Charlotte's Library

Dirty Little Secrets written by C.J. Omololu **REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS** Obligatory spoiler warning, since I have pretty much nothing to talk about in re: this book other than the ending.  I thought it was a fascinating exploration of hoarding, and I was so pumped to see how all of the ends would be wrapped up, so I was shocked (and not in a good way) to find that it all ended with Lucy burning her house down.  Really?  Even after Josh and Kaylie come into her life and introduce the idea of safety?  Even with the notion that maybe her brother could help, maybe her sister needs  help?  And where is she going to end up now?  And what of her mental state?  I don't often hold books up to moral standards, but when mental illness is involved, I like to see authors come up with productive answers on how to actually deal with a situation.  Just like it says in the book, sometimes you've just got to act and deal with the consequences all at once rath...

                                                                The Prey (The Hunt #2) by Andrew Fukuda * I received a  copy of this book from St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. * For Gene and the remaining humans—or hepers—death is just a heartbeat away. On the run and hunted by society, they must find a way to survive in The Vast... and avoid the hungry predators tracking them in the dark. But they’re not the only things following Gene. He’s haunted by the girl he left behind and his burgeoning feelings for Sissy, the human girl at his side. When they discover a refuge of exiled humans living ...

Shackled   by Angela Carling Paperback, 204 pages Published June 1st 2012 by acacia publishing After shy, quiet Lucy and her family move from their small hometown in Minnesota to Seattle, Washington, she is surprised when Ryan, the most popular boy at school, asks her out. Soon, she is swept up in a whirlwind romance and her naive and trusting nature allows her to fall head over heels in love with her too-good-to-be-true suitor. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself enraptured by the excitement of her new relationship, leaving her blinded to the warning signs of danger ahead. Can her fairy tale romance last, or will she find that her prince charming is more like a wolf in  sheep's clothing. As many of you know, Contemporaries are not something I tend to venture into when it comes to reviewing. However when Angela inquired about me reviewing shackled, and shared information about Respect month, I felt like this was something bigger than just me not liking many contemporaries.  I...

Among Others written by Jo Walton I'm kind of torn because I really wanted to love this book, but in the end, it was just missing something.  The ending was one of the most rushed things I've ever read.  I love how books are romanticized, and anyone who is a book lover will identify with Mor's true love and connection (albeit somewhat snobby/limited to SciFi) of books.  I do love that in the end, this is a book about the magic of books.  But there was so much blank space in the middle where not much happened, and that's a shame.  There are also a lot of blanks, the situation with her aunts, what actually ended up happening with her mom, what the fairies were, and that's disheartening to walk away from.  I don't know what else to say.  I really wanted this to be the perfect book and I'm pretty sad that it wasn't coherent enough to be when it had all the right ingredients.  

Almost Perfect written by Brian Katcher I've read some criticisms of this book, that Logan is unnecessarily antagonistic toward Sage, and while Logan's words and actions are incredibly hurtful and problematic, ultimately, he gets Sage, he changes, he evolves so much, and that matters, if not to you, then to me.  Growing up in an environment where anyone outside the "norm", whatever that means, is othered, I can relate to Logan's cluelessness.  We are all ignorant of something.  We all have things to learn and improve upon within ourselves, and that Logan was able to do so, even after making tons of mistakes, shows so much inner courage.  Anyways, I really appreciated this book, particularly its complexity, and while I'm still looking for a book that deals with transgendered teens that ends on a positive note, I know life is more complicated than that, and ultimately, the Paper Towns-esque ending is more realistic.

A First Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi I have never seen a stronger case against the stigma that mental illness carries than what was written in this book.  What a read.  Ghaemi takes this radical approach in outlining why certain revered historical figures very probably had mental illnesses, including Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, both of whom I learned had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.  He takes it a step further though, by showing how their mental illnesses led them to success rather than failure, the same success that eluded many mentally healthy leaders.  I love this book.  I love the subject matter; I don't think I've ever been more interested in history than when it was intertwined with psychologically in this book.  I love that mental illness isn't just seen as a struggle, but a positive force.  I do wish the spectrum of mental illnesses included was wider, but the...