1. An Insight Into Relationships

Relationships are not just romantic. There are friendships and familial bonds in every story and Instructions for Dancing portrays so many beautiful—sometimes bittersweet—relationships that it is hard to not like it. Evie is hurt by her parents divorce and as a young girl, it makes sense that it has broken her heart. Similar to Evie, my parents divorced at a young age and this side of her story was what hooked me into the book. I could see the teenage me in this book.

Her relationship with her sister and the importance of friends in this book cannot be emphasised enough. All of these characters keep the story going and I loved how I progressed from chapter to chapter.

2. A Love Letter To Romance Novels

Heartbreak has a tendency to make us re-evaluate. Evie’s parents’ situation makes her look at her collection of romance novels and wonder if her fascination with them was any good at all. When love can end in heartbreak, why bother? Packing up all her precious well-loved books into a bag, Evie heads to a little free library to drop them off. Even though she is separating from them, she still thinks back to them over the course of the story.

Books and their characters never leave us alone. We might not see the books but we know the plot and will refer to it, without a lot of effort. I think this speaks to how ingrained our love for books and our hobbies become in our life. We might physically part with those things, but mentally, it takes a while. Healing has its own course to run. – Quote from Instructions for Dancing

3. A Promise of Friendship

I never imagined a roadtrip with my friends after high school or graduation, but our rituals of playing badminton on the weekends, having iced coffee on the 7th of every month, celebrating birthdays by going bowling… When these little things have been part of life for many years, breaking away from them is more scary than exciting. Evie has a wonderful circle of best friends and I loved every single one of them. There is love and anxiety there. There is the possibility of broken routines and promises but we can’t let the future dictate the present. This is an important lesson from the book, one that Evie has to learn.

4. On Taking A Chance

When we put ourselves out there, we grow! We open ourselves to learning something new and who knows, maybe we will be good at it! When dance instructor Fiona gives Evie a spot in her dance class, Evie can’t turn it down. With all the family issues, summer approaching and vision craziness, it does not seem like a bad idea to have some structured time away. When Fiona signs her up for the dance competition, she goes with the flow. There is no turning back for her! I loved Evie for her zeal and her courage. I think she will grow up to be a wonderful and strong person.

I love the cover of this book! It shows the chemistry between Evie and X really well! The book was hard to put down and it was an easy read that I liked coming back to. The cast was lovable and Evie was easy to connect with in particular. Like her, I had all these dreams about my graduation and friend circles while life runs its own course. I laughed and cried many times through this book and reflected on life and love. I wondered if Evie’s power to see a couple’s past and present was a lesson in itself. The storytelling was balanced with just the right amount of information and I loved revisiting high school through this book!

Instructions for Dancing is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Instructions for Dancing? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.

As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met.

Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?

Content Notes: Depiction of separated parents, infidelity, death, grief.

The post Review: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

On Society: Then and Now
Jillian Webster creates a haunting unforgettable world in The Weight of a Thousand Oceans. As the reader, it was impossible to not ask myself how would I survive in a place like that—a nomadic sort of life until we find a space that we can make home for a long period of time. Through Maia, exploring her island, we get a glimpse of what childhood was like for her as well as what her life could be if she chooses not to leave.

When her journey leaves her at the mercy of pirates, I thought about how society has crumbled back to old ways like piracy. Her grandfather originally wanted her to marry into a tribe and that brought up another descent into old ways where procreation is a woman’s responsibility.

On Resources
As I learned more about the world from Maia and her grandfather, the use of renewable resources came up a lot. Growing up, we were taught in school about the alternatives to fossil fuels and how important it is for us as a society to switch to renewable sources of energy. Through The Weight of a Thousand Oceans, I pondered if that will truly save us in the future. Renewable resources like wind and geothermal are highly dependent on the electricity grid being in place and until we find a way to keep it going, these renewable forms of energy would not be accessible to future generations. They also need upkeep and without the human knowledge to keep them functional, we will not be able to use them, as is clean in Maia’s world.

The Weight of a Thousand Oceans offers a wonderful commentary on climate change and what the world will look like if we are not careful as a species. The ocean full of garbage and submerged cities under water make for a haunting tale with Maia’s own personal revelations and relationships.

On Coming of Age
Maia grew up in a sheltered environment, interacting with very few people. Her mom passed away when she was a child and she has grown up with her grandfather. In her twenties now, she is just starting to figure out who she is and her higher purpose. I loved the magical realism elements in this book and am interested to see how they develop in the remaining books. As the first book in a series, The Weight of a Thousand Oceans built her character while showing part of the storm inside her.

Falling in love is one of those rights of passage in growing up. The circumstances in which Maia meets Lucas and their relationship were another highlight of the book for me. It’s a pure love that maybe is only possible in dire situations where the world has crumbled to survival needs.

Relation to The Bear
This book reminded me of a number of books, all from different genres. The beginning of The Weight of a Thousand Oceans was like The Bear and what it means to live without society. When we started to learn about pockets of society around the world, I thought of The Book of M. Firewalkers is a recent book about climate change. Let’s look into each of them briefly:

A beautiful story about parent relationships, growing up and adapting to the world, The Bear by Andrew Krivak is a heartwarming tale about one girl’s journey to get back home. Set in a time when only two humans exist in the world, a father and daughter, this is the story of a girl coming of age.

Both The Weight of a Thousand Oceans and The Bear are centered around female characters, trying to find their own place in the world. Their grandfather and father, respectively, play a pivotal role in helping them learn about the world and become self-sufficient. While the world in The Bear is smaller, Maia’s world is more dangerous and has come about due to bad choices made by humanity. Maia’s mom, while deceased, is present in driving Maia to her destiny.

The feel of the two books is similar so if you are looking for beautiful atmospheric tales that are bound to transport you to another world, choose either of them! They have a lot to teach in their own respect.

The Weight of a Thousand Oceans is an unforgettable book and I look forward to accompanying Maia on her journey in the next book, The Burn of a Thousand Suns.

The Weight of a Thousand Oceans is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up The Weight of a Thousand Oceans? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

In a world where cities sprawl like half-submerged skeletons, Maia has spent her entire life hidden within the mountains of New Zealand. Her only companions being her ailing grandfather and a nomadic dog named Huck, Maia resents being alone. She spends her days wandering the ruins of a population long gone, dreaming of a place where the few humans left behind can start again—a place her grandfather insists is a myth.

But Maia cannot escape a strong and mysterious force calling her out into the world, as well as bizarre events following her around the island. There is something strangely enchanted about the land in which she lives… or is it her?

When Maia hears a rumor that people are heading to The Old Arctic Circle half a world away, she knows this is where her destiny lies—until a devastating turn of events seems to shatter any hope of reaching her destination. Clinging to the edge of her life, Maia must come face to face with the transformative power of fate, discovering the one thing she has spent her life running from may be the only thing to save her.

Content Notes include loss of loved ones, confinement, sickness.

The post Review: The Weight of a Thousand Oceans by Jillian Webster appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

In We Are Satellites, Pinsker offers an insight at what life would look like if a brain implant to make us highly functioning, multi-tasking humans, became available to the general public. The centre stage is taken by a family composed of two mothers, their teenage son who is the only person in his class to not have an implant, and their 10-year old daughter who is epileptic and cannot get an implant. What follows is a story about David’s struggles with his Pilot and young Sophie’s involvement in the anti-Pilot movement while their mom, Julie embraces the new technology to give herself a new edge at work and their school teacher mom, Val, decides to not engage.

On Effects on the Society
I loved Val and how understanding she was with her kids and wife. She has an opinion about the Pilots, but she is able to keep a distance from it, interacting only through her family’s experiences and her professional situations. Through her, We Are Satellites portrays what schools would become if students had Pilots to enhance their studying capabilities. Of course, Pilots are not magic so they won’t take a D student to A+ but they surely help them along towards a better grade.

In North America, high school subjects are often divided into Advance Placements, General and Remedial sections, with varying names in different school systems and countries. With Pilots, there is a more concrete divide between the kids who have Pilots and excel in school more easily and those who won’t or can’t get a Pilot due to medical reasons. While David is able to get a Pilot, his sister, Sophie will never be able to get one and there exist opportunities for bullying, enhanced further by this device. In India, we do not have such categories in classes—there is only one Math class for everyone and when I was teaching here in Canada, I found it interesting to watch the perceptions of the kids in advanced or tougher classes compared to others.

Through Julie we see the pressures on the workplace and how the ties between companies helps with the widespread adoption of Pilots. David had an interesting observation about the Pilots. Since he had one already, he knew what it would mean for his mom to get one too. With hyper awareness of surroundings, it is like nothing ever goes unnoticed.

Since the story spans a decade of the lives of the family, as the reader, I was able to see how this technology took hold in the population and its effects that no one had imagined. Pinkser put a lot of time and effort into researching biomedical devices and their regulations, and the book comes with a reading list of books that helped her with this one. I hope to read some of them and share about them in the coming months.

On the Pilot
It was heartbreaking to learn about David’s struggles with his Pilot but at the same time, without his POV, this story would not have had the same impact. What does it mean to have a brain implant? What does it feel like? Is it different for everyone? Can we even put into words how we feel while using it? The brain is a complex organ and movies like Lucy (2014) have given us a glimpse of what 100% brain power would look like. But to imagine what it would feel like, especially a malfunctioning version of it, is a whole other thing.

If you have ever done something because everyone else was doing it and then not enjoyed it as much, you know the confusion and misery it can cause. But when the stakes are much higher and there is no easy way to go back to how it used to be, what can one really do? – Quote from We Are Satellites

The Pilot in We Are Satellites reminds me a lot of our cell phones and social media. We started using them, not knowing what it would look like or maybe some of us did have some ideas of what we wanted it to look like. But it doesn’t always work that way. The anxiety, feelings of being left out, feeling guilty of the things we haven’t done yet (or books we haven’t read—see You Don’t Need To Feel Guilty About Books You Haven’t Read Yet), constant comparisons with other people, there is so much that comes with social media. And how many of these problems did we really envision encountering when we started? It means so much to me to have an honest conversation with my friends about what I experience online. But if there had been no way to express that and if no one would believe me because their experience was different, I would find it very hard to make sense of myself. Support systems and people are important no matter how much technology becomes part of our lives, and that is a message that We Are Satellites brings home.

A Note on the Cover
I love the cover for We Are Satellites and after finishing the book, I want to take a moment to reflect on it. It doesn’t depict an exact scene from the book, though for me, it reminds me of the conversation that Val had with Sophie when David gets his Pilot—that the two of them will not get them, Sophie because of her medical condition, and Val because of her distrust of the technology and in solidarity with her youngest child. The cover gives a dystopian, lonely vibe in this beautiful world. The older woman figure leading the little child represents the mother-child relationships portrayed in the book—a dependency that eventually goes away as kids get older. Night time is the best time to spot satellites and also the best time to spot the blue LED lights of the Pilot.

If you love realistic science fiction, a world with events that have set in motion we cannot come back from, read this book. It will make you think twice about new technologies, the unethical things companies can do to sell their products, and the information that we get when we sign up for things doesn’t have to be the complete picture. Peer pressure and government subsidies go a long way, and sometimes, it is only in the long run, that the problems and consequences start to surface. 

This book has a lot to offer and I think about all the things I haven’t mentioned— Sophie’s involvement with the anti-Pilot movement, Julie’s adoption of the Pilot as an adult, the betrayal that one feels when you expect others to guide you better—there is so much packed into these pages and I know I will come back to them!

We Are Satellites is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up We Are Satellites? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Everybody’s getting one.

Val and Julie just want what’s best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.

Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.

Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and society: get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it’s everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot’s powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.

Content Notes include depiction of addition, substance abuse, epileptic seizure, medical implant, accident.

The post Review: We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

What We Carry is a beautiful book where life itself is the plot. I don’t know what it was about the synopsis and the timing of this book, but when I was looking for a book to give me some knowledge of what to expect in the coming years and a cathartic release, I am glad I found this one. This book has everything—familial bonds, harsh reality, heartbreak, love, working through relationships and, most importantly, learning to see ourselves in our parents’ shoes.

On Growing Older
There were at least two moments when Cassidy was remembering her childhood and she saw her parents in a new light. One of them was when she was thinking back to when she was eight years old when her beloved dog has passed away and she had been mad at her dad for taking her away. Her realisation that as much as she loved her dog, her dad had loved her too was beautifully written and I cried so much at that point. It made me pause and re-evaluate—now in my late twenties, knowing what I do about my parents, I can think back to what they were doing when they were my age. It is powerful and scary to do that because it makes us realise how little we know now and how much we trusted them, looked up to them, when they were our age.

How we are brought up has a huge influence on who we want to be, whether we want to follow in our parents’ footsteps or make our own. I saw myself in Cassidy a number of times, especially when she explained putting her career first before trying for kids.

On Support Systems
This book touches on some very hard subjects and I appreciated the brutal honesty with which they were expressed. Though I have not experienced miscarriage myself, as someone looking to start a family in the coming years, it caused mixed feelings reading about it. I was happy to have a role model in Cassidy to see the turmoil of emotions and situations she experienced while I was also heart broken for her. The jealousy that comes over us at times of loss makes us feel bad for our negative thinking. Through Cassidy I learned that it was okay and felt supported knowing that it will be normal to feel that way. I don’t know what pregnancy will entail, but through Cassidy’s experience, and my friend Jenna’s review, I feel better knowing I have read a book that accurately represents the experience.

On What We Carry
When bad things happen for no reason, it is natural to turn into ourselves and not want to deal with the rest of the world. For sometime this works, but eventually, we realise that we need our families to help us through. We need a partner who will hold us tight, even if we don’t seem to show we need it. We need a sister who will be honest and put us on the right path. We need the peer who has gone through the same thing to tell us it will be okay. We need to know somehow, need to feel somehow, that even though it hurts a lot right now, time will make it better. There is so much we carry within us—the hopes, dreams, aspirations, guilt, missing someone, but we have to learn to live with all of it and know that all of it together makes us.

The relationships in this book really stood out. Although Cassidy formed the main perspective, the other point of views of her husband Owen, her sister Claire, and her mother Joan were helpful in rounding out her character and getting a glimpse of how much she changed due to the miscarriage and her healing journey.

What We Carry is a hard read. I may not have experienced everything in the book firsthand, but I can imagine how hard it is and Cassidy’s story, I am able to put words to the emotions and the turmoil. There is a lot to this book—healing, acknowledgement for when we have to wake up and work on our relationships or we will fall apart.

The cover is beautiful and the cast and multiple points of views were well thought out. The story was quite moving and the pace of the plot worked well with the situations portrayed. As I read, I thought about motherhood, pregnancy, relationships, and all of the above. Be kind to yourself if you read this book, especially if some of it comes too close to what you have experienced.

What We Carry is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up What We Carry? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Cassidy Morgan’s life has always followed a carefully laid track: top education, fulfilling career, and marriage to the love of her life, Owen. The next logical step was starting a family. But when a late-term miscarriage threatens to derail everything she’s worked so hard for, she finds herself questioning her identity, particularly what it means to be a mother. Unable to move past her guilt and shame, she realizes there’s more to fix than a broken heart. Grief illuminates the weaknesses in her marriage and forces her to deal with her tumultuous relationship with her own mother.

Cassidy hopes her work as a veterinarian specializing in equine reproduction will distract her from the pain but instead finds that one of the cases she’s working on shines a spotlight on the memory of her unborn son. For once in her life, Cassidy is left untethered and wondering why she wanted to become a mother in the first place.

Then the unexpected happens when Cassidy becomes pregnant again. But the joy over her baby is tempered by her fear of another loss as well as her increasingly troubled marriage. Now, she must decide whether to let her pain hold her back or trust that there’s still something to live for.

What We Carry is a thought-provoking response to the author’s own miscarriage and lack of fiction surrounding the topic, that she and other women in her situation crave.

Content Notes include depiction of trouble conceiving, miscarriage, stillbirth, death of a child, complications at birth.

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Kaikeyi is the story of a woman who wants to make a difference in her husband’s kingdom and women’s lives when in her own homeland, she was a nobody in spite of being a princess. She is an amazing horse-rider, a fearless warrior, and an aspirational mother who understands that as a woman she has a role to play that is also set in stone by society, but that does not mean that she will not challenge it and forge her own path.

Knowing the Ramayana made this a very enjoyable book as many of these characters were known, even if some only by name, and finally got a glimpse of what their story would have been like! My reading experience of this book is incomplete without my background in the Ramayana, so here’s a brief summary!

The Ramayana is the story of Ram. King Dashrath of Ayodhya had three wives and, at the time of marrying his youngest wife, Kaikeyi, he had promised her that her son would be the king. When Dashrath is ready to abdicate the throne, Kaikeyi reminds him of his promise and Dashrath is forced to send Ram, his eldest born from his first wife, Kaushalya, on an exile. Plenty happens in the long years of exile and when finally Ram returns, taking his place on the throne, he forgives Kaikeyi. This video offers a more detailed summary of the epic. However, there are many versions of the Ramayana and some details may differ. For example, in Kaikeyi and stories I grew up with, Ram was not blue as well as recalling Kaikeyi being a jealous third queen who wanted more influence and was manipulated by her maid.

This is where this novel comes in—allowing people like me who are familiar with this epic and never questioned why she really sent Ram on exile to imagine her and get to know her side of the story. The focus is so much on Ram in the childhood tales that I was curious about who Kaikeyi was a person.

Vaishnavi Patel writes a beautiful version of this queen, imagining her as a young girl whose mother has left her and her brothers with their father. The journey of how she grows to be an amazing person who is sharp and aware of the pain that girls go through in a patriarchal society is depicted. Kaikeyi has discovered magic, but at the same time, she is forsaken by gods. She is not perfect and has learned ways to manipulate people, but she is also not all-bad that the Ramayana summary videos make her to be.

Patel succeeded in redefining what little I knew of Kaikeyi and making her into an unforgettable character that would fight gods to keep her morals and mortal world at peace. Her portrayal is refreshing and immersive. The court of Ayodhya is described vividly and it sounds like a peaceful kingdom that Kaikeyi built with her sister wives. She has some magic and the part of her being god-touched was new to me. The power Kaikeyi had was intriguing and how she grew to understand and use it better—how it caused her so much more pain for her decisions, but she had to undertake those actions anyway to stand by her morals.

The presence of Ravana in Kaikeyi was also quite interesting. Ravana is the antagonist of the Ramayana, the ashura that Lord Vishnu has reincarnated on earth as Ram to destroy. His friendship with Kaikeyi was something unexpected to me. This book plays with a certain version of the Ramayana where Sita is actually Ravana’s daughter. Kaikeyi sets it up as something that can be explored in the future. Through the time it does cover, the story sets up the stage for the Ramayana, and like all hindu epics, there is a semi-frequent reminder by gods that it is all inevitable anyway.

I don’t know much about Ram’s childhood, but in all stories I grew up with, he was portrayed as an amazing person. In some aspects, the version of Ram in Kaikeyi makes perfect sense: as someone who knows he is god incarnate, he would exert certain influences, bordering on manipulation, on the people around him. He would take the teachings of the gods very seriously and would not be open to change, particularly the changing role of women. Where it got a little out of hand for me was when he decided to get a god’s help to teach Kaikeyi, his mother, a lesson. I cannot reconcile this version of Ram with the benevolent prince and king of the original epic. How could he be so disrespectful towards Kaikeyi, especially considering the values he was brought up with? This is one of the few points where I felt that this book differed from the sentiments of the original that I am familiar with.

The way this was written gave me the opportunity to understand the pain that Kaikeyi and the mothers felt as they saw Ram’s transformation too late to correct it and had to send him away. It also makes me curious to see how this Ram evolves into the one I grew up knowing, because with retellings, the main events cannot change and one can’t deviate too much from the fundamental teachings and characters.

Kaikeyi and Ayodhya have been the highlights of this book, especially the portrayal of Kaikeyi as a powerful queen who was misunderstood and yet always tried to do what was in the best interest of her family and kingdom. The men in her life sometimes claimed promises made to her as their own and caused meaningless war to defend their pride. There were many times when I felt angry towards the men and the way they treated the women in this book. I loved that she had the support of Dashrath’s other wives and that the three of them held the kingdom together in times of chaos.

Kaikeyi is not just another mythology fantasy to me. It stands by itself, as a unique work inspired by the earlier history that led to the Ramayana, portraying one of the many takes on the events. It made me feel at home. Little things like the use of regional dialects of that time in the writing (this is most obvious with the use of the word ‘radyni’ which means ‘queen’. In Hindi, we use ‘rani’.) added a lot to the book for me. Kaikeyi is complete with powerful women, court intrigue, magic, war with humans, fights with supernatural beings, familial and political tensions of the time when the world was composed of princely states. This will be a cherished addition to the Hindu mythology and retelling section in my home library.

Kaikeyi is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Kaikeyi? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

“I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.”

So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales about the might and benevolence of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. And Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.

A stunning debut from a powerful new voice, Kaikeyi is a tale of fate, family, courage, and heartbreak—of an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate the shape of things to come.

Content notes include violence, war, sexism.

The post Review: Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Maren Walker is a young girl living with her grandmother. Her mother, Nell, walked through her door when Maren was nine, and life has not been easy. Her grandma has started to develop dementia, schooling can no longer be a priority and all her time goes to work. She isn’t making enough money to support her education and her grandma’s health. On top of that, there is trauma and feelings of abandonment since her mom left. These are things they don’t talk about at home anymore.

As Maren struggles to make ends meet while balancing her grandma’s wishes of keeping her illness a secret from the rest of the family, Maren’s very own door appears. She starts to think about her mom and wants to learn about what happened and why she left. In revisiting her mother’s old friends, she starts to remember the past in a new light. Where I Can’t Follow tries to tackle many hard questions including what it means to keep going, why we behave the way we do towards our kids, what being in control means and how we face adversities in life.

Maren has an engaging point of view. She is young but she is very well aware of the mistakes her mother made and the expectations her grandma has of her actions. She is a loving granddaughter who would do anything to keep her grandma happy. I loved her relationship with Julie, who is practically her soul sister. They know when something is up with the other person and though they are still figuring out to read each other and trust each other when times are tough, their childhood friendship is a key relationship in the book. Carver and Maren’s relationship speaks to the early years of adulthood when people are still figuring themselves out while figuring out each other. I found them to be sweet and would have actually liked to see their romance develop more.

While it is heartbreaking to read about a young woman supporting her grandmother and giving her school to make money, those are the realities for a lot of people. The unfairness of the situation does not make it disappear and though Maren’s story, I learned a lot. Ashley Blooms does not shy away from exposing this reality to the reader. The world she creates is a harsh one with tough situations. Where I Can’t Follow wasn’t the book I imagined it to be about. For someone looking for a literary fiction that addresses hard themes like living paycheque to paycheque and what it means to be a young caregiver, this book is a thought provoking read. From other reviews I have read on Goodreads, for example, the one by Kelly Ward, the book represents life in Appalachia well. I personally do not know much about the area or community and cannot speak to the accuracy in this review.

Where I Can’t Follow made me wonder from the synopsis as well as the storyline itself about the metaphor that the door represents. The way the characters and the world is set up, the door is an escape, an unknown potential to be a lot better than what the present is. It could also be seen as symbolising death because once someone passes through their door, no one ever hears from them again. Through Maren and the experiences of the people who have interacted with doors, Where I Can’t Follow beautifully portrays the tug of war between wanting to go and being unable to leave. Life isn’t supposed to be a plateau, it has its ups and downs. This book explores what makes life worth it and the role relationships and support systems play in everyday living, no matter how hard everyday living may be.

Where I Can’t Follow is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 15th 2022.

Will you be picking up Where I Can’t Follow? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Walk through the door and leave all your problems behind…but you don’t know what’s on the other side. And once you leave, you’ll never come back. Will you go through?

Maren Walker told herself she wouldn’t need to sell pills for long, that it was only means to an end. But that end seems to be stretching as far away as the other side of Blackdamp County, Kentucky. There’s always another bill for Granny’s doctor, another problem with the car, another reason she’s getting nowhere.

She dreams of walking through her little door to leave it all behind. The doors have appeared to the people in her mountain town for as long as anyone can remember, though no one knows where they lead. All anyone knows is that if you go, you’ll never come back.

Maren’s mother left through her door when Maren was nine, and her shadow has followed Maren ever since. When she faces the possibility of escaping her struggles for good, Maren must choose just what kind of future she wants to build.

From critically acclaimed author Ashley Blooms, Where I Can’t Follow explores the forces that hold people in place, and how they adapt, survive, and struggle to love a place that doesn’t always love them back.

Content Notes include depiction of substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, depression, death of parent, dementia, mental health.

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The Iron Crown is not just the story about the characters—it is also about the world itself. Fenn wakes up without any memories and Calidra begrudgingly decides to help him find his way to the big city where someone could offer him help. But as they journey together and learn about threats looming in the near future, their priorities and motives are questioned. A warrior and priestess decide to help them get answers.

On the lost ones and the Myr

Fenn is one of the many lost ones that have appeared in the kingdom. With only their name in their memory, the people, no matter how young or old, are plagued by headaches that never end. The Iron Crown thus begins with this uncanny phenomenon. Through Fenn’s eyes and his interactions with other lost ones, we learn about a world where the enemy’s name is forbidden to say as it is assumed that one does not have faith in the crown, their protector. The threat of The Myr starts to become real as time progresses and this transition was well written. Fenn’s connection to the Myr is revealed through the book and it was quite intriguing. The fact that he is not the only one makes this an interesting storyline to follow.

On the quest for family

Calidra’s side of the story offers another unique angle. She is the no-nonsense person who does not trust anyone easily and yet with her partner, Josyel’s nudge, she decides to help Fenn and take him with her when she has to journey back to the town. Her struggles with her family shape her as a person and I liked seeing her character evolve with friendship and love. She might not come off as someone who cares but she does. Once she gets to know people, she is always there for them.

I found the dynamic between Calidra’s family and the crown a good addition to the book. It broadened my understanding of the world and gave it more a feudal system arrangement that also set a good stage for a sword and sorcery adventure.

On Dragons and Religion

How can I not talk about dragons in a book that has dragons?

L. L. MaeRae’s world is unique in how dragons exist there. They are worshipped by people in the hope that they would give their blessings, becoming a conduit between the dragon and the human world, letting them tap into the powers of the great creatures. I love that while they might not respond to human prayers, they know what is happening with their followers. I felt that their personalities and ambitions were very well developed in the book and I am not just excited to meet more of them but also see how the ones I met through The Iron Crown affect the storyline.

They have the power and the potential, not to mention a mind of their own.

On The Iron Crown

I pondered the title of this book after I finished it. The Iron Crown has a legacy. The ancestors of the current monarch trapped the spirit of the iron dragon in a sword and they have always ruled together. Whether the hold of the Iron Crown on the continent is fair or not, there are rules to be followed to live here. Through the Inquisitors, it has become a regime that exploits the poor people and with the Myr coming back, I think the common people have an opportunity to rise up.

I look forward to seeing what happens next with Fenn and his friends, dragons and humans.

I am thrilled to have discovered a new Fantasy series to follow. The Iron Crown was well written and gave the right amount of attention to the plot speed and the development of the characters. The magical world of Tassar is fascinating and I think there is a lot more there than the glimpse we get in this book. The dragons and their worship as gods is a brilliant element of the story as it adds a religious perspective that is beyond normal camaraderie in other dragon novels. I found myself focused on the characters and the situations that they were facing and rooting for all of them. L. L. MacRae’s world is easy to immerse in and I look forward to collecting the full series in hardcopy to add to my collection.

The Iron Crown is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up The Iron Crown? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.

A new high fantasy series bursts into life with the DRAGON SPIRITS who reign supreme in the magic-drenched world of Tassar.

Content Notes: Swearing, Torture, Violence.

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Hi, Marie! Welcome to The Nerd Daily. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank YOU so much for inviting me — and for reading my work! Well, I confess to being a former lawyer; I worked as a commercial litigator in New York City for over a decade, but always knew it wasn’t what I was called to do. Eventually, I circled back to what I’d been passionate about since I was in middle school — the untold stories of history, particularly those about women. And now, I am fortunate enough to write novels that shine the light on fascinating women from the past who have left important legacies but about whom we know little.

I have learned about so many amazing women thanks to your books. How did you come to write about women from history?

Thank you so much!! Growing up, I never aspired to be a writer. I began instead as a voracious reader and avid user of the library, who had a wonderful aunt — who also happened to be an English professor and a rebellious nun — who was determined to expose me to the larger mysteries of the past and the different perspectives lurking in history. While she fed me a steady diet of phenomenal literature, it was Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon with its ground-breaking, female-centric telling of the famed Arthurian legends — in which the focus was on Arthur’s wife Guinevere and his sister Morgan le Fay — that really opened my eyes to the hidden world of women’s stories. I began asking myself how “history” is really fashioned, and I wondered why these women’s stories not part of the history I’d been told. I became fascinated with unearthing the unknown stories of women from the past

In Her Hidden Genius, Rosalind Franklin is a fearless scientist applying her knowledge to many fields in the sciences. What was the most challenging aspect of writing Her Hidden Genius?

The science!! I am not a scientist, so without a doubt, the most difficult aspect of writing HER HIDDEN GENIUS was getting a reasonable grasp not only on how the double helix structure of DNA was discovered by the scientific technique called X-ray crystallography but also the historical context of genetics and the early understanding of DNA. It presented significant difficulties but being able to tell the story of Rosalind Franklin was well worth it.

Her Hidden Genius comes at a time where RNA vaccines are a constant topic of discussion in households and social media. I enjoyed learning about Franklin’s discovery and thinking of how far we have come because of it. If you could meet Franklin today, what would you say to her?

I so appreciate your kind words. Oh, I have so many questions for Rosalind and things I’d want to tell her! First and foremost, I would like to thank her for the immense legacy she’s left for us — not only with her DNA discoveries but also, as you intimated, her research into RNA and vaccines, as they’ve has been crucial for understanding COVID and creating vaccines. Second, I would be curious how close my fictional Rosalind is to the real Rosalind, particularly her interior thoughts for which I used my imagination. Finally, I hope Rosalind might resolve questions around what she knew about the use of her research by Watson and Crick; she became good friends with Crick later in her life and had a professional relationship with Watson, and I wonder whether she knew and, if so, whether she simply forgave them. This last question was once I had to fictionalize in HER HIDDEN GENIUS.

What does your writing process look like? Do you research as you write or before you write?

The research is on-going throughout the drafting of a novel. I do a significant amount in advance to ensure the intrigue and modern issues of the woman’s life and the breadth of her legacy. Once I settle upon a particular historical woman, I then dive deep into the research for her world, exhausting whatever I can access in the way of original source material. At that point, I’ll then dig into both macro and micro details of her world — anything from political and cultural developments to the sorts of clothes worn in her time period and everything in between. But the research isn’t done then! As I write, there are always pieces of information I still need, and I always return to the sources.

All the women that you have written about inspire awe in their unique way. How do you choose the protagonists in your books? Were there any you always wanted to write about?

In terms of choosing a particular woman to serve as the hero of my novel, I do have a rubric of sorts. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to select a single women upon which to focus among the long, long list of women I keep? I’m looking for women who’ve made critical contributions upon which we rely in modern day but about whom we are largely unaware — and women who are struggling with very modern-day issues. There are so many women on that list I’d love to write about — that’s what propels me.

Turning to reading now, what are some books you love going back to?

Oh my goodness, while I’m always digging into new books, I do love to return to certain favorites, particularly when I’m looking for inspiration. Some of them are: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, The Hours by Michael Cunningham, Possession by A.S. Byatt, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, Euphoria by Lily King, among them.

Do you read books that are similar in themes to the ones you write? What would you recommend readers to read if they loved your books?

I am drawn to historical fiction, although I admit that I can only read it when I’m not actively in the writing/creating part of my own process. There are so many incredible authors writing about historical women, and I can recommend the following (although there are so many more): Kate Quinn, Beatriz Williams, Lisa Wingate, Sue Monk Kidd, Pam Jenoff, Fiona Davis, Chanel Cleeton, Kristin Harmel, Patti Callahan, Lauren Willig, Kristina McMorris, Stephanie Dray, Renee Rosen, Erika Robuck, Natasha Lester, Jillian Cantor, just to name a few!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I eagerly await your next book!

Will you be picking up Her Hidden Genius? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Marie Benedict, Author of ‘Her Hidden Genius’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Rosalind Franklin is a young scientist who studies matter using x-rays. She is good at her craft and knows how to work the equipment with a finesse that other scientists find it hard to ignore. There are those in her life who know she is like no other, and then others, like her family, who don’t quite understand what she does. There are many times in the story when people try to confine her by setting boundaries and expectations and every time, she proves them wrong and just keeps going, undeterred. She takes every challenge head on and continues to work on her life’s work which ultimately ends up being the structure of the DNA.

Her Hidden Genius comes at a good time. Vaccines have been an everyday topic in our lives for at least a year now and what better time to learn about an amazing woman who had something to do with it? Rosalind may not be a household name but as it happens with many biological discoveries over the years, the access to that knowledge advances us many times faster. If we did not know the structure of the DNA or the proteins that it comprises, how viruses attack it, how would we have the tools to combat diseases?

It is the passion of scientists like Rosalind Franklin and their thirst to know more that has helped us to get to where we are. She is a hidden genius though because while she did her best to protect her research and get credit for it, her primary goal was to find answers to the aspects of matter and life that she was investigating. She did not let politics affect her and she wasn’t one to take advantage of other people. In a post second world war world, we see the scientific community and its differences through Rosalind’s experiences in Paris and then London. What was the scientist pursuit and the search for answers has somehow become the race between countries and universities to be the first ones to discover something.

I found Her Hidden Genius to be very interesting in balancing these outside expectations to internal drive to know and learn and share. It is not possible to do that without a good support system and I loved the people that Rosalind surrounded herself with. When she could not find the community of scientists she wanted, she made one and was open to people working with her.

There are many things to learn from Rosalind’s life and while she may not have won the Nobel Prize in her short life, that does not make her work any less worthy. She sounds like an amazing role model and I am sure researchers would have been lucky to have her as their mentor. With this book I reminisced my days of being a graduate student and the daydreams of being a professor. Through Rosalind’s eyes, I glimpsed a life I almost could have had while at the same time realising that the world has changed for the better since her time and I would hopefully not face the same challenges she did with her colleagues.

Her Hidden Genius reminded me of Benedict’s earlier book, The Other Einstein, and I am so happy to have read about these wonderful women who had a role to play in shaping the world we live in. While men may have presented a greater challenge and stopped them from being known, the women still persevered and continued to use their brilliancy for moving humanity and its knowledge forward.

Her Hidden Genius is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of

Will you be picking up Her Hidden Genius? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and The Only Woman in the Room.

Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider―brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments. When she is assigned to work on DNA, she believes she can unearth its secrets.

Rosalind knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture―one more after thousands―she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who’d rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her.

Then it finally happens―the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what unfolds next, Rosalind could have never predicted.

Marie Benedict’s powerful new novel shines a light on a woman who sacrificed her life to discover the nature of our very DNA, a woman whose world-changing contributions were hidden by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind.

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Blue-Skinned Gods introduces us to Kalki, a 10-year-old boy who is believed to be the tenth and final reincarnation of the Hindu god, Vishu. There are old texts that have prophesied his birth and now that he is here, he must pass some tests to prove he is truly who everyone thinks he is. His skin is blue in colour and that seems like a definite sign of his divinity. In an ashram in Tamil Nadu, his parents and aunt and uncle host devotees from around the world who have some to see him and get his help in healing themselves.

Thoughts on Blue Skinned Gods

The book is divided into four parts. The first three focus on the most important people in Kalki’s life, including his cousin, his mother, and his father. The last part of the book is about Kalki’s personal growth and decisions for the rest of his life.

Hinduism and the worship of Vishu and his incarnations are an integral part of Kalki’s story. Homeschooled by his father and immersed in Indian sacred texts, Kalki is a wealth of knowledge on old teachings. As a blue-skinned boy who is the reincarnation of Vishnu, he does not associate much with other kids, his interactions being limited to his cousin, Lakshman, and a devotee who comes to heal and live with them, Roopa.

Kalki has grown up being told he is a god and his actions are defined by what the texts tell him is appropriate behaviour. But that does not mean that he truly sees himself as the people that he reads about. There is definitely a struggle to find out who he is and there are times when he knows he is privileged because he is a god. Like us humans, he doubts his abilities and as a young kid, he wants to be a child too. But being a god comes with its own responsibilities, and that is what made Kalki a reliable and lovable character. I spent most of the book rooting for him and wanting him to be whoever he is, god or not, to have clarity on that, and why.

Blue-Skinned Gods does an amazing job at depicting the tension between belief and truth. I  wondered about the effect such expectations have on a child, and it is evident where a spiral of self-doubt leads to for someone in Kalki’s shoes.

I also enjoyed the modern touch that the book has when Kalki travels to North America; it gives a good contrast to his rural upbringing in India. This will likely make the book more accessible to Western audiences. The exoticness of Blue Skinned gods as a music band, mixed with Kalki’s teachings as a guru offers an interesting backdrop for Kalki’s final steps towards the truth. He learns a lot about the teachings he has lived with and the story he has been told.

I enjoyed the twists and origin story of the young boy. It made me face my own presumptions and marvel at how reading about a culture moulds the people I imagine in my head.

Reading Experience Summary

Blue-Skinned Gods is a beautifully written book that made me ponder the world I live in. It is rich in Hindu culture, exposing not just its positive sides, but also its negative. I really liked the balance of information and how the main character, Kalki, questioned things as he grew older.

Growing up in India, I knew a lot of the stories and mythology references in this book and I felt the warmth that comes from feeling that one is in familiar territory. For someone who does not have the same context, the significance of the names and plot need some explaining, and the author does an outstanding job of taking that into consideration. The worldbuilding is done very well. What made it challenging was some of the incidents depicted in the book.

This book is Kakli’s quest to figure out who he is. Kalki eventually travels to North America and his experiences there contribute a lot to who he ends up becoming at the end.

Blue-Skinned Gods is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of November 2nd 2021.

Will you be picking up Blue-Skinned Gods? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

From the award-winning author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies comes a brilliantly written, globe-spanning novel about identity, faith, family, and sexuality.

In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child’s blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be the tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. In Kalki’s tenth year, he is confronted with three trials that will test his power and prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. While he seems to pass them, Kalki begins to question his divinity.

Over the next decade, his family unravels, and every relationship he relied on—father, mother, aunt, uncle, cousin—starts falling apart. Traveling from India to the underground rock scene of New York City, Blue-Skinned Gods explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, and spans continents and faiths, in an expansive and heartfelt look at the need for belief in our globally interconnected world.

Content Notes: Depiction of suicide, domestic violence and abuse, transphobia, extra marital affair.

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