Tag: octopus

Book Review: The White Octopus Hotel, by Alexandra Bell   

Image belongs to Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey.

Title: The White Octopus Hotel
Author: Alexandra Bell       
Genre: Fantasy    
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

London, 2015

When reclusive art appraiser Eve Shaw shakes the hand of a silver-haired gentleman in her London office, the warmth of his palm sends a spark through her.

His name is Max Everly – curiously, the same name as Eve’s favourite composer, born one hundred sixteen years prior. And she can’t shake the feeling that she’s held his hand before . . . but where, and when?

The White Octopus Hotel, 1935

Decades earlier, high in the snowy Swiss Alps, Eve and a young Max Everly wander the winding halls of the grand belle epoque White Octopus Hotel, lost in time.

Each of them has been through the trenches – Eve in a family accident and Max on the battlefields of the Great War – but for an impossible moment, love and healing are just a room away . . . if only they have the courage to step through the door.

I really enjoyed this read! I loved the touches of magic and whimsy throughout, like the magical objects from the hotel, Eve’s octopus tattoo, and the glimpses of the past (like the horse in the baths). I was fascinated with the hotel from the beginning. Even a deserted ruin, it was compelling—much less in its heyday. Eve was a complex character, but I liked her, and Max, too. This was truly a compelling, vibrant story.

Alexandra Bell lives in Hampshire. The White Octopus Hotel is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

   

Book Review:  Rules for Camouflage, by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Image belongs to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Title: Rules for Camouflage  
Author: Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Genre: YA        
Rating:  4 out of 5

Evvie Chambers is doing her best to skate through the last month of high school to graduation. The only thing standing in her way is a biology report on foxes—and her teacher, Mrs. Audrey Dearborn. The same Mrs. Dearborn who’s been a thorn in Evvie’s side for years, refusing to acknowledge or accommodate her neurodiversity. Evvie would much rather be doing her report on Aretha, the octopus she cares for when she volunteers at the Minnesota Zoo but deviating from the exact assignment isn’t allowed—and Mrs. Dearborn isn’t going to make following the rules easy.

Evvie’s only escape from high school hell is the Lair: a safe haven for kids whose brains need some time away. But when Mrs. Dearborn refuses Evvie’s pleas to finesse the final report assignment to her strengths, and persistent bully Vandal McDaniel directs his harassment toward Lair members, Evvie finds herself more desperate than ever for stability and support.

When a shocking act of violence pushes the whole mess over the edge, Evvie, with the help of her friends and the others who love her, will have to figure out how to find her place in the wide world, while remaining true to herself.

I enjoyed this read—especially the scenes with Aretha, who was absolutely magical. I liked seeing how Evvie’s mind worked, and to a certain extent, the other kids in the Lair, too. I didn’t really care for a couple of scenes where Evvie and some of the other kids thought their neurodivergent brains meant the rules didn’t apply to them. While I didn’t care for Mrs. Dearborn and her ugly personality, Evvie’s refusal to follow the rules of the assignment was glossed over and made to seem sympathetic, but, yea, it’s not. This was a solid, entertaining read.

Kirstin Cronn-Mills lives in Minnesota. Rules for Camouflage is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.)