An entertaining quick read. Anthony was one unlucky man until he met Nerissa. Nerissa was an adventurous soul and bored. Together these two had sparks which lit a fire immediately. Misunderstandings led to a falling out, but love shone through to an HEA.

I received a copy of this story as a gift, and this is my unsolicited review.

Am I truly the only person who hated this book? The story is basically about a man who is obsessed with this girl who has been abused in childhood. When she leaves her husband, he goes off in search of her, only to find her under the authority and abuse of 'the Warden' He makes attempts to free her but eventually she frees herself. This all happens against the backdrop of a rapidly advancing ice age. Eventually he catches up with her and rescues her from the ice and against her will. On a ship to a warmer climate he finds out that actually she isn't that interesting after all. He then abandons her in the warm place to go soldiering only to find that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So back he now goes to the warm place which is now freezing cold to find that she has been waiting alone for him. He rapes her then buggers off, has a change of heart and comes back for her. And I haven't even mentioned the many ways he imagines her violently dying!

So, I found the characters thoroughly dislikable and the course of events completely unbelievable. He finds this girl by instinct alone every time. Really? The only redeeming factor was the writing itself although I hate all this surrealist stuff, I find it confusing but that's just me, I'm shallow. The sentences were short and punchy and moved the story along quickly, thanks goodness. I almost DNFd it but at only 157 pages I thought it couldn't hurt to finish. Wish I hadn't!

I vaguely remember the Chernobyl disaster.  I remember hearing about it on the news and being scared.  That’s about it.  Plokhy’s history rectifies that.

                The book opens with the Swedish discovery of the disaster and includes a detailed account of the disaster itself.  Not only the events leading up to it but the human cost of those who fought the faire without knowing fully the risk they were taking.  The first tragedy is what happens to the firefighters.

                But the book isn’t just a detailed account of the day of.  Plokhy traces the development of the plant, the conflict between local and Soviet authorities, the impact on literature, and, of course, the lives of those who lived in the immediate zone, who were forced to leave home for what turned out to be forever.

                Chernobyl is now more commonly seen as a place that has gone back to nature, but Plokhy’s book shows us the terrifying reason why that happened.  The story is part politics, part science, part accident, but tragedy for those who lived through it. The fallout also occurs when an intrepid reporter discovers that the resettlements are quite as safe as they should be.

                Plokhy’s description about how the Soviet and international press reported the incident is also very interesting.  Part of the response comes with from a competitive drive with the US and the rest of the West, but also to fit into a larger Soviet narrative.  This is true when it comes to every aspect of the incident and how the government and the people responded to it.

                Ralph Lister’s narration is excellent.

So of course we have a male who is supposed to be guarded by two girls AND of course he ends up protecting them both. One of the girls is of course brainless rendered with large breasts because of course.

Lexie is super smart and didn't fully know it until recently. Her parents knew she had extraordinary intelligence. For Reasons, they gave her medication to damper her brain synapses and to attempt to give her a normal life.
I felt for Lexie. She had every right to be angry. It was frustrating, when confronted, her parents could have come completely or even mostly clean. But they didn't. They gave minimal information when asked. It took Lexie, asking multiple times throughout the course of this book, to fully get the story.
This was decent. Held my interest. Interesting concept and technology. I didn't care for the teenage angst and drama. I think this would have worked better if this hadn't been a YA.