The Age of Miracles July 26, 2012

In The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker weaves a fantastic tale that hits just close enough to home that it makes you slightly uncomfortable.

It’s present day, a normal Saturday morning.  Except this morning, everything changes.  This is the morning that the world slowed.  Literally.  While citizens slept, the day gained fifty-six minutes.  What follows reads as a first-hand account of the events following that first day, Walker providing a viewpoint into the human mind and showing us just how different, and similar, we can be in the face of uncertainty.

The story centers on Julia and her parents, and we see this new society blossom through her eyes.  As a reader, I felt the fear, the uncertainty, and, oddly enough, the hope.  As I read about the days getting longer and longer, I wondered to myself what I would do, or feel, or think, if this situation were to ever happen.

Walker provides insight to the human condition, reminding us that we are basic creatures.  Even in the midst of confusion and uncertainty, people still go to school.  They still go to work.  They still love and hate, have affairs and celebrate birthdays.

The book ends with a look into the future – Julia is in college now, and admits that no one really knows what the world will be like when she graduates.  But she still dreams.  She still remembers.  She doesn’t give up.

It’s something we can all learn from, whether the world is ending or not.

The Demon Lover April 5, 2012

In a culture ripe with the love of all things vampire, fairy, witch, or otherwise supernatural, Juliet Dark has created a plausible world in which these, and other, creatures come alive.  Not being a fan of other popular vampire books, I found myself drawn into this story probably because of the more mature themes.  Demon Lover is not a silly fantasy book for teenagers.  This novel has real literary merit, and it kept me enthralled until the very last page.

Callie McFay is the newest professor at Fairwick College, in upstate New York, and from her first arrival she knows something is different in the small college town.  In the pages that follow you are introduced to several creatures that Callie, until now, thought were mystical, but in fact are living amongst the humans.  Callie is led on several adventures and mysteries, and by the end of the book you’re presented with a surprise so sudden that you’re left on the edge of your seat.

I liked this book; it had an unusual premise that kept me interested and made me feel as though I wanted to be a character in the book, too.  I wanted to walk the snowy campus, live in the adorable old Victorian house, visit the bed and breakfast across the main street.  To me, that is the mark of a good book.  The Demon Lover is the first in a series, and I look forward to more books chronicling the life of Callie and the rest of Fairwick College.