The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

I was absolutely thrilled when I heard that there was a prequel to the Hunger Games, my favorite trilogy of all time. I wasn't even worried about not liking it after finding out it was about the future President Snow. I love delving into people's backgrounds to see why they turned out the way they did. Coriolanus Snow was only 18 years old at the beginning of this story. He lived in the Capitol. The Snows were a prestigious family in the Capitol, although they had fallen on hard times financially, which Coriolanus tried to keep secret. This was the year of the 10th Hunger Games. Select students were going to be chosen to mentor the children at the Games. It was interesting to read how undeveloped the Games were. It was nothing like what Katniss & Peeta experienced. That alone was fascinating to me. Some of the later developments evolved from early ideas suggested by Snow and his classmates.

Snow was "lucky" enough to be chosen as a mentor, but he was assigned the female tribute of District 12. This upset him greatly because District 12 was the lowest of the low, as we know. But as luck would have it, his tribute Lucy Gray had an electric personality. She was an entertainer (the exact opposite of Katniss!) and could really engage those watching her. Coriolanus falls in love with her, and she loved him too it seemed, but for obvious reasons it would be very difficult for them to be together. Coriolanus and Lucy Gray "put on a show" for the people watching the Games similar to Katniss and Peeta. (Although we find out that not many people in the districts even watched the Games back then. The Capitol had to make it mandatory viewing, basically.) Snow actually came up with the idea of people in the Capitol sending "gifts" to the tributes they liked. These early tributes were not taken care of. They were held in a cage and pretty much starved. Many of these tributes died before they even reached the arena designated for the Games. Again, it was interesting how different the Games were in this story.

Snow needs Lucy Gray to win the Games so that he can win a spot (basically a scholarship) to study at the University. Since he had no money, the only way he could continue his education was for his tribute to win the Hunger Games. He also wanted her to win because he loved her and didn't want her to die. He "helped" her win, and his assistance was discovered. He was sent to District 12 to train as a Peacemaker instead of winning the University placement. Snow actually took this better than I thought he would, mostly because he was going to Lucy Gray's district. But even his stint as a Peacemaker was different than it seemed.

Lucy Gray was a singer in the Covey, who happened to live in District 12. She was technically not a "part" of District 12. Lucy sings ballads throughout this story, which reveals some of her personal history. "Lucy Gray" was a William Wordsworth poem written in 1799. What happens to Lucy Gray of this story is unknown. She disappears. In the poem "Lucy Gray" she is a child who dies but still roams the earth because of her connection with nature. I am not actually sure what happened between Lucy Gray and Coriolanus at the end of this story. Seriously. Did she betray him? Did she die? Did she run away? I'm not sure this ambiguity will be cleared up, even if Suzanne Collins decides to write another book about Coriolanus Snow. Bummer. :( In my opinion there is A LOT more story between Snow's teenage years and Katniss' years in the Hunger Games. I sure hope Collins decides to add more to this story.

Wendy's Rating: *****

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

This is a wonderful story! I was completely intrigued by both storylines, one set in 2007 and the other in the late 1920's. Maia lives in Switzerland, where she was raised with her five sisters, by her adoptive father ("Pa Salt") and her primary caregiver, Marina ("Ma"). She is the oldest sister, but the only one that still lives at their homestead, called Atlantis. She had fallen in love 14 years previously when she was away at school, but was basically "discarded" by her love and she returned home, afraid to venture out of her comfort zone again. 

Pa Salt had adopted each of his daughters, but none of them knew anything about their birth parents or birthplace. Pa Salt's death brings the sisters back to Atlantis and in his will, he leaves each of the girls a clue about where they came from, should they choose to pursue their individual quests to discover the truth about their past. Maia chooses to do this and leaves Atlantis to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a translator and she had just translated a book for a Brazilian author into French. She decides that she could meet with the author while in Brazil trying to find information about her birth parents. Floriano ends up being very useful, as a tour guide, driver and research assistant. Of course it doesn't hurt that he is gorgeous and kind and falls in love with her. ;)

Maia's discoveries lead her to the story of her great grandmother, Izabela, who was the only daughter of a self-made millionaire who made his money (initially) with Brazilian coffee beans. Izabela's family has the money, but they were "outsiders". Izabela's father wanted his beautiful daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Enter Gustavo Aires Cabral. The Aires Cabral family had fallen on hard times financially, but Gustavo had the pedigree to introduce Izabela's family into high society. So, an arranged marriage was made, at least for Maia. Gustavo actually loved Maia. Maia was loyal to her parents and would do whatever she needed to do to support them. Thanks to her best friend Maria Elisa da Silva Costa however, she gets invited to join Maria Elisa's family when they travel to Europe. Gustavo wants Maia to fall in love with him and he suggests that she go to Europe with the da Silva Costa family and then when she returns, they will marry.

This trip to Europe, specifically Paris, changes Maia's life forever. She falls in love with a sculptor and has to choose to either stay in Paris with him (Laurent), who is a talented, but poor artist, or return to Rio de Janeiro and marry Gustavo and secure her family's place in Brazilian society.

This is a very brief summary of this story! There is a lot of depth in each character and many details about the art world, the financial world and of course personal emotions involved in the telling of the lives of these two women. I didn't want the book to end! Although some questions are answered about Maia's birth family, some were left unaddressed. The next book in this series is about one of the other sisters, but I hope somewhere in the next six books I get the answers to my remaining questions. It will be difficult for me to switch gears to read about another sister, but I have already ordered the next book.

Wendy's Rating: *****