Philadelphia, Secret Powers, and Stolen Art: Review of The Cordovan Vault by J Monkeys

The Cordovan Vault, #1

The Livingston-Wexford Adventures

J Monkeys

YA Adventure

2011

The cover shows the mysterious vault...  Where is it, and what's inside?

The Cordovan Vault is J Monkey's debut novel.  When fourteen-year-old Kayla Livingston and Quinn Wexford's older siblings (and legal guardians) duck out of their wedding at the beginning of the reception, Kayla and Quinn have no idea what's about to happen to them.  The next day, they receive heartbreaking news from the police that Jim and Lorelei have been found dead, and that Kayla and Quinn are emancipated minors.  However, a frantic phone call from Lorelei- whose death has apparently been faked- puts Kayla and Quinn on a secret escape and journey to The City of Brotherly Love, where mysteries await them.

During the story, we find out that Kayla and Quinn's families have some interesting history involving secret societies and special powers.  I really enjoyed this mystery/adventure aspect.  The story is linked to Masonic and United States' history, similar to National Treasure, and I learned some interesting historical information, such as about the history of libraries and other city facts.  A large chunk of the story takes place at a very very old inn, where Kayla and Quinn help out the elderly owner.

Kayla and Quinn are likeable main characters, but I would age them at around 16 or 17, not 14.  Their hyper-maturity is acknowledged in the story, but they really do behave with much more confidence, street smarts, and personal responsibility than the 14-year-olds I know.  Kayla is fun and very smart- she loves solving puzzles, and this is an important element in the story.  She is, however, subject to mood swings and temper tantrums, typical of a teenager.  Quinn is very tall and noble- he has very good social skills and is able to work most situations to his advantage.  When the book begins, Kayla and Quinn are not friends- they treat each other like bitter step siblings, but that quickly changes under the extreme circumstances of their escape.

There is very little boy-girl tension present in this story- presumably to make it appropriate to a wider audience, but possibly the author just chose not to focus on it because of the adventure genre.  I would like to see a more natural, realistic development of the relationship between Kayla and Quinn in #2- even if there is no physical attraction between them, I feel like the boy-girl element deserves some more attention.  As a child/teen I had a very close family friend who was a boy- we never were romantically interested in each other, but there was still tension between us, such as when he had a crush on my best friend, or when I introduced him to my new boyfriend.

My favorite element of the story is the puzzle-solving.  Throughout the story, Kayla and Quinn are faced with mental challenges, and it's really cool to see them work through the puzzles and to see the pieces fall into place.  Some of the things I figured out while reading, but some solutions were surprising to me, which was exciting!  If I could change anything about the story, I would make the paranormal element stronger.  It's not a major part of the story until about the last third, but I expect that this will change in #2.

I would recommend this story to younger teens or anyone who enjoys fun adventure stories.  Readers who are looking for something to read in between Rick Riordan releases would enjoy this book.  There is a very small amount of language and some brief but scary violence/torture parts, but I would still recommend it even to middle schoolers whom I don't know very well.  Book #2, The Peacock Tale, will be out in the fall, and I look forward to finding out what happens to Kayla and Quinn!

Check out the Goodreads page, the Amazon page, or the author's website for more information!

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Review- Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

WOW!  I only got through four books during vacation, but they were amazing!  My reading time was unexpectedly limited by talkative relatives, but I am so happy with the books I chose to spend my time with.

I read Percy Jackson, books 3 and 4, and they were great- I'm getting book 5 from the library, and I will review the series at the end.

I read a Sophie Kinsella book- review to come!

And for a wild card, I picked up this book, Chains, from my library randomly.  I did not really like Speak, although I certainly agree that it's a wonderful book, so I wasn't sure that Chains would be my style either.

However, I immensely enjoyed this book.  It tells the story of an orphaned slave girl in the northeast during the Revolutionary War.  She and her younger sister are unexpectedly sold to some nuts in New York, and the events that unfold around them are astonishing.

I also liked the use of actual quotes from primary sources of the day that precede each chapter- these included letters, newspaper comments, etc.

Anderson's writing in this book is exceptional- the word choice was amazing, the imagery was rich, and the book was full of both pain and hope, with plenty of humor as well.

I would recommend this book to anyone, male or female.  5 stars- and I can't wait to read the next one in the SERIES!

Review- Captive Queen by Alison Weir

Published in 2010  (Thanks to Goodreads and the author for the free copy!)

Summary from Goodreads:

It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, attended by only a small armed escort, is riding like the wind southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France, who had been more like a monk than a king, and certainly not much of a lover. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire stretching from the wilds of Scotland to the Pyrenees. It will also create the devil's brood of Plantagenets - including Richard C ur de Lion and King John - and the most notoriously vicious marriage in history. "The Eagle and the Lion" is a novel on the grand scale, an epic subject for Alison Weir. It tells of the making of nations, and of passionate conflicts: between Henry II and Thomas Becket, his closest friend who is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on his orders; between Eleanor and Henry's formidable mother Matilda; between father and sons, as Henry's children take up arms against him; and finally between Henry and Eleanor herself.


I have kind of mixed feelings about this book.  I won it in a giveaway from Goodreads, and I was shocked to see how long it was.  The ARC I have is 475 pages but the published hardcover book is 336 pages, so somewhere major cutting was done, apparently.  Hopefully it was in the beginning, because the beginning is the reason it took me so long to review this book!  I almost gave up, because the first few pages were like very bad erotica about evil (read: mean, hateful, violent, and red-eyed) people.  I couldn't STAND Henry, whom Eleanor abandoned King Louis the somethingth for.  I could not imagine why she would choose Henry and commit so many (what she believed to be sins) to be with him.  This made the book very hard to engage with.


However, Eleanor really grows as a character, and I totally enjoyed at least the last half of the book.  I certainly never came to like Henry, but I came to love Eleanor and her maid Amaria.  Eleanor was a strong, brave woman who was subjected to the whiles of men.  Her power struggle was portrayed well, as well as how she coped with the infidelity of her husband.


This book is pretty typical historical fiction about England and France, but then again, I'm not a big reader of historical fiction so I can't really give you more comparison than that.  I did enjoy it, and I would like to see a published copy to see what was changed in the finished book.  I would probably have completely enjoyed this book had it been shorter, but from what I have seen I give it 4 stars.  I probably will never re-read it, but I am glad that I did.  I learned a lot about history and it was fun to immerse myself in the world of kings and queens for awhile.


Give it a shot if it sounds interesting- I'm glad that I did!

Review- The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall

Copyright 2010

This is the most beautiful book that I have read in a long time.  I loved it- and I was surprised to find that this book is a prequel to two other books about Valentina's daughter, Lydia, in China.  I kind of wish that I had read the other two books first, in the order that they were written, but my library does not have them.

The Jewel of St. Petersburg is set in Russia during the revolution.  The  story spans approximately 10 years, so a lot happens.  The characters, even and especially the supporting characters, are richly developed and you can sympathize with even the antagonists.

Although this book is full of beautiful, luxurious descriptions, there are also heartbreaking, disgusting pieces, which probably perfectly reflects Russia during this time.

This IS a star-crossed lovers book, which you can tell from reading the back cover, but it's a lot more than that.  How can Valentina balance her desire for love with her duty to her family?  Is love the only thing she needs?  What about power?  I wish that I had been able to use quotes from this book during my diversity class- it deals with gender/sex issues well.  Here's a passage that I particularly appreciated:

"...Take this advice from an old campaigner.  Use your weapons."
"Weapons?"
"The greatest of all, my dear.  Your beauty."
"Do you know what the strongest weapon is?" she asked him in the pitch darkness.  "One I will never possess."
"What's that?"
"Being born a man."
He chuckled, low in his throat.  She sensed him nodding acknowledgment that she was right.

One warning- don't read the sneak peek of the next book, The Russian Concubine, unless you plan on reading it immediately.  It quickly undoes all of the tied up ends of the book and might make you a little bit crazy.

5 stars- this is an excellent and engaging piece of historical fiction.

Review- Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

Twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan has just moved to Alcatraz where his father works as an electrician.  The year is 1935.  Al Capone is imprisoned in Alcatraz at this time.

High-five
1.  This book is very multidimensional.  It deals with Moose's coming of age, making friends in a new place, his relationships with his parents, and his relationship with his autistic older sister, Natalie.
2.  Natalie is a wonderful character.  The author does a great job of imagining and describing Moose and Natalie's relationship.  Sometimes Moose resents her, just like a "regular" sister, but mostly he truly loves her and wants what is best for her.
3. The other characters are well-developed too.
4.  This book is heavy on the thematic issue of Natalie's autism, but keeps the sex and language appropriate for children.  I think that's important because this kind of book could be wonderful for a child with a sibling with autism.
5.  This book is FUNNY!   Moose is a great narrator, and the shenanigans of the other kids on the island are great to read about.

Low-five
1.  I really don't like Moose's mother.  She is not a bad person, just very concerned about Natalie, and I wish there was more development with her.
2.  It would have been nice to have more interaction with the convicts.  There is very little in the way of action in this book.
3.  I would love to read a sequel!  I definitely want more of this book.
4.  Struggling here... Nope. That's it.  No more lows.

Conclusion-  4 stars.  I highly enjoyed this book, and I recommend that you give it a whirl if it sounds interesting.  Moms and teachers- consider reading it with/to your kids, ages maybe 7 and up!