Book Review: "The Entanglement of Rival Wizards" by Sara Raasch

I’ve been meaning to read this for a few months and I’m so glad I finally did. I love the way Sara Raasch combines romance, humor, some heavy emotional content, and fantasy. Her last two books, The Nightmare Before Kissmas and Go Luck Yourself, were fun and sexy, and this was a worthy follow-up, as well as the start of a new series.

Sebastian is a human wizard, and a graduate student at Lesiara University. He’s a bit of a black sheep in his family, as everyone else has gone into the military rather than college. And his family really doesn’t respect the choices he has made.

Sebastian’s biggest rival is Thio (short for Elethior). Thio is half-elf and comes from a wealthy family, many of whom have attended Lesiara before him. Seb and Thio have been engaged in a prank war, but Seb thinks that Thio is just a pretentious jerk, coasting on his family’s legacy.

The two are both finalists for a research grant which could change the winner’s life. But rather than compete for the grant, if they work together, they can share the money. Of course, having to work with Thio drives Seb crazy, but they learn they have more in common than either imagined.

While Seb hates Thio, his disdain only fuels Thio’s desire. Of course, Seb is so blind to anything positive Thio does, so he has no idea about how he feels. But there’s a larger issue here: Seb has a history with Thio’s family that led to some serious trauma. And that leads to a difficult decision for Seb: his research or Thio.

This was a little heavier emotionally than I was expecting, but there’s lots of humor and banter to lighten the load. I often struggle with enemies to lovers romances because the enemies part doesn’t feel genuine, but here it did. Plus, there’s an invisible fox with a cute hat. How could you go wrong?

Book Review: "Providence" by Craig Willse

“Before I completely destroyed my life, I taught English at Sawyer College in Ohio. I wasn’t the world’s greatest professor, but I also wasn’t the worst—although it’s possible I would become that.”

Mark is growing weary of teaching, of the pressure to publish and schmooze. He’s definitely one of those people who is happiest alone, which isn’t particularly satisfying for his boyfriend, a mathematics professor at Sawyer, or his fellow professors he considers his friends. He knows there’s got to be something better out there.

Two weeks into the semester, Tyler comes into his class. He’s a sophomore, a scholarship student among an immensely wealthy student body, yet he’s highly intelligent, as Mark witnesses when Tyler participates in a class lecture.

Little by little, Mark finds himself growing obsessed with Tyler, even though he knows pursuing a student is the last thing he should be doing. But one night, Tyler makes the first move, and they wind up having sex. It becomes a strange relationship, alternately attracting and repelling Mark, yet he starts losing sight of everything but Tyler.

Mark starts to realize Tyler hasn’t been entirely truthful with him. But while the red flags should be a sign to stay away, Mark winds up getting manipulated by Tyler into helping with something unspeakable. Can Mark take control of his life before it goes fully off the rails? Does he even care?

I loved the concept of Providence, and the idea of a teacher obsessed with a student. But while this book is marketed as a thriller, I didn’t find it particularly thrilling; while there is a bit of mystery, the pacing of the plot drags for three-quarters of the book and then leaves you hanging a bit at the end. While these issues dampened my enjoyment, I did like the intense mood of the book.

Book Review: "Recursion" by Blake Crouch

This was some crazy s--t.

"What's more precious than our memories? They define us and form our identities."

Blake Crouch's new book, Recursion, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

Crouch's Dark Matter, which was one of the top five books I read in 2017, blew me away, even though I wasn't 100 percent sure I understood everything I read. But this book? This is a fascinating, albeit confusing, meditation on memory and how crucial what we remember is to our identity. It's a roller coaster ride which cements Crouch's reputation as a master of meshing unbelievable science and emotion.

Barry Sutton is a detective in New York City who is summoned when a woman is threatening to jump from a skyscraper. She tells him that she is suffering from False Memory Syndrome, which somehow leaves you with vivid memories of a life and experiences you never had. Often these memories feel more real than the life you are living, and it is immensely disorienting—and possibly contagious. The woman tells Barry that she is devastated by the fact that her son has been "erased," even though people tell her she never had a son. And then she leaps to her death.

Meanwhile, Helena Smith is a neuroscientist who has been working on research to help map our most precious memories and how to preserve them. If she succeeds, people with dementia and brain injuries might one day be able to remember moments and people that have slipped from their grasp. The pace and scope of her research is significantly accelerated by the involvement and support of an eccentric, wealthy benefactor. But what's behind his interest?

As Barry tries to investigate what's behind False Memory Syndrome—or if it exists at all—he finds himself in the middle of a disturbing mystery. Has someone figured out the ability to manipulate our memories and make us believe things that never existed? If our true memories are wiped out and replaced, does that change who we are? And at what cost?

Barry and Helena's stories alternate as they represent both sides of the coin—the beneficent research looking to make a difference in how we retain our memories, and the shadowy side, using memories for destructive purposes. Recursion started a little slowly for me, but picked up speed as the book moved along, until it careened toward a conclusion.

The ideas behind the book were fascinating and thought-provoking, but the book itself didn't quite work for me as well as I had hoped given how much I loved Dark Matter. Each story on its own was compelling but the constant shifting back and forth, and having to keep track of when things happened, often made me lose focus. But once again, Crouch proves his talent as a storyteller and a brilliant mind.

If you're a fan of science fiction thrillers that make you wonder if what you're reading might actually be possible, pick up Recursion. And don't miss out on Dark Matter or Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy, because this guy knows how to write.

NetGalley and Crown Publishing provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

This book will be published June 11, 2019.