Currently reading
Frackistan: The Promise and Peril of America’s Energy Revolution
Savaging the Dark
The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One
Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life
A Better Way of Dying: How to Make the Best Choices at the End of Life
Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness
Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success
S.
Dances in Two Worlds: A Writer-Artist's Backstory
Tigers in Red Weather
Prism
I was surprised to find Faye Kellerman is co-authoring young adult novels so I had to find out what this was all about.I liked the premise - three students suffer an accident while on a school trip and wind up in an parallel universe in which there are no medical services because the people in that universe believe medicine and the like are not natural - but I didn't feel it was completely fleshed-out as well as it could have been. Tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana are natural and used as pain-killers or...well, I guess another use wasn't really listed. All that's mentioned, but brushed over as if it's not worth thinking about; I don't know why that bugged me; I guess because it seemed sneaky to mention it but then never examine it further. It's like it was put in quickly for those who would say, "Yeah, but, what about..."
Also, I am beginning to think that Jenna Lamia is not one of my preferred readers for YA fiction. While I thoroughly enjoyed her reading of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, she was one of the main reasons I could not finish Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I just have a problem with her portrayal of all teenagers (in the two books I've listened-to) as bland, sighing individuals who speak in a monotone.
I don't know if the authors meant to leave the reader uneasy, wondering if Kaida and the gang made it back to their own world. I kept waiting for the "other shoe to drop", but nothing really indicated one way or another if they returned to their universe of origin. I would have liked that to have been wrapped up, though I suppose the question could be used to start many discussions amongst high school readers...the poor kids.
I guess I knew I wasn't making a connection to the book when I kept trying to remember the title and never could...not even when I went to type it in here to find it. It just didn't make an impression.