Flying - Carrie Jones

Mana wakes up from a dream and hears her mom yelling on the phone.  Mana's mom tells her not to worry, it was a telemarketer.  The next day Mana and her mom go to Lyle's track meet.  Lyle is one of her BFF's, and everyone thinks they are together including Lyle's mother.  Lyle does well at the track meet and she thinks about him for the rest of the day.  A few days later her mom has to go into work early, and she will see her at the basketball game.  Seppie, Mana's other BFF, picks her and Lyle up and they head to school.  Seppie and Lyle argue while Mana tries to wake up.  She daydreams about Lyle as being more than just one of her best friends.  By cheerleading practice in the afternoon Mana is still dragging.  She gets through practice and is woken up enough for the game.  At the game she notices a guy in sunglasses who keeps starting at Dakota.  At one point sunglasses guy grabs Dakota and takes him to the locker room area.  Mana and Lyle find Dakota tied up.  Lyle goes and calls the police while Mana lets him go.  China, the guy with the sunglasses, tries to protect her as Dakota's tongue spits green acid at them.  Lyle comes barging in with one of the sheriff's deputies seconds after China and Dakota have disappeared.  After the deputy goes off looking for Dakota and China, Mana explains to Lyle what went on.  He doesn't believe her, and thinks she has a concussion.  They finish cheering the game and Seppie drops them off at Mana's house.  As Mana puts her key into the door it swings open, which concerns Mana as her mom always keeps the door locked.  They go in to find the house destroyed and alien Dakota flying around.  Dakota escapes and Mana wonders if her mom was here when he destroyed the house when Lyle sees her car in the garage.  They search the house for her mom and find a creature with webbed feet in her mom's bedroom.  It attacks them and they kill it with a car.  Lyle says it reminds him of a Wendigo, but all Mana cares about is finding her mom.  They search the house and wait for the police.  They don't find her in the house and then see headlights coming toward the house.  They think it's the police, but men in black suits come out of black vans.  China tells them it isn't the police, and the creature was a Wendigo.  More sirens approach and he tells them they have to leave the scene now.  She and Lyle head to his house.  His mom has a strict no-girl in the house policy, so Mana has to be snuck in.  The police show up and Lyle goes to talk to them.  His parents are upset as is Mana.  She spends the night there and wakes up to Lyle's mom thinking they slept together.  Mana heads back home to get a change of clothes and sees a text from her mom telling her not to come home.  Things will be explained later.  China shows up there to and explains Mana's mother is his partner and they hunt aliens together.  After she gets cleaned up, Mana leaves with China and he tells her about aliens monitoring Earth.  Some are good and some are not.  There is a secret branch of the government that hunts down the bad ones and he and Mana's mother are a part of it.  As China continues to explain everything Lyle pops up in the back of the truck with a gun.  He though she was being kidnapped and was trying to rescue her.  Mana explains that isn't the case and they were heading to try and find her mom.  After everyone has calmed down and guns put down the three of them head to Maine to an underground lair.  Will they be able to find Mana's mother and why was alien Dakota ransacking Mana's house?

 I liked this book, but the first 30 pages seemed slow to me for some reason.  After Dakota is reveled to be alien, and he escapes the story picked up for me.  The story had a Men in Black feel to it with the underground lairs, and working together with some of the alien species.  Mana reminded me of a mix between Buffy and Katniss.  I loved the references to Doctor Who and Star Trek in the book as well.  It looks like it there will be a sequel as the ending leaves the story open to be continued. 

T.B.
10/1/16

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This is Science Fiction.  It is written in alternating voices of Tarver a career serviceman and war hero and Lilac, overprotected and wealthy daughter of THE CEO of apparently the only planet *terraforming corporation.  And, Tarver being interrogated.
Tarver meets Lilac when his protective senses kick in at a ball on board a spaceship in hyper drive.  A person who did not fit in with the others approaches her.  He rushes to her protection.  She did not need it and eventually brushes him off as beneath her after what he thought was an interesting conversation.  Shortly after the ship begins to quake and shudder and it is clear it is in trouble.  Folks are instructed to go their assigned escape pods and a stampede ensues.  Tarver sees Lilac in trouble once again, grabs her gets to the nearest escape pod and tries to launch.  It is Lilac's knowledge of the technology aboard that allows the damaged craft to launch and eventually land on an unknown planet.  This scene is very like the scene from Titanic.  Its just on a space ship instead.  The pair watch their ship fall apart and fall from the sky onto the planet.  While struggling to survive the pair save each others' lives multiple time.  Tarver has the survival skills and instinct to know what to do nest.  Lilac has tech knowledge and a lot of determination.  She did not want Tarver to see her as helpless.
While the pair assume the planet is terraformed and help is already on the way, there are dangers present not usually included on terraformed planets.  The plants are largely new to Tarver who has been to many planets and on many military campaigns.  And, Lilac is experiencing visions and voices that seem to be real and that eventually affect Tarver as well.  The pair head to the downed spacecraft hoping for survival supplies.  After removing as much as they can before rotting smell sets in and with Tarver severely injured and out of commission for a time they head to what they believe is a building of some type.  And so they explore and survive and seem to be lead in their actions by the voices and visions.  Perhaps there are living beings here trying to communicate.  What happens next is tragic beyond anything I've experienced reading in a while.  Lilac is not who she was at the beginning, and of course neither is Tarver, but he was not changed by the beings with the illusions and voices. Their relationship is a bit of a tragic romance the ending is for you to read. What the illusions and voices are have their own tragedy.  Those beings seem to me to be a nod towards Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles so I would suggest that as a next read for those who enjoy this novel.  They are eventually rescued by a corporate spaceship.  
*Terraforming is transforming a planet into an environment livable by humans.
jdw7/14

Adaptation - Malinda Lo

Reese and her debate partner David are in Phoenix for nationals, along with their coach Mr. Chapman.  Their flight is delayed, and all of the sudden birds start dropping out of the sky onto the tarmac.  On the TV there is a report of a plane crash in New Jersey, then a plane crash near Seattle, and a third crash in Texas.  It is being reported that Canadian Geese are the cause of the plane crashes.  The FAA grounds all flights, and leaves Reese, David, and Mr. Chapman stranded in Phoenix.  After a few hours it is decided that they get a rental car and drive back to San Francisco.  As they head toward California they are told to detour through Las Vegas because of a road block.  They stop for gas and in the chaos Mr. Chapman is shot dead.  Reese and David escape, and as they near where Area 51 supposedly is a bird flies right into their car causing them to crash.  They wake up twenty-seven days later in a government hospital where they have been recovering from their injuries.  They are escorted home by the FBI and are told not to say anything about the treatment they received at the hospital.  As they get back to their normal lives, Reese starts having headaches and strange dreams.  One day Reese gets run into by Amber, who is house sitting her uncle's place.  They start hanging out and Reese feels this instant attraction to Amber.  She questions if she into girls, or if it is just Amber that makes her feel that way.  Amber does have a reason to get close to Reese, she is assigned to make sure Reese is adjusting to the procedure that healed her injuries from the car crash.  Reese and David both notice that their scars have healed quicker than they should.  As Reese and David investigate the hospital they were at it gets the attention of the United States government, and they are taken to another government facility for follow up examinations.  What really happened to Reese and David in the twenty-seven days after their accident?  Did aliens have anything to do with it, or is the government covering something else up?

I really enjoyed this book and as I was reading it I got this it could happen vibe from it.  Just the whole idea of birds causing planes to crash and crippling air travel isn't that far fetched.  Who knows what is being tested where and what effect it could have on humans or machines. 

T.B.  1/25/13