Bunny Drop

Yes, another new manga series for me to get caught up in! I just can't help myself, there are so many with such interesting story lines!

Daikichi returns home for his grandfather's funeral only to find a mysterious little girl that no one knows what to do with. It turns out that the 76 year old man was having an romantic affair with a much younger woman and the child was his. Now, with Gramps gone, no one wants to take in the illegitimate girl that never talks. Upset at everyone's reluctance and cruelty toward the little girl, Daikichi makes the rash decision to take in the girl himself. The 30 year old bachelor working long nights as a business man must now change everything about his lifestyle to accommodate this new little person and make her feel like part of a family.

Ok, the plot sold me fast! It's just a little crazy and a lot hopeful and has so much possibility. Then my husband and I discovered that there were 11 episodes of the anime and we watched all those. Afterward there was no doubt in my mind that I would love the mangas because I absolutely love Daikichi and Rin's story already!

Seriously, it's such a cute story with plenty of humor and serious moments balanced wonderfully to paint a real picture of settling into parenthood. My biggest worry is that the manga will leave off at the same time as the anime, because I want so much more of the story!

If you've read it or have recommendations for others like it, let me know! I love hearing your thoughts!

The Sisters

In the beginning was Mabel and Bertie. In the summer of 1927 Mabel knew something would soon happen to Bertie and that the only way to escape would be to take her sister away. She thought she planned out the only way things could be done to give them a restart at life. Only, something went wrong. Bertie never got on the train. Suddenly both Mabel and Bertie are thrown out into the world, alone and uncertain, and full of emotions they keep tucked away from prying eyes.

What follows is a story like most others, Mabel finds herself in photography and unusual friendships, Bertie marries and devotes herself to making sure her little family holds together. But the original tragedy colors everything.

Jensen weaves a tale that may seem simple enough, only that there is a thread running through all of it that most of the characters are never aware of even as it changes things for them permanently. This family that hides truths about what they are doing, what they feel, and they change the course of each other's lives with these hidden facets. Amazingly, something that happened in 1927 effects the great-granddaughters in 2007, even as the child has no idea of the events that occurred.

Not only is this an amazing story to show how tragedy colors each and every one of us without us having gone through the event itself, Jensen is an incredible writer. Her imagination is vast as she develops this family and chronicles their lives. At the worst moments in the book she gives us just enough of the scene to make it stick with you, make you cringe, without having to take it too far. And her characters are so diverse and real that you can't help but feel for each and every one of them.

I am so glad that picked up this novel and I will be looking for more of Jensen's works in the future! I recommend everyone pick this book up!

Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal

I was looking for a book to read as I wait for my order from Barnes and Noble, something light that I could finish in a day maybe, that would help me clear my palate so to speak before picking up my next book club read. Well, I had been putting this one off for a while now since I am not a big fan of John Winchester, but it did the trick, got me thinking about Supernatural which I think about all the time anyway, and I was done in a day and can move on to the next book tomorrow. After I watch this week's episode of Supernatural that is.

So, if you are unfamiliar with the show, as you live under a rock, let me give you the highlights: John Winchester was just your average father of two boys, Dean (4) and Sam (6 months), loving husband of Mary, and a small town mechanic. Until November 2nd, 1983 when John stepped into his youngest son's nursery to find his wife pinned to the ceiling and catching fire. After getting his sons out of the house and discovering that he was not crazy, he had seen something unexplained, John became what is known as a hunter. This book follows John over the course of the next twenty-two years as he tries to find out what killed his wife, raise two boys, and kill the monsters that go bump in the night. The journal ends right as episode one of the show begins.

This book did a great job of reminding why I don't particularly like John Winchester. And it does that by being well written with the approval of the show's creator, meaning that fans get to see a little more of what happened in those absent years, learn a little more about the man that taught the two greatest hunters in North America, and even find out some more about the monsters the show is prided on bringing to life.

If you choose to read this one keep in mind that it is a journal, written by a man that never talked about his feelings and was slowly working his way further into the world of the supernatural to find out what killed his wife so that he could finally avenge it. That all means that the narrative is disjointed, the time line is full of gaps, and increasingly the story if more focused on the information gathered on monsters than thoughts or reflections of the boys John is raising to be soldiers. There are four dates every year John consistently marks: Dean's birthdays, Sam's birthdays, John and Mary's wedding anniversary, and the date of Mary's death. And with each year that passes the notes about the first two get smaller while the pain of the last two never diminishes. This book did an excellent job of showing the slow progression from the smiling, proud father to the obsessed, hardened hunter. It does an excellent job at complementing the series.

I recommend all fans of the show give this book a read, as it helps pull a little more from the backstory to explain a bit more about why the boys are the way they are, why they were so driven to find the demon that killed their mother, even Sam who had tried to take a step back from the hunting life. Just keep in mind, maybe John Winchester was not the best dad.

The Treatment

A book with a love triangle.

I was so incredibly happy upon getting home from vacation, where I read The Program, to find that I had in fact bought The Treatment the weekend before leaving home; along with about 20 others so that's how I forgot.

I was so excited to pick it up and start immediately, even though I was scared it would have me crying and too eager to finish for my own good. I was so right. I finished the book in one day, but managed to contain most of the tears by frantically turning the pages.

This book begins almost immediately after the first one ends. We find Sloane and James in an abandoned parking lot just across the border and having been unable to meet up with their friends. We later find out what happened to those friends, along with the safe house they were originally heading for. The Program is closing in on them. What follows is a roller coaster of a chase where The Program gets a lot to close for comfort, Sloane and James are forced out of their comfort zones and thrown for trust loops, and of course Realm has to return just to through a psychopathic monkey wrench into everyone's plans. This last reason is why I choose this book to fill the "love triangle" list item, because at times that aspect seemed more important than the actual chase.

I did have a few issues with this book, parts that were disappointing after the almost flawless nature of the first book, but I was able to overlook them to keep reading the book, far too interested and invested in the story to slow down. However, I will say that the ending was a small bit of a let down after the crazy roller coaster that was Sloane's life before, during, and after The Program. And like I said, the focus at times seemed to be more on the relationships of the characters than on the drastic nature of what The Program wants to do to those characters if it gets its hands on them. This leads to the characters making some pretty stupid decisions that only luck gets them out of, but hey, it's fiction.

It doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it, because I so do! I believe firmly the book was worth it's flaws. I was, after all, impressed with James attitude change over the course of the novel. Although Sloane does nothing to help her boyfriend with his trust issues, she does see the error of her ways just in time for James to come back to make everything better. Sort of. And wow is Realm not the guy everyone thought, but then I must say, I never really liked him anyway.


I look forward to picking up the last book in the series, a prequel I am told, The Remedy, as soon as I can. I would love to find out how this all started, things so bad that parents would willingly let their children be "erased" to simply keep them alive. This series did bring up some very interesting questions. Would you be willing to have your child's memories, things that possibly make them who they are, to be taken from them just so they stay alive? At what point is it more humane to let them kill themselves over us killing their souls? How desperate would you be?

I would love your take on these books, if you have read them. I would really recommend that you give them a chance if you haven't! Young is one hell of a writer.

Lift

"No matter when and why this comes to your hands, I want to put down on paper how things started with us." -Kelly Corrigan, Lift (pg6)

Kelly Corrigan knows that as her two girls grow and change she will too, as a mother. She doesn't know how she will change, if it will be good or not, and she decides she wants her girls to remember her how she was in the beginning. This is a wonderful idea. So, keeping this in mind, Corrigan writes down memories from when her girls were young; just a few little things but enough to mean so much.

This was a short read, but it still had enough that I smiled, laughed, and nearly cried many times. It was an incredible read that got me thinking about my own children and the relationship we have. I loved it and am looking forward to getting my hands on her other book, The Middle Place. And I must recommend this book to any and all mothers.