Promised Land

Plot of Promised Land by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice:

Delanna returns home to the mining and farming planet Keramos to settle her mother's estate, take the money, and return to a civilized planet. To her dismay, she finds that to claim her inheritance she must stay on her mother's land for one year. She also learns that upon her mother's death she was automatically married to Sonny Tanner, a man she remembers (barely) from childhood.

Despite the numerous bad reviews, I consider this my favorite book in the whole world. I have read it at least ten times, and I have parts of it memorized. I will admit to parts of the book being annoying, but I attribute that to the fact that there were two authors collaborating and so it is probably hard to please both authors. I also noticed a few discrepancies, but nothing major and once again attributed to the pains of co-authoring.

While this novel is classified as science fiction, it's more romance set in a science fiction setting. It's absolutely cute, and no sex and whatnot, so if you are looking for a romance with real characters and real situations, this is it. The characters are believable and it's hard not to get sucked into the story and start getting annoyed when a character is acting stupidly. That's the beauty of the story. It may make you mad, but you must admit that you were pulled in and engrossed in the plot.

I have been unable to find the other 2 books these authors wrote together, which disappoints me. I gather that Cynthia Felice is not a very well-known writer, as I can't find a single one of her novels. Connie Willis is also hard to find, despite the fact that she has numerous books out and they are all wonderful. I highly recommend this book, and others by either of the authors as you won't be disappointed.

Blow Me Down

All work and no play make Amy a dull girl, or so Amy's precocious daughter tells her as she convinces Amy to try a new virtual-reality game, Buckling Swashes. Amy agrees in the hope of humoring her child, but instead she winds up in the middle of an amazingly detailed world and right in the path of Corbin, one hot pirate captain who turns out to be one of the game's creators. What they also discover is that they're caught inside the game--in a trap set by a disgruntled employee--and must work together to save the game and themselves.

The first book I read by Katie MacAlister was The Corset Diaries, which I greatly enjoyed. I was unsure about this one however, because of the high standards the previous book gave me. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Some parts of the book were a little boring, but the overall story was entertaining. The love scenes are a little overdone, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment as it is easy to skip those parts.

The Icarus Girl

Jessamy “Jess” Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, until Jess realizes she doesn’t actually know who her friend is at all. Drawing on Nigerian mythology, Helen Oyeyemi presents a striking variation on the classic literary theme of doubles — both real and spiritual — in this lyrical and bold debut.

Many of the reviews liken this story to those of Stephen King. I have not read his work, so I don't know how accurate that is, but it is indeed haunting.

Is Tilly real? A spirit? An extension of Jess's personality? The creepy ambiguity persists until and beyond the disturbing denouement. Related entirely from Jess's perspective, the book perfectly captures the fear and confusion of a child confronted by inexplicable circumstances...
–Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

The book has certainly stayed with me, as the next few days after reading it I would find myself contemplating TillyTilly and wondering just what the ending meant. It's quite ambiguous, but in a good way. You don't quite know what she was, or what happened to Jess, and it's all open to your imagination.

I know this isn't much, but I highly recommend reading it. If not for the story, read it to wonder where the line between reality ends and illusion begins. Read it to see what it's like to be mentally ill. Read it for the wonderful perspective it gives you on things you may not understand.