Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

I laughed out loud. That is the mark of a great book. Not often do I laugh out loud. I might chuckle, or grin, usually I just inwardly "humph." But when I laugh, whole-heartedly, out loud, I know I have been entertained. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? is the story of young, Bee and her eccentric mother Bernadette. Bee is impossibly intelligent with eclectic tastes and very little self-editing abilities. But where Bee is outgoing and impish, her mother is somewhat of a hermit. Keeping to herself in their large, run-down home, she uses an assistant whom she met on the Internet to do all of her shopping, or anything that requires interaction with people outside of her home. Bree's father, a genius at Microsoft, has all but forgotten about his family when his wife goes missing. This story is sad, hilarious, and poignant. I didn't want the story to end. But when it did, I was not disappointed. There is a little bit of language in the book. 

Divergent

Dystopian YA fiction is a genre I had sort of gotten bored with. I have read the Hunger Games Trilogy. I have read the Matched Series. I've read some Zombie apocalypse novels and I thought I was done. I had grown a little bored with this type of story. But I kept hearing about Divergent by Veronica Roth and decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did. I have heard many comparisons to the Hunger Games, but, to be honest, the only similarities I found were that they are both about a girl, and they are both dystopian.  Divergent is about a strong, young woman who must choose between staying with her family in the home in which she grew up, with the standards she has come to respect, or choose another path. Choose the community that she has always admired and has felt a kinship with. There is a bit of a love interest, no YA novel would be complete without one.  Tris, the main character, has conflict, turmoil, teenage angst. And while all of this is not incredibly original, it is very entertaining. Don't let other reviews turn you off, if you are kind of tired of Dystopian fiction. This is a great story, with great characters. There are sequels to the book, that I may or may not read, but I believe this book does well to stand on it's own.