We’ve changed things up with the IWSG Book Club, featuring books from members.
The books for November were books from our midlist members on the IWSG sign-up list.
About the Book
Sometimes being a geneticist isn’t enough to understand your family…. Joanna Lyon is the great-granddaughter of the legendary TwenCen musician Sean Lyon. Joanna may have inherited some of her ancestor’s musical talent, but her parents’ bitter divorce and her Uncle Jack’s attempts to remake her into another Sean have left her hostile toward her family and music. Her passion is for science, but since she has no access to the family funds, she struggles to earn enough credits for graduate school. Then her uncle sets up a business deal with her employer to make Joanna go on a mission for him: travel via the spaceship Sagan to an alternate TwenCen universe where Sean is still alive. Joanna must collect a DNA sample from Sean so her uncle can create a clone of him. She refuses at first, but finally agrees to go. Secretly, however, Joanna believes her uncle will exploit the clone, and she plans to sabotage the project to stop him. But when she falls in love with one of the scientists in the Sagan’s genetics lab, clashes with other time travelers who fear she’ll change how history develops on the alternative TwenCen Earth, and receives devastating personal news, Joanna will find herself pushed to her limit even before she comes face-to-face with her hated ancestor. Their encounter will leave her changed forever. Will she still be able to thwart her uncle’s plan, and what will she have to sacrifice to do so? Approximately 36,000 words.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
Why anyone would recognise her as the great-granddaughter of a famous musician who had died decades earlier is a little unbelievable. The tech stuff is cool – basically everything you’d usually encounter in futuristic sci-fi. And it’s clear that she’s angry – but just about being compared to her great-grandpa? There are many reasons she could and should be angry, but they aren’t explored. Especially her parents and how their decisions (not even described enough to infer) affected her. And except for the opening scene, this book suffers from telling (and then this happened, and then this happened, etc.). I DNFed at 27% because of the telling issue.
The cover doesn’t say much about the genre or about what the book is about (certain elements on the cover become clear as the book is read, but otherwise doesn’t draw a reader in). The blurb is just one big block of text and doesn’t make it easy for a reader to quickly skim and decide if they want to read it. The blurb also tells exactly what happens in the book instead of creating tension and inviting the reader to pick up the book and find out for themselves. And there’s absolutely no need to add the word count in the blurb, it’s a detail that can be found (especially on Amazon) in the extra details beneath the book.
About the Book
Jake Martin stops to rest at Sarah’s farm. Her circumstances stir up memories for Jake, and force him to consider the type of life he lives. Can he change his ways or is he permanently broken?
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
The cover doesn’t do much to draw attention or really give an impression of genre. The blurb doesn’t do much to pull a reader in, either.
Despite the premise, which could have been exciting if more showing and less telling (in the form of dialogue – the ten-year-old’s at odds with his age), the story left me meh as it didn’t engage my feelings or made me care about the MC.
Have you read these books? Have you read anything by these authors? What do you think of book clubs?
*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*