Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

 

What book would you like to see a prequel for?

It’s the fiftieth annual Hunger games and Haymitch Abernathy has been selected from District 12.  As part of the 50^th anniversary celebration, they are selecting twice as many children from each section, so District 12 is sending four tributes this year.  Haymitch wants to get back to his beloved girlfriend, mom, and brother, but he also wants to take down the Capital and the Hunger Games.  Will he succeed?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Sunrise on the Reaping was an entertaining action novel reminiscent of the first two books at the Hunger Games series.  It was very readable!

·       I do wish there would have been more differences to make this book more unique like the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

·       I liked the cameos of characters from the original novels that popped up such as Plutarch, Mags, Wiress, and Effie.

·       Haymitch loves Lenore Dove, a descendant of Lucy Grey (not explained how), but their romantic relationship isn’t fully developed.

·       This story explains why Haymitch breaks down and is the way he is.  It would have been interesting to tell the story of his life between the games and mentoring Katniss. 

·       I liked the new character of Masilee.  She is a wealthy mean girl from District 12 who shows her humanity and spunk during the games.

·       This story will make an entertaining movie.

Overall, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins is an enjoyable story very similar to the first two Hunger Game novels.

Book Source:  Preordered from Amazon.com

Drowning by TJ Newman

 

Title:  Drowning

Author:  TJ Newman

Narrated by:  Steven Weber and Laura Benanti

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 43 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

 What is your worst disaster related fear? Mine is of being trapped underwater . . . which makes Drowning by TJ Newman the perfect book to play into my fears.

Six minutes after takeoff from Hawaii, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean.  As the crew and passengers attempt to escape from the plane, engineer Will Kent realizes that they have a better chance of surviving by staying in the plane.  Together with his daughter Shannon, and 10 other people, they end up trapped inside a plane, underwater, perched on a sea cliff.  Will they survive?

Will’s wife, Chris, is a professional diver and underwater welder/construction worker.  After the death of their other young daughter, Will and Chris have not been able to keep their relationship on track.  On the verge of divorce, Chris is annoyed at Will for insisting on traveling with Shannon on her trip to California.  Once she finds out what has happened, she is intent on being part of the rescue.  Will Chris be able to help her husband and daughter?

Drowning is a dual narrative novel with Will and Chris narrating alternate chapters.  I enjoyed Steven Weber and Laura Benanti’s narration as Will and Chris in the audiobook.  Steven had a very distinctive voice which I enjoyed.

Drowning is the perfect adventure novel for a drive – I couldn’t stop listening to it!  I had a lot of driving for work this month and this audiobook kept me very entertained.  It is basically like an action movie, with a riveting plot and great characters.  Plus, I always love reading about #engineersinfiction.  Will may use the line “I’m an engineer!” followed by another life saving tip for the passengers.  Dubious at first, they finally realize it’s best to follow the advice of the engineer.

I really liked how the accident made both Will and Chris separately evaluate their lives and put things into perspective.  What is the most important thing for their family?  Do they still love each other?  I also liked the stories of all of the other passengers.  Even though it was an action story, several characters did give me a good laugh.

I read and enjoyed Falling by TJ Newman last year.  If you enjoyed Falling, you will definitely enjoy Drowning.

Double or Nothing by Kim Sherwood (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks for the review copy of Double or Nothing by Kim Sherwood.

What is your favorite James Bond movie?  I love Sean Connery as James Bond, but some of the 1970’s films such as The Man with the Golden Gun are fun.  I love the campy humor.

Double or Nothing is definitely more in the vein of the modern James Bond movies.  I don’t want to spoil the plot of this one so I’m going to use the publisher’s synopsis to explain:

SYNOPSIS:

“I spy … a brilliant thriller! Double or Nothing is a clever and utterly compelling addition to the Bond canon.” —Jeffery Deaver, author of Carte Blanche, a James Bond novel

The start of a brand-new trilogy following MI6’s Double O agents with a license to kill, that blows the world of James Bond wide open!

James Bond is missing…

007 has been captured—and perhaps killed—by a sinister private military company. His status unknown. MI6 holds out hope that their most lethal agent will find his way home. But in the meantime, the rest of the Double O division has a job to do.

Meet the new generation of spies…

Johanna Harwood, 003. Joseph Dryden, 004. Sid Bashir, 009. They represent the very best and brightest of MI6. Supremely skilled, ruthless, with a license to kill, they will do anything to protect their country.

The fate of the world rests in their hands…

Tech billionaire Sir Bertram Paradise claims he has developed new cutting-edge technology capable of reversing climate change and saving the planet. But can his grandiose promises be trusted, and are his motives as altruistic as they appear? The new spies must uncover the truth because the stakes could not be higher; for humanity… and for James Bond himself.

Time is running out.

My review:

While I am a fan of the James Bond movies, this is the first novel I have read in the James Bond universe.  He is not a character in this book, but the three double Os are searching for him. This book was action packed and a thrilling story.  I liked that the story did have climate change in it.  The book definitely was trying to diversify the James Bond world.  New characters were introduced while old characters such as Moneypenny reappeared.  Q is now a supercomputer which was an interesting twist.  The book ended on a cliff hanger, and I do want to read what happens next. 

I did have a hard time getting into this novel.  The different viewpoints made the story disjointed.

This book was published on April 11, 2023.

A Blizzard of Polar Bears by Alice Henderson

 

Have you read any good thrillers lately?  Do you like books with non-stop action or books with slower thrills?

 A Blizzard of Polar Bears is a follow up to last year’s novel, A Solitude of Wolverines and starts right where the last book ended.  That being said, A Blizzard of Polar Bears also works as a standalone novel.  I would recommend reading A Solitude of Wolverines first if you can.

 Alex Carter is a wildlife biologist just finishing up a wolverine study in Montana.  She is hired for an exciting new polar bear study in Manitoba Canada.   She starts work and is excited to be making a difference studying the effects of climate change on polar bears in the artic.  After the first few days of great work, things start to go wrong with the study. Someone breaks into the lab, takes all of their data, and steals their samples.  Their helicopter pilot is hired by someone else.  Then the group realizes that they themselves have become the hunted.  Who is after them?  There is a lot of suspicious activity happening in this small town.

 I really enjoyed the wildlife biology and climate change aspects of this novel.  I find them intriguing and interesting; I am an environmental engineer for my career.  I work in the water field and not with wildlife so it’s interesting to see the science and how research is performed.  Just like with a Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears has nonstop action as the plot progresses.  It’s kind of like an environmental action thriller.  It would be a big blockbuster movie with lots of explosions.  I find it highly entertaining, and I read this book in one day.

 One item I really loved was that the mysterious man that seems to be following Alex around in A Solitude of Wolverines, actually meets with Alex and works with her in A Blizzard of Polar Bears.  What is his back story?  Why is he following Alex around?  Will Alex be able to warm him back up when he falls into freezing cold water in the wilderness?  Ha!!!!  I feel like every snow set movie or book has a warming up scene in it.  Do you have a favorite movie or book with this type of lifesaving scene?

 Overall, A Blizzard of Polar Bears is a very entertaining wildlife ecology thriller.  I can’t wait for the next book in this series.

 Book Source:  A Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.