Genesis by Bernard Beckett
Book TWO! The first thing I noticed about book two in the "Guardians of Time" trilogy was the focus of the chapters. In book one, The chapters alternated between Ethan and Isabelle. In book two, they alternate between Arkarian and Isabelle. This bothered me at first because while Ethan was still a character in the book, I didn't get to see what was in his head like I was used to, and I liked the focus on him, he is a very likable and important character. The second problem I had with it was that I was in Arkarian's head, which was weird because he's a wise 18-looking 600+ year old man and so I didn't want to read about his fears and heartache and about the things he didn't know.
The second thing I noticed about book two was that the author assumed the reader had not read book one, and so Isabelle explains everything that is learned from book one and it's a bit annoying.
Having said that- the good stuff. We learn of Arkarian's past (should I make sure I'm spelling his name right? I really don't feel like it...). We meet his mother and learn of his father.
Am I getting ahead of myself? In book two, Arkarian is KIDNAPPED by the immortal that runs the Order of Chaos. With Arkarian gone, the Guard starts losing more missions and the present world begins to change for the worse. The reason why the order all of a sudden became so powerful was because the Immortal was angry at the guard for killing (/seriously altering the being of) Marduke. Added to the stress of saving Arkarian, Ethan's mother's depression has turned for the worse and there is reason to worry about her killing herself. And we get to find out why she hasn't recovered, after all these years!
Again, like book one, book two is filling with a quickly progressing story line and is never dull. Love interests are progressing the way they should, the Guard's immortal pulls another cheap move like he did at the end of book one (I won't elaborate) and another person changes sides. I am eager to read book three, to see how it all ends. Again, I highly recommend this trilogy. The books are pretty short at around 300 pages, much easier than the small print 600+ page books from the last series I read, but just as good! :)
This was the first book in a while that interested me almost from the start. The prologue was interesting, and I guess necessary, but once I got into the first real chapter, I was hooked.
The Named is a trilogy which focuses on a group called The Guard which guards against the Order of Chaos. Both groups are led by immortals. The Order of Chaos goes back in time (or rather, humans have a misunderstanding of how time works) to change history which results in Chaos, which makes the Chaos Immortal more powerful. The guard goes back in time to stop the Order from succeeding. The book alternates point of view from Ethan, a boy who had been in the guard since his sister was murdered and Isabel, a new recruit who's powers have just begun to show.
The book moves at a very fast pace and there is a lot of action. Ethan is at the end of his training and becomes Isabel's trainer. Also they have quests to the past as well as to the place where the prophecy is written. Along with the action, there is also that bit of romance for example, at one point Isabel is killed in the past, leaving behind her real body in the real world and her soul to wander the middle world. But there is hope. She can be retrieved if she hears her name called by her soul mate before she reaches the bridge.
So id you want a fast paced novel that is easy to read and easy to get into and are committed to reading books 2 and 3 as well then I would highly recommend it. I guess the only downside is that the main characters are teenagers with hero complexes and big egos. And stupid Isabel at the end was too concerned for her brother and was being annoying because she was supposed to be saving someone else. *sigh*
Also- Spoiler alert -
Ethan does get his wings at the end even though he was supposed to never be able to have them which is kind of annoying. I don't think he really needs them. He's not even the main focus of book two.
Evil for Evil is the second book of the Engineer series by K.J. Parker. Now Duke Valens needs to find a way to save himself from the Mezentines while Ziani pursues his own plan. Valens decides to make a marriage alliance while lamenting that he is both closer and further away from his true love. And he does silly things for love again.
Anyway, I realized why i got confused every time I saw the word "realize" in the book because it's spelled "realise" and it throws me off every time...
But anyway, the second novel is just as intense as the first one. So much happened and I don't want to give anything away but the war continues, who is in power changes hands (although that's at book 3 i believe)... And we learn some terrible things about Ziani's apprentice. I think everyone should read these books. They're amazing...
This is book one of The Engineer Trilogy. I had jury duty and correctly figured that I wasn't going to be put on a case, but instead be left to sit and read so I grabbed some books from the library. I hadn't been there in forever and the selection sucked but I found this large book and a few others. This one, I correctly identified as the most interesting. It begins with a teen boy, son of the Duke in one, i guess I'll call it a kingdom. There are three Kingdoms (or three that matter) Two are rival related enemies that had just recently signed a peace treaty and the third is this extremely technologically advanced place. And by technologically advances I mean they produce the best armor, have the best weapons, they make plates and basically whatever you can thing to do with metal they make it perfectly. So then the story goes on that Orsea's kingdom attacks the advanced ones and lose but it's all good timing for this one guy who made an advancement on one of the technologies, which is not allowed. He escaped from prison and followed Orsea home. Then naturally, stuff happens.
I really thought this book was amazingly well thought out. So planned. You see things happening and wish the lines of communication were more open so they wouldn't easily succumb to defeat but you know who the characters are, and what they're going to do. I really don't like Vaates, the prison escapee. He's apparently the protagonist though. I really like Valens and hope that he can work things out... Anyway, great book. There's a ton of war and hunting and planning things I don't too much care about but Parker makes it a page turner. I was not bored at all in jury duty. Sometimes I'd look up from the book and feel like I was being sucked out of another world. It's that good.
Final book in the Noble Warriors series. Seeker is still on his journey to destroy the Sevanters while everyone else tries to find faith now that the physical Nom is gone. Of the three books, I felt this one was a let down. I loved the first 2 and was excited to read the conclusion but I felt this book was more scattered. A lot of stuff was going on and everyone was in different places and people were being lied to all over the place. Also, Seeker seemed to lack a specific personality in this book. Maybe he didn't even have one in the first two but it seemed that in this book he was just there doing things. Also what he did to Wildman was crazy and it was obvious it would be undone. Aside from the plot and all of that, the final conclusion the "and they went of and lived happily ever after" part (It wasn't like that, but for purposes of an example) was good and respectable. But the book overall was a lot of craziness. It didn't have the same spirit as the first two, I felt.
Jango is the second book in the Noble Warriors trilogy. It begins with Seeker, Wildman, and Morning Star undergoing training in the Nom. Wildman is becoming impatient and wants to go into the garden. Morning Star is developing feelings for Wildman, and Seeker gains incredible power. Jango is just as amazing of a book at the first installment, Seeker was. We're introduced to a new character Echo who accidentally finds herself in the company of a warlord and his army, as he marches into Radiance. The new Radiant leader is still trying to destroy the Nom, and a lot of stuff happens. If you liked the first book, you'll like this one too.
Review By: Sasha
So I've read a lot of books for school, but haven't read much for fun recently. I started to read some fairy book but the guy was too perfect and it was painful. So I never got past the third page. So I moved on to the other book I got from the library. The Book of Lies. It's about this boy who has just been taken to an orphanage. A wizard tries to replace his memory with a false one, and a little girl who is good at disappearing into the shadows, interrupts this process. He still loses his memory, but she tells him his real name and he's like "OMG thats it" etc. And there's this whole adventure. I read it in a day like nonstop. I didn't want to get online or talk to people, this book sucked me in. And like, as I read i was guessing "oh they're this and this is going to happen" and then it was like oh no, this happened instead and this is how it is, but then i was right about this, and that turned out to be a lie and so i was right anyway, and it was great. And no i'm not going to go back to fix my grammar. So read it, get the sequal, and wait for the third book in 2009 (tear... so far away)
And this isn't a review, but i love myself for writing a seeker review because i know the next book is coming out soon and i couldn't remember the name of the series (yay me)
Review By: Shelby
I just picked up this book for two reasons:
1. it was $1
2. I like comics
Anyway this very smart comic tells the story of a girl who grew up in Iran when they were in war with Iraq and when they had taken people hostage at the American embassy.
Marji, the protagonist, is a young only child who lives with her mom and dad. She is smart and outspoken as a result of the environment of her home: her mom and dad are very opinionated and take everything with a grain of salt. also they are very modern.
Marji watches her home become like a backwards, scary place. She is young so she is torn between her love for her country and her modern ideals. She is fired up and wants to fight when she first learns of the war, but she is also proud of her relatives for being in jail because they stood up for their ideals. She even goes against her parents' wishes and protests! (very dangerous).
Marjane is still just a teenager, so she of course, has to rebel. She rebels against her parents and against the oppressive, extremist government, wearing jeans, and sneakers under her veil while singing along with Michael Jackson, Guns N Roses, and Kim Wilde.
Review By: Sasha
So, it's been awhile since I've written a review...
Seeker is about a boy named Seeker who wishes to join the Noble Warriors who are a group of monks that live to protest the All and Only. As Seeker turns sixteen, he is now allowed to join. But not only does the most horrible thing happen (his brother gets kicked out of the noble warriors, and is now a disgrace), but Seeker's father does not want him to join. This book also follows Morning STar, a girl who can see people's "colors" as in if their angry and other emotions. And Wildman who is...wild...These three people meet and become companions on a quest to become Noble Warriors.
This is a very great book. Everything the author writes has a purpose and it's fun to read and see how everything comes together at the end. Though this is a series, it actually has a real ending which I was happy to read. It's not often that I like endings to good books. It's long but easy to read. I would hihly reccommend this book.
Review By: Sasha
This is a short story about a guy that turns into a vermin. Many people say cockroach but that is not the authors intent. Though short, it takes a while to read. The story is mostly about Gregor's (the man-incect) family troubles.
It's interesting but unless you have to read it for class I wouldnt reccomend it. If you have to read it for class, do read it and don't sparknote it because it's not that bad.
Review By: Sasha
This book is set in a world after the final world war that left the planet earth basically uninhabitable. So most people go to mars and only a few are left on eath. Of the few on earth, most become stupid (cause of the chemicals). When you go to mars you get androids for company. Sometimes the androids (who look just like humans) get bored and kill their owners and come to earth. there's this guy who is a bounty hunter and he kills the androids who come to earth.
SO he gets this mission. And he has personal life drama. And he well anyway, its a good book. I dont want to give any spoilers because you should read it. it's very interesting.
Review By: Sasha
Hamlet decided if he should kill his uncle for killing his dad. he thinks and thinks and thinks some more. He kills polonius, his girlfriend goes crazy and drounds. Laertes gets mads and so hamlets uncle and laertes decide to kill hamlet. Hamlet killed laertes and his uncle. His mom dies then horatio is like "im gonna kill myself" and hamlet says "bitch, no!" and then hamlet dies. The end.
Review By: Sasha
This book is a bunch of short stories. And one poem. The stories don't really end. And most of them are really wierd. It's an EXTREAMLY quick read and it's very interesting. So pick it up and read it. It wont take long. It basically stories about people's lives. Mostly about married people.
Review By: Sasha
This is kind of a spiler if u havent read pretties...
So this book, the final in the Uglies trilogy, takes place after tally has been turned into a special. Not only a special, but a special special, called a cutter. The horrible thing about this is that she enjoys being a special and can no longer be convinced that bad things are happening to the pretties (with the lesions and all). So the specials goal is to find the new smoke. So tally and shay free whatshisnamethattallylikes and follow him to the new smoke which is a whole city.
This is a great book which will have you on edge. During the whole book I was torn. Should she stay a special, be ugly, pretty, what! So its good. Read it.
Review By: Sasha
This is the second book in the Uglies trilogy. This book takes place afterTally agrees to get turned pretty in order to test the drug that removes the lesion. Problem is, her new pretty boyfriend take one of the pills too. ANd gets sick!
This is a really great book. Quite upsetting with what happens to David. But after you read this, you'll really want to read the third one. Which I will review next.
Review By: Shelby
Heart of Darkness is a ridiculous story about a ridiculous guy who travels down the Congo River to meet some other ridiculous english guy who lives in a jungle. The first guy (Marlow) is telling his story on a boat, to some other boat-people who are ridiculous enough to listen to him. Anyway, after he tells about Africa, he tells about going to see Kurtz's (second guy's) fiancee, in Europe. She is ridiculous because she is still waiting for him.
Anyway, it was written by a ridiculous Pole who (ridiculously) thinks he is english. Chinua Achebe called him a racist so he must be.
It was an ok story i guess but you really had to read some parts over and over again before you get the slightest idea of what Marlow is talking about. We had to read it for the katabasis theme thingy. Reading Dorian Gray was my katabasis.
Review By: Shelby
Anyway, Macbeth is a play about this scottish dude and some witches come up to him and they're like "hey Macbeth! You're gonna be king!" and so Macbeth thinks: Ok it's my fate... so i have to make it happen! like a dummy. So he kills the king.. and the princes flee, and Macbeth becomes king! but to keep his secret he has to kill a whole bunch of other people...
But Macbeth sucks as a king, and his wife, who was all evil before, is all weak and has gone crazy.
Then Macduff (yes another Mac... it's scotland) comes around with the old king's son, Malcolm. And they're like.. "no way man, Malcolm's supposed to be king! Macbeth's a tyrant!" so they pretty much overthrow him.
I know i gave it away but i'm just thinking probably everyone knows this story anyway. uhhhmm.....
some facts about this story:
Review By: Sasha
This book takes place in a world after us modern humans nearly destory it. In this word, everyone is made pretty when they turn 16 because it lessens conflics. Or is it only te outside that matters?! (this makes sense only after you read the book)
So Tally is waiting to be pretty and meets Shay. Shay shows her fun stuff from the rusy era (our time). And then shay and tally get into an argument about shay saying she doesnt want to be pretty is childish and stuff. Then shay runs away to be ugly forever. And the Specials wont let Tally be pretty!
At first, i didnt want to read this book because I didnt want tally to stay ugly forever. I was afraid she would turn pretty. Then after what David's parents said, I was okay if she stayed ugly. But read it. The end is a cliff hanger. But its okay because there is a sequal.
It took me a while to get into the book but it's very good. Very good. I'll be reviews Pretties (the next book in the trilogy) in a few days. ^^
Review By: Sasha
This book starts off with baby suggs being dead and the baby (not suggs) being dead. Then Paul D comes and gets rid of the ghost. So, It's a wierd book. The author uses a ton of high level words which are fine in moderation but she really packs them in there. The book is a story of an ex slave who tried to kill her children and killed one of them because she didnt want them to become slaves.
I have to say that it is a good book because it is very well written. The beginning is very confusing but once you get used to the writing style, it makes more sense. But personally speaking, I don't agree with the sticker on the front of the book saying that it's the "best piece of fistion written in the last 25 years." It's very odd and whereas the ghost makes the story a story, it did not seem like a book that would be supernatural and the way it was presented seemed forced and it was just off.
I would say that if you had to read it, it's not a big deal and it's a good book but if you dont have to read it, than there are other interesting books out there to read.
Review By: Sasha
Book also known as Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth . It's a german book, translated. It's about a boy named Emil Sinclair. You have got to love that name. In the book, sinclair meets a boy named Demian. Demian dramatically changes sinclair's life and makes him see the world in a different way. The book is fairly short and extreamly philosopical (I really, really did not spell that right...maybe...the i looks wierd). Anyway, read it or don't/ You probably wont like it and if you do like it, you probably still dont understand the philosophy about it.
Review By: Shelby
WOAH this book is really good! It's about an autistic kid who plays detective to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, Wellington. He does this because he cares about dogs and because they think he did it. but while he is playing Sherlock Holmes, he uncovers a bigger mystery about his family that he has to solve. It's a really nice book and the style of writting is unique because it's from the point of view from an autistic kid... it's a really good book even though this kid must be like... super high-functioning... anyway. read it it's good.
Review By: Sasha
This is not only good but interesting. and yes those are two different things. This book's about a young man who stops a bank robber and then gets mysterious cards in the mail that direct him to help others. Its great. Read it.
Review By: Shelby
WOAH! I finally read this book (for brit lit)
By le famousse Oscar Wilde, the most famous gay dude in literature, comes The Picture of Dorian Gray. And I must say I think there is a lot of homosexual (misogynistic) tendencies in this book.
I tried to read it before and thought it was so boring I couldn't get to the 3rd page. This is really a good book though. Good story, good emotions, really good characters. The writing style just got on my NERVES though. Ok. for now: Dorian Gray is a young man who is obsessed with being youthful and beautiful. One day his friend paints his portrait, and Dorian wishes he could stay as beautiful as his portrait is, and his wish comes true. Dorian grows old and does bad things and hurts others's lives, but the effects of his age and of his sin only appear in the portrait. His portrait reflects his soul.
Anyway the book is basically good, but about his writing style! The charaters are great that they have their own histories and personalities and whatever. but ok. get over it. We know Lord Henry and anyone he chooses to converse with must be exhaustingly quick and clever but come ON do we have to hear their little wit fights/banter? It's really annoying. And also. there's this part that is basically a filler while Dorian is passing his years and not getting older. It goes into all this crap detail about his hobbies. Listing all these mythological, historical, literature-...al names... BORING BORING BORING and not to mention pointless. Then there's this part describing a book and how it was written and I swear that Wilde was writing about himself. Gosh. That is cocky and annoying.
But anyway, it got on my nerves but others may like it... it's a really good book anyway. :D do read.
Review By: Shelby
Gifted Hands is like the biography of a v. well-known and well-respected neurosurgeon, Ben Carson. We read this in MD Camp. Anyway it's basically about his life and is a pretty good book. It also has some surgeries that he did that were really important. At the end of the book he has a conclusion that is like his outlook, or philosophy on life, which is THINK BIG. I think i can remember what they all stand for
T: Talent, Time-management
H: Hope
I: Insight
N: Nice
K: Knowledge
B: Books
I: In-depth learning
G: God
So that's a nice thingy. This book is really inspiring. The only thing I thought that was wrong with it was that you could TOTALLY tell it wasn't written by a writer (even though i think he did get help writing it). There are grammar mistakes... and the writing style and structure are really weird. Also he uses the word niggle way too much. That is a weird word.
Review By: Sasha
This is about a girl who lives in hollywood and is "boyproof". She stays awayf from people and boys dont like her in a dating sense. Her mom's an actress and her dad does like...gore make up and monster masks and such. Then, a boy comes in town! (el gaspo). And he's smart like she is. And then she starts doing bad in her classes. Yes, because of the boy.
Anyway, the book is pretty cliche ish. It's very pbvious. it would be more interesting if it had eneded differently. I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars just because the boy girl relationship is in every other book...
though i must say, some bits of this book remind me of me. Mostly because it is in the same format that i write books. :)
Review By: Shelby
OMG THIS IS A GREAT BOOK AND YOU HAVE TO READ IT RIGHT NOW. I mean it. go to your library. RIGHT NOW. Well. After you finish reading this >:3
This is about Victor Frankenstein, who is so interested in science etc, that he creates a monster. and once he creates this monster, it ruins his life. The hideous being of his creation kills people, who don't accept him, and threatens Victor, leading him and following him everywhere.
That's basically all this story is about. It's great tho yeah? it's suspenseful and v. deep: like the monster striving for acceptance and humanity and... like he's intelligent and he feels things but in the end he is still a horrible, ugly monster, inside and out. And Victor is battling within himself to: protect his family by being a coward and catering to the monster? or be brave and kill him, to protect everyone... it's... JUST READ IT. GO NOW.
also there's lots of nice vocab words.
next review will be Gifted Hands by Dr. Ben Carson (my frickin' idol, and I didn't even know he had books this is how much of a fule and a loser i am. that's right. fule.).
Review By: Sasha
This is another one of those fairy tales retold. Dokey has written like...4 of the 9 in the series. This book is a retelling of repunzel and i loved it.
It is a love story and tells about a girl who was bald (and will forever be bald because she never grew or would grow hair). Because her mother could not love her the witch took her and raised her as her own daughter. Then the townsfolk didnt like witches so they had to flee...and such. I dont want to give anything away.
This book is a great adventure and love story. It has a great beginning, middle, and end. Of course i didn't want it to end but it was a satisfying end. (it is hard for me to be satisfied with endings as you'll know.
I strongly reccomend that people read this book. It's gor a twist...kind of. Well, it's not what your expecting. Or well, it wasnt what i was expecting. But even for those who dont really like reading, its a really fun book.
Review By: Shelby
We had to read the book for school. This is a good book, but the characters are kinda unfortunate/snobby rich people. The narrator is a guy named Nick, and he doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but his neighbor is in love with his cousin, who's married. His neighbor, the Great Gatsby, holds all this crazy parties to try to get Daisy's (the cousin) attention. There are themes of contrast like east egg, west egg, poor, rich, old and nouveau riche, bla bla bla.
This would have been better if it were just about Nick and Jordan. They should've... nevermind.
Anyway, the characters in this story are very interesting, and i'm sure the book is interesting too it's just that I didn't LOVE it or anything. Fitzgerald dedicated it to his wife, Zelda. That is so romantic. Ish.
Review By: Shelby
Yet another book we had to read for school! This book is divided up into chapters that are basically thoughts and narrations of the characters. I'll tell you right now. the only ones that make sense are Cash, Vardaman, Addie, and the people outside the family.
Basically what happens is there's this family called the Bundrens. they are poor and they are verrrry country. The father is astonishingly lazy and an underhanded subhuman. Anyway, the mom dies, and they go on a "heroic journey" to bury her. But really they have their own agendas for the heroic journey, and no one really cares about her but Jewel, and everyone thinks Jewel is weird and crazy. I don't really know what to write about.
Sometimes this book is confusing... mostly it is funny though. "dark comedy" or whatever. Darl is very "philosophical" and sometimes his chapters will be about what is and is not or wasn't and can't be is. And it's not important to know what he's talking about.
The best characters in the book are Jewel (because he's a sexy and trouble outcast) and Vardaman (because he's a little kid and little kids are absolutely hilarious). Vardaman really warms my heart. I love him, I do. Like one time Darl was talking to him about his philosophy. it went something like this:
Darl: "Jewel's mother is a horse"
Vardaman: "but my mom is a fish so how can Jewel's mom be a horse? Darl, what's your mom?"
Darl: "i haven't got a mom. She was is so she isn't is so I am not is"
Vardaman: "But you are, Darl!"
anyway it's funny and you should read it.
Review By: sasha
This is a very short book which is from the point of view of about 20 different people. It takes a while to figure out who is who and there are very few words on each page. I read it in less than a day. I liked it. it was very interesting. not a gripping read but interesting. about kids in highschool. all about realtionships and stuff.
Review By: Sasha
This book is about a girl nammed re jana. She and her father are travelling to a dessert where some crazy is building a huge boat. And they help build and stuff happenes and its a long book but its a good book. I liked it. Even though it is based on the Noahs ark thing. I dont know how true this stays to the christian story so...read it for yourself to find out.
Review By: Shelby
A book we had to read for school. This book is SOOOO great. It's got to be one of my favorite books and also on the list of my favorite school-required books.
Anyway this book is a collection of little narrations that Mr. Humanities calls Vignettes. It's about Esperanza, a girl who grows up in a barrio in Chicago. She doesn't want to belong there because she doesn't want to be restricted just because she is a woman and because she's Latina. She wants to escape her little house on Mango Street, but she is destined to leave and return to her roots.
The story has a lot of symbols and motifs. Like names, windows... etc. All the women always hang out of windows because their dads or husbands don't let them leave the house (because they are male chauvanist pendejos) and that's their only way to communicate with the outside world. Esperanza doesn't want to be like them, so she tries to ignore all boys and be independent but she's growing up and starts liking boys so she has a little trouble with that. um... anyway.
This book is great...it has a great style of writing and it has classicaly powerful themes in it like gender roles and self-identity and determination. And it'll take you like a day to read it. So you'd better.
Review By: Shelby
erlack. It looks like Rennison-sensei has once again answered the call of the horn and took a trip back to loonland. Or something. Anyway. This is the gagillionth (7th or 8th) Georgia Nicolson book and it's still funny. How does she do it?
so i'm going to be using words from teh book. yup. sorry.
In this installation of the fabby and mad world of Georgia, she is once again caught in the oven of love or whatever between the two boys: Dave the Laugh, Masimo the Pizza Eater S.G.. It is in the stars that she belongs with D the L and that he is the best male on the face of the earth and in history but since Georgia is hopelessly stupid she does not realize this and is obsessed with Masimo and his motorcycle and whatever.
Her friends are still funny. Except for Ellen, who has no reason to exist, except for saying Um, and er, and I mean for the whole population of the earth. And Georgia clearly would prefer it if she didn't. exist that is.
Also her school is putting on the play MacUseless and periodically taking away their crazy viking/bison horns.
People in England are mad crazy.
Read it because it's funny, and if you read it in public you can work on your Aurelius stoicnosity by trying not to laugh. and completely fail at it.
Review By: Shelby"
Oooh Shelby has been reading! This book was really good. It was turned into a hallmark movie that they showed on CBS. Since i'm a sucker for contract/arranged marriage stories, i wanted to watch it again. That's when I found out it was a book and got the book from the library.
The story is set during World War II in .. um.. Colorado or somewhere. The protagonist, Olivia, got pregnant and so she won't shame the family, she's put into an arranged marriage with Ray Singleton, a lonely and boring farmer. Olivia is very smart and likes history and so she doesn't like being cooped up in a farm the whole day with some guy who only likes to talk about seeds and crap. She explores the farm's history and makes friends with some Nisei girls who work on the farm and live at a camp (the camp is really lax, they let them go into town and everything).
Although Olivia is very uncomfortable at first she grows used to the farm, and being pregnant, and Ray and everyone. This is a really nice book to read. Olivia is a great protagonist, and the characters are likeable, even the ones who turn out to be assholes in the end. And even though Ray has a bald spot he is a good unlikely heartthrob type character i guess. Yup. It's a good book... read it and watch the movie too! A real nice heart-warmer...er... whatever.
