Bridesicle by Will McIntosh

Summary: A woman wakes up after being cryonically frozen to find herself in a "date center," where rich men can talk to partially-revived women and decide whether to fully revive them as their wives.

Review: So I found this short story when I went to get today's Free Friday selection from Barnes and Noble and discovered that the author won a Hugo last year for this story. After reading the title, I couldn't really resist looking it up.

This story has some interesting things to say on the subject of death, marriage, love, and family. And had me completely riveted.

Because it's a short story, there wasn't much time for certain things like tons of characters or a super-established setting. Which means it was very streamlined and totally full of plot and the crazy 'Frozen Mail-order Bride' concept. Which is crazy.

It's 11 pages, and if you're ok with a little bit of sci-fi, I pretty much encourage everyone to go take a look. You can read it here.

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Giveaway Winner

The winner of the $20 CSN gift card is Heather! Congratulations!

Deadly Sanctuary by Sylvia Nobel

Summary (via the back of the book): "Beautiful, strong-willed reporter, Kendall O'Dell, is drawn into an evil web of conspiracy beyond anything she could have ever imagined when she accepts a position at a small newspaper in isolated Castle Valley, Arizona. Her assignment : Find out why her predecessor mysteriously vanished while working on a story concerning the unsolved deaths of two teenage girls. Why is the sheriff so hostile to her inquiries? Why is the woman operation the local shelter for homeless girls so secretive? And how is attractive rancher Bradley Talverson involved?

When the body of a third girl is discovered in the desert not far from a private psychiatric hospital, Kendall's life hangs in the balance as she strives to uncover the horrifying secret."

Review: WHAT? TWO grown-up books IN A ROW?? Who would have thought it was possible...?

So anyway. This was a good book. I have a problem with fish-out-of-water stuff, so the beginning made me uncomfortable. But after that got better, I liked it. The story was interesting, I liked the romance.

This seems like the kind of book that's supposed to be a big Setting book; you know, one of those, "the place was a CHARACTER!" things. (See: Hogwarts, Serenity). I felt like she was kind of going for that, but I never really felt it. I was told it a little, though.

Goodreads Shelves: addictive, fluffy, i-have-the-ebook, is-this-a-kissing-book, my-kind-of-woman

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Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass

Summary (via the authors' website): "There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the "Body Farm" has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics . . . and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences."

Review: OK. So this blog has been going on for about a year now (in fact my one-year mark is in about two weeks; cool!), and in that time my reading has pretty much only been YA. But that's not how I envisioned things going down, originally. So I'm rather excited to be reviewing my first For-Adults type book today.

I really liked Carved in Bone. I liked being in Dr. Brockton's head; he's a good guy, trying to do the right thing, but also a regular human who makes mistakes sometimes.

I thought the mystery was a little predictable, but still interesting. So that was good.

What I loved most about this book, though, was the kind of things I learned. I've always liked reading historical fiction because it's the best way for me to learn about history. As a school subject, it's my least favorite, but if I can read some accurate-type historical fiction, I can learn on the sly, as it were.

Carved in Bone was exactly the same. Reading it was fun because of how educational it is. One of the authors, Dr. William Bass, is an actual forensic anthropologist (just like Dr. Brennan!), so the details are all pretty much accurate. I feel all smart now!

In fact, in honor of this experience, I added a new shelf on Goodreads: I feel so smart now!

Goodreads Shelves: fluffy, i-feel-so-smart-now, i-have-the-ebook, pretentious

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