. In Super Bad, he was the nerdy (but nice) lab rat who was trying to help Mirage recover her memories. Now? Well, to keep from torching his equipment every five minutes, he's had to resort to working out every day to get the excess energy out of himself. 
Growr! 
Hot Nerd Alert!
So. Tandy decides to hep the yummy smart dude. And can you really blame her? No. I would raise my hand to be part of that kind of experiment, too.

Although, it turns out there's more to Tandy's non-powers than she originally thought, and if she's going to help him she's going to have to do more than just let him draw a vial or two of her blood. And you know that if these two combustible people spend time together...sparks are gonna fly!
Ok. I'll admit that line was cheesy, but I just couldn't help myself!

Also, unbeknownst to Eisemnann, there may be someone out there who has an interest in his research with Tandy that might not be all that benign.
Can these guys find the cure before it's too late for everyone?
Duh. Of course they will! It's a love story, people!

If you haven't read the other books in the series, don't worry about it. These stories are self-contained, and you won't feel lost if you start with this one. However, you'll probably want to grab the other two after you finish this.

Ashen Winter is one of those few books that is so freakin' awesome it actually deserves the whole five. Have you read Ashfall, yet? If not, stop reading this review and go get it. Now.
Are you seriously still sitting there? Move your ass! Go, go!

If you're still reading this, I'm going to assume that you've already read Mike Mullin's stunning debut novel. Or possibly you're just being stubborn. At any rate, the first book was so good that I almost didn't want to taint it's goodness with Second Book Syndrome. You know, 1st book rocks, but the 2nd one sucks. We've all been down that disappointing road, right? Fortunately, a friend of mine's kid forced me into action. That's right, a kid made me read it. 

A month or so ago my friend's son comes over and asks me, "Miss Anne, have you read anything lately you think I'd like?". I mull it over for a second, and it occurs to me that Ashfall is one of the best books I've read (YA or otherwise) in the past year. So I say, "Logan, go get Ashfall! Now. Move your ass! Go, go!". And then, because he's not my kid, I don't think about it anymore.
Fast forward two weeks, and he shows up (uninvited) at my doorstep. Naturally, I assume the little bastard is sniffing around for baked goods, 'cause not only am I kind and caring, but I can rock some chocolate chip cookies.

Anne's Free Tip of the Day: Never let the kids in the neighborhood know you can cook. Those little fuckers are harder to get rid of than stray cats. And due to some bleeding-heart liberals, it's apparently illegal to take pot shots at children. Go figure. Then again, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around...

So was he looking for food? Well, yes. But he also told me that he loved Ashfall so much that he already read the second book. Only it sounded like this:

OhMyGodMissAnneAshfallwasBEAST!Thesecondoneisevenbetteryougottareadit!

Lucky for me, I have kids of my own, so I was able to translate. Also lucky for me, he had it with him and offered to let me read it. Or maybe I hit him over the head with my cookie tray and snatched the book. Mwahahahahahaha! Sometimes I black out....

Anyway, was he right? Is Ashen Winter even better than Ashfall? Unbelievably, it is!

In the first book, a supervolcano in Yellowstone goes ka-boom, and the end results are freezing temperatures, a technological return to the Dark Ages, and (as an added bonus) groups of marauding cannibals. Yes, evidently if when bad people get hungry, they'll eat anyone. It's total chaos, and without any real form of government, it's each man (or woman) for themselves.

Alex was just an ordinary teenager until the ash started falling. Now he's a veteran survivor who's only goal is to find his parents. The end of the last book was so bittersweet. He and Darla finally made it to his uncle's house, only to discover that his mom and dad were out there somewhere searching for him. He agreed to stay put and help his uncle in the hopes that his parents would return.

Ashen Winter opens with Alex and Darla finding a clue to the whereabouts of his parents. They leave the relative safety of his uncle's farm on a rescue mission, and, of course, things quickly take a turn for the worse.  

Ok, Darla is undeniably my favorite character. To say the least, she's got mad skills when it comes to surviving an apocalypse. Is there anything this chick can't do? No. No there is not. She's the perfect counterbalance for Alex's soft-hearted nature. And after reading this, I will never underestimate an injured girl with a screwdriver.

That's not to say that I don't love Alex. He is such a good guy. A reallyreallyreally good guy. Unfortunately, in this kind of world, you just know his decent nature is going to cost him eventually. And it does. He makes a choice to help some people, and because he does...well, you know what they say about good deeds going unpunished.

What happened, you ask? Oh. My. God.
Nooooooooooo!MikeMullinyoubetterbekiddingwiththisshit! Suddenly it's a race against time to...

Anyhoo, Ashen Winter is an amazing ride from start to finish. I'm not doing this book justice with my crappy reviewing skills, but you're just going to have to trust me. Also, this is mature YA, so don't go out and get it for your favorite 10 year old nephew. There are lots of adult situations that include off the page rape, and fade to black sex scenes.

Oh, and ten dollars says that by the time you get done with these, your new favorite hobby will be planning which annoying neighbor to eat first!

Here's my new and improved title for this book...
The Scarlet Pimpernel: A Classic That Doesn't Suck Sweaty Balls. 

I can't usually make it through classic literature. 
Does this make me a bad person? 
I think not.
There are manymanymany other things I do on a daily basis that make me a bad person, but not being able to force myself to read (in my opinion) outdated and overrated books is not one of them.

There are readers out there like me, I'm sure of it! And it's you guys that I'm talking to now.
Rejoice, fellow slackers! There is a classic that you can actually read!
Imagine it...
You're sitting on a bench engrossed in a book. The person next to you leans over and asks, "What are you reading?". You can finally plaster a smug-ass smile on your face and say, "Why, right now I'm thoroughly enjoying Orczy's classic The Scarlet Pimpernel.".
See?! Doesn't that sound awesome!
And when someone asks you what you've recently read, you won't have to admit to the fact that you're deeply into a series about an alien who falls in love with his human neighbor, your extensive comic book collection, or all of that erotica that's hidden neatly away on your Kindle!

Now is this book really a four star novel by my 'real-book' standards? 
Fuck, no! 
It's old as shit. The copy I got didn't even have anything on the cover. 
You know it's old when it's got that black cover-thing going on. 
The pages were creaky, it smelled weird, and I think there's a possibility I should have had it tested for mold before I brought it into my house. 
But.
It's a readable book.
Go get it, and for a few blissful moments you can pretend that you're an intellectual giant.