'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett, 8-19-10

'The Help' is set in 1960's Mississippi and it told from the point of view of three women. Two of these women are black, who have been maids and nannies since they were teenagers. The third woman is white who comes home from college to find that her family's maid and the woman who basically raised her is gone and no one will tell her why.

The story takes place over the course of almost 2 years. The white woman, who goes by Skeeter, has returned from college with an education in writing, but no husband. A fact that bothers her mother to no end. She is an awkward woman, tall and slender with wiry hair. Her mother points this out at every possible occasion. Skeeter is involved in all the appropriate activities for someone of her age and upbringing, the ladies' bridge club, the country club and a Junior League Society which holds benefits and fund raisers to raise money to feed the poor starving children in Africa.

During one bridge club day, Skeeter's two best friends, Hilly and Elizabeth, are discussing the fact that Elizabeth has to share a bathroom with her colored maid. Hilly is quick to point out that colored people carry all sorts of diseases that white people don't have and convinces Elizabeth to build her maid, Aibileen, a separate bathroom so that Elizabeth's family does not catch anything. After some discussing Elizabeth's husband agrees and Aibileen gets her very own bathroom, which is built out of plywood and is in the carport.

After that, Hilly wants to put an initiative in the league's newsletter encouraging everyone who cares about their family to have separate bathrooms for the colored people. Skeeter happens to be the one who writes the newsletter and she holds off on that as long as possible because she knows that the ridiculous facts her friend Hilly came up with are simply untrue.

Skeeter soon gets a job writing for the local newspaper a column about housecleaning tips. However, Skeeter is a white woman who grew up with a maid and she knows nothing about cleaning. She does finally convince Aibileen to help her with her column. The two are nowhere near being friends or anything like that because of the separation of people in 1960's Mississippi.

What Skeeter really wants to know is what happened to her family's maid, Constantine, and she thinks Aibileen knows.

Through series of events Skeeter convinces Aibileen to help her write a book of interviews of maids in their town, to tell from their perspective what it is like working for white people. This is all done it totally secrecy because of the laws regarding interaction between blacks and whites and the legal ramifications of what could happen to everyone involved. Aibileen convinces 12 other maids to tell Skeeter their stories as well. In the end, the book is published, with names changed to protect everyone. Their little pocket of the world is changed. And Skeeter finally knows what really happened with Constantine.

I loved this book on many levels. Being born in the late 70's to a liberal hippy, I never saw racial discrimination like that described in this book. I was never afraid to tell my friends and family exactly what I thought about things. I cannot imagine the stress of walking on eggshells all the time and having to careful word everything you say so you don't offend anyone. I cannot imagine having totally disregard for another human being the way most of the white women have for their maids.

Being a history major in college however, I read about this sort of thing all the time. It seems like the civil rights movement is ancient history to me because I wasn't around before or during it. But reading this book really helped me realize that all this happened 50 years ago, which wasn't that long at all and if you look carefully at the world around you you can still see the effects of the civil rights movement.

Parts of the story angered me, parts made me happy, some even mad me cry. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to experience what living in a different time would be like, or anyone who wants to gain a different perspective from that time. Enjoy.

'Swallowing Darkness' by Laurell K Hamilton, 8/12/10

This book starts out at a hospital. Meredith was taken there after being rescued from her uncle, who beat and raped her. She was able to escape by convincing her uncle that she was in fact pregnant with his child and needed human medical attention. It was a tense moment being taken through the Seelie Court. Many nobles believed that the King had saved her from her guards and that she was pregnant with his kids. With all the magic that flows through all the courts of faerie, its amazing that anyone has any close friends.

At the hospital, Meredith's grandma comes to visit her. This woman pretty much helped raise her, as Merry's own mother never really cared for Meredith. However, Grandma is being rather mean to Merry about everything, including her choice in the men she got pregnant by, including the King of the Sluagh. After many hurtful words everyone realizes that Grandma has been put under a spell to kill Merry's guards. As she was trying to hurt Merry, her guards were forced to kill her, which in turn really hurt Merry. It turns out that Merry's other cousin, Cair, was the culprit and had put a spell on their grandma to try to kill Merry, or at least convince her that her guards were evil. Merry declares her a kin slayer, calls the wild hunt (which hunts and punishes those who break laws, something that disappeared from faerie long ago) and kills her cousin.

She has now shown that she is a force to be reckoned with. After rescuing Doyle from the hospital who was hurt by grandma before she is killed and Mistral who was lead out into the open by assassins, the three of them hide out with the sluagh and King Sholto to recover. It works, they are forced into a deep sleep by the goddess who heals them all. During that time, Sholto and Merry are hand-fasted by faerie itself, meaning they are married. Merry becomes the Queen of the Sluagh.

However, while they are asleep the Seelie make camp outside the sluagh sithen, thinking that the sluagh have kidnapped Merry and are there to see her released to them. Of course that is not the case, Merry refuses and calls in the human police to come and get her and her men. No one would risk fighting with the human police, for all fey people would be exiled from America and have no where to go.

On the way to the airport, the Unseelie are blocking the road, with the same request as the Seelie. They want her released to them. Again Merry and her men refuse. However, Cousin Cel is leading this pack and starts a battle with the human police who are backed by the National Guard. Merry decides now is the time to kill Cel, or this will never end.

During this battle Merry kills Cel, his main guards and nearly her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. In a vision she crowned queen of the Unseelie Court by the God and Goddess, and Doyle is crowned King. They both turn down the crown to get Frost back, which the gods accept.

By the end of the book, evil Cousin Cel is dead, the Queen is still Queen, but probably not for long and Merry has all her men back in Los Angeles, where they feel safer away from all the enemies of faerie.

Although there is one more book in the story, this one answered all the questions I had when I started the series. Merry gets pregnant first, would have gotten the crown and gets to keep all her favorite guards. I enjoyed the series, but it is exhausting reading about the constant attempts to kill Meredith and her guards. I could never live a life so emotionally stressful. I am not sure I will ever read the last book. This one wrapped up nicely for me.

'A Lick of Frost' by Laurell K Hamilton, 8-10-10

The sixth book in the series wasn't so much about sex, although Meredith Gentry did have sex with a couple of people, but was more about feelings. How she feels about her men, the politics and even obtaining the throne.

In the beginning they are in an attorney's office. Meredith's uncle, the King of Light and Illusion, has used the human law to bring charges against some of Merry's men, claiming that three of them raped one of the ladies of the Seelie Court. This is not true of course, but the red tape must be cut through in order to prove innocence. During the questioning, the king pretty much looses his mind, attacks the people in the office and is then attacked by his own guards to get him to stop. With his outburst, it is determined that the charges against Merry's men are false, but some of her men are injured in the process.

When Merry and her guards get home, she is to meet with two Goblins, a pack made to bring them into their powers while lengthening the alliance between Merry and the goblins. However, there is such emotion among everyone in the room, one of the goblins begins to cry tears of blood. She catches that tear and drinks it, because the goblins see all bodily fluids and treasure and no should be wasted. With that simple act, Merry has brought power and life to everyone. They are in LA at this point, and she has essentially created and extension of faerie there. She also sees with the help of the ring on her finger that she is pregnant with twins.

There are myths and legends in this story that include one woman getting pregnant with one child that has several different fathers. No one really believes this story. But it turns out that the twins Merry carries are fathered by Doyle, Frost, Galen, Rhys, Mistral and Sholto, the King of the Sluagh. She has six kings now. One of the things she worried about most with getting pregnant was having to give the men she had grown to love (albeit on different levels) back to the cruelty of her aunt. This way, not all with be returned to her.

Unfortunately, with the act of drinking blood tears, she looses Frost. He has given himself as a sacrifice and has turned into a stag, running into the wilderness. She morns the lose of him and walks outside her home to be alone. Unfortunately, she is alone with no one to protect her.

Her uncle, King Taranis of Light and Illusion uses this moment to knock her unconscious, kidnap her, rape her and then he tells the press that he rescued her from her guards who were beating her. Fortunately, most of his nobles in court see that he has lost his mind and help Merry escape the Seelie sithen. At the end of this book she is currently on her way to the hospital with head injuries from his hitting her.

Perhaps she will become queen of the Unseelie after all. But what about her cousin, Cel? Will her aunt really step down? There are two books left to find out.

'Mistral's Kiss' by Laurell K Hamilton, 8/5/10

The story of Meredith Gentry gets more twisted as the stories proceed. She is no longer working as a detective because she is too public, too much of a target. She is still in the Unseelie Court sithen, no more than a day has passed. But it's difficult to keep track of time because there is no way to tell days in the sithen. The sun does not rise and set in the court because it's basically under a hill.

In this book Meredith has sex with 3 or 4 men. With each union more power comes back to the court, more life. In one scene they are have sex in the Dead Gardens, which were once lush with life, and it begins to rain. It hasn't done that in the gardens for years. It's obvious that Meredith is bringing life, or is chosen by the gods and goddesses as a vessel to bring back life. This angers the queen, Meredith is able to do something for the courts she can't.

Meredith also has sex with the king of the sluagh, which are sort of a nightmarish creatures. By doing this she brings the king back into his powers. The king chooses to use those powers to bring back the full darkness of the sluagh and therefore releases a wild hunt upon the land that hunts seelie. At this point the king is too much seelie and he becomes hunted as well. Meredith is the only one who can kill this thing.

I am slightly annoyed with the story though. By the end of the story she has 16 men she is rotating in her bed. She still needs to be protected because she is still mortal enough to die. I can't decide if I like that or not. It does bother me that she seems to be a receptacle for all these men, but perhaps that is the point. The fey see sex differently than humans do, and I am just a human. She is still not pregnant.

Due to other issues in the story, by the end of the book her cousin has been prematurely released from his incarceration and is gunning directly for her death with no other thoughts. That should make things even more interesting that before. There are still 3 books left in the series so we will see what happens.

'A Stroke of Midnight' by Laurell K Hamilton, 7/12/10

In the fourth book, Meredith is trying to figure out who murdered one of the fey population as well as a human reporter. She has allowed the human police to help in the investigation on the premise that the murderer most likely used magic and would not think of things like fingerprints and DNA.

While conducting the investigation the powers of the fey homeland grows, as well as the powers of Meredith and her lovers. No one is too sure why this is happening or what it means. There is a theory that the homeland is recognizing Meredith as the new leader, which really angers the Queen.

This particular story takes place in the course of one day. So much is happening in such a small amount of time that it makes everyone’s heads spin.

The intrigue is growing. Guards are volunteering to protect Meredith because she cares for her guards and tries to do right by her people, which some see as a weakness and others see it as love for her people. She has a magical ring that is supposed to react to people she touches to determine if they are possible matches for her, but it is working for others as well. This means that some are fertile matches and will be able to have children, something they haven’t had in a long time.

All these revelations are good but concerning. Who knows what is in store for the land of the fey and Meredith herself?

'Seduced by Moonlight' by Laurell K Hamilton, 7/7/10

The quest for Meredith to become pregnant and to inherit the Unseelie Courth throne continues in this third installment of Laurell K Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series. This particular story takes place about 3 months after the Queen of Air and Darkness, Meredith’s aunt, gave the challenge to her niece and her own son…whomever provides a child gets the throne. However, the queen’s son, Cel, is still incarcerated for another 3 months before he begins competing.

Pressure is on for Meredith. In the beginning of the book she still has 5 of the queen’s immortal guards as her lovers and the possible future father of her child, but the Queen is growing bored with the lack of progress.

Because of the reconnection to the fey courts and her magical lovers Meredith’s powers are growing and because of that she has been able to make those who sleep with her more powerful as well. This is both a scary and intriguing development. Magical items that were once thought lost are randomly appearing at Meredith’s home and by bringing powers back to her guards, which were once gods, she is creating strange weather patterns as well.

But again, the Queen is bored because there has been no progress and has insisted that Meredith travel to the Unseelie home, outside of St Louis, for a ball. While there, Meredith adds about 10 more guards to her quest, is almost assassinated 3 times and has to fight to prove her ability to lead. She still has to go to a ball at her uncle’s house, the King of Light and Illusion, at the Seelie Court, in a matter of days. Her guards, as well as her, feel that there is another motive for her uncle wanting her to visit….but that is left for a future book.
This story covers the course of only a few days. There was a lot of description about what the powers are doing and what Meredith sees while bringing about powers to her lovers. On that level it is really well written and highly entertaining, like all of Hamilton’s stories.

'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner' by Stephanie Meyer, 6/19/10

One of the things I adore most about Stephanie Meyer is her ability to see every side of the story. Many authors will write from the point of view of several characters in a book, but they way Stephanie does it is something I haven’t seem, or noticed before.

In this novella, Stephanie writes solely from the point of view of a newborn vampire named Bree. Bree is a character that shows up for only a few pages in her third Twilight book, ‘Eclipse.’ There is nothing really remarkable about her in that book with the exception that she surrenders her fight after it is offered to her by the Cullen clan only to be killed by the Volturi a short time later.

The novella describes what Bree’s life was like as a newborn that lives with a large group of other volatile newborns. It talks about what they are taught, told and expected to believe about their new life and eventually about their enemies.

It is a short story, only about 180 pages. But in those pages you get a sense of what most newborn vampires are like and how uneducated about their new life they really are, especially when the other older newborns lie to them about everything. You get to experience her journey to her death and how she accepts her fate.  She even tries to help the Cullens before she dies in her own subtle way, because of the undeserved kindness they showed.

I won’t say that its as good of a story as the Twilight’ saga, but it’s still a good story. I read this in about 2 hours and it was worth the effort.  If you enjoyed the Twilight books, you should definitely read this as well.