Showing posts with label community activism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community activism. Show all posts

Friday, September 22, 2023

Dance with the Devil

Dance with the Devil (Mercenary Librarians #3) by Kit Rocha (2022) 352 pages

I continued to enjoy this series. It picks up immediately after the events of the second book, and a relatively short span of time has past in total in all three books. The TechCorps security memos and such, which are inserted between chapters, are contemporary, so we are past the flashback scientific observation entries from the training days of various members of the team. Dani and Rafe now get to be the center of attention. Their relationship is developed. Their skills are needed especially for the key mission. Dani's superspeed and inability to feel pain as a security expert and Rafe's supersoldier intelligence officer experience make for an entertaining and tense grifter scenario amongst the rich on The Hill. It was teased at the end of the previous book that we would meet Rafe's family and we do. The team of reliable people building a community in the oppressed Five-Points neighborhood of Atlanta continues to grow. The found family continues to care for each other. Despite the gap between the rich and poor as well as the tech and medical dystopia setting, the main characters always find hope in each other. This third part perhaps has more sexiness and more pulse pounding action. There are still chapters from the point of view of each of the main team members, but they are short. This one wrapped up a lot of the story threads from the previous two books. However, there are still characters from the widening circle of Five-Points residents that have not had their chance at the center of a story, and we get hints of a future threat from the Franklin Center for Genetic Research that will lead to further adventures.
 

Friday, July 7, 2023

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage (1997) 244 pages

Ava is HIV positive and isn't sure what to do with her life now. She closes her salon in Atlanta and returns to her childhood home in Idlewild, a small town in Michigan where her older sister still lives, with the intent to stay for a couple of months before moving to the West Coast. Idlewild is no longer an idyllic resort community. The young people haven't jobs or education and crime is increasing, along with the pregnancy rate. Ava's sister Joyce is newly widowed and is finding new purpose in trying to bring resources to young women. Her dead husband's best friend Eddie is an amazing resource, as well. When Joyce is finally about to get a grant to accelerate her work, the pastor's wife throws a wrench into the works. Ava gets pulled into her sister's interests and ‒ well, read it and you'll be pulled into the action as well! It was my second time reading this novel, and it was every bit as good as I'd remembered.