An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to. Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love. This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.
Sissy: I haven’t read anything from Ann Brashares since the days of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The Here And Now couldn’t be more different from that series, but I really got caught up in this story. This is such a refreshing new twist on the dystopian futuristic society type of story. Imagine solving the problems of the future by going back to the past.
Bubby: It’s like Back to the Future in reverse! Except that the new future you make might not always be the one you were hoping for. I’d like to expound on that but Sissy is smacking me and yelling “Spoilers! Spoilers!” so I guess I won’t.
Sissy: If we could go back in the past I would start smacking you in order to make your present day lies the truth. One thing this book made me do is really think about the future consequences of the way we treat our planet–what could occur because of global warming and the overuse of petroleum. This showed depth and intelligence in the thinking of author Ann Brashares. Blood plagues and mutations and the proliferation of mosquitoes in the overly warm future world are convincingly crafted, and I found myself buying into it and counting the years to see if I would be alive when things got “really bad.”(No, I would be thankfully dead, which was a relief to the part of my brain having paranoia about the future). And even though it is fiction, my psyche found the whole thing to be frightfully plausible, except for the escaping to the past part. Which is bad, because that means being stuck in a hideous, tragedy-filled future with no way out.
Bubby: I agree that it was scarily plausible and doesn’t sound like any future that I want to be a part of. I like my current lifestyle of overabundance and ease. I loved the characters of Prenna and Ethan. With one exception. Ethan is a horn dog. Now I realize most teenage boys fall into this category, but there I felt like Ethan pressures Prenna too much and it doesn’t jive with the otherwise thoughtful and loving boy that he is. I have a really big issue with teenage sex in books–its just not okay. They are too young and too dumb to realize the meaning and consequences of intimacy. Fortunately, they didn’t actually go that far in this book, but I wanted to smack Ethan upside the head and say “give it a rest already!”
Sissy: That being said, the love story between the two is sweet. Prenna’s mother is portrayed really well. She is a flawed character trying to do her best in a difficult situation. She annoyed me, but I don’t know that I would or could have done things differently in her shoes.
Bubby: Overall a fascinating, entertaining read. 3.75 bubbles
Sissy: Captivating and thought provoking. 3.75 for me as well.
Click HERE to pre-order The Here And Now by Ann Brasheres at amazon.com
©Bubble Bath Books 2014
The earth has been invaded by an alien race simply known as “Souls” that take over the minds of humans and use their bodies. Most humans cannot resist and their consciousness disappears. But in the case of Wanderer, her new “host” named Melanie Stryder refuses to go silent. Wanderer never expected to have to battle with Melanie for possession of the body. Now as Melanie’s thoughts and feelings begin to influence Wanderer more and more, they must search for the man they both love and perhaps find a new home and new purpose along the way.
Bubby: I can already hear it. “What? Stephenie Meyer? Isn’t she that Twilight author? I hate/love/ignore Twilight! Another book by her?” Yes. She is the author of the Twilight series. But you’d never know it from reading The Host. No vampires here, sparkly or otherwise. No werewolves, no teenage love drama. Instead you will find a thoughtfully written novel about what it means to be human and what love really is. It’s so different from Twilight that one would think it was another author altogether, although, like Twilight, there has been a movie made – (coming out March 2013).
Sissy: This stunning new story concept from Stephenie Meyer is as un-Twilight-like as can be, which is fortunate because if it had been another vampire book I would have thrown myself into the gaping jaws of Hell (in a strictly non-literal, metaphorical way). This author has a very fertile imagination. So the premise is that alien silver worm-like creatures take over human bodies and thus take over the world making it a more “humane” and peaceful place. Sounds creepy, right?
Bubby: The interesting part is that the “Souls” don’t see anything wrong with taking over the humans. They have done this before on many worlds – Earth is just next on the list. They feel that by using the humans as hosts, they are making our world a cleaner, safer, better place. They have no understanding of how the humans feel about the conquest – humans are simply irrational and Souls are not. It’s not a war – it just is a way of life.
Sissy: This is a back-handed yet thoughtful treatment of racism and bigotry. What happens when the human consciousness and the Soul co-exist in the host’s mind? What happens when they begin to know and understand each other and feel sympathy for one another? And what about free will? This is my favorite of the author’s works so far.
Bubby: As Melanie and Wanderer spend more and more time sharing the host, each begins to more deeply understand the other. Unfortunately, this means that Wanderer starts to feel the same feelings as Melanie, including Melanie’s love for her boyfriend Jared. These feelings cause Wanderer, also known as Wanda, to go against her responsibilities and instead search out the little band of rebels hiding in a cave system designed by Melanie’s Uncle Jebb. There, for the first time, Wanda must deal directly with humans – some of whom want nothing more than for her to die and let Melanie have her body back.
Sissy: Oh my dear Bubby Muffy Boo-Boo. I feel that we are waxing so philosophic that we are becoming stodgy britches. Let us put in our cool silver rimmed contacts and talk about how a human can fall in love with an alien silver ribbon thingy.
Bubby: Ooo, like the ones the actors are wearing in the movie trailers? I am in!
Sissy: If the movie turns out to be as hideous as the first Twilight movie, I’m going to throw silver foil thingies at the screen in protest. You will like this book, my dear blog readers, because it is intellectually stimulating while at the same time being entertaining and romantic. Save the world. Make it a better place. For you and for me and the entire human race. 4 bubbles.
Bubby: Yes, I do hope that they don’t butcher the movie. That would make me very sad. I loved this book – I love that it explores alien invasion in a new and different way. I love that everyone ends up . . . well, I can’t tell you how everyone ends up but I liked the result. 4 bubbles.
Click HERE to buy The Host by Stephanie Meyer from Amazon.com
Click HERE to buy The Host by Stephanie Meyer from BookDepository.com
© Bubble Bath Books 2012
Bubble Bath Books 