Special Topics Short

Reader’s Advisory and its Future

After the 1930s, readers’ advisory didn’t make a strong comeback until the 1980s. Why it is making a comeback in unknown, but Anderson notes that RA seems to flow in 40-year cycles (2016, pp.208), and we just happen to be in the positive cycle at this time. However, Anderson does not provide any compelling evidence to support that RA services will fall off again in the next 10 years. Even though RA services are currently scattered, some libraries today still offer that separate service with the same methods. However, most of them have wrapped RA services in with reference services, and some have moved to use the internet and social media as an RA service platform. Some might even say that the internet and technology will become the future of RA services. 

However, there are some issues with RA services. The first is that many libraries don’t even have RA services or training to be able to effectively help their patrons. Second, there is no universal standard when it comes to RA training. Leading to the debate on whether RA should be a profession within a profession? Also, if libraries should seek to have that separate service they had nearly 100 years ago? Lastly, librarians can’t seem to agree on how to address these issues so that the world of RA services can grow and develop. Crowley also feels that readers advisory should be similar to what is was in the early stages. Where RA was a separate service conducted by specially trained professionals, separate from the library staff. Smith feels that we should focus less on the who and more on the how (2015, pp.12). Meaning that RA skills can be taught, maintained, and developed within a library and its staff without having a separate person or division to do so.  Both are viable options, however having RA as a separate service can be costly. It can also be costly to train all staff in RA techniques, but there is strength in numbers. It seems more cost-effective to train multiple people, so the job doesn’t fall all onto one person. Most libraries would not be able to afford to have RA as a separate service due to their already tight budgets. It may be timelier, but it seems more economical and logical to train the staff already available, rather than open a separate division.

There is no doubt that readers’ advisory services will intertwine itself with technology. Two studies, one using social media to promote RA services and the other using a electronic form based service, were both successful in integrating RA services with technology. So, which is more effective? At this time, I don’t think that is can be determined. There are too many unknowns, both in success and data, to determine one over the other. Hence why the debate is still raging in the library world. Redefining reader’s advisory services will be no easy task. In its current state, there is no prevailing consensus on how to adapt to that change. Many have suggestions, but the lack of hard evidence makes it difficult to get the change in motion. Many tools have been created to aide in providing readers advisory to patrons, but the path is still unclear.  I believe, with a little more research and data collection, readers’ advisory might become more defined on what people are looking for and what direction the service is going to go in. Regardless of the successes that have been made in recent years, the best approach seems to be engaging with readers. By finding out why they like a book, as opposed to what they liked about it, will not only help you find what it is they are looking for but it will also provide data so a new approach can be formed.


Works Cited (in this short version)

Anderson, S. H., Tarulli, L., & Trott, B. (2016). Trends and Directions in RA Education. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 55(3), 203–209. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.5860/rusq.55n3.203

Smith, D. (2015). Readers’ Advisory. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 54(4), 11–16. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.5860/rusq.54n4.11

I solemnly swear this is 100% a true story.

Talk about a time when a book or author that made headlines affected you personally or your work.

Note: Sorry guys. This one is a long one, but its worth it. 

The book/series that has always affected me personally is the Harry Potter series. My late aunt and I bonded over the series to the point when the new book came out, we had to buy two copies so we wouldn’t fight over it. Once she passed, I kind of lost interest in reading. I lost interest in a lot of things, because I was severely depressed. My aunt was my best friend and when she died it crushed me. Harry Potter was the only thing that seemed to bring me out of the dark hole I found myself in. It was the only thing I was willing to read. So, I have a very personal relationship with the series because it reminds me of my aunt and the fun times we had. However, when I was 17, just about 4 years after she passed, I had just met my now husband. In the beginning of our courtship we spent a lot of time just talking. That was one of the things that drew me to him is that we could talk for hours, sometimes about nothing in particular, and others an array of subjects. In one of those conversations we talked about books, naturally, and he told me that he had never read the Harry Potter series. Pretty sure my jaw literally hit the floor. Those books were my life, my rock, my soul, my comfort. I was speechless. He was a pretty avid reader himself as well, and never thought about touching the books. He said, “they have movies, what do I need to read the book for?”.

So, as a devout Hufflepuff with Slytherin tendencies (I’ve taken may quizzes for my Hogwarts house and I either get Hufflepuff or Slytherin. I’m fine with both, but I feel I fit a little better in the yellow house, but green is my color. It’s almost an even split) I challenged him. If he could read the series faster than I could re-read them then I would give him something. I honestly can’t remember what I offered as a prize at the time, but it didn’t matter because he lost in the end. Since it was a challenge, that is all we did was read for the better part of a week or two. Even when we were together, we were reading. However, even though he lost in the end, he had a severe advantage. I was still in high school and he was in college. He was a tutor at Ivy Tech when he wasn’t in class and he rarely did his homework, so he had a lot of free time. Even more when he didn’t have any students to tutor, but I was determined to win. I did have the advantage of already having read the series, but there was a lot of finer details that I didn’t remember, and if you know my husband, there was going to be a quiz to make sure I didn’t cheat. I read the first book when I was 8, so it had almost been 10 years by the time I read it again.

I did NOTHING in any of my classes for a week, because I HAD to win (Slytherin tendencies). I read all day, every day. I think I finished the whole series in 10 days. We started on a Friday and we were done by the following weekend. I read through every class and didn’t do any homework that week. I was reading every moment I could. The only time I wasn’t reading is if I was at work, driving, or bathing. I pissed off some of my teachers that week. Some of them just let me do it because they knew I could make up whatever I missed. I was a good student for the most part regardless of my inner depression I was battling. School work tended to keep my mind off things, so i really focused on it so I didn't have to cope with the pain I felt. I graduated top 5% of my class, so I was on the good side of most teachers and they kind of let me do what I wanted. Of course, there is always the one exception. One teacher in particular tried to make an example out of me, it backfired. We were already on bad terms prior to this incident, because she was physics teacher but couldn’t do math correctly. If you know anything about physics, it’s very math oriented, and I called her out a lot on her mistakes. She didn’t care for that. I can’t tell you how many tests had to be curved because she didn’t provide the right answer to the question because her math was off. It was bad. I wasn’t doing it maliciously, but I was, and still am, very good at math and wasn’t going to let her teach me wrong. I was also, as most 17-year old’s are, kind of an asshole. So, most days, I didn’t pay attention in class. I was either doing homework for another class, or I was reading, but I definitely wasn’t doing physics. Well, one day, during my week of the Harry Potter marathon, I think she finally got fed up with me “goofing off” on her class and we got into a disagreement. 

I never really paid much attention to her while in class anyway, so I don't really know what tipped her over the edge that day. We ended up arguing on the proper method to solve a problem. I didn't do it the way she did because it didn't make sense to me. My way made sense to me and it was still mathematically correct. She eventually told me that she would meet in the principals office after class and I said something along the lines of, “For what? I did what you asked, therefore I am not being insubordinate. You said I could read if I got them right. I did, no thanks to you. I never said I would stay here to read, and since I am feeling victimized, I thought I would remove myself from the classroom and go read elsewhere. I could go to the principal’s office and read there, but then I would feel inclined to tell them that they hired a teacher that can’t teach a class she claims to have a degree in. So, in the effort of not getting you fired, even though you might deserve it, I will be leaving, and if I were you, I would learn how to do math before you try to teach physics.” I walked out and left after that outburst. I’m pretty sure she was speechless because she didn’t say anything as I left. I ended up a few doors down to my pre-calc and homeroom teacher’s classroom and just sat down on the floor by her desk. She was in mid-class and she stopped to look at me to ask me if I was ok. I told her we could talk after class and I opened my book and kept reading. My physics teacher didn’t say anything to me the rest of the week and I called her Umbridge for the rest of the year.

Needless to say, Harry Potter was/is a huge part of my life. I gave up almost everything for that series just because it brought me a small amount of joy from the one that I had lost. Looking back on this now, the whole situation seems like something out of a movie, and I now realize how much of an asshole I had become in those 4 years after she died. Teenage angst + loss - parental control = one messed up kid. My parents always told me that I tested their patience a lot during that time, but I was so lost that I didn’t care. I hated the world. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I started to find myself again, but that is a different story. However, the part that really tugs home to me is that Rowling wrote these books to cope with the loss of her mother. I read these books to cope with the loss of my aunt. I never knew that as the books were coming out. It wasn't until after the movies were making their debuts that I found out she wrote them for her mother. That really hit home for me and they are a much bigger part of my life now. I even tried to convince my husband to let us have a Harry Potter wedding. He didn't go for it. he did go for Superheros though. 

Fly Me to the Moon

Character Driven, Humorous, and Witty

Artemis by Andy Weir

Genre: Science Fiction

Book information: Hardcover, 305 pages, published by Crown, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, Copyright 2017.

·         ISBN 13: 9780553448122

Setting: The moon, in a small lunar colony known as Artemis.

Summary: Artemis is the first lunar civilization on the moon. Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara has lived on the moon since she was a child. She is clever, resourceful, and a criminal. The only thing Jazz ever wanted in life was to be rich, but on her own with as little effort as possible. Her current job as a porter, a lunar delivery person, barely covers her living expenses, but with a dash of smuggling on the side, she is able to survive, barely. One of her best customers, a wealthy businessman named Trond, offers Jazz a job for more money than she has ever seen. Trond wants Jazz to destroy Sanchez Aluminum's harvesters. Not an impossible task, but if she was caught, she would be sent back to earth, where she might not survive due to being in lunar atmosphere for so long. But for a million slugs? How could she refuse? However, when the job goes south and Trond is mysteriously found dead, Jazz is forced to seek out the truth behind Trond’s intentions and finds herself in the middle of something much larger that could threaten life on the moon. What will Jazz do to save the only home she has ever known?

Elements of Science Fiction

Pace: Intensifying. The story is constantly unfolding with new information that readers sometimes can hardly consider before being swept away by the next piece of action thrown Jazz’s way. As the story goes on, things just can’t seem to go Jazz’s way, but her quick thinking can usually get her out of some pretty sticky situations.

Frame: Weir describes a livable futuristic civilization on the moon, therefore lunar atmosphere laws apply. Weir is able to present the differences in atmosphere through Jazz in an understandable, but technical way so that her actions make sense.

Storyline: Weir writes from a first-person perspective through Jazz, allowing you into her internal thoughts and conflicts she continuously faces difficult situations. Also, since Jazz is on the moon, the outcomes of the actions and decisions she makes are not always the most logical to the reader because things work differently on the moon as they would on earth, giving it a sense of unpredictability     

Characterization: Flawed, but humorous. Jazz has a sarcastic nature and don’t care attitude that gives her a strong female lead, ready to take on whatever people can throw at her.

Tone: Comedic with gritty, sarcastic humor. Jazz has a unique way of explaining things, most of the time taking the formality right out of it. Jazz is also very fluent in curse words.

Style: The book is filled with jargon specific to the story. Some jargon is scientific, relating to the moon and its characteristics. While others describe life on the moon, such as the equipment/technology used, job titles, and how things operate in the lunar atmosphere.

Appeal: Artemis is really the story of Jazz. Jazz is such a unique, but flawed character, you can’t help but love her. Jazz herself even says that her life ran on mostly bad decisions, yet she is borderline genius. The complexity of her character is enough to keep a reader going. Oh, and she lives on the moon. I’m sure that everyone in their lifetime has wondered what it would be like to live on the moon. Weir brings that wonder to life in a sometimes crude, but comical way, along with everything that could go wrong on the moon.  

3 Read-a-likes

1.) The Martian by Andy Weir

2.) Off Rock by Kieran Shea

3.) All Systems Red by Martha Wells (series)

We did the mash, the MONSTER mash.

For this week's prompt, I would like you to think of an innovative way to promote romance, gentle reads or horror at your local library.

In order to promote horror books, I would take a spin on the “blind date with a book” idea, which seems typical with romance novels, and turn it into “blind date with a monster”. It would be a simple, blind date with a book display, but I would make the word “book” look like it was torn by monster claws and have a scarily written in red “monster” sign, either by or underneath where the word “book” was. I think this would be eye-catching and make patrons do a double-take. All the books would be wrapped in either dark paper or the traditional brown, so they do not know the title or author of the book. On the paper, I would just simply write the description of the monster in the book. This may take a little research if no one in the library has read the book, but the description could be as simple, or as detailed as it needs to be. I like the idea of them just having one word written on the paper because it leaves a sense of mystery to it, which is something many horror novels have. For example, if it where a book about a serial killer, it could just say “human” or “killer”, or a ghost story could have “ghost” or “paranormal”. There would be no need to write the genre on the paper because they would all be horror themed. Also, by writing what kind of monster is in the book, it gives the reader an insight to what the story will be about. This would be extremely difficult with books that the monster is a secret, or the monster is supposed to be unknown. I suppose one could either leave it blank or write “surprise” on the paper. That would intrigue me, but I feel that writing too much on the cover, like other annotations, would take away from the “blind date” and fun part of it.  

Don't Fear the Creature

Scary, Violent, and Emotionally Intense

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Genre: Horror

Book information: Paperback, 260 pages, published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Copyright 2014, Printed 2015.

• ISBN 13: 9780062259660

Setting: George’s house in Detroit, Michigan and a river not far from it.

Summary: Four long years in the same house, in a world where it is no longer safe to look outside because of what you might see. There is something out there. Something that makes people violent and suicidal. No one knows what it looks like, because if they look at it, they too become violent. After four years, with little food and supplies left, Malorie finally decides that it is time to leave the house, for good. Blindfolded, as to not see what thing is out there, Malorie and her two children embark on the most dangerous journey their lives. Can they survive their journey if they can’t see where they’re going?

Elements of Horror

Pace: Intensifying. The story jumps back and forth over a four-year span, creating an irregular timeline. Even then the story keeps building on Malorie’s emotions, making the story more intense as it develops.

Frame: No one knows what is outside. No one knows what it is that makes people deathly crazy. Some refer to it as a thing or a monster, but most refer to it as a creature. When it is near, people describe it as a large, looming presence. Even though you can’t see it, you can hear it. You can feel it.

Storyline: As in many horror novels, the ending ties up one end, but still leaves many unraveled, leaving you on the edge of your seat. The biggest one left is what is the mysterious creature out there? What does it want? Why is it here? Has it gone away? Will it go away? No one knows.

Characterization: Malorie is the broken, but strong female lead in the novel. She is the protagonist, courageously battling the outside world for a better life for her and her children. However, there is something more haunting out there than the creatures. It’s Gary. What is more frightening? A creature you can’t see, or someone you can.

Tone: The constant foreboding fear is contagious. It almost makes you want to cover your windows so you can’t see the outside either. Something is out there.

  

Style: The writing in Malerman’s book is emotionally descriptive, making a few seconds last minutes. Some parts of the book are graphically violent and disturbing, others are subtle, but violence is still involved. Not for the faint of heart.

Appeal: Birdbox has all the elements of horror a person could ask for. There are monsters, violence, and emotionally gripping situations that you can’t pry yourself away from. It is also appealing that there was a film modeled off the book. Therefore, giving it another way to live through people. It is a quick paced enthralling read that will have you hiding in the basement, away from windows by the time you reach the end.

3 Read-a-likes

1.) Blindness by Jose Saramago

2.) I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

3.) The Enemy by Charles Higson (Series)

NOT PART OF ANNOTATION!

Personal Thoughts:

Alright, I’ll say it, even thought I feel wrong for saying it but, the Netflix movie was better than the book. There, I said it. Although, I feel its slightly unjustified because the book and the movie are vastly different from each other. The basic storyline is the same, its all the details that are wrong. In the movie, there are characters and situations that take place that didn’t happen in the book, at all. Most of the back stories of the characters are changed and most of the timeline is off.  It’s hard to say which one is more graphic than the other. They are both pretty graphic, but in different ways. The graphic scenes in the book are not the same graphic scenes in the movie. Horror movies have the advantage of music and visual effects that you don’t get with the book. Its more imaginative, therefore the book is only as bad as you imagine it out to be. I did like both versions of the story, both have their merits.

*SPOILERS ALERT* I think the reason why I liked the movie better than the book is because the movie played up the “bird box” part of it. In the movie, they are constantly using birds as an alarm system for when the creatures are near. At times, they carry the birds with them when they go outside. The birds can sense their presence and will start to freak out if a creature is nearby. They use birds in the book in a similar manner, but not nearly to the extent the film did. In the book, the birds were outside in a box by the front door. That way if someone, or something, came near the door, they would have a sense of what it was based on how the birds reacted. They used this same knowledge when they were out on their journey, but they did not have birds with/on them. They just used the ones that were already outside in the trees. I just think the film did more justice to the title of the book that way, even though the title is such a small thing, but it has a big meaning. Ultimately, I just think I’m more of a horror movie person than a horror book person. However, Bird Box did spark my interest to read more horror books.

A second glance is all that's needed for a book re-view.

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author, and then still it's usually only RT Reviews (formally Romantic Times) or other genre heavy publications. How does this affect collection development?

I think it makes it more difficult. When doing collection development, people tend to look at eBooks as a whole category, therefore, eBook only books kind of get lumped into that group. How do you justify purchasing an eBook patrons might not use because they either don’t have the platform to read it on, or people don’t know about it?  You can’t, and the lack of reviews is not helping the case, because if you don’t have time to read the book, you rely on reviews. If there are no reviews, how do you know people are reading it or its worth adding to the collection? You don’t. The goal of collection development is to acquire materials that patrons will use. Since you don’t know for certain that the eBook only books will be used, you might as well pick something that will be worth the investment.

I have posted two more documents in the week five files. One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Reliable in the sense that they are trustworthy, sure, but reliable in the sense that they are dependable, no. I would never deny that someone read a book unless I read it myself. Therefore, I would default as the review being trustworthy because I wouldn’t know the difference if it wasn’t. Now, are the reviews dependable? From a library standpoint, I would say no simply because it is not professionally done. Most people, including myself, tend to attach their personal feelings to the review, rather than from an objective standpoint, because that is how we relate to books as readers. Are our feelings on the book going to sway a complete stranger to read the book just because we loved it? Maybe, but more than likely not.  Professional reviewers, like librarians, tend to focus more on the book itself and how it fits into its genre from an objective point of view, rather than their feelings about it. Hence why there are Kirkus style reviews and others. With that being said, I personally wouldn’t buy this book strictly because it’s a cheesy romance book, regardless of what the reviews say, but that’s just me. On the other hand, if I were purchasing this book for a library based on these reviews, I would still say unlikely for the reasons stated above.  

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir. These reviews are all from professional publications, feel free to find more on your own I just nabbed a few from the Book Review Digest database for you. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

Based on these reviews, I would add it. It seems that, based on these reviews, the book has a little to offer to everyone. The more people the book is likely to cater to increases the chances of it being used and read. For example, piggybacking off a previous question, eBook only books have a very limited audience, i.e. those whom have access to that type of book. However, if a book had a paperback, ebook, and audiobook version, it reaches a wider variety of people, increasing its chances of being used and reviewed. The more people likely to read or use the material, the more likely it will be added to the collection. It’s parallel.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage?

Fair to who? Fair to the book? Not necessarily, but books don’t have feelings. Fair to the people? Sure. Not everyone reads the same type of book, but there are groups of people that do, hence why we have genres. Books that are heavily reviewed tend to get a strong reaction out of people, good or bad. Therefore, the bigger the reaction, the more people are likely to review it. The more reviews there are, the more opinions there are about the book which can help other people decide if it is worth their time. It’s a popularity contest. Are popularity contests fair? Depends on who you ask.

How does this affect a library's collection? 

What books to libraries tend to have? Books that are popular. Popular does not always mean “good”, but that’s kind of how the system works. If a library is going to be successful, it needs to cater to its patrons wants and needs. If you have several people asking for a book that you don’t have, how likely are those people going to come back? Can you have a library that doesn’t have patrons? You can, but what purpose does it serve? The collection needs to fit the people, therefore, what is popular typically drives part of a libraries collection. For example, do you think that libraries had long hold times on the Bird Box book before the movie came out on Netflix? Probably not because not everyone knew about it. Do you think they have long hold times now? I can almost guarantee it.  

And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate?

I’m not sure if “appropriate” is the right word, but no, I find it illogical that some review sources don’t print negative content. As a reader, I think it’s silly that some review sources don’t print negative content because what is a review if it is not someone’s opinion? Not everyone is going to like the same book. It’s just not going to happen, it’s not the world that we live in. Some may like it more than others, but to completely ignore, or negate, negative reviews doesn’t help anyone. Now, there will be some people that bash the book for whatever reason, but all reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, good or bad. Also, you don’t HAVE to read the negative reviews if you don’t want to. It’s your choice, but to completely take them out, revokes that choice.  Negative reviews can do a few positive things. One, it gives the author opportunity to grow. If an author reads negative reviews, it can provide criticism, within reason, on how they could do better. Yes, there will be people out there that bash the book simply because they can, but it also can give authors, and readers, incite to the book’s shortcomings. This could save people from reading a book they may not enjoy, and that’s not a bad thing. With as many books as there are in the world, no one has time to read them all. Might as well read the things that you are going to like, rather than wasting your time. Now if I were a publisher, I can see why they wouldn’t allow that kind of content, because it could affect book sales. Can’t make money if the book doesn’t sell. Also, negative reviews could deter people from reading the book in the first place, even though I just stated it as a positive a few sentences ago. It could really go either way. I can see why authors wouldn’t want negative reviews, because some of them might not be able to handle the criticism. However, going back to the reader’s perspective, would you be more likely to read a book with negative reviews or a book with only few reviews? Personally, I would choose the former because that means more people reviewed it and gave their honest opinion about it, to an extent. It’s not so different than pulling food recipes off the internet. Are you going to choose the recipe with 5,000+ reviews although some of them are negative, or are you going to choose the recipe with 100 reviews that are all positive? Which one is more heavily weighted? The more reviews, the more reliable the overall review is. There is only one verdict when it comes to reviewing anything, majority rules, even if you don’t agree with the majority.

If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions? If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

I don’t purchase for a library so I will answer the second question. For personal reading, I tend to read reviews after I have read the book, unless it is a verbal review from someone. If I look at a review prior to reading the book, I tend to just glance at the star rating, from amazon, goodreads, or wherever multiple people can cast their rating. That will give me an idea of how good the book really is, or at least what the general opinion is about the book. Do I listen to these ratings and does it affect my choices? Typically, not. If anything, I’m curious to see if I have the same opinion as others.  

Kirkus Style Review

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Two dissimilar women, a college girl and former WWI spy, band together, while searching for the girls missing relative, to uncover old secrets that transform the former spy views of her past, both determined to find the truth.

In 1947, while traveling to Switzerland with her mother to receive a legal abortion so she does not taint her proper family’s reputation, unmarried Charlie St. Clair can’t help but wonder whatever happened to her sister-like cousin Rose. Rose vanished during the Nazi-occupation of France during World War II and was never heard from again. With hope that Rose is still alive somewhere, Charlie flees from her mother in London and reaches out to last person to know her whereabouts, Evelyn (Eve) Gardiner. Gardiner, a former World War I spy, spent her days as a drunk, living in guilt and waiting to die, until Charlie comes along. As Charlie is pestering Eve for answers about Rose, she mentions a name that Eve hasn’t heard in years, Rene Bordelon. In 1915, Rene was the owner of a restaurant that catered heavily to German soldiers during WWI. Eve was assigned to work in his restaurant as a waitress to uncover secrets that might have spilled from the drunk soldiers. During this time, the two became close, although not for the same reasons. Their relationship eventually led to the unraveling of the Alice Network and the source of Eve’s guilt, the death of Alice DeBois, leader of the network. Eve believed Rene to be dead, however, Charlie’s information proposed that he was alive and well during WWII when Rose disappeared. Unable to live with the fact that Rene might still be alive, Eve agrees to help Charlie look for her lost cousin, in hopes that while looking for Rose, it will reveal some information about how to find Rene, if he is alive. The author elegantly presents two very different, strong, but flawed female characters, while continuously flipping back and forth from Charlie’s present to Eve’s past. Eve and Charlie represent the difficulties women sometimes had to face at that time in a male dominated world.  

Two storylines merge into one epic tale of love, war, friendship, betrayal, and mystery that will leave you satisfied, but also wanting more.