Category Archives: Amy Shearn

The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn
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Synopsis: Jenny Lipkin is an average, stretched-too-thin Brooklyn mom, tackling the challenges of raising two children in a cramped Park Slope walk-up and bonding with the other moms about breastfeeding while spending endless hours in Prospect Park. All she really wants is to survive the sweltering New York summer with a shred of sanity intact. But when her husband Harry, a compulsive gambler, vanishes one evening without a word, Jenny finally reaches her breaking point. And in a moment of despair, a split second decision changes her life forever. Pulled from the brink by an unexpected (and, as it turns out, sometimes annoying) supernatural ally, Jenny is forced to rethink her ideas about success, motherhood, romance and relationships. Confronting her inner demons—of both the mermaid and non-mermaid variety—is no easy task, and eventually Jenny has to come to terms with who she truly is, for better or worse.


Review : Wow this book is not what I expected at all and yet I did not have many things in mind. After reading a book about mermaids, I really wanted to find another one. I must say that we do not find a lot novels featuring them and I wanted to learn more. But this book is not like that, even far from that. It is not a pretty story about a mythical character, but rather a psychological drama about the life of a young mother.

Jenny is a young woman who is depressed but raises her two children, two girls quite agitated like all children, but she loves them with all her heart. But one day, her husband Harry, who was on his way to go home, doesn’t return and the Jenny’s life is turned upside down beyond recognition. Poor thing, it was already very difficult for her, but she must now manage everything alone. It even goes to the point where she decides to commit suicide, but while jumping from a bridge, she sees herself saved by the spirit of a mermaid who installs herself as a parasite in her body. We do not know much about this being, but the spirit will advise our heroine, or try to help her to survive day by day. I must say that I wondered if this siren was a manifestation of her subconscious, a manifestation of desires that could help her to survive to this life. And even at the end of the novel I could not really say, but it is nevertheless something that makes us think. We follow Jenny, the mother faces her doubts, her love, her desire to live, difficulties in daily life. Do not expect to have something paranormal or full of action, because this is really not the case.

We wonder what could have happened to Harry, he left and he thus abandoned everything and everyone behind him. It hurts to see her like that but she realizes that nobody has a perfect life and she is finally not alone to face this kind of reality.

So what about the story? I had a lot of trouble to get into it, it’s interesting, sad, but it is also very long. It is quite difficult to focus on what is happening, especially since as I said we don’t have a lot of action but we still appreciate Jenny and try to understand her. Yet at the end of the book, I’m quite surprised to see that I did not agree with her choice, but I understand them but this is not what I wanted for her. This book shows that it is actually quite difficult to always be happy in life and we need to compromise. This is not the kind of book I would usually read, but it was interesting to see something different. But I am a little depressed by this read as it shows us that life is ultimately not a long quiet river. I would, however, wish a lot of happiness to Jenny, hoping she gets to be happy.

 

The Mermaid of Brooklyn de Amy Shearn
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Résumé (traduction personnelle) :

Jenny Lipkin est une maman comme les autres de Brooklyn, relevant le défi d’élever deux enfants dans le Park Slope, et papotant avec les autres mamans au sujet de l’allaitement. Tout ce qu’elle veut vraiment, c’est survivre à la chaleur étouffante de New York l’été avec une once de santé mentale intacte. Mais quand son mari, Harry, un joueur compulsif, disparaît un soir sans un mot, Jenny a finalement atteint son point de rupture. Et dans un moment de désespoir, en une fraction de seconde, sa vie change pour toujours.
Tirée de l’abîme par un inattendu (et parfois ennuyeux) allié surnaturel, Jenny doit repenser ses idées sur le succès, la maternité, l’amour et les relations. Faire face à ses démons intérieurs – sirène et non sirène –  n’est pas une tâche facile, et, finalement, Jenny doit se réconcilier avec qui elle est vraiment, pour le meilleur ou pour le pire.


Avis : Wow ce livre n’est pas du tout ce à quoi je m’attendais et pourtant je n’avais pas beaucoup de choses en tête. Après avoir lu un livre sur les sirènes, j’avais vraiment envie d’en découvrir un autre. Il faut dire qu’on ne les retrouve pas énormément en littérature et je voulais en apprendre plus. Mais ce livre n’est pas fait pour ça, loin de là même. Ce n’est pas une jolie petite histoire au sujet de personnages mythiques, mais plutôt une sorte de drame psychologique sur la vie d’une jeune mère de famille.
Jenny est une jeune femme assez dépressive qui doit élever deux enfants, deux petites filles assez agitées comme toutes les enfants mais qu’elle aime du plus profond de son cœur. Mais un jour, son mari Harry, qui était sur le chemin pour rentrer chez eux ne revient pas et la vie de Jenny est chamboulée du tout au tout. La pauvre, elle qui avait déjà du mal à faire face à la vie, elle se doit maintenant de tout gérer toute seule. Il en va même au point où elle décide de se suicider, mais en sautant d’un pont, elle se voit sauvée par l’esprit d’une sirène qui s’installe en elle comme un parasite. On ne connait pas grand-chose de cet être, mais l’esprit donnera des conseils à notre héroïne, ou essaiera de l’aider à survivre au jour le jour. Je dois dire que je me suis demandé si cette sirène n’était pas la manifestation de son subconscient, une manifestation de ses désirs qui pourrait l’aider à survivre à cette vie qui est si difficile. Et même à la fin du roman je ne pourrais pas vraiment le dire, mais c’est cependant quelque chose qui nous fait réfléchir. On suit Jenny, cette mère de famille face à ses doutes, ses amours, son envie de vivre, ses difficultés dans la vie quotidienne. Ne vous attendez donc pas à quelque chose de surnaturel ou plein d’action, car ce n’est vraiment pas le cas.
On se demande ce qu’il a pu se passer pour Harry, pour qu’il parte et qu’il l’abandonne ainsi. Ca fait de la peine de la voir comme ça mais elle se rendra compte que personne n’a une vie parfaite et qu’elle n’est finalement pas toute seule non plus à faire face à ce type de réalité.
Alors que dire du roman ? J’ai eu beaucoup du mal à rentrer dans l’histoire, c’est intéressant, triste, mais c’est aussi très long. C’est donc assez difficile de s’intéresser à ce qu’il se passe, surtout que comme je le disais il ne se déroule pas énormément de choses mais on se prend quand même à apprécier Jenny et à essayer de la comprendre. Pourtant à la fin du livre, je suis assez surprise de voir que je ne suis pas d’accord avec ses choix, je les comprends mais ce n’est pas non plus ce que je voulais pour elle. Ce livre nous montre qu’il est finalement assez difficile d’être toujours heureux dans la vie et qu’il faut faire des compromis. Ce n’est pas le genre de livre que j’aurais lu habituellement mais c’était intéressant de découvrir quelque chose de différent. Je suis cependant un peu déprimée de ma lecture qui nous montre que la vie n’est finalement pas un long fleuve tranquille. On souhaite cependant beaucoup de bonheur à Jenny, en espérant qu’elle arrive à être heureuse.

 

Stacking the Shelves #19
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Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

 




Between D&R
Grab the Code

 Enclave (Raroland, 1) – Ann Aguirre

In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.
As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.
Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first she thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.
As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known.
 The Shattered Dark (McKenzie Lewis, 2) – Sandy Williams

McKenzie was a normal college student, save for one little twist: she’s a shadow reader, someone who can both see the fae and track their movements between our world and the Realm. It’s a gift for which she has been called insane, one for which she has risked family and friends—and one that has now plunged her into a brutal civil war among the fae.

With the reign of the king and his vicious general at an end, McKenzie hoped to live a more normal life while exploring her new relationship with Aren, the rebel fae who has captured her heart. But when her best friend, Paige, disappears McKenzie knows her wish is, for now, just a dream. McKenzie is the only one who can rescue her friend, but if she’s not careful, her decisions could cost the lives of everyone she’s tried so hard to save.

 Living the vida Lola (A Lola Cruz Mystery, 1) – Misa Ramirez

Meet Lola Cruz. After paying her dues as an intern, she’s now a full-fledged detective at Camacho and Associates. Her boss is Manny Camacho, a muy caliente former cop with a mysterious ex-wife, a Lara Croft look-alike girlfriend, and a sudden personal interest in Lola. Her first big case? A missing mother who may not want to be found. And to make her already busy life even more complicated, Lola’s helping her cousin plan her quinceañera, and battling her family and their old-fashioned views on women and careers. She’s also reunited with the gorgeous Jack Callaghan, her high school crush whom she shamelessly tailed years ago and photographed doing the horizontal salsa with some other lucky girl.

Lola takes it all in stride, but when the subject of her search ends up dead, she realizes she has a lot more to worry about. Soon she finds herself wrapped up in the possibly shady practices of a tattoo parlor, local politics, and someone with serious—maybe deadly—road rage. To top it all off, her treasured postcoital pictures of Jack are missing! Still, Lola is well-equipped to handle these challenges. She’s a black-belt in kung fu, and her body isn’t her only weapon. She’s got smarts, sass, and more tenacity than her Mexican mafioso-wannabe grandfather. A few of her famous margaritas don’t hurt, either.

 In a Fix – Linda Grimes

The start of an original new urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.

This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable… that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.

Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.

Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.

 The Mermaid of Brooklyn – Amy Shearn

In this beautifully written novel that blends the whimsy of The Time Traveler’s Wife with an indelible portrait of motherhood, a young woman strives to pick up the pieces after her husband mysteriously leaves—and she finds strength from the unlikeliest of allies. 
Jenny Lipkin is an average, stretched-too-thin Brooklyn mom, tackling the challenges of raising two children in a cramped Park Slope walk-up and bonding with the other moms about breastfeeding while spending endless hours in Prospect Park. All she really wants is to survive the sweltering New York summer with a shred of sanity intact. But when her husband Harry, a compulsive gambler, vanishes one evening without a word, Jenny finally reaches her breaking point. And in a moment of despair, a split second decision changes her life forever.

Pulled from the brink by an unexpected (and, as it turns out, sometimes annoying) supernatural ally, Jenny is forced to rethink her ideas about success, motherhood, romance and relationships. Confronting her inner demons—of both the mermaid and non-mermaid variety—is no easy task, and eventually Jenny has to come to terms with who she truly is, for better or worse.

 Ashes of Honor (October Daye, 6) – Seanan McGuire

It’s been almost a year since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep. She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills—but she can’t help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.

To make matters worse, Toby’s just been asked to find another missing child…only this time it’s the changeling daughter of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn’t even know he was a father until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She’s a teleporter, like her father. She’s also the kind of changeling the old stories warn about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She’s opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that were sealed away centuries before—and there’s a good chance she could destroy Faerie if she isn’t stopped.

Now Toby must find Chelsea before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby’s help with the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.