Eleanor by Jason Gurley

Synopsis from the back of the book:
1985. The death of Eleanor's twin sister tears her family apart. Her father blames her mother for the accident. When Eleanor's mother looks at her, she sees only the daughter she lost. Their wounded family crumbles under the weight of their shared grief. 

1993. Eleanor is fourteen years old when it happens for the first time... when she walks through an ordinary door at school and finds herself in another world. It happens again and again, but it's only a curiosity until that day at the cliffs. The day when Eleanor dives... and something rips her out of time itself. 

And on the other side, someone is waiting for her.

My Review:  This book is magical.  I had no idea what to expect from reading the back cover.  It in no way explains the details of what this book is about and am for that I am thankful.  It's like watching a movie before knowing anything about it and being floored by how good it was.  If you know what it is about you have expectations and are often times disappointed simply because you expected more.  I had no idea what to expect other than Jason Gurley spent almost half his life writing it.  I can tell you for sure that there was not one bit of disappointment with this book.  It just got better and better with every turn of the page.  

Towards the end of the book I was wondering how it would all come together and for the briefest of moments I was worried I would be left hanging with no solid ending.  Needless to say that didn't happen. The ending floored me.  Teared me up.  Kept me thinking about it for days.  I am still thinking about all that happened throughout this book.  It has been awhile since a book has made me sit and just think and contemplate the impact of such an amazing well crafted story and how other books will disappointment me because that will not be this good.  I wish I had even a small percentage of Jason Gurley's imagination. How someone can think of a story like this, then also have the ability to convey it through written word is beyond me.  It is a gift that has been perfected with this book.  This is the first full novel of his I have read and it will definitely not be the last.  

Even though I was given a copy of this ebook I still purchased the paperback from Amazon.  For me reading a paperback is so much more enjoyable and fulfilling then reading on my kindle.  In this particular case I am even more glad I bought the book, one reason is simply that I want support an indie author, and secondly this book is absolutely beautiful.  The cover, the feel of the matte finish, the art work at the start of the different parts, even the font is beautiful. Literally everything about this book is good.  I highly recommend reading this book.  

My Rating:  10
Pages:  596
Author website:  http://www.jasongurley.com/

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

Synopsis:  1963 Mississippi.  Nine year old Starla, a white girl, who is quite the little whipper snapper, decides to run away to her absent mother who lives in Nashville trying to become a famous singer.  While walking she gets a ride from a black maid, Eula, who is driving home with a newborn white baby in the car.  Starla convinces Eula to drive her the rest of the way to Nashville to be with her momma.  An amazing bond is formed between these three while facing all types of obstacles, discrimination and hatred in the deep south.
My review:  By far the best book I have read in quite some time.  This is the type of book that makes you want to call in sick and stay home to read.  I read in the car at lunch, got up early and read before work, even took it with me in the bathroom, just to get a few extra minutes to read it.

There are so many good things about this book I almost don't want to write them here so when you do read this book you will walk in with open arms.  It's that good!!  So I will keep this short.

I was a bit hesitant when I heard that this book was written in the perspective of a nine year old girl.  I was afraid I could not relate at all.  Needless to say that was not the case.  Starla is a great character and had me captivated from the first sentence.  I also loved how this author was able to convert the southern slang and accent into words so well. It reads and flows beautifully.

I am a sucker for a good book that takes place in the deep south, especially in the 1960's time period and this one more than exceeds my expectations.  There is no doubt in my mind that this will be the next book I suggest for the girls book club.

My rating:  10
Pages:  307
Author website:  http://susancrandall.net/

Sand by Hugh Howey

Synopsis:  The world as we know it is covered in sand, thousands of feet of sand.  Divers venture into the sand to look for artifacts of the lost world, ultimately looking for the lost world of Danvar.  A family of siblings, each with his or her own diving ability must reunite and love each other as a family to overcome the war that is rapidly approaching them.  We see the love between brothers and sisters, the love for a lost father, the love of an absent mother, all of which once finally embraced come together in a story of epic proportions.

My review:  Not in many many moons had I been so excited to read a book.  Hugh Howey has a way of writing something so well that you actually feel like you are a part of it.  In Wool I felt like I was running the stairs with Juliet, In The Hurricane I felt like I was there with Daniel weathering the storm, and in Sand I truly felt like I was diving deep with Palmer or Vic into the sand.  I could see the colors, I could feel the grit in my mouth.  How someone is able to do this so well is beyond me.  I am even someone who takes words and puts them on paper and still I am baffled how Hugh is able to do this better than most anyone else.

Almost all of Hugh's books are written in a world that does not exist.  In Sand, the world has been taken over by years and years of sand, covering the entire world as we know it with thousands of feet of sand.  The idea of diving into sand and exploring the world below is genius, Hugh might be the first guy to think of something like this.  I cannot even comprehend his ability to think of things like this, his imagination amazes me.  I love how he is able to take the simplest of things and make them his own.  Calling money coin.  Coming up with the idea of a sand sailboat called a sarfer.  It's these little things that make you feel like you are part of the story, that you are there with Conner trying to save people in the sand.  It is beautiful.

I truly feel like Hugh Howey is a literary revolutionary.  He is literally changing the book/publishing industry.  Not only is his writing fantastic, his ideas are unparalleled.  How he does it again with Sand, is beyond me.  I will save you the effort of searching the internet to buy a copy.  Buy the kindle version or paperback on Amazon, or like me buy a signed copy from Hugh directly.  You will enjoy this book, this world, this author.  Only issue with reading Hugh's books is that all other books from this point on will be disappointment.  True story.

My rating:  10
Pages:  336
Author website:  http://www.hughhowey.com/

THEORETICAL books 1 - 3 by Nick Reynolds

Synopsis:  So much of this story line depends on reading the book so as not to give anything away all I will say is that each book specifically deals with time travel and a family of scientists/mathematicians who have figured out a way to travel both into the past and into the future.

My review:  Wow is all I can say.  My head is spinning and I mean that is the absolute best way possible.  Time travel stories always see to mess with me a bit but this one has really got me thinking.  Literally I am still sitting here trying to figure out this story.  I actually had to sit and write it down so I could place the people in the correct time frames and correct associations with each other.  After doing that my head is only spinning slightly less.  As far as short stories go, this is one of the best I have ever read.  I read this in pretty much one sitting, each story is no more than 20 or so pages, and each one just gets better and better.  Once I started this I wanted nothing more than to keep the story going, as fantastic as this was I am sad that it's over.  To me that is the definition of a great story.

So often for me when reading a time travel story the lack of cohesiveness and confusion that comes along with anything time travel related seems to take away from the story because so much is it does not make any sense or is so mind bending that its actually hard to think about.  Try reading All You Zombies by Robert Heinlein and call me in the morning.  What I love about Theoretical is that it all makes sense.  It's cohesive and it all comes together beautifully.  I love the ending of this book, I love how well Nick was able keep me captivated through three different interlocking stories and still blow me away with the ending.  Well done sir, well done!

The author Nick Reynolds is a pen name for Donald Wells, a rising author who has managed to grab my attention with his stories like an author has not done for quite some time.  I look forward to reading every word this man puts into print.

My rating: 10 (1st 10 rating on the blog to date!)
Pages: 59
Author website: http://www.donaldwells.com/nick-reynolds.html