The Truth Commison by Susan Juby

Book Blurb (from goodreads)
This was going to be the year Normandy Pale came into her own. The year she emerged from her older sister’s shadow—and Kiera, who became a best-selling graphic novelist before she even graduated from high school, casts a long one. But it hasn’t worked out that way, not quite. So Normandy turns to her art and writing, and the “truth commission” she and her friends have started to find out the secrets at their school. It’s a great idea, as far as it goes—until it leads straight back to Kiera, who has been hiding some pretty serious truths of her own.

Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission: A story about easy truths, hard truths, and those things best left unsaid.







My Review:
I must admit something embarrassing, until I finished the book, I didn't realize that it wasn't actually non fiction. I never seemed to put two and two together that the authors name didn't match with the main characters name.... So with that in consideration lets start with the review.
The plot of this book was interesting at best. It followed a girl called Normanday (but she preferred to be called Norm). Norm and her friends (Who attend an art school in Canada) decide that they want to start to be able to get behind peoples facades and get straight to the truth. They begin to ask the obvious people the obvious question, ask the school drug addict why he is on drugs, ask the girl who organizes the slut walks why she does it, ask the grumpy teacher why they are so grumpy and so on. After each truth something exciting or strange happens to the person in the completely normal sense of the world. Suddenly there are people that you would never expect to see in a sundress walking around the school in one, and people protesting in the school in their underwear. These were humorous events in the book but are no where close to what the book is really about. Norm has a famous sister who writes comics based of over exaggerated versions of their family's life, making Norm look like an ungraceful/incompetent fish and their mum and dad like complete messes (and not in any way good). This arises conflict in the household, especially when Norm's sister becomes even more strange and secretive than usual.
Norms character was an interesting one to read about, especially the foot notes which the author added into the book, or Norm added into the book, it's kind of hard to talk about. These footnotes added a lot of character and depth to the book. I also found Norm especially easy to identify with, mainly because she was so normal. There wasn't anything particularly special about her, all she wanted to do was get through school and stay friends with her friends.
All together I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

"A Time to Dance" by Padma Venkatraman

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):
Padma Venkatraman’s inspiring story of a young girl’s struggle to regain her passion and find a new peace is told lyrically through verse that captures the beauty and mystery of India and the ancient bharatanatyam dance form. This is a stunning novel about spiritual awakening, the power of art, and above all, the courage and resilience of the human spirit.

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.

My Review
This was actually the first book I have read that was structured like a poem in verses and still had a story plot like a regular book and I really enjoyed it.
The book is about a girl called Veda, who has always loved dancing, especially the Indian dance called bharatanatyam. She danced until she won a bharatanatyam competition. However, soon after, she lost a leg due to an accident and her old dance teacher refused to teach her because he believed that Veda could never dance again.
This book was beautifully written. At first I was really curious how the story will still be told in an efficient manner so that the actions and plot are still conveyed to the reader, but it worked out really well in this book. The verse and lyrical style of this book also really matched the theme of this book. That was also really enjoyable. I loved how the author tackled the heavy topic of spirituality, religion and finding oneself. The theme itself was already very interesting; it was great to read about the importance of religion to a person. In this case the book focused on the religious dance. For Veda, dance became less about the religious meaning and more about the fame she was going to receive at the start of the book. I loved how more of the religious meaning of the dance came back to Veda as the book progressed and that she realized that dance wasn't about winning or losing; it was about the meaning and spirituality behind it.
The verses were a new writing style for me but I really enjoyed it in this case. The verses helped to make certain phrases in the book stand out and gave some sentences a heavier meaning. This style also worked really well with the writing style of the book. Even though the end of the sentences didn't rhyme, the story was still told using a lot of poetic devices, which made it really unique and still gave me the feeling of reading and not really reading a poem. Despite that, I found the beginning kind of shaky, meaning that the verse-like writing just didn't really work out that well, but that is probably just me not being used to it yet.
The amount of character development that took place in this book is remarkable. Veda went from dancing for the applause to finding the real meaning of dance. While she did that, she lost her anger and spite she still had leftover from when she lost her leg. It was great to see her mature in that way. It was also kind of sneaky, how the author incorporated a kind of love triangle into this book. (And personally, I was happy with the outcome.)
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The lyrical writing style took some time for me to get used to, but the rest of the book flowed by really quickly. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Blitz - "Betrayal Foretold" (Descended of Dragons #3) by Jen Crane

Publication Date: May 31, 2015

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, New Adult, Paranormal

Digital ISBN: 978-0-9965756-4-5

 Print ISBN: 978-0-9965756-5-2

Book Blurb:

A Bitter Betrayal

Stella Stonewall exposed her scaly side to save the man she loves, the soulful and sexy Ewan Bristol. But her troubles have only just begun. A treacherous betrayal at the hands of a trusted confidante leaves her running for her life.

An Impossible Choice

An unlikely savior offers Stella a way out, but it means leaving everything—and everyone—behind. Can she give up the only home, the only friends she’s ever known to save herself?

A Chance to Have It All

Stella learns of an ancient curse that, if lifted, could change everything. To alter the course of history she must trust her former lover Rowan Gresham, and she must trust the machinations of fate: that she may be the key to it all.

Betrayal Foretold is a fast-paced, emotional ride through the mesmerizing world of Thayer. This third book in the Descended of Dragons series, a new adult fantasy romance, is a can’t-put-it-down story of loss and self-invention, of survival, and of the selfless pursuit to secure the happiness of friends.

 

Purchase Betrayal Foretold

Amazon US: http://amzn.com/B01D2BPH4W

Amazon CA: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01D2BPH4W

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D2BPH4W

Amazon AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01D2BPH4W

Amazon JP: http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01D2BPH4W

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/BFBandN

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Kobo: http://bit.ly/BFKobo

 

Excerpt (792 words)

Time spent alone is precious.

It’s cleansing, it’s rejuvenating, it’s fortifying—until it’s not. I had soul-searched and introspected until my deficiencies clung to me like a throng of specters.

Over the last few days, the people of Thayer had learned dragons were not, in fact, wiped out hundreds of years before, and word had spread like wildfire that I was a member of the notoriously villainous species. My world turned upside down in a flash, and the capricious tide of public sentiment turned against me.

I sat, licking deep emotional wounds in the primitive cabin deserted only days before by the three Drakontos dragons—and my relatives—my Grandmother Bay, my Uncle Eiven, and my cousin Stryde. An official Radix committee and the Thayerian authorities conducted searches and quizzed my known associates to learn both my whereabouts and the extent of their knowledge.

My friends had proved faithful and generous in the days since I’d fled our magical grad school, Radix Citadel for Supernatural Learning, or The Root, as most commonly referred to it. But my friends couldn’t be expected to spend every waking moment at my cabin hideaway. Ewan, Boone and Timbra, and sometimes Layla visited when there was no risk of being followed, but it hadn’t been frequently enough to stave off my loneliness.

My arms hung at my sides as I stood in the center of the cabin, too restless to sit, to read, to think. The absence of sound was so prevalent that every tiny noise seemed to roar in contrast: the scratch of a branch against the roof, the drag-tick of an old clock, the whistle of wind through the dense forest.

“Hello,” a deep voice called from outside. “Stell?”

Ewan. Thank God. I raced through the cabin door and found him standing just beyond the front porch. Ewan Bristol rarely deviated from wearing black, and when he did, it wasn’t far. A dark blue V-neck lent contrast to his skin, which tanned easily and well.

I crashed into him, holding him close, and delighted in the solidness of him. Ewan always smelled of the forest, of juniper or fir, and I inhaled his scent while I had the opportunity; before he could leave again. I closed my eyes and absorbed the comfort of his arms, of his warm body.

It wasn’t just that I was so lonely I’d begun talking to the furniture. I missed the sexy squint his eyes took on, the uneven slide of his lips when he thought I was funny or clever. I missed the way his mouth went slack when my top slipped to reveal too much cleavage. I missed his level-headed advice and unyielding support. I missed the way people stopped and listened when he spoke. I missed Ewan.

“Hi,” I said and beamed up at him. His pleasure mirrored mine. It was there for me to see, completely unguarded in the depths of his dark eyes.

He kissed me high on the cheekbone before finding my mouth. Think me arrogant if you like, but I’ve always considered Ewan and me the best kissers ever to lay lips on one another. My mouth fit perfectly against his, his full lips complementing my smaller ones. With a groan, he pulled me so tightly into him I gasped for breath. He had missed me, too.

My Radix-issued personal interactive assistant, which I’d named Pia, chirped from the cabin just as I felt a buzz through the fabric of Ewan’s shorts.

“Stella,” Pia called, “you have received a message from Dean Livia Miles.” I shot a questioning glance at Ewan, who shrugged and fumbled in his pocket for his own device.

When I didn’t answer right away, Pia repeated the notification. “Stella, you have received a message from Dean Livia Miles.”

I hurried inside to see what Dean Miles could possibly be sending. The last I’d heard, she was on a vicious rampage to condemn and disgrace me.

When I emerged from the cabin, still scrolling to access the message, Ewan’s posture was bunched, coiled. A toy soldier wound too tight.

I dropped my arms to my sides, still clutching Pia in one hand. “Ewan? Ewan, what’s wrong?”

When he looked up, his dark eyes were black holes within his blood-drained face.

Someone died. What else could produce such a severe response?

“She…” Ewan cleared his throat. “She sent the entire school your journal entry.”

“What? Who did? What are you talking about? What journal entry?”

His face held such pity. “Dean Miles. She sent the entire campus a student journal entry you wrote detailing your dragon, your family…everything.” Ewan whispered the last. He walked to the fire pit and slid onto a log seat. 

Jen Crane

About the Author

Though she grew up on a working cattle ranch, Jen Crane has been into fantasy and sci-fi since seeing a bootleg tape of The Princess Bride.

Jen has a master’s degree and solid work histories in government and non-profit administration. But just in the nick of time she pronounced life too real for nonfiction. She now creates endearing characters and alternate realms filled with adventure, magic, and love.

Jen is happily living out her dream in The South with her husband and three children, striking that delicate balance between inspiration and frustration.

Book 2 in Jen's new fantasy romance series, Descended of Dragons, was selected by iTunes/iBooks as "Our Pick" in fantasy/sci-fi.

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