Code Name Verity by Elizabeth WeinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Not that it really matters, but it was nice to have the first book I read in 2013 be AWESOME. Code Name Verity has shades of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Book Thief in it, and not just because its setting is also WWII Europe. Like Guernsey, it's an epistolary-ish novel (but don't be alarmed - it uses the format well) with strong central female characters, and like The Book Thief, you sometimes know more about the end even when you're still in the beginning but you're not sure how it will all come together.
As for how it does come together - ah, well, you'll just have to read it and see. I'll be thinking about this one for a while, and I'm already planning on a re-read.
One thing - this quibble is softened by the author's own admission (in the afterword) that parts of this book stretch plausibility, but yeah, some of the things that happen in this book require you to WANT to believe. But you will want to believe, so.
To Marry an English Lord: Or How Anglomania Really Got Started by Gail MacCollMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Wow, until I looked up the publication date, I assumed this book was written to ride the recent wave of Downton Abbey popularity, considering that the mother in that show is an American heiress who married a titled Englishman in the late 19th century (real-life women like her are the focus of this non-fiction book). But it appears to have been published 20+ years ago.
I wish I had read it a long time ago, too, before I ever picked up any Henry James or Edith Wharton. It gives such good background for the time period those authors' books take place in. If I were running a high school lit class that included any Wharton, etc., then this book would be excellent class material. The level is not too high and there are lots of pictures and callouts and graphs and boxed text. I've been reading this book off and on over the last six weeks - it's very easy to pick up, read a few sections, and then put down again for a while. It doesn't depend on a single narrative; rather, it's thematically organized and progresses according to the decades in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Anyway, interesting book. Now I can't wait to read The Age of Innocence and House of Mirth again.
Finale by Becca FitzpatrickMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Just OK. I guess I was too much into the snark of this series and not enough into the story, because the snark had worn off by book 4. Still a fun series, though.
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark OwenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The thing about this book is that its subject matter is not inherently thrilling. It's only amazing because it's UBL they were after instead of some random dude. I couldn't help but compare this book to Lone Survivor, which was far more riveting.
However, this was still a great read and a nice companion book for Manhunt, since they deal with the same timeline and the same events but from different points of view.
Boundless by Cynthia HandMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
No major comments. Great conclusion to a great series. Really!