A Fangirls View

In My Mailbox (69)

2012-01-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten this week. All the links in this post go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

Bought book:
Caster Chronicles Book 3: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl-Have I mentioned I love this series? No? Well, now I have.

From NetGalley:
Halflings Book 1 by Heather Burch-I don't know why I keep trying these angel books only about two have really appealed to me (Unearthly is one). But I just keep trying em and trying em in the hopes that I find more good ones. ;crosses fingers and hopes it's good; Thank you Zonderkidz for the eARC. I've heard two different dates for this book: Jan. 17 and Feb. 1. I don't know which is right.
The Agency Book 3: The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y. S. Lee-If you haven't tried this series about a female victorian spy then you totally should. Release date is Feb. 28th. Thank you Candlewick for the eARC.
The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind by Meg Medina-YA Debut that I've heard lots of good things about. Sounds interesting for sure. Release date is March 13th. Thank you Candlewick for the eARC.

From the library:
Tempest Book 1 by Julie Cross-YA debut from this year. Yes, I heard about all the drama on Goodreads and I am not going to let that influence my opinion. But I will say if anyone doesn't like my opinion on the book they are certainly welcome to no longer read my blog.
Wildthorn by Jane Eagland-historical fiction that was recomended by someone whose taste I usually trust so I'm giving it a shot.
Dearly Departed by Lia Habel-Debut from last year that I missed. I've been wanting to read it since I heard about because it sounds awesome.
Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay-YA from last year that I've been wanting to read purely based on the idea which sounds awesome.
Lunar Chronicles Book 1: Cinder by Marissa Meyer-robot retelling of Cinderella. You know you want to read it.

Book Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go

2012-01-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series
AUTHOR: Patrick Ness
PUBLISHED: 2008
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian/science fiction, adventure
PREMISE: Todd has lived in Prentisstown, a town made up solely of men his whole life. But a month before he turns thirteen his life and world changes forever.
MY REVIEW: Practically the only real problem is a matter of taste. Simply put, this book will not appeal to everyone because of it's dark nature. If you want happy romantic books...I'd go elsewhere. Plus Todd is bit hard to relate too at times.
But if you're willing to give it a chance, this book is a wild ride from beginning to end. Definitely one of the more unique ideas I've come across in YA in awhile. Yes, it is violent and very dark but it's like Girl With a Dragon Tattoo where the violence is used as commentary on humanity. True I did have issues with the writing style at times because it would be frusterating at some points. Particularly when Todd would learn something through noise and we wouldn't, but as it was all revealed at the end it's a small frustration worth it in the end when you do find out because boy is it a doozy.
Considering the massive evil cliffhanger at the end I will most definitely be reading the next book. It's just a matter of when I'll get to it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Science fiction fans, dystopian fans, Lord of the Flies fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five knives

Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

2012-01-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Lola and the Boy Next Door
AUTHOR: Stephanie Perkins
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: contemporary, drama, romance
PREMISE: Lola is perfectly happy with her life, until Cricket her childhood love moves back in next door.
MY REVIEW: For the record I give Perkins tons of credit for managing to get me to enjoy contemporary romance. Nothing against the genre really, it just isn't my thing. I just find most of it boring and predictable. Yes, Lola is a cliche much like Anna and the French Kiss was. But it is cliche done well and in her own quirky style so I don't mind it as much.
I will say I don't think this one was as good as Anna and the French Kiss but it was still pretty solid. Plus it was so fun to see Anna and St. Clair in it trying to not too subtly play matchmaker/mentor with Lola. It still had Perkins' sparkling dialogue and fun characters and again managed to get me to enjoy a contemporary romance. So honestly I'm not complaining too loudly here. Though it has to be said: who the hell names their kid Cricket? I know it's California and rich people but really? Naming your kid Cricket is all kinds of cruel.
So if you loved Anna and the French Kiss which at last count was pretty much everyone you will probably like this one as well.
WHO SHOULD READ: Anna and the French Kiss fans, contemporary romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five wigs

Book Review: Dragonswood

2012-01-25T21:10:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Dragonswood
AUTHOR: Janet Lee Carey
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: After she is accused of witchcraft, Tess and her two friends flee their village into the mysterious dragonswood.
MY REVIEW: So the first book from 2012 I read this year! This is not a bad way to kick off a new book year either. I will say Tess was a bit underdeveloped (as was her romance with Garth), and it had a bad habit of dragging in the middle. But for a first book? Not bad. I definitely give points for originality.
Dragonswood is straight up fantasy that the author obviously thought out. True I was a bit fuzzy on one or two details but that may have been just me missing out on a detail here and there. I was just so happy to be reading a fantasy book again. Hardly any YA authors do epic fantasy like this anymore. Most of the fantasy in YA is heavily grounded in our world. Which is fine but sometimes I just crave another world you know? I was sort of hoping the success of Graceling would start a revival of sorts but it seems there aren't any takers. I can literally count on both hands the number of epic fantasy in YA that was published last year and two of those books were from the same author (Tamora Pierce, or as I call her the lady responsible for getting me into fantasy in the first place). So I hope maybe Dragonswood will jumpstart a fantasy trend? Pretty please? I love my urban fantasy but I love the magic that comes from going into a world that you know nothing about.
So while this could use a bit of work in the character department, it was still a rather solid fantasy. Not sure if this is going to be a series. Judging from how it ended I don't think so, but you never know.
WHO SHOULD READ: epic fantasy fans, Tamora Pierce fans, faerie fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five

Book Review: Eve

2012-01-24T08:55:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Eve
Book 1 in the new Eve trilogy
AUTHOR: Anna Carey
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young Adult
GENRE: Dystopian, romance
PREMISE: Eve learns a terrifying truth about her school and runs away.
MY REVIEW: Once again, like Bumped there is technically nothing wrong with this. Plot was clear (mostly), there was a fast pace, every so often there were nice passages of writing. It was okay book when one looked at it writing wise.
But there was not one ounce of original thought in this book. Literally it is all the dystopian tropes that have been going around piled into one book. Like Wither it was trying to be A Handmaidens Tale by Margeret Atwood. Like Wither it failed because the author completely missed the point of A Handmaidens Tale which no was NOT about romance. The world building is also very sloppy. The biggest issue in this book though is Eve herself. She is what I call a passive Mary Sue. Basically she does not move the plot forward. Things happen to her and she reacts usually with people telling her she should react. Even running away from the school wasn't her idea! No, a teacher caught her and somehow knew she figured out their secret and basically told her to run off. Then of course comes in the naivete which I could see but was so over the top that I couldn't believe how dumb Eve was for a school valedictorian. I mean Arden wised up and she was in the same boat. Honestly I sort of wish this had been told in Arden's point of view because she was much more interesting to me then Eve. Also SHE was proactive.
So no, it's not the worse book I've ever read. But it is definitely one of the least original out there. If you just want a dystopian you don't have to use much brain power on, then go and check this out from the library. But if you read all the YA dystopians you've probably already know this plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: dystopian fans not looking for original plot
MY RATING: Three out of Five

Book Review: Bumped

2012-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Bumped
Book 1 in the Bumped Trilogy
AUTHOR: Megan McCafferty
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, romance
PREMISE: In the future two sisters reunite after being seperated.
MY REVIEW: This is a difficult book for me to review because frankly I didn't like it. However a part of me recognizes that this is one of those books that people will either despise or love as seen by the mixed reviews on Goodreads. To be fair to the author, it has a clear plot, there are some hilarious lines, writing is passable, and the idea was interesting. Technically wise, it's not a horrible book.
Too bad I hated all the characters. Sorry, there was not one likeable one in the bunch. The religious sister was self-righteous and selfish, the non-religious sister was just selfish, both the male leads were sexist and I was irritated by the constant slang the author made up that was childish. It doesn't help that once again we come up with a great dystopian concept and then ignore it in favor of dull melodrama. Seriously YA authors, WHY DO YOU DO THIS? Now yes, I have heard the claims that this is supposed to be satire. Well, sorry but even when one looks at it as satire it doesn't work because the book doesn't say anything. Satire is supposed to have something to say about whatever it is that it's satirizing (is that a word?). I didn't get any message from this book. If there was one, it was lost in translation big time.
But again, this is something that will either appeal to you or it won't appeal to you. That's why I say check it out from the library first to see if it's to your taste. As for me, I'm not bothering with the rest of what is apparently a trilogy.
WHO SHOULD READ: romance fans, fans of McCafferty's other books, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five eggs

In My Mailbox (68)

2012-01-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we got over the week.

From NetGalley:
Spellbound Book 2: Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz-In my effort to keep up on new releases I'm trying to use Net Galley again. I was for a bit then stopped. I'm starting back up again. Thank you Harlequin Teen for the eARC.

From the library:
Fox and Phoenix by Beth Bernobich-fantasy debut from last year that didn't get much buzz for some reason even though it sounds rather awesome.
The Pledge by Kimberly Derting-One of the many dystopians last year written by the author of The Body Finder. Should be interesting even though I've heard mixed reviews about it. As someone who wasn't as in love with Body Finder as everyone else, maybe I'll love this more?
Theatre Illuminate Book 3: So Silver Bright by Lisa Mantchev-What I believe is the conclusion of one of my favorite fantasy trilogys.
The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff-I loved The Replacement and this one looks just as good. Apparently about the daughter of a demon and an angel.

Book Review: Once a Witch

2012-01-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Once a Witch
Book 1 in the Witch series
AUTHOR: Carolyn MacCullough
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Witches, urban fantasy, drama
PREMISE: A girl with no magic in a family full of magic users tries to find her place in the world.
MY REVIEW: I actually quite enjoyed this book. True, one or two things were obvious. The MC was a bit annoying at times, and the writing isn't anything special. But it's one of those books you just can't help but enjoy.
One of the things I loved was the world MacCullough created. She thought it through (mostly, the time traveling is a bit funky) and it was a fun world to be in. The plot was also a solid one. I'm a sucker for family drama and this one had that in spades. Granted I would have prefered the MC to wind up not having powers at the end because I think that would have been a better message about how you are just fine the way you are but still, it made for a interesting twist. I didn't even mind the romance. Gabriel was a fun love interest.
All in all this was a fun addition to the witch genre. I look forward to reading Always a Witch.
WHO SHOULD READ: Witch fans, fans of family drama
MY RATING: Four out of Five spell books

Book Review: A Clash of Kings

2012-01-20T17:23:00.001-08:00

TITLE: A Clash of Kings
Book 2 in the Song of Fire and Ice series
AUTHOR: George R. R. Martin
PUBLISHED: 1999
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: fantasy, drama
PREMISE: The conflict continues between kings and queens.
MY REVIEW:I was one of the many who fell in love with Game of Thrones last year thanks to HBO bringing it to everyone's attention. I will warn those that don't know: this series is not happy. These are not ideal characters. In fact, many of them you will want to smack (hey there, Theon) many times. But they are fascinating at the same time.
Clash of Kings is just as good as the first. So many developements happen, so many people die (seriously if you couldn't handle Deathly Hallows or Mockingjay don't read this book). Yes, I cringe a bit at the treatment of women in this series but it makes sense. This is a obviously modeled after history. In history women were treated horribly. What's interesting here is to see how they respond to it and manage to thrive as well as they can despite the rampant sexism they face. So no, I actually don't think Martin is anti-feminist (since I'm sure someone will bring that arguement up).
I continue to love this series and hopefully will finish the remaining three books this year (as well as the Millaneum Trilogy by Stieg Larsson).
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read (or watched) A Game of Thrones, epic fantasy fans
MY RATING: Five out of Five knights

Book Review: Death Watch

2012-01-19T19:35:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Death Watch
Book 1 in the Undertaken Trilogy
AUTHOR: Ari Berk
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young Adult
GENRE: paranormal
PREMISE: A boy goes to live with his uncle and learns past family secrets.
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing, I love the concept of this book. The idea behind it and the thought into the world is fabulous and I did like that the author tried to have some sort of emotion in there. But that's the key word there: tried.
Because frankly Berk's writing is just not on par with the story idea. This is a case where I wish either the author had spent more time building her craft or the idea had gone to another more gifted writer. Berk's writing is flat, her dialogue is terrible, and she tends wander with the plot a lot. I bet if you cut all the useless scenes in this book, it would be about down to two hundred pages. It doesn't help that she didn't build her characters either. They were all two-dimensional, especially the drunk mother who was basically deliberately written so we'd hate her. There's a lot of tell but don't show writing going on too that tends to treat the reader like they're dumb. Honestly this felt like a elementary level book masquarading as teen fiction though I hesitate with that because I've read some very well written children's books in the past (Harry Potter anyone?).
This was just a case of the story being good but the writing being bad enough to eclipse a lot of the good that is going on in the book. This is why I wish authors/publishers would take more time with manuscripts instead of just turning them in and getting approval. At the very least EDIT because I'm sorry, I don't think there was a lot of editing going on here. If you really are interested in this, I would just check it out from the library.
WHO SHOULD READ: paranormal fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five watches

Ditched Book Review: A Beautiful Dark

2012-01-17T09:20:00.001-08:00

TITLE: A Beautiful Dark
Book 1 in the Beautiful Dark series
AUTHOR: Jocelyn Davies
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: A girl is fought over by two guys basically.
WHY I DITCHED IT: My resolution this year reading wise was to not bother with books that I can tell from about chapter 5 that I'm seriously going to dislike. If I can tell that soon then I'm just not going to bother with it because life is too short and I've got too many books to read this year to waste it on stuff I'm going to hate every minute of. In the past when I've ditched a book I just haven't reviewed it because I don't think one should review something they haven't seen/read all the way through. This year I'm going to let readers know the book exists and that I attempted to read it and then give my reasons for ditching it. If any of you feel I left off too soon, then please feel free to try and get me to give the book in question another shot but honestly I can't gaurentee I'll do it.
With Beautiful Dark it wasn't that the book was bad, it was just that it was completely unimaginative. Every single idea I saw in these first few chapters has been done to death. Poor little orphan girl caught up in great prophecy? Been done. Love triangle with two guys fighting over a girl? Been done to death. Opposing sides trying to get said girl on their side for whatever dumb reason? Done. Literally I was yawning by chapter ten. Perhaps there's some grand reveal in the end, I don't know but honestly the first part is just so dull I didn't care enough to even power read through to get to the end. None of the characters were compelling in anyway and the writing was pretty generic. It was just same old same old and I've frankly had enough of these books that take ideas from other books and mesh it all together in a utterly uncreative way. I got up to about chapter fifteen before I just couldn't take it anymore.
But hey, if you're a fan of these angel book things, you may like this better then me. It's just I've come to the conclusion that angel books just aren't my thing.

Book Review: Past Midnight

2012-01-16T18:45:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Past Midnight
Book 1 in the Past Midnight series
AUTHOR: Mara Purnhagen
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal
PREMISE: Charlotte moves to a new school with her ghost hunting parents.
MY REVIEW: I don't really have much to say about this book so this will be a very short review. The thing is sometimes you get a book that just is what it is. Not very groundbreaking or fantastic but not horrible either. Just there. That is what Past Midnight is.
Story was decent, characters were okay, plot was okay, everything was just...okay. Not very memorable in a good or bad way. If you like ghost books then you'll probably get a kick out of this but if you never read it, you're not missing out on anything huge.
WHO SHOULD READ: Ghost story fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five trucks

In My Mailbox (67)

2012-01-15T08:38:00.001-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we got over the week.

Downloaded to Kindle
Stacy Justice series Book 1: Opal Fire by Barbera Annino-Kindle Freebie though now it seems to be back to regular price.

Bought at Barnes and Noble:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman-It's Gaiman, need I say more?
Millanium Trilogy 2: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson-Trying to wrap up this trilogy this year. I meant too last year but got side tracked by Game of Thrones which I'm also trying to finish up this year.

From the library:
Eve Book 1 by Anna Carey-Dystopian debut from last year that I've heard mixed reviews about.
Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey-First debut/book of 2012 that I'm reading! Fantasy thing that looks cool, plus awesome cover.
Bumped Book 1 by Megan McCafferty-Dystopian from last year that I've heard some good things about.
Once a Witch Book 1 by Carolyn MacCullough-UF witch series I've been meaning to read for awhile now.
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins-Companion book to Anna and the French Kiss which I highly enjoyed so I'm looking forward to this one.

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

2012-01-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Anna Dressed in Blood
Anna series Book 1
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: horror, paranormal
PREMISE: Cas hunts ghosts. Then he meets a ghost that confuses him...
MY REVIEW: Sometimes you just want a good old fashioned horror story and this book is one that totally delivers on that front. True, I wish the romance part had been better developed but on the whole this was a very strong debut that has become one of my favorite reads this month and had I read it last year would have been a top book for me.
Blake's writing is nice and smooth. She writes fabulous dialogue, she doesn't have stereotyped characters, and she doesn't mince with the horror aspect of this. It's also creative! A definite new perspective on ghosts. I just really want to know more about this world because I feel like we haven't gotten the entire picture of it yet, but it is the first book so I'm letting that issue go in the hopes of finding out more in the second.
All in all a really good read. If you love horror or don't mind scary books I'd definitely pick this one up. I can't wait for the second book and whatever else Blake has in store for us. This is a author to keep a eye on in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: horror story fans, Coroline fans, Bad Girls Don't Die fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five dead girls

Book Review: Liar's Moon

2012-01-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Liar's Moon
Book 2 in the Thief's Errant series
AUTHOR: Elizabeth C. Bunce
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Digger once more gets caught up in royals business. This time she must help Durrel himself.
MY REVIEW: I loved Star Crossed when I read it last year for a challenge and looked forward to reading Liar's Moon. Luckily Liar's Moon is just as good as the first. Yes, it drags a bit, and I would have liked more developement for the Digger/Durrel relationship but all in all I'm pleased with this sequel.
There's great world building, good plots, and it was a treat to catch up with the characters I grew to love in Star Crossed (Raffin!). There were several twists and turns I didn't see coming and that cliffhanger is downright evil and will have you clamouring for the next book.
If yo loved Star Crossed you will not be disappointed with this sequel.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Star Crossed, Tamora Pierce fans, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five thieves

Book Review: Drink, Slay, Love

2012-01-10T09:47:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Drink, Slay, Love
AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Vampires, unicorns, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Pearl is a young vampire who gets stabbed by a unicorn, giving her the ability to walk in the sun and for the first time, feels.
MY REVIEW: I got a kick out of this like I do all of Durst's books. She's very tongue in cheek. She knows she's dealing with campy material and runs with it. Sure I wasn't crazy about the convenient ending, and sometimes Pearl felt a bit Sueish but everything else was just so much fun.
While Pearl felt Sueish sometimes she's an enjoyable Sue and goes through growth so I can't complain too loudly. It was nice seeing the author show us the effects that being a vamp has on her and how suddenly growing feelings effects her ability to function as a vampire. The romance was sweet, I actually did like Evan even if I find his whole changing her life part a little questionable. I loved the hell out of Bethany and was happy that the populars weren't made into the stereotypical mean girls of the school.
If you've read Enchanted Ivy or Ice, you've got a good sense of who Durst is as a writer. She puts new spins on things, has a lot of fun with well known subjects, has plenty of imagination, and is just plain fun. I look forward to whatever she brings us next because with Durst it's always a surprise.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Ice and Enchanted Ivy, vampire fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five bottles of blood

Book Review: The Night Circus

2012-01-09T09:16:00.001-08:00

TITLE: The Night Circus
AUTHOR: Erin Morgenstern
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: fantasy, romance
PREMISE: In a magical circus a rivalry takes place over several years.
MY REVIEW: Night Circus came onto the book scene with a bang. Everyone was singing it's praises, it got a movie deal before it even hit shelves, and has been a bestseller for a few months now. I will say I do love it, but it isn't completely without faults. I didn't care for the jumping around in time business (but that's a personal peev, and not really something that hinders the book, it's just annoying for me). There were one or two missed typos, the romance was...sweet but a tad bit predictable and thus about the least interesting thing about the book.
For me the biggest draw was the writing. While yes, the style did occasionally get on my nerves (I particularly hated it when the author would have passages that went "so and so went here and then here and then here") and was a tad rough around the edges. But there was some really beautiful writing in there. Particularly when the author went about describing things or would put in a little morsel here and there that became important later. This author does have talent. She just needs to polish it a bit more. Another draw was the atmosphere of the book. I love magical feeling books like this one. I can totally see why this got a movie deal. The plot was also really interesting itself, when one ignored the lackluster romance. Because everything else but that was strong. It felt like a combination of Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell (but not as dull as rocks as that book was) and the movie The Illusionist (which I totally rec by the way) with a dash of Tim Burton's Big Fish (by the way filmmakers, if you're smart you will have Tim Burton directing this. This has his name all over it).
So yes, there were a few problems with this but considering this is a first book that was a apparently written during National Write Your Own Novel month, I have to say I'm impressed. I just hope the next one (if there is a next one) answers some more of my lingering questions at the end. Mostly concerning the circus itself.
WHO SHOULD READ: Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell fans, The Illusionist fans, circus book fans, anyone inclined to pick it up.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five tents

In My Mailbox (66)

2012-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week.

Downloaded to Kindle:
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantasky-I was not the hugest fan of Jekyll Loves Hyde but people keep telling me this is better. Since it's free I'm going to give Fantasky another shot.

Bought at Books A Million:
Leviathan Trilogy Book 1: Leviathan by Scott Westerfield-Already read and loved this beautifully illustrated steampunk novel by Westerfield. Got in the phenomenal bargain section Books A Millian has.
Leviathan Trilogy Book 2: Behemoth by Scott Westerfield-They also had book 2 which I have not read yet so expect upcoming review.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold-Got this for FREE because of the bargain book sale they were having. This way if I don't happen to like this one (possibility given it's a bestseller) then I didn't waste any money.

From the library:
Undertaken Trilogy Book 1: Death Watch by Ari Berk- 2011 Debut that I've heard nothing about that sounds interesting.
A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies-2011 Debut novel paranormal romance thing.
Past Midnight Book 1 by Mara Purnhagen-Been meaning to read this series for awhile now.
Shifting by Bethany Wiggins-About skinwalkers from Navajo mythology.

Book Review: All These Things I've Done

2012-01-06T09:33:00.001-08:00

TITLE: All These Things I've Done
Birthright Book 1
AUTHOR: Gabrielle Zevin
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, drama
PREMISE: A girl in the future who is part of a mafia family gets accused of poisoning her ex boyfriend.
MY REVIEW: Like all of Zevin's books, this one is well written, well plotted, and well characterized, and unique. I really have no huge complaints about the quality of it because it is a very decent book.
But I do have complaints about the fact that once again we have a great Dystopian set-up and it's virtually ignored in favor of dull romance and predictable drama. Also I had some issues with the romance particularly the whole "hey I love you after knowing you for like a month. Great. I don't want to have sex until marriage even though I'm not a very religious person and have said so. Awesome. Let's get marred! Sure!" Then they get married without any protest from the family? Just...WHAT? It doesn't help that I see no real basis for the relationship to begin with. It felt like he married her just to tick off his dad.
But those issues aside this was a interesting book and well written despite some faults. I just hope the next book goes more into the world problems because otherwise why on earth are you bothering to make this Dystopian if you're not going to use it?
WHO SHOULD READ: Gabrielle Zevin fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five chocolate bars

Book Review: Mastiff

2012-01-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Mastiff
Book 3 in the Legend of Beka Cooper Trilogy
AUTHOR: Tamora Pierce
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: adventure, fantasy
PREMISE: Beka goes on a hunt to find the young missing heir to the throne.
MY REVIEW: Okay this review is probably going to be very biased as most of my reviews about Pierce are because her Tortall/Circle of Magic books are the books that I credit with getting me into fantasy/YA back in the day. Gosh I’ve been reading this series since the nineties! So I’m terribly fond of these books and eagerly await each installment and they never disappoint.
Now I will say a few issues I’ve come across as I’ve gotten older. Pierce has a bad habit of slightly mocking the girls/people who don’t think like her main character. That is people who aren’t liberal. While yes, I don’t always agree with the religious set, particularly the snotty ones in this book, I don’t think you should mock people for their beliefs. They are allowed to believe what they want even if you yourself don’t agree with it. That’s one aspect of these books I don’t particularly care for. That and while I love the strong girls message, she does tend to hit you over the head with it. But I’ve kind of had to let that go, it’s a personal peeve and doesn’t change the fact that these are still very good books.
The writing is still strong, she still has fabulous characters and doesn’t mind making them complicated or difficult to like. I like Beka but I’m sure there are people out there who struggle with how detached she can be. She still does fabulous world-building that is the biggest appeal of her books for me. The worlds of Tortall and the world in Circle of Magic are just so dense and just wonderful.
In short if you love Tamora Pierce, you will not be disappointed, unless you wanted Beka to end up with Rosto like I did in which case oh well. Luckily Farmer is just as fun so it’s not that big of a deal. Next up: A Circle of Magic book with Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn in Yanjing. YES! Sorry, love those three. Everyone else may prefer Tortall but for me it’s Circle of Magic all the way. I can’t wait for the one with Tris in magic school.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora Pierce fans, fantasy fans, fans of the first 2 Beka Cooper books
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five Dog uniforms

Book Review: Unholy Ghosts

2012-01-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Unholy Ghosts
Book 1 in the Downside Ghosts
AUTHOR: Stacia Kane
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Urban fantasy, paranormal
PREMISE: Chess is a paranormal catcher on the job for a dirty drug dealer. The case she's on winds up being more then expected.
MY REVIEW: Again, not many feelings about this book. It had a very interesting idea for sure. I loved the world that Kane created. It's interesting. In that it was very creative. However everything else? Typical UF du jour.
Tough heroine with multiple love interests? Check. Random sex out of no where? Check. Mystery to solve? Check (thankfully this one was interesting). Because the heroine is tough, she is bitchy to everyone? Check. Yeah, nothing new to see here folks. Move on.
If you're in the mood for a UF and don't care about uniqueness then yes, I rec this. The plot is okay, the mystery is decent, and the characters flawed. But if you want to feel like you're reading something fresh and new, I wouldn't bother.
WHO SHOULD READ: urban fantasy fans who don't care about uniqueness
MY RATING: Three out of Five ghosts

Book Review: Soul Thief

2012-01-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Soul Thief
Book 2 in the Demon Trapper's series
AUTHOR: Jana Oliver
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Urban fantasy
PREMISE: Riley continues her job as demon trapper despite new obstacles.
MY REVIEW: I...have no real feelings about this book to be honest. I liked the uniqueness of the first one and that is still felt here but now some of the sparkle has worn off and it's starting to look like every other urban fantasy series out there: down-on-her-luck Mary Sue has several love interests and solves mysteries and naturally fate of the world falls to her.
The characters are still fun and everything and I still love Oliver's writing and fast pace and her dialogue. But...it's not very original. If you read these urban fantasy things on a daily basis, you've basically read this series. I'm only keeping up with it because I love Oliver's world-building and I like learning more details as we go along.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of The Demon Trapper's Daughter, Buffy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five demons

Book Review: Between the Sea and Sky

2012-01-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Between the Sea and Sky
AUTHOR: Jocelyn Dolamore
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mermaids, angels, romance, fantasy
PREMISE: A mermaid goes to find her sister on land and winds up falling in love...
MY REVIEW: I have to repeat what I said about Dolamore's first book: I LOVE her imagination. She manages to make tired YA trends (in this case mermaids and angels) and make them feel shiny and new. She describes stuff beautifully, her characters are likeable and honestly there really are no real hard reasons to dislike her stuff.
But at the same time it's also rather predictable. If you love fairytale-like books I totally rec her stuff. But if you want something a little less cutesy with more meat too it...you're probably better off going elsewhere. Because while I like her books they are somewhat obvious ending-like and rather cutesy.
So to recap: good imagination and great for fairytale lovers. But also a bit average and predictable. Makes for a decent library read but I'm not sure if it's a must read. I will say this for her: she managed to get me to like a mermaid book. While I still find it as juvenile as I find most of these YA mermaid things, it is enjoyable which the other mermaid books didn't have going for them.
WHO SHOULD READ: mermaid fans, Little Mermaid fans, fairy tale fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five fish tails

YA Trends of 2011

2011-12-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

YA goes through cycles of trends. 2011 was no different. Here are common themes/genres I noticed this year.

1) The Dystopian genre reigned supreme-I think it's safe to say that Dystopian has become the new vampire. It's EVERYWHERE. Practically all the popular books from this year were Dystopian in some fashion. As someone who loves dystopian I am not complaining however I worry that it's becoming a tad overdone. I suppose we shall have to wait and see. I suspect after the release of the Hunger Games movie and with success of stuff like Divergent that we will be seeing lots more as publishers will want to get in on the cash cow.

2) The grand return of ghosts-Has anyone else noticed more ghost stories? Again I love ghosts, they are my favorite paranormal creature so I am not at all complaining even if some of them have been slightly bizarre.

3) The return of the girl sleuth-I've also noticed a increase in girl detectives or at least girls solving mysteries. The part of me that loves mysteries and grew up on Nancy Drew highly approves.

4) Time Travel-Good lord what was with all the time travel this year? I know of at least seven books at the top of my head that dealt with time travel in some way. Unfortunately they didn't really do it in a believeable way for me so I'm not very excited about this trend despite being a Doctor Who fan who loves time travel. Now if a YA book will do it in a way I can buy then okay bring it. But until then I'm going to remain highly skeptical of this trend.

5) Less Bella Swans. FINALLY authors have realized Bella Swan was NOT a good character and I've seen less and less whiny heroines who do nothing. Thank you.

6) More playing around with writing styles. Not particularly thrilled with this. Look, I've sort of had to come to peace with the whole present tense thing. Obviously it's here to stay. But there's a time and place for playing around with writing rules that have been around for centuries for a REASON and for the love of god, use proper grammer like quote marks (yes, I'm looking at YOU, Blood Red Road. Young is lucky her story and actual writing managed transcend that annoyance).

7) A emergence of steampunk?-I've noticed a few popping up here and there and I really hope it catches on. I LOVE steampunk. We need more of it.

8) Paranormal Romances like whoa-Okay I like PNRs, I do. But we're getting a little ridiculous with them I think. It doesn't help that they are all starting to look alike. Someone on Goodreads said that they felt PNRs were becoming the Harlequin romances of YA and I think they are absolutely right. I have had so much deja vu reading new books this year that is not funny.

9) Shifters like whoa-I guess with the sucess of Firelight it was bound to happen but geez.

10) The Bitchy Heroine-This is a common idea popping up that I severely dislike. Authors, just because your heroine is strong does not mean she has to be a jerk. Likewise having her strong does not automatically make her a femenist, especially if she bitches at every other female or male who doesn't worship the ground she walks on. Where on earth did we get the idea that if you make your heroine strong/able to take care of herself then she has to be a jerk?

Book Review: The Dead Tossed Waves

2011-12-30T09:52:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Dead Tossed Waves
Book 3 in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series
AUTHOR: Carrie Ryan
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: zombies, dystopian
PREMISE: Gabry has heard her mother's tales of the Forest but has never contemplated going in it. Until her friends start being Infected...
MY REVIEW: I adored The Forest of Hands and Teeth. It wasn't your typical dystopian. It didn't make zombies into a love interest. It was powerful and well written, and just so interesting. I'm happy to report the sequel/companion is just as good. No sophomore slump here. Condie, take notes.
Granted, it did sort of feel like a redo of the first book at times but with different situations. Plus there's still the annoying love triangle angle that was totally unneccessary. But it's still Ryan's powerful stuff so I'm not complaining too loudly.
If you loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth, you'll enjoy this one. If you haven't read it, you could actually read this one because it's more of a companion to the book instead of a sequel. It just helps more if you've read Forest and Teeth.
WHO SHOULD READ: zombie fans, dystopian fans, fans of Forest of Hands and Teeth
MY RATING: Four out of Five stumbling zombies

Book Review: Crossed

2011-12-28T13:59:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Crossed
Book 2 of the Matched Trilogy
AUTHOR: Ally Condie
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, romance
PREMISE: Cassia searches for Ky in the outer provinces and they learn of a rebellion against the Society.
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing: I WANT to love the Matched Trilogy. Really, I DO. There are things to like here. Some of Condie's prose are lovely and thoughtful, there's some nice messages here about free will and stuff, and even though I still say the world building makes very little sense when one really thinks about it the world is interesting. But it's just so DULL. Condie has a nice writing style but I don't think she knows how to tell a story to keep a reader interested. That is the only explanation I have for the fact that she keeps putting the focus on the boring and predictable (and still with very little basis) Ky/Cassia relationship. I'm sorry but I really DON'T CARE. It's obvious they'll wind up as end game. I get it, they're the destined epic couple. Can we please get back to the far more important business of this rebellion against the Society please?
It doesn't help that I honestly don't really like Cassia that much. She's flat and uninteresting as can be and frankly Ky isn't much better. The switching povs really proved that they literally have no personality because I kept getting confused about who was speaking. They sound exactly alike. If you are going to go this route, MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS SOUND DIFFERENT. Don't even get me started on Cassia being jealous over Indie liking Xander (who she's never even met) who Cassia REJECTED. Did I also mention the book was dull?
I'm sorry, I really want to like this trilogy. But it's honestly just mediocre so I can only give it a okay rating. Especially this book which suffers from extreme second book syndrome. If you want a book about love in a dystopian society may I recomend Delirium by Lauren Oliver? At least that's interesting.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Matched, Dystopian fans
RATING: Three and a half out of Five Hundred Poems

Book Review: The Name of the Star

2011-12-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Name of the Star
Book 1 in the new Shades of London series
AUTHOR: Maureen Johnson
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery, paranormal
PREMISE: Rory gets sent to school in England and winds up with the ability to see ghosts. Meanwhile a copycat Ripper killer is taking England by storm.
MY REVIEW: Okay it's official, I'm a Maureen Johnson fan. It started when I actually liked 13 Little Blue Envelopes and continued with the second and by following her posts on Twitter (seriously guys, follow her account she's hilarious). But this book has cemented my loyalty now. Because I loved this. True, the way they see ghosts is a bit odd to me as are some of the ghost mechanics but the rest of it? Utter love.
I really enjoy Johnson's writing. She gives her character voices and has a style for each book she does. Because this is actually quite different from 13 Little Blue Envelopes. More importantly she THINKS OUTSIDE THE BOX. Yes, this has a few tropes in it but she does the tropes in a fresh realistic way and puts her own spin on it so it feels shiny and new. It probably also helped that she put tons of things in it that I love: Europe, boarding school setting, mystery, ghosts, no love triangle, and even has Doctor Who references.
In short, I think this is a darn good book. I'm definitely checking out the rest of her books as well and I can't wait for the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Maureen Johnson fans, mystery/thriller fans, ghost fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five boarding schools

Book Review: The Faerie Ring

2011-12-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Faerie Ring
Book 1 in a series?
AUTHOR: Kiki Hamilton
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: faeries, historical fiction, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Tiki accidently steals a ring that is part of a truce that keeps faeries from attacking the human world.
MY REVIEW: This is a book I wanted to like more then I did. My problem is it's extremely amateurish. You really can tell this is the author's first book. There's telling instead of showing, Tiki is a extreme Mary Sue, there's the usual YA cliches here and there, and it just feels like it's not a fully formed idea.
But on the other hand I did enjoy Tiki, Mary Sue that she was. She was fiesty and proactive and it was a nice change. I also enjoyed the oliver twist like plot and the twists and turns the author had that sometimes were a genuine surprise. There were some really nice bits of writing here and there. Particularly when Hamilton goes into the historical descriptions. I also loved the world she created.
I just sort of wished she'd polished it a bit more and that more character had gone into Tiki so she didn't feel quite so flat, you know? So this was ultimately a average book. Good for a library read, especially if you love victorian england books.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fiction fans, Prophecy of the Sisters fans, fans of Oliver Twist
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five magic rings

Reading Goals for 2012

2011-12-25T21:35:00.001-08:00

So mext year is next week. I'm overall rather satisfied with my reading this year. Granted I missed reading some the books I meant too but did get a lot accomplished so I'm not too disappointed in myself.

My reading goals for next year:

Do the Debut Author Challenge (note to self, sign up)
Keep up on those new releases (library reserve is going to be my friend this year)
Read at least 250 books (I did around 230 this year, some of which weren't reviewed here because they were nonfiction or didn't fit in with the blog or my thoughts were so scathing I decided to spare you)
Keep that to be read pile low so I can read new ones faster!
Try to keep up on reviews
Try out more memes so people know this blog exists
Finish up the Game of Thrones series
Finish up the Millaneum Trilogy
Try to read one classic a month
Try out Garth Nix (since you got his Sabrial trilogy for your birthday and everything)
Read some John Green (Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns? Someone tell me which one to read first!)
Finish the Uglies series
Finish the Women of the Otherworld series
Explore the adult cozy mystery/urban fantasy/paranormal romance sections (anyone have any recs? Feel free to look at backlogs if you want to see what I've already read)
Since I couldn't get to them this year, read: Forever and Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl, the second Kane Chronicles book and Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children, Shatter Me,Night Circus, and Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick.
Catch up on the Wicked books by Gregory Maguire
Try out Sarah Dessen even though I disliked Jodi Piccoult. Who knows? Maybe she'll be better.
Finish all of Neil Gaiman's books.
Read more of Terry Pratchett (maybe try to finish Discworld?)

Book Review: Witchlanders

2011-12-24T14:13:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Witchlanders
AUTHOR: Lena Coakley
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Witches have been in charge for as long as Ryder can remember. Then he learns of his role in a prophecy...
MY REVIEW: I had no idea what to expect from this book because it hasn't been reviewed at like all. It's a darn shame too because this was a pretty good book. It's imaginative, well written, and has a few twists that you don't expect.
But at the same time there's no romance. Which is probably why it hasn't become popular. Well, unless you count the bromance between Farian and Ryder which I totally do for the record ;shamelessly ships them;. So because of the lack of romance probably many young readers will find this dull and I will say it did drag at some points.
However I think this is one that shouldn't be overlooked. The writing is strong, characters are interesting, and it's got good messages about friendship and overcoming prejudices. I don't know if there's going to be a sequel. After that ending, I really hope so.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that don't mind a lack of romance, Knight and Rogue series fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five swords

Book Review: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

2011-12-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Laini Taylor
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: angels, urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Karou has lived one foot in the magical world and one in the human world all her life. But then someone shows up that changes her life forever.
MY REVIEW: First I will say the few minor issues I had with this. One being the romance was cliche. A well done cliche at least, but nonetheless it's been done before. Also sometimes it dragged, particularly at the end where I felt the retelling of how Akiva and Madrigal fell in love was rather unneccessary because we figured it out earlier.
But other then those minor issues that are more a personal peeve anyway I have to say this was a really good boook. May I just say I LOVE Taylor's writing style? Granted once or twice she went a bit overboard with the poetics and had occasional theosaurus words that looked out of place but for the most part her writing was really strong. Also while the romance aspect of it was typical star crossed lover stuff, the rest was so imaginative. Finally a book went in ways I wasn't expecting! There were also some really good lines in it too.
Frankly I loved this book. No not a perfect book but I do see why people are saying it's one of the best YA books of the year (I don't particularly agree with that assessment but to each their own). I am definitely going to be reading the next book and can't wait to see more from Taylor.
WHO SHOULD READ: Angel book fans, anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five teeth

Book Review: Cold Kiss

2011-12-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Cold Kiss
AUTHOR: Amy Garvey
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: A girl brings back her dead boyfriend with unforseen consequences.
MY REVIEW: I don't have much to say about this to be honest. Writing was decent enough and I was vaguely interested in the powers that the author came up with but ultimately it was a dull dull dull book. I didn't care for the main character and everything was predictable.
It's not horrible or anything, it's just pretty average and in today's YA world pretty forgettable. Good for a check out from the library to see if it's your thing but not much else.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...not sure, necromancy fans?
MY RATING: Three out of Five stumbling zombies

Book Review: A Girl of Fire and Thorns

2011-12-21T18:33:00.001-08:00

TITLE: A Girl of Fire and Thorns
Book 1 in a new series?
AUTHOR: Rae Carson
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: A girl enters an arranged marriage and becomes a leader.
MY REVIEW: You ever have a book you want to absolutely love? You feel like you SHOULD love it but something in you just can't because of all the flaws? Well, that is me and my feelings on A Girl of Fire and Thorns. By all rights I should adore this book. It does honestly have a lot going for it that I understand why people were gushing over it during BEA time. The world building is splendid, it's very fast paced, while it does follow the typical useless girl becomes useful trope it does it in a somewhat believable manner, and there's a clear plot that doesn't wander too much. Also there were some lovely passages of writing here that make me sit up and pay attention.
HOWEVER, it was very obvious that this was a first book. While there were lovely bits of writing, far too much of it was the tell and show type of writing which I'm sure all of you have figured out that I can't stand. The main character Elisa while kind of awesome was also a huge Mary Sue. Literally the only flaw she had was that she was fat, according to her and we are reminded that she is fat over and over again and of course her being fat come with all the typical fat stereotypes out there such as no confidence in her looks and over eating. Look, I love that finally we have a girl who isn't a white skinny heroine but when you literally make her fat the only flaw she has that actually isn't very progressive or helpful. The romance and characters didn't really do anything for me. About maybe the only one I was intrigued by were Cosme and Alodia and they were relagated to the background. After one realized this was the useless girl becomes useful trope and that Elisa was a Mary Sue it was very obvious what was going to come next the only thing that kept me really going was the imaginative world and the action.
So honestly, this was a bit of a let down for me. I do think it's a good enough debut. I mean I've certainly read worst first books. I will say I'm not sure how she's going to make this a series because for me it all tied up very nicely at the end so I'm honestly not really interested in a sequel. But I do hope to see more from this imaginative author and that she works a bit more on her writing skills for her next book because if she does that and keeps her imagination? We'll get awesomeness.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora Pierce fans, fantasy world fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five godstones

Book Review: Circle of Fire

2011-12-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Circle of Fire
Book 3 in the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy
AUTHOR: Michelle Zink
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, drama, fantasy
PREMISE: Lea and her sister have their final confrontation.
MY REVIEW: Trilogys are tricky beasts. They can be amazing all the way through (Hunger Games), start off strong and struggle in the middle but have a really good ending (Gemma Doyle Trilogy), or start off strong and just end up being rather underwhelming by the end (every other trilogy out there). Sadly Prophecy of the Sisters is one of those that started off with a huge bang but wimpered the rest of the way through.
It still is very well written and I do love the imagination behind it and the questions Zink asks in it. But ultimately this ending is pretty underwhelming. Logical ending, yes. But underwhelming nonetheless. Nothing happened here that wasn't expected. I just wanted MORE from it, particularly when it came to Alice. I have to wonder if maybe it would have been better to have these last two books in her point of view rather then Lea's because I still have many questions where Alice is concerned and am not totally satisfied with her conclusion. Also how lame did James turn out to be?
Like I said this is still a decent enough read...it's just not as good as when Zink first started this trilogy. I will be very curious about her next series though which apparently starts next year.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, Gemma Doyle fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five gloves

In My Mailbox (65)

2011-12-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links in this post go to the books Amazon page if you want more info.

My Weekly library haul (and this week's haul is particularly awesome):

Matched Trilogy Book 2: Crossed by Ally Condie-I was not as in love with Matched like everyone else but I did like it enough that I am rather looking forward to the sequel even though it's gotten mixed reviews. Who knows maybe since people seem to like Matched better I'll end up loving the sequel more?
Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey-debut that I've been really interested in reading.
The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton-The author had me at historical fiction fantasy with faeries and girl theif. This plus the rave reviews it's been getting has put this at the top of my to read list.
Shades of London Book 1: In the Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson-I'm a recent inductee to Johnson and the minute I read her stuff I wanted her to do something like fantasy or historical fiction because her writing would be perfect for it. Lo and behold this book came out. My expectations are pretty high for this.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor-This has been haled as one of the best books of the year. While normally that would make me go out and buy it, the angel/demon thing made me hesitate because I've had some bad luck with angel books that everyone else has said is great (see Halo).

Book Review: Queen of the Dead

2011-12-15T20:42:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Queen of the Dead
Book 2 in the Ghost and the Goth series
AUTHOR: Stacey Kade
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal, romance
PREMISE: Alona and Will run into other ghost talkers.
MY REVIEW: I recently picked up Ghost and the Goth and promptly fell in love. I'm happy to say the second book is just as fun as the first even if I find the whole ghost taking over a person's body thing rather hard to swallow. I'll let it go because it makes for good plot points and it's not the craziest ghost thing I've seen (has anyone seen Being Human? I love Annie but that ghost stuff is eyebrow raising).
This does everything a continuation should do. It expands on the world of ghosts. It brings in new characters, it settles some old issues, and it brings in new issues. It also still has the fun of the first. I still love watching Will and Alona interact. Their relationship is not boring even when they're together, Alona still has her faults after all and Will calls her on it. Likewise Will himself isn't a infallible human being.
All in all it was a satisfying sequel though maybe not as good as the first. I look forward to the next book and whatever else Kade has in store for us.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of The Ghost and the Goth, Mediator book series fans, Meg Cabot fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five red gym shorts

Book Review: Between

2011-12-15T20:27:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Between
AUTHOR: Jessica Warman
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal, mystery, drama
PREMISE: A ghost tries to figure out what happened to her while spying on her family in the afterlife.
MY REVIEW: Another one I honestly have nothing much to say about. It was vaguely reminiscent of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver but didn't have near the powerful message that book did. I do think Warman is a promising author. She's got good dialogue, does keep suspense going, and manages to flesh out her characters and have a plot.
But I think this novel suffered from underediting. There were several scenes in here that weren't necessary. I didn't particularly care for any of the characters except for Alex and he didn't get nearly enough page time. I'm also not sure what the author was trying to do. Was it about bullying? I mean the girl learns this after she dies and it never gets to her friends who were doing the actual bullying so that's kind of a lost message there. The main character didn't really forgive her sister (which I can totally understand). It just sort of felt like one of those "what's the point of this?" novels and I hate that. I know not every book has to have a big message. But it does kind of help matters if your book says SOMETHING. This one just sent a lot of mixed messages.
So while it was a decently written book...it bored me. The murderer became obvious by the middle of the book and it just wasn't that interesting. A decent enough book but it just didn't do anything for me. I do think other people may find it more enjoyable though. I think it was just one of those things were I wasn't in the mood for it. It probably didn't help that I'm reading Clash of Kings in between these books.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Before I Fall, mystery fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five yachts

Book Review: In the Arms of Stone Angels

2011-12-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

TITLE: In the Arms of Stone Angels
AUTHOR: Jordan Dane
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery, paranormal, romance
PREMISE: A girl goes back to her hometown and winds up reopening a cold case involving her ex boyfriend.
MY REVIEW: I honestly don't have much to say about this book really. It was pretty average to be honest. Writing was decent, plot was average, and it really wasn't anything mind-blowing. It wasn't horrible either. It's just one of those books written to fill a certain market I guess.
I will say this is a total departure from most Harlequin teen paranormals. It's actually quite depressing and not really romance focused at all. If you want sap I'd go elsewhere. Also be warned very few of these characters are likeable. In fact I wanted to smack all of them at one point except maybe the boyfriend but that was only because we got so little of him to begin with. It also does pile on the town against one girl trope that is so eyeroll worthy I won't even bother ranting about it. Just know I find this trope ridiculous.
But really there's not really much memorable stuff or anything that stands out. Some of the paranormal stuff with the indian heritage was interesting but confusing and honestly made very little sense (and sort of felt like a racial stereotype at times). If you don't pick up this book you're not missing out on much.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...not sure...mystery fans maybe?
MY RATING: Three out of Five feathers

In My Mailbox (64)

2011-12-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links go to the books Amazon page if you want more info.

Downloaded to Kindle:
Mythos Academy Book 2: Kiss of Frost-Already read and reviewed. Just as fun as the first.

From the library:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson-This has been getting rave reviews so hopefully it's as good as I want it to be.
Witchlanders by Lena Coakley-debut from this year that I've heard next to nothing about for some reason.
Ghost and the Goth Book 2: Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade-Loved the first Ghost and the Goth and I can't wait to read the next one.
Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy: Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink-Conclusion to Prophecy of the Sisters. Can't believe it's actually over now.

Book Review: Kiss of Frost

2011-12-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Kiss of Frost
Book 2 in the Mythos Academy series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, mystery
PREMISE: Gwen deals with a reaper who is out to kill her.
MY REVIEW: I pretty much fell in love with A Touch of Frost last month and almost immediately downloaded book 2 when it came out last month. Granted the series isn't very original. There are deus ex machinas everywhere (including Gwen's gift, particularly in this book) and it's basically Veronica Mars meets Harry Potter with a dash of Percy Jackson thrown in. Also sometimes there is cheesy dialogue/moments. But like Percy Jackson which has those faults what saves the series is the enjoyment factor. It's just entertaining and doesn't try to hard and you get the feeling the author is just having fun. I dig that.
I also frankly just love Gwen. She's a great main character. She's flawed but no so much you want to smack her, she's endearing, she's sassy and proactive, and has more on her mind then who to date. She's just enjoyable and refreshing in a sea of mopey clingy main characters who tend to not do much. Plus there are other enjoyable characters such as Daphne and new guy Oliver.
While this mystery was rather more obvious it did lead into a much larger arc and I'm greatful that the author is not going to drag out the moping after Logan thing because that would have gotten annoying quickly. So I give this series isn't perfect and has tropes and is not original. But is darn fun.
WHO SHOULD READ: Veronica Mars fans, Percy Jackson fans,
MY RATING: Four out of Five skis

2011-12-10T12:09:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Goblin War
Book 3 in the Goblin Wood series
AUTHOR: Hilari Bell
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: The goblins and Mekenna finally make their move.
MY REVIEW: I'm not sure what I was expecting with the final goblin book but honestly I know I wanted something more then this. It's not bad. It's Bell's usual great writing and imagination. The problem is it's just BORING.
I mean part of the draw for Goblin Wood was the complex Mekenna/Tobin relationship. But here they're seperated throughout the whole thing and get very little conclusion at the end and that was a big disappointment for me though I probably should have expected it because Bell doesn't really do romance at like all.
While it was a perfectly decent book it was just boring and slow and reading those short pages felt like it dragged on forever. Honestly I've become less then enamoured with Bell's conclusions lately. I like her first books but her continuations tend to leave a lot to be desired.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hilari Bell fans, fans of Goblin Wood
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five goblins

Book Review: Graveminder

2011-12-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Graveminder
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Melissa Marr
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Paranormal Drama
PREMISE: Rebekkah comes back to her home town when her grandmother is killed and discovers old family secrets.
MY REVIEW: Well apparently imageing is not working on blogger so I'm afraid there aren't any pictures of the cover for you guys today. I hope this is fixed soon. Now I was actually quite excited when I learned Marr was venturing into the adult side of books especially as I considered her YA stuff more adult anyway. Now this wasn't perfect because I found it a bit slow sometimes and I was horribly disappointed with the obvious villain. I mean this is Marr who created fabulous 3 dimensional characters in Wicked Lovely. When you consider that, a 2 dimensional character like Cissy feels like a slap in the face and it sucks because I know this author can do better then that.
But other then those issues this was Marr's usual great writing combined with fascinating world building and great complex character dynamics. Not totally sure how she's making this into a series but I do welcome more books.
So it's not quite up to Marr's usual quality but it's still good stuff. I'm also really excited about the fairy tale series she's got coming out next month. Because Marr tackling fairy tales is pretty much my dream come true.
WHO SHOULD READ: Melissa Marr fans, gothic book fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five graves

Book Review: The Iron Knight

2011-12-07T09:50:00.001-08:00

TITLE: The Iron Knight
Book 4 in the Iron Fey series
AUTHOR: Julie Kagawa
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: faeries, fantasy, romance, adventure
PREMISE: Ash goes on a quest to become human along with Puck.
MY REVIEW: I admit I'm a Iron Fey fangirl mostly due to the awesomeness that was Puck and Kagawa's lovely vivid imagination. That said while I did enjoy this as much as the other books I sort of feel it wasn't very necessary. Seriously you could have just had this as the Epilogue to Iron Queen where Meghan waits for Ash and oh look he comes back and you wouldn't have lost anything huge. I mean was anyone really shocked by anything here? I certainly wasn't. It just felt like a tagged on book and mostly written because there was a contract for four books instead of three.
That said for a tagged on book it was still the fun adventure I've come to expect from Kagawa so I'm not complaining too loudly although I'm a little annoyed that Puck never really got a conclusion out of this. I mean he got like NOTHING. Considering he's my favorite character this annoyed me greatly even if part of me does realize not everyone can wind up happily ever after in a love triangle. They just don't work that way. I still ship Ash/Puck/Meghan threesome though and no one will convince me to do otherwise unless Kagawa comes out with a series for Puck that has him meeting someone that's good for him (hint hint, Kagawa).
So yeah. On one hand this was a tad predictable and sort of felt like a prolonged ending but if you've become a fan like me it's enjoyable still and still has all the elements that gets fans into the series in the first place so there you go. This one was obviously written for the fans and I can't argue to loudly about that seeing as how I am one. But I have to say I'm a wee bit more excited for Kagawa's new series because I'm eager for her to move on to more shiny things. I'll be very interested to see what she does with vampires.
WHO SHOULD READ: Iron Fey fans, Twilight fans, faerie book fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five swords

Book Review: Death Catchers

2011-12-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Death Catchers
New series?
AUTHOR: Jennifer Anne Kogler
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy,
PREMISE: A girl discovers she has visions and is the protector of King Arthur's Last Descendant.
MY REVIEW: This is yet another book that sort of got lost in the summer book review rush. There were seriously a lot of books out this summer so it's no one's fault really. Stuff happens. I'm sad this one got overlooked though because I really liked it. I do understand why it may not have gotten big: no huge release, no dramatic love triangle, and all the other stuff that makes books big nowadays. Plus the ending is a bit frustrating.
But really guys this is a good book. I love the characters (Bizzy RULES and so does Jodi), it's a refreshing take on the King Arthur reincarnation trope even if it does sort of remind me a bit at times of Avalon High by Meg Cabot, and I love Kogler's writing style even if I do want her to work on this need she has to describe people's outfits (although Jodi's outfits were fun).
I understand it might not appeal to the masses and that's fine. But if you're looking for a King Arthurian book that's fun, I totally recomend this (and the previously mentioned Avalon High. Much better then the Disney Channel cock up movie I assure you). I definitely give the author points for creativity and hope she continues this.
WHO SHOULD READ: King Arthur fans, Avalon High fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five visions

Book Review: Angel Burn

2011-12-06T16:05:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Angel Burn
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: L. A. Weatherly
PUBLISHED: 2011 (in US)
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: angels, romance
PREMISE: A girl finds out she is half angel which actually isn't good because angels are hell bent on destroying the human race as well as her.
MY REVIEW: I'm conflicted over Angel Burn to be honest. Part of me loves the unique take on angels. Weatherly is good at writing action and describing things and there is some ingrueing things going on here that kind of make me want a second book like NOW.
However...it had a definite cheese quality too it. The romance was cheesy (but sweet), some dialogue was cheesy, main character was rather Mary Sueish what with the being half angel thing and of course the common Sue trait of never realizing she's beautiful till people (usually her guy) tells her. Sigh.
It was a decent read. I mean I've certainly read worse from the Angel genre but it never really got past just being a decent read. This is worth a check out from the library at least.
WHO SHOULD READ: angel book fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five churches

In My Mailbox (63)

2011-12-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links in this post go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

Amazon:
Got a brand new Kindle Fire with my birthday money! It's wonderful. If anyone has any recs for apps (I already have Angry Birds and author tracker) I'd be most eager to hear them.
Witchblade Chronicles Book 1: Honor Bound by C. J. Archer-Kindle Freebie that looks like a fantasy romance type thing.
Samantha Sweet Mysteries Book 1: Sweet Masterpiece by Connie Shelton-Kindle Freebie. Heard of this series but haven't read it yet now that it's free I might as well try it.

From the library:
The Goblin War by Hilari Bell-Final conclusion in the goblin trilogy.
Wildfire by Karsten Knight-mythology book from this year that next to no one has talked about and thus I'm curious.
Graveminder by Melissa Marr-Urban fantasy by the author of Wicked Lovely. Adult.
Between by Jessica Warman-Paranormal mystery type book that looks interesting.

Book Review: Dark Parties

2011-12-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Dark Parties
AUTHOR: Sara Grant
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian
PREMISE: In a world controlled by the government a girl and her friends fight back in the only way they can.
MY REVIEW: Dark Parties was yet another book with a blink and you'll miss it release. There was a little blog tour when it came out but next to no one reviewed it and I don't understand why, this was good! Granted the romance and teen drama was boring and didn't really add anything to the plot but the actual dystopian part of it made me want to melt into a pile of happy reader goo.
I adore Grant's writing. She doesn't go overboard with prose. It's simple. While it's not terribly subtle at times with her message she does at least have a point with this book. I may be confused about one or two details but the premise was all in all well thought out and really interesting and powerful. While I wanted a wee bit more from the ending it was overall satisfying and I think the author is setting it up for a sequel so I won't complain to loudly about the abrupt ending.
Books like this is why dystopians have sort of become my go to genre for good books. Even ones I was passive about like Across the Universe and Wither are good. Dark Parties is an interesting one that's for sure. I don't know about anyone else but I want more. Hopefully I'm right in thinking there's a sequel coming because I want to know more.
WHO SHOULD READ: dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five snowflakes

Book Review: Deadly Cool

2011-12-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Deadly Cool
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Gemma Halliday
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery
PREMISE: When her ex is accused of murder Hartley does her best to clear his name.
MY REVIEW: This book came out of nowhere and surprised me with how much I loved it. I will warn some that it has some quite frank talk about sex and the fact that teenagers have it. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of talk then this book may not be for you though I will say you're missing out because this book is freaking hilarious and so much fun. Also other then a slight tendancy to name drop it's rather decently written (kudos to author for mentioning Castle).
Hartley is a wonderful MC. She's got personality, uses her brain, doesn't have half a million love interest that she toys with. In fact there's little romance in this, it's mostly her solving the mystery and it is a fun ride my friends. The author has a great character voice going on here, is good at depicting life in high school, and has some utterly brilliant dialogue. True, the mystery becomes a bit obvious by the middle as most of these do, but still it's so much fun and I loved practically all the characters. I even approve of the main couple the author sets up.
I hope this series catches on soon. The next book comes out in Spring of next year and I cannot wait. I found a new mystery addiction. Between this, Mythos Academy, and Clarity I can honestly say it's been a good year for the YA girl detective genre. Nancy Drew would be proud.
WHO SHOULD READ: mystery fans, Nancy Drew fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five magnifying glasses

Book Review: Fury

2011-12-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Fury
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Miles
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, drama
PREMISE: Two teens are targeted by furies.
MY REVIEW: I wanted to like this one so much if only because the author is doing something a little different. There is a delicious creepy factor to this book I love and I found the idea fabulous: furies going after wrong doing teenagers. Cool right?
Aparently not. Because instead of a awesome book about furies which the summary promises we get a book that's mainly about Emily and Chase two selfish teens trying to be popular and all their selfish friends. Furies are not mentioned until like the last fifty pages. Until then it's all yawn worthy teen drama full of unlikeable characters (except for JD who sadly is underused) and angsty romantic shenanigans that I honestly could care less about. I'm sorry but when a summary promises me furies wreaking havoc I expect the book to be about furies wreaking havoc not about the people they target who bring it on themselves anyway and the furies just happen to show up for like ten pages. I just felt very...cheated I guess you could say.
I mean if you like the teen drama then this is your book. But if like me you went into this expecting furies and got teen drama and a brief appearance by furies instead, it's very disappointing. It's not bad, it's just not what it's advertizing and I hate it when summaries promise one thing but give you something else entirely. If there's a purpose okay, but I honestly see no purpose to why I should care one bit about Emily or Chase. Perhaps the next book will explain it but I was just so bored by this one that I most likely will not be bothering with it.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of teen drama books
MY RATING: Three out of Five furies

Book Review: The Necromancer

2011-11-30T15:16:00.001-08:00

TITLE: The Necromancer
Book 4 in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series
AUTHOR: Michael Scott
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Sophie and Josh continue their journey with the Flamels whether they want to or not...
MY REVIEW: Oh this series is such addictive crack for me. I won't lie, the writing leaves a bit to be desired, there are deus ex machinas everywhere, and times it's rather hectic. I totally understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea. But for me it's gold.
It's got everything I love: historical figures (Joan of Arc! Shakespeare! Billy the Kid!), mythology of all kinds not just greek, historical references, and imagination up the wazoo. You would think all this stuff together wouldn't work but Scott does it such a way that is a kind of genuis in it's own right. Plus characters are interesting and complex. Particularly the Flamels.
No, these aren't perfect books. But like Percy Jackson what drives it is sheer entertainment and enjoyability factor. Sometimes that can trump other stuff if the author works it right and this author most certainly does.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first three books, Percy Jackson fans, history buffs, mythology fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five runes

Book Review: Spellbound

2011-11-29T10:34:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Spellbound
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Cara Lynn Shultz
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: A girl meets the love of her life at her new school but learns that the two of them are cursed.
MY REVIEW: A review of this book over at Goodreads mentioned that UF/Paranormal romances are becoming the Harlequin romances of YA and as much as I hate to admit it, I think they're absolutely right. While there certainly is nothing wrong with formulaic titles like that (I've enjoyed many in my day) it doesn't make for a very memorable book either.
There isn't anything really wrong with Spellbound. It's average. Average writing, likeable characters (I particularly loved Angelique and Cisco and if I continue reading this series it'll be solely for them), average UF settings, tropes abound, sometimes cliche dialogue, and so on and so forth. There's nothing really horrible about it. But at the same time there's nothing fantastic about it either. It's a fine light read of escapism but that's honestly about it.
It's honestly a pretty forgettable book. I'd recomend checking it out of the library first to see if it's for you but really if you don't you're not missing much.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Twilight, romance fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five school uniforms

Book Review: Dark Souls

2011-11-28T12:08:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Dark Souls
AUTHOR: Paula Morris
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal
PREMISE: A girl who sees ghosts travels to York with her parents.
MY REVIEW: Dark Souls like Ruined, will probably not appeal to everyone. It really appealed to me because I freaking love ghosts and the way Morris does them is fantastic. I also love the history she goes into and the way she adds in a personal element with the main character. Plus some of the scenes she comes up with are well...haunting if you'll forgive the pun.
But at the same time the books are a little slow and the style of writing is a wee bit flat. I do understand why they haven't really caught on. There's no real love triangle, and it doesn't have many of the things that draw teen readers in nowadays. Which is fine, to each their own I like to say. But personally I love that Morris doesn't do that. She's old school ghost story teller and I am a huge fan of the old school ghost stories.
If you're a fan of ghosts I say definitely pick this up. Also check out Ruined which is just as fabulously creepy and atmospheric as this one only it's in New Orleans. As for Morris, I hope she does more ghost stories to feed my addiction.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that liked Ruined, ghost story fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five York bars

In My Mailbox (62)

2011-11-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week.

Bought:
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake-Managed to snag a barely used copy of this for FIVE BUCKS at my local used book store. Score! Especially as I've been dying to read this one.

Weekly library haul:
Dark Parties by Sara Grant-There was a smallish blog tour of this book when it was released but other then that I really haven't heard anything about this new dystopian book.
The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler-Another book that literally has had no reviews and sounds really interesting.
Hartley Featherstone series Book 1: Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday-mystery that sounds a bit like Veronica Mars which is good for the author because I loved that show.
Fury by Elizabeth Miles-Reviews for this book were really mixed and that made me curious because I'm always interested in what can get such different reactions from people. Sometimes this works out well for me and sometimes it doesn't. We'll see how this one goes.

That's all for me! What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Supernaturally

2011-11-26T10:10:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Supernaturally
Book 2 in the Paranormalcy Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kierstan White
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Evie's new life isn't turning out how she expected and that brings her right back to IPCA...
MY REVIEW: All the other reviews I've read of this said the book was fine but they missed old Evie and that she was depressed in this. To that, I say huh? Okay, yes she did mope a few times more then she did in the first but those times were perfectly warranted. I mean her life wasn't going how she planned, Lend was gone half the time, faeries were after her, and oh yes she learned everything she thought she knew about herself was a LIE. It would have been unrealistic if she was cheerful throughout the whole book. She hardly got to Bella Swan levels and she still was delightfully snarky and took care of business. So sorry I don't understand this complaint at all.
This did everything a second book in a trilogy should do: expand on character background/world, introduce new elements (Jack was AWESOME well...until that one part), new complications, and sets up for the next book perfectly. It was fast paced, was fun and had White's trademark cheeky humor that I loved from the first book.
In short I loved this just as much as Paranormalcy. No sophomore slump here folks. The next book comes out next year and will be the last book. While I'll be sorry to see Evie and Lend go, White has a new series she's working on and I can't wait.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Paranormalcy, Buffy fans, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five pink tasers

Book Review: The Body at the Tower

2011-11-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Body at the Tower
Book 2 in The Agency series
AUTHOR: Y. S. Lee
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, mystery
PREMISE: Mary investigates a murder at a construction site.
MY REVIEW: Many have said this isn't as good as the first and I have to say I sort of agree. Granted, it's still good. But it was sort of slow and missed that spark that the first book had.
But it was still well written. Had wonderful historical stuff in it. I still love Mary to pieces even if I find her a bit Sueish. Also James/Mary forever am I right?
Plus it's just so nice reading an old fashioned YA mystery. Not enough of those.
I sort of think this was just a sophomore slump and that the next book we're going to get more of a juicy personal mystery like the last book. At least I hope that's the case because I am horribly fond of this series and want it to continue.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first book, mystery fans, historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five ladys gloves

Book Review: Divergent

2011-11-24T12:13:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Divergent
Book 1 in the new Divergent series
AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
PUBLISEHD: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, action, drama
PREMISE: In a world divided by factions, Tris learns she's suited for three and soon becomes involved in a revolution that will change her world.
MY REVIEW: I admit I was skeptical of Divergent mostly because most of the raved about dystopians this year I just haven't been a huge fan of. Now yes, Divergent isn't totally original. It's dystopian and those ar dime a dozen these days and sometimes while reading it I sometimes felt like I was reading a redux of Hunger Games but with a lesser thought out world. Also villains were obvious from the get go and the romance felt like an afterthought because the author felt we would expect it or something. But for the most part this is a really good book.
While I did wish for more explanations on how this world came to be I did find it really interesting. Also look ma, actual plot! That DOESN'T revolve around a love triangle/romance. How refreshing to see a dystopian that actually is dystopian and not really a romance that just happens to be set in a dystopian environment. Plus I just want to hug Roth because of her good writing and that she's not afraid to have her heroines be bad-ass but also flawed. I even got some hints of a personality from the love interest! Not much because we don't really spend much time on that angle but at least I see some sort of basis for this relationship even if again, it felt like a afterthought.
A few issues aside (that I'm hoping get solved in the next one) this was a darn good book. I am really looking forward to the next one. I see why people went gaga over this. For those interested, the next book Insurgent comes out in May of next year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hunger Games fans, dystopian fans,
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five guns

Book Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset

2011-11-24T11:56:00.001-08:00

TITLE: The Girl in the Steel Corset
Book 1 in the new Steampunk Chronicles
AUTHOR: Kady Cross
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: steampunk, historical fiction, romance, action
PREMISE: A girl with violent powers meets up with a group who has strange powers of their own in historical alternate universe England.
MY REVIEW: If you picture X-Men in a Steampunk world then this is what you come up with. I honestly have a love/hate relationship with this book. I love the world Cross has created here. It's so nice having kick-butt heroines as well as guys, there was no demeaning relationship stuff, it was a clear plot, and some stuff was enjoyable such as banter between characters.
However I cannot stand the writing style. Cross is one of those tell don't show authors. She'll have something happen and then whoever is speaking will tell us what they feel even though from the dialogue that was just spoken I can pretty much already guess it. Literally it felt like the author was holding my hand and telling me I was supposed to feel this about this situation/character and I seriously HATE when authors do that. I am not stupid I can figure out how a character feels from their actions and please let me form my own opinions about characters. It just felt so amateurish so imagine my surprise when I learned this author has apparently written like twenty adult books. It's good when she's describing things and during the action scenes but dialogue and in between parts are very awkward feeling.
Also it's predictable. Not one twist in here I was surprised by. Saw the couples forming. Saw the twist at the end the minute they talked about the Queen Victoria automaton being stolen (seriously, there's a similer plot of this in The Great Mouse Detective which is a DISNEY movie). The entire plot sans world was just unimaginative. I also didn't care for Finley much because she was a giant Mary Sue. Though I did like Emily.
This is just a book I wanted to love more then I did because it has all sorts of things I like but it was just so...cliche. Because of where it ended I will most likely look into the second one but I expect a better plot next time around. It's not bad persay, it just doesn't try very hard.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that don't mind simple plots, steampunk fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five automatons

Book Review: Imaginary Girls

2011-11-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Imaginary Girls
AUTHOR: Nova Ren Suma
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: paranormal, drama
PREMISE: Chloe always believed her sister about everything. But then events happen to make her question everything she knew.
MY REVIEW: It's hard for me to review Imaginary Girls because I'm so conflicted by it. A large part of me wants to gush over it. I mean the writing is great, it's imaginative, and it's unlike anything I've read this year. I do seriously want Suma to stick around and give us more well written intrigueing books.
However another part of me cannot ignore the fact that the ending left a lot to be desired. I also didn't particularly care for the characters (particularly Ruby who I wanted to smack upside the head and tell her to get over herself). Plus I was left with a lot of questions by the end. Also there's the honest truth that this book will not appeal to everyone. It's something you'll either love in the extreme or hate in the extreme. Or you'll be like me and you'll not know WHAT you think of it.
So I can't give this book a total pass because there are issues. But I also can't dismiss it because damn there was some good writing here. I guess it's just one of those books you'll have to check out from the library for yourself and see if you like it.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that don't mind quirky books or flawed characters
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five red ribbons

In My Mailbox (61)

2011-11-20T16:09:00.001-08:00

Another late one. Sorry. This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what books we've recieved over the week. All the links go to the books Amazon page if you want more info.

Just weekly library haul:
The Agency series 2: The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee-I love this series which is a historical mystery sort of thing about a girl spy in victorian England. Tell me that's not awesome.
Dark Souls by Paula Morris-Paranormal book. I really liked Morris' first YA book, Ruined so I picked this one up.
Divergent Book 1 by Veronica Roth-FINALLY got this off reserve. I really hope this is good and is not a case of overhype.
Spellbound Book 1 by Cara Lynn Shultz-Urban fantasy? type thing that looks interesting. Haven't heard much about it.

That's it for me. What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss

2011-11-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Anna and the French Kiss
AUTHOR: Stephanie Perkins
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: realistic fiction, romance, drama
PREMISE: Anna gets sent to a Paris boarding school and finds herself wrapped up in a boy who won't go away.
MY REVIEW: Let's be clear, Anna is not a ground breaking novel. But it is a very well written contemporary romance and those are so few and far between that I understand why people went gaga over it last year. I myself am not a huge fan of contemporaries. It's just not my genre, which is why you don't see many of them reviewed on this blog. So the fact that I managed to enjoy this gives a lot of credit to Perkins.
I adored her writing in this. Oh so much good dialogue. She manages to find that wonderful balance between being funny, sweet, and have good character all at the same time. Yes some of the teen drama was a little cliche but it was well done cliche so I didn't particularly mind it. Also I actually liked the couple! Finally a canon couple I can root for. Also it was pretty hilarious. I loved the scene with the Girl Scout cookies in particular. Nothing brings teens together like Girl Scout cookies ;) And yes, Tagalongs are the best thing ever. Sadly those lovelies don't come until after my birthday.
So Anna doesn't get many points for originality. But Perkins does get many points for being a darn good writer. I look forward to reading Lola and the Boy Next Door and anything else she has in store for us. Also apparently John Green mentored her or gave input to this? If that's the case I really need to check out his stuff now too. I was going to anyway but now I really want too.
WHO SHOULD READ: romantic comedy fans, Meg Cabot fans, Sarah Dessen fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five eifle towers

Book Review: Nevermore

2011-11-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Nevermore
Book 1 in the Nevermore Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kelly Creagh
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Paranormal romance
PREMISE: Isobel gets paired up with Varen much to her dismay. But the more she gets to know him the more she's drawn to him and he winds up shaking up her entire world.
MY REVIEW: I had no clue what to expect from Nevermore other then, I knew it had to do with Poe which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I will say my one or two minor issues is that the romance between Isobel and Varen felt rather rushed to me and I still don't get why they're in love but at least it's a bit of a decent couple even if I don't get the relationship. It's definitely a decent friendship at least. Also some of the popular kids were stereotypes.
Other then that, I loved this book to death. Creagh has nice simple prose and utterly fantastic dialogue. She's a clear writer, she knows how to keep you turning the pages, and her characters are a delight. Seriously, Gwen is the best thing ever, only possibly topped by Danny. I even grew to like Isobel though it was a bit tough at first. I also admit there is a sexiness about Varen even if I wish we had gotten more of his character and his backstory. I'm hoping stuff like how he got into the world will be better explained in the next book.
Creagh has created something unique here that is creative and fun to read. I really can't wait to read the next book now. Luckily I won't have long because it comes out in January of next year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Edgar Allen Poe fans, fans of Twilight, anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five Poe poems

Book Review: Angelfire

2011-11-18T20:37:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Angelfire
Book 1 in the new Angelfire series
AUTHOR: Courtney Allison Moulton
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: angels, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: A girl discovers that monsters are after her soul...
MY REVIEW: Angelfire was kind of a ride for me. Most of the time I liked it but then there were a few times when I was like "really?". But a majority of my feelings for this book are positive. My issues mostly come from a few typos here and there, a bit of a rushed romance, and after a bit scenes felt repetitive.
But for the most part, really decent debut. This is coming from someone who is not really a angel book fan. The author actually did some research into mythology here though so the angel stuff didn't bother me as much and she actually even talked about religion! Wierdly I've noticed a lot of angel books avoid that topic even though their subject matter sort of automatically brings it up anyway because hello ANGELS. Hello, Charlie. Sorry, couldn't resist ;) Moulton also has decent writing, her characters actually have some personality (although I did feel there was some name-dropping going on sometimes), and the action is really well done.
So not a bad book considering how much I'm not a fan of angel books. I was mostly just happy that the female actually DID something in this book besides fall in love. Will definitely be picking up the second one after that ending. I hope Moulton sticks around, she's got creativity.
WHO SHOULD READ: Angel book fans, Buffy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five swords

Book Review: Hereafter

2011-11-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Hereafter
Book 1 in the new Hereafter series
AUTHOR: Tara Hudson
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal romance
PREMISE: A ghost saves the life of a boy and finds herself caught in the middle of a war.
MY REVIEW: Hereafter is not a horrible book. There are some good things in it. I found the actual plot part surrounding the mechanics of ghosts and the war quite interesting and unique. Unfortunately the author apparently didn't think this was important and instead focused on the cliche poorly done insta romance.
Ugh, I'm so tired of this trend. You have this really interesting world, why on earth are you focusing on the poor part of your story? If authors would actually develop their romances then okay, I wouldn't mind it so much. But no, this one was just as cliche as ever. It did not help that I had no real feelings towards the main character or her leading man anyway. I personally found Eli far more interesting but he was firmly kept in one-dimensional villain land.
I'm sort of hoping the plot becomes more of the focus in the next book now that all of the sappy I love yous have gotten out of the way in the first one. So I'm not totally shrugging off this series. It's okay. It just needs a lot of work. Particularly in the character developement and plot part. Here's to hoping the second one is better.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, ghost book fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five wild raves

Book Review: Texas Gothic

2011-11-15T10:08:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Texas Gothic
AUTHOR: Rosemary Clement-Moore
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery, paranormal
PREMISE: Amy is stuck house-sitting in Texas with her wacky sister and finds herself unwillingly dragged into ghost-hunting again.
MY REVIEW: I wish more people knew about Clement-Moore, her books are so refreshing. She has spunky heroines with personalities, well-developed romances that aren't annoying, and her dialogue is great. Plus, she thinks outside the box and each of her stories are different. This is totally different from her last book, The Splendor Falls.
True, Texas Gothic did drag at some points but for the most part it was a fun entertaining read. I adored Amy and Phin (especially Phin) and the dialogue just sparkles in this book. Seriously, it's hilarious. There are some priceless lines about Nancy Drew in here that were particularly amusing.
I don't know if there'll be a sequel to this or if Clement-Moore will be moving on to something else. Either way I look forward to whatever she has in store for us next.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Splendor Falls, mystery fans, paranormal fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five ghost-hunting machines

Book Review: Fateful

2011-11-14T10:09:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Fateful
AUTHOR: Claudia Gray
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young Adult
GENRE: werewolves, historical fiction, romance
PREMISE: A girl gets drawn into the world of werewolves on board the RMS Titanic.
MY REVIEW: Fateful is a okay book. It's not terribly original (think the Titanic movie with werewolves and even less character depth), it has Gray's somewhat cheesy trademark dialogue/scenes, and the typical insta romance.
It has a few redeeming factors. The plot is somewhat entertaining. The stuff about the werewolves themselves was mildly interesting (but rather hard to believe. I mean all those public attacks and no one on the Titanic put two and two together?) As always Gray is good at setting up scenes and the last bits where she describes the sinking of the Titanic are quite good. But it still felt like an afterthought book that was rather thrown together to meet a contract deadline.
So again, a okay read, just not mind-blowing. Personally I'm more pumped about Balthazars story coming out next year. Yes, the Evernight series is just as cheesy as this, but it's a fun cheesy and more thought out. Plus, Team Balthazar y'all. Hopefully he'll find someone that actually appreciates him this time around.
WHO SHOULD READ: Claudia Gray fans, fans of Titanic
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five daggers

(In My Mailbox (60)

2011-11-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the past week.
Late again, blame my job. Only have my weekly library haul because I was good and didn't buy books:

Nevermore Trilogy Book 1 by Kelly Creagh-I've been wanting to read this paranormal book dealing with Poe for ages and now I finally can.
Angelfire Book 1 by Courtney Allison Moulton-part of my debut challenge for this year.
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins-Everyone and their mother was raving about this book last year. I normally don't do romance contemporaries (not really my genre) but when a book generates that much buzz, I feel a need to check it out at least. Hopefully it's not a case of overhype.
Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma-paranormal gothic thing that I've been dying to read.

That's it for me. What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Bloodlines

2011-11-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Bloodlines
Book 1 in the new Bloodlines
AUTHOR: Richelle Mead
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: vampires, drama, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Sydney's next job as alchemist is to protect young Jill, the newly discovered royal.
MY REVIEW: I admit, I was nervous when Mead announced a VA spin-off because spin-offs can go two ways: be utterly pointless (see Alyson Noels Immortals series spin-off) or bring something shiny and new to the table. There's usually very little in between room when it comes to spin-offs. Thankfully Bloodlines is the bring something shiny and new to the table type of spin-off. I was beyond pleased with this book. True some plotlines had me feeling deja vu (the Lauren bullying line is similar to the bullying in VA book one, Jill sometimes felt like book one Vissa and so on). But the deja vu was few and far between.
Mead is smart in putting this in Sydneys point of view. She's vastly different from Rose so we don't feel like we're getting Rose 2.0. We get an inside look into the way Alchemists work which is great because I was interested in them from the moment they were introduced in the VA series. Plus we learn more about Sydney herself and we get new perspectives on old characters. Plus previous side characters like Jill and Eddie get to take the spotlight this time around. Also, more Adrian. That's always a plus.
In short I loved this just as much as Vampire Academy. I'll even go as far as to say it's a little better then VA because Mead's writing has matured since book one. If you loved Vampire Academy you will love Bloodlines. If you haven't checked out VA yet, this is a good time to do so. You can probably read Bloodlines without reading VA, but you won't get as much from the book probably because there's a lot of tidbits in here for VA fans.
WHO SHOULD READ: Vampire Academy fans, vampire fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five tattoos

Book Review: The Near Witch

2011-11-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

TITLE: The Near Witch
AUTHOR: Victoria Schwab
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, paranormal
PREMISE: When children disapear from her small town a girl investigates the local legend of the near witch.
MY REVIEW: There isn't anything really wrong with The Near Witch. It's actually a very decent first book and I hope the author sticks around because she thinks outside the box. It's decently written, has a clear plot, and there are some nice moments here and there.
Unfortunately that's all it was: decent. It just didn't blow me away. Once you figured out where it was going, it becomes very predictable, the romance is okay but nothing special and honestly rather out of no where, and main character wasn't very relateable. Actually at times the main character felt extremely self-rightous. I mean why does SHE have to be the one to investigate? That was never explained clearly enough for my tates. In fact it felt like she did it just to feel important and special and I tend to find self-rightous characters annoying.
This is definitely worth a check out from the library because it's a very good first book. But I wouldn't buy it unless you're really sure you'll love it.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fiction fans, fans of The Coven's Daughter, fans of Chime
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five children

Book Review: Blood Red Road

2011-11-09T09:50:00.001-08:00

TITLE: Blood Red Road
Book 1 in the new Dustlands series
AUTHOR: Moira Young
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, adventure
PREMISE: When Saba's brother is taken by strangers, she goes on a tough journey to bring him back.
MY REVIEW: First I'm going to get off my chest the one huge thing about this book that bugged the hell out of me. Please note, this is mostly a personal preference and therefore doesn't have much to do with the quality of the book. My issue is the no quotation marks thing. Young is not the first to use this style but god do I hate it with a passion. Look, I have no problem with the different way of talking, or no commas or little things like that. But quotation marks help readers know when stuff is dialogue and when it's thoughts. I had to go back and reread several passages of stuff just to be able to tell if it was dialogue or Saba's inner monologue (it didn't help that this was in first person present tense). This does NOT help your book authors. It only serves to irritate readers. So why one earth do you use it? If someone could please explain the reasoning behind this irritating style of writing, please do so because I am at a loss about it. I hope to god it does not catch on like present tense has (I find that irritating enough).
Other then that major irritation, this book was great. Young has a interesting dense world here, the book is a edge-of-your seat page turner along the lines of Hunger Games (though not as good as HG, sorry to say), and while Saba is probably a bit hard to relate too I enjoyed her after awhile. I didn't even mind the rather obvious love interest because the relationship was rather sweet if predictable (plus, Jack was rather hilarious).
I will say I sort of wish this wasn't a trilogy because for me it ended in the perfect place with stuff all tied up so I don't really see the need for sequels. But this is the way of the publishing industry nowadays and at least this world is interesting enough that I don't mind the idea of a trilogy. I do hope in the future books we find out more about the freedom fighter girls because they were seriously interesting to me.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hunger Games fans, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five crows

Book Review: A Touch of Frost

2011-11-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

TITLE: A Touch of Frost
Book 1 in the new Mythos Academy series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Gwen Frost goes to a magical school complete with ancient warriors because of her gift of touch magic. Doesn't mean she's happy to go there. But then a student is murdered and she feels the need to investigate...
MY REVIEW: What happens when you cross Veronica Mars with Percy Jackson and Harry Potter? You get this series. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, I give it's not really original. But it's so darn entertaining that I find myself not caring very much.
Gwen is a enjoyable main character for a change. She's not whiny, she does stuff, is proactive, and goes through some growth. The side characters are just as enjoyable(Daphne was my favorite which considering her obsession with pink is quite different for me). Estep has some decent writing, snappy dialogue, and is good at setting up twisty mysteries that keep you turning the pages.
In short, this is just FUN. Again, not very original or challenging but in a YA world of weepy heroines who obsess over guys, I will take sassy mystery solving Gwen Frost any day. The second book comes out later this month and I can't wait.
WHO SHOULD READ: Veronica Mars fans (watch the show if you haven't seen it), Harry Potter fans, mystery fans, Percy Jackson fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five snowflake crystals

Book Review: Raised By Wolves

2011-11-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

TITLE: Raised by Wolves
Book 1 in the Raised by Wolves series
AUTHOR: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: werewolves, drama
PREMISE: Bryn has lived among the pack her whole life but then a threat shows up that changes her whole view on her family.
MY REVIEW: I have never read Barnes' work before now even though she has been in the YA business for awhile. I heard next to nothing about Raised by Wolves last year either so I really had no expectations for this book. I have to say I was rather impressed with it. Yes, I still maintain that Bryn is a bit of a Mary Sue, and there are deux ex machinas all over this series (like oh look, suddenly a human can rework pack bonds) that did cause me to raise my eyebrow a little. Also romance was yawn worthy.
But on the whole this is a step above the rest of the YA werewolf books out there (yes Nightshade and Claire de Lune, I'm looking at you). It comments on how the whole you must listen to your alpha thing is rather wrong and takes away a person's independance. A few adult werewolf books have touched on this, but not YA ones which believe me, has bugged me to no end. So I was rather ecstatic that this has a girl fighting to be independant and REMAINING that way. Also while Bryn was a Mary Sue, she was at least an enjoyable sue who went through changes and did stuff. Same with the romance, it was boring but it was sweet at the same time. The author tried to have a message in the books, her dialogue was fabulous, she had entertaining side characters (Devon and Lake were AWESOME), and she had a clear and fast-paced plot.
A few deux ex machinas aside, this was a rare enjoyable werewolf book. I'll definitely be picking up the second book and looking into the rest of Barnes' books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans, werewolf fans, Team Jacob fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five of Lake's weapons

In My Mailbox (59)

2011-11-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at the Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. Sorry for lateness. Had family stuff today. As always the links in this post go to the books Amazon page if you want more info.

Downloaded to Kindle:
In the Arms of Stone Angels by Jordan Dane-Downloaded because my library doesn't have it, virtually no one has reviewed it, and I'm really curious about it.

Bought at Barnes and Noble:
Iron Fey series Book 4: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa-Final book! She apparently has a new series starting up next year. Looking forward to it.
Legend of Beka Cooper Book 3: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce-I've been a faithful Pierce fan for YEARS. Do you have any idea how long we Tortall fans have been waiting for this book? Hopefully her next book won't take as long.

From the library inter-loan system:
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore-I really enjoyed this author's first book, The Splendor Falls so I'm looking forward to this one which is a paranormal mystery apparently.
Fateful by Claudia Gray-I adore the Evernight series and this one looks just as fun. I mean it has werewolves. On the Titanic. You know you want to read it.
Hereafter Book 1 by Tara Hudson-Buzzed about book that has ghosts so you know I want to read it (I have a wee bit of an obsession with ghost books).

That it for me. What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Luminous

2011-11-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Luminous
AUTHOR: Dawn Metcalf
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy
PREMISE: Consuela becomes part of the Flow, a fantasy world where she and teens help out the real world. But people start dying in the Flow...
MY REVIEW: I'm having a hard time reviewing this book because I'm very conflicted about it. On one hand, the writing is good, it's very creative, and was actually something new and interesting from the YA genre. For that I give the author utmost props and hope she sticks around.
But on the other hand a lot of it was confusing, Consuela was a bit of a Mary Sue, the romance was lack luster, and did I mention it was confusing? I think that was mostly due to this being the author's first book. So I'm willing to let the confusion go on the account of a lot of it being interesting. But it makes it rather hard for people to get into the book. I myself kept flip flopping between liking and disliking it and I honestly still don't know how I feel about it.
But still: CREATIVITY. In a category full of werewolves/shifters, vamps, faeries, witches, and angels, this book was so refreshing simply because for once, I didn't know what to expect. So I definitely do hope to see more ideas from this author, I just hope she works on fleshing out details more as she grows.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Guardian of the Dead, people who don't mind quirky books
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five butterflies

Book Review: Firelight

2011-11-05T09:48:00.001-07:00

TITLE: Firelight
Book 1 in the Draki series
AUTHOR: Sophie Jordan
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: shifters, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Jacinda is a draki who falls in love with a human who hunts her kind.
MY REVIEW: Damn, I wanted to like this one so much. It does have stuff going for it. The writing is good, the Draki stuff was mildly interesting, and I did find the family dynamics interesting to a point. But I'm sorry, where the hell was all that creativity that people kept crowing about last year? From what I saw it was pretty much same old same old. In fact, this book is basically like another book released the same year at about the same time: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (which I also did not like). I was getting extreme deja vu while reading this.
It doesn't help that like Nightshade, it gave me the old "I'm a powerful girl" song and dance but when push came to shove, Jacinda was like all the other whiny heroines whose world revolved around her guy and when other guys showed up and bossed her around, she took it (and all other girls other then Jacinda were shallow and had no depth according to Jacinda). Also like Nightshade the main point is the "epic romance" that doesn't have much basis and there's not much other plot going on. Also I'm sorry but I wanted to smack every single one of these selfish characters. Jacinda was selfish, her mother was selfish, her sister was DEFINITELY selfish (and a bitch), the Draki were selfish, and the hunters were selfish. About the only one I didn't want to go die in a fire was Will but he was so underdeveloped I didn't gain any real feelings for him at all.
It was just a huge disappointment for me. It's okay if you just want a mindless romance novel. But if you want something good...I'd look elsewhere.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Nightshade, dragon fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five drakis

Book Review: Passion

2011-11-03T19:59:00.001-07:00

TITLE: Passion
Book 3 in the Fallen series
AUTHOR: Lauren Kate
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: angels, romance
PREMISE: Luce jumps from past life to past life in a effort to find answers.
MY REVIEW: Okay I will be the first to admit this series is bad. I seriously don't know why I keep reading it and expecting more from it but there it is. It's like potato chips, I just can't read one. I blame the cliffhangers. So yeah, my opinion on this series is that it's addicting but very mediocre entertainment.
But even by the standards of the Fallen series, this book was pretty bad. I did like the historical stuff but that was it (and honestly the historical stuff was terribly inaccurate). Kate is a decent writer stylistically. She manages to set scenes up well, I can picture everything. That is a talent she has. I just wish her plot and characters were as good as her writing style. This one was especially pointless unless you count the repeating over and over that Luce and Daniel are the epic couple to end all epic couples as a point. I particularly don't.
Nothing was new here. At least the other two had a bit of a point and plot to it. This one just felt like Kate was waffling and writing fanfic till she got the last book done. Honestly this was Fallen's Breaking Dawn book: utterly pointless and obviously just written because there was a contract for more books then was actually needed and to squeeze more money out of a dying cash cow. I will read the fourth one, only to see how the author ends it all. I am in no way expecting it to be epic though.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fallen fans who still love the series
MY RATING: One and a half out of Five face palms for a epic fail

Book Review: Guardian of the Gate

2011-11-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Guardian of the Gate
Book 2 of Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy
AUTHOR: Michelle Zink
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, fantasy
PREMISE: Lia and Alice seperately plot and gear up for the final confrontation.
MY REVIEW: There is honestly nothing hugely wrong with this book. It's just as enjoyable and well written and interesting as Prophecy of the Sisters. Unfortunately it suffered from what I call the second book curse.
Second books in trilogys are tough to write, many authors will tell you that. Any reader will tell you that many second books in trilogys stink, with a few exceptions (Catching Fire, The Two Towers). This is not fair because most second books in trilogy's are really stepping stones to the final book of the trilogy. So to the reader, it feels long and trudging no matter how much the author tries.
That is Guardian of the Gate's curse. It's trying to set up the story for the final book. Therefore it feels long and boring even if it is good and necessary for the plot. I'm hoping the final book will be more exciting which it probably will be.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Prophecy of the Sisters, Gemma Doyle Trilogy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five medallions

Book Review: Hourglass

2011-11-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Hourglass
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Myra McEntire
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal, romance
PREMISE: A girl who sees ghosts learns there are other people like her.
MY REVIEW: The thing with Hourglass is it's a very decent first book. Unfortunately for the author my expectations for this one got so high because of all the OMG this is so creative/unique whatever reviews. I'll be honest: there's nothing new here. This is actually very typical stuff in the YA genre right now. The only real unique thing here is the time travel and I've run into quite a few books with that idea in it in the past few months. Seriously YA ENOUGH WITH THE TIME TRAVEL. You don't use it right anyway so please, don't do it unless you have a plausible legit way/reason for the time travel. While it was slightly better here then from what I've seen it still was a very flimsy idea. Her trying explain it with science, did not help matters.
Other then the fact that I wasn't blown away by creativity like people said I was going to be the book was okay. The writing is decent, characters are tolerable, and the last one hundred pages have twists galore that you don't see coming. I wish the author hadn't spent so much time on the lame romance which was as usual predictable cookie cutter stuff, but all in all it's a decent read.
But I wasn't blown away. So once again, I have to be a naysayer for a popular book. ;sigh; Maybe the second one will be better. I do look forward to more ideas from this author as she matures more in her writing though. Because if this is her first book then we're in for some real good stuff down the road.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of time travel, romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five TARDIS's (the cool way to time travel)

Book Review: Tempest Rising

2011-10-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Tempest Rising
AUTHOR: Tracy Deebs
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Mermaids, romance
PREMISE: A girl goes through changes when she discovers she's a mermaid.
MY REVIEW: The number one problem with this book (other then the juvenile tone to it) is that it's completely unoriginal. All the tropes that have been plagueing YA are in this book: girl discovering she's a magical whatever and of course a uber special magical wahtever? Check. Love triangle? Check. Girl dumping perfectly decent boy for uber hot supernatural because being a human is so lame? Check. Insta-love interest? Check. Girl dumping her whole life for a guy she pretty much just met? Check. Nothing new to see here, folks. Move on.
It doesn't help matters that Tempest is a big Mary Sue (as if the name didn't give that away already) of the whiny and world revolves around guys kind and this novel is predictable as all get out. For younger tweens this is a perfectly okay book. But honestly I wouldn't waste my time because basically if you read the YA genre regularly, you've basically have already read this book. I really wish the mermaid books would step it up. I've yet to read a really good one and why are all of them aimed at the younger crowds? Older people want to read mermaid books too.
WHO SHOULD READ: younger teens into mermaids
MY RATING: Two out of Five gills

In My Mailbox (59)

2011-10-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links in this post go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

I was good this week, only new stuff is the weekly library haul:

Raised by Wolves Book 1 by Jennifer Lynn Barnes-I've been meaning to read Barnes' stuff for awhile now, she has a lot of YA books she's written. Figured I would start with her newest series.
Fallen series Book 3: Passion by Lauren Kate.-Oh Fallen series, why can't I quit you?
Luminous by Dawn Metcalf-checked out mostly for the gorgeous cover.
Dustlands Book 1: Blood Red Road by Moira Young-FINALLY got a copy of this. I've been wanting to read it for ages.

Book Review: Uncommon Criminals

2011-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Uncommon Criminals
Book 2 in the Heist Society series
AUTHOR: Ally Carter
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: adventure, mystery, drama
PREMISE: Kat gets a new Mark: The Cleopatra Diamond but as she soon learns, even thieves get conned...
MY REVIEW: I've made it no secret that I've basically become a Ally Carter fangirl. Could the books be deeper and have better writing? Sure. Okay, yes, the idea of teenagers going around on dangerous heists is probably totally absurd but Carter makes all of this work in such a way that I don't give a damn, I just want to sit in on the adventures Kat has.
The series works due to intrigue, fun characters, great snappy dialogue, and a fast-paced plot that keeps you interested. Doesn't take much concentration, no. But it's still a enjoyable ride. I hope there's more in this series and I can't wait to read the next Gallagher Girls book series which I believe comes out next year which is TOO FAR AWAY.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Heist Society, Gallagher Girls fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five diamonds

Book Review: The Ghost and the Goth

2011-10-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

TITLE: The Ghost and the Goth
Book 1 in the Ghost and the Goth series
AUTHOR: Stacey Kade
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal, drama, romance
PREMISE: Alona hadn't meant to get killed but here she is. Now her only hope is the deadbeat loser goth boy from her school...
MY REVIEW: I didn't expect much from this series. I figured it'd be cute and that would be all there was too it. Now to be clear, it's not phenomenal literature. But it is cute and a heck of a lot of fun. Also for a chick-lit oriented series the writing is not half bad.
The characters are relateable and more importantly are not uber Mary Sues/Gary Stus. They have personalities. One of the reasons I steered clear of this was that I was afraid it was going to turn into one of those popular kids vs goth kids things and naturally popular people would all suck or vice versa which tends to happen in those types of books. But it actually wound up being very balanced and fair to all social groups. It didn't stereotype and pointed out that EVERYONE has issues. Lets face it, that's a rareity in YA nowadays. So there actually was something poigntant going on within all the humor (it was hilarious) and romance (which was actually kind of decent all though it could have been developed better).
In the end I think this is a fun book and I'll definitely be picking up the second and anything else Stacey Kade has to offer (I believe she writes adult novels?). If you're tired of vamps and werewolves and want good old fashioned ghosts, give this one a try.
WHO SHOULD READ: ghost book fans, fans of The Mediator series
MY RATING: Four out of Five ouji boards

Book Review: Uglies

2011-10-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Uglies
Book 1 in the Uglies series
AUTHOR: Scott Westerfield
PUBLISHED: 2005
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, adventure
PREMISE: Tally can't wait to turn sixteen and finally be a Pretty but there's a snag in her plans: she has to betray a friend in order to do it.
MY REVIEW: Long before Hunger Games Westerfield was ahead of the game by writing a dystopian series. Sadly because they're everywhere now, this doesn't feel as fresh and as new to me as I'm sure to people who read it when it first came out. I sort of wish I found it before the dystopian trend happened. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. It's still a very good book either way.
Westerfield has become a favorite author of mine recently after discovering his Levianthan/Midnighters books. He's been around a few years and for good reason. His writing is solid, he's creative, he has good relateable characters, he helps teens think about issues without pandering or condescending to them.
So yes, because of the dystopians all out nowadays it doesn't feel new and shiny but this is definitely a solid book and I see why so many recomend it. Really looking forward to reading the rest of these.
WHO SHOULD READ: Westerfield fans, dystopian fans, Hunger Games fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five Pretties

Book Review: 13 to Life

2011-10-24T12:52:00.001-07:00

TITLE: 13 to Life
Book 1 in the 13 to Life series
AUTHOR: Shannon Delaney
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: young adult
GENRE: werewolves, mystery, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: When Pietr comes into town he messes up Jessie's quiet life.
MY REVIEW: Okay admitedly I had low expectations for this series. While it did now blow me away, I was a lot more impressed then I thought I would be. The thing that hindered the book for me was the teen drama/romantic shenanigans. Seriously, I'm beginning to think YA authors should just cut out romances entirely now because lately all the books I've read have had their quality lowered by the insiped romance.
But when this book did not focus on the yawn worthy teen drama it knocked it out of the park. I was intrigued by the mythology, I dug the character stuff, even while the romance bored me to tears I did sort of find myself liking the main couple, and the writing was actually kind of good. The only thing that bothered me, other then the insepid romance was the Jessie/Sarah thing. That made NO SENSE whatsoever. You seriously expect me to believe someone is going to try and be your best friend after you've been a bitch to them before and you KILLED THEIR MOTHER? No one is that much of a good person. Also I'm sorry, but why the hell isn't Sarah in jail?! I don't care how old you are or if the family forgives you, you kill someone in a accident you do time. It's a little thing called involuntary manslaughter and yes, teens can be convicted of it I believe or at the very least get sent to Juvie. That whole scenario made no sense whatsoever.
Other then those issues I dug this book a lot more then I thought I would. Will definitely be picking up the next two books in the series. I just hope there's more focus on plot and less on teen drama in the coming books.
WHO SHOULD READ: werewolf fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five russian dolls

In My Mailbox (58)

2011-10-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. All the links here go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

Bought at Barnes and Noble:
Song of Fire and Ice Book 2: A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin-If you have not read this series yet, do so. The hype is actually right about this one.
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series Book 4: The Necromancer by Michael Scott-It makes me sad that this series doesn't get as much buzz as it deserves. If you've never heard of it, read the first book The Alchemist.

From the library:
Heist Society Book 2: Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter-If you have not checked out Heist Society or Gallagher Girls yet, do so now.
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs-Mermaid book thing I've been meaning to check out.
The Ghost and the Goth Book 1 by Stacey Kade-Finally got ahold of a copy of this via interlibrary loan. Been wanting to read it for a while now.
Hourglass by Myra McEntire-YA debut that got a lot of buzz this year that I'm eager to read.

That's it for me this week. What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Born at Midnight

2011-10-22T14:30:00.001-07:00

TITLE: Born at Midnight
Book 1 in the new Shadow Falls series
AUTHOR: C. C. Hunter
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, mystery
PREMISE: A girl gets sent to a camp for abnormals like werewolves, faeries, witches, and vampires.
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing, Born at Midnight isn't horrible. It's very relateable for teens I suspect. There is a interesting enough plot in the background. I also rather enjoyed Della and Miranda. Even the writing is somewhat decent.
However it's what I call a safe book. There isn't anything new or groundbreaking going on here. It feels like a mish mash of Percy Jackson/House of Night/Twilight. Also I found Kylie and her constant flip flopping between guys to be VERY IRRITATING. Seriously, do teen girls really act like this nowadays? I haven't been a teen for some time so I don't know for sure but in my day if a girl did the stuff Kylie did with three guys like she's doing in this book, well I'm sorry she would have been called a slut. Which is ironic considering how many times Kylie herself calls other girls a slut but the other girls aren't flirting with three guys at once (hence why this reminded me of House of Night). Granted I'm in the midwest but still...the book felt preachy a lot which I found strange considering the characters didn't exactly practice what the book was preaching. Stuff like this and the sex/drug/cursing talk just sort of made the book feel like it was trying too hard to be cool you know? Also can we say sloppy world building? Kylie herself while never getting to Zoey Redbird heights had the tendency to be Mary Sueish and a hypocritical one at that.
For a first book it's okay and there is enough here that I may be picking up the second book. But I just think the author could stand for a lot of improvement and could we have a little less focus on multiple love interests and more focus on the far more interesting plot part?
WHO SHOULD READ: House of Night fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five cabins

Book Review: The Magnolia League

2011-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

TITLE: The Magnolia League
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Katie Crouch
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: witches, urban fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Alex goes to live with her grandmother in the south and learns that she is the heir to a powerful society embroiled in deep magic.
MY REVIEW: I'm somewhat embarressed to admit it, but I really liked this a lot. Why am I embarressed you ask? Because while I liked it, the novel is cheesy. Like almost every YA trope you can think of is in here cheesy. Also it stereotypes a lot. But to the author's credit for every southern/hippie stereotype that was in there she threw in a character who went against the stereotype. Also Alex was a rather frusterating main character who constantly flip-flopped all over the place and once again, it had a boring stock romance that was predictable.
But for all its cheesyness and slightly frusterats something intrigues me about this series. The dynamics between Alex, Hayes, and Madison were interesting too me for one. There's also a somewhat interesting plot here involving magic and there's very interesting world building going on. Writing is also decent but considering the author has written adult books before this I'm not surprised about that. This book just had a lot of stuff in it that tends to make me happy (such as Dex and Madison who are by far the best parts about this thing).
There are definite twists at the end I wasn't expecting and it makes me eager to read the next book. So a fantastic series? No. It's very generic in terms of YA. But it is a entertaining book and not horrible. There's definitely a lot to like here and keep you hooked.
RATING: Four out of Five white gloves for a decent read.

Book Review: Shift

2011-10-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Shift
Book 2 in the Shade series
AUTHOR: Jeri Smith-Ready
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Paranormal, mystery, romance
PREMISE: Aura deals with her complicated romantic life while trying to discover what her and Zachary's birth have to do with the Shift.
MY REVIEW: Okay I admit to loving the first book in this series a lot when it came out last year. Aura was sassy, she was proactive, the love triangle actually made sense and I got how she could be torn between them, and the world building was really interesting. Also ghosts! No one writes about ghosts anymore it seems. So you can understand why I was rather pumped for the second book this year.
Now I'm not saying I was hugely disappointed because this is still a rather good book and I still greatly enjoyed it, but I will say I didn't love it as much as I loved the first book. Part of my issue is the whole ghosts coming to life thing. I've never been a fan of that scenario and while the author did try her darnest to have it make sense a large part of me was still like "really?"
My other issue was Zack and Aura in this book. The way they went about things in this book romantic wise was a overdramatic mess that made me roll my eyes a lot with the melodrama. Granted, still better then half the love triangles out there because at least I understand motivations here and Logan/Aura's relationship is one of the sweeter ones in YA lately (and I dare you not to sniff at what Logan eventually does in the end) but really the romantic shenanigans were vaguely annoying and to me it dragged down the plot a lot.
Still like this series and the author and really looking forward to Shine because the author did leave some very interesting stuff here. Just saying...not as fun and as likeable as the first.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first book, paranormal fans, Mediator fans, ghost fans
RATING: Four out of Five red dresses for a good read that maybe wasn't as good as the first book.

Book Review: Entwined

2011-10-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Entwined
AUTHOR: Heather Dixon
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: retellings, fantasy
PREMISE: A retelling of the classic fairytale the Twelve Dancing Princesses.
MY REVIEW: I've been waiting for a good retelling this year. Most of them have just been passe so far though. But this one I just loved so much. It's well written, stays true to the fairytale but also offers new insight to it, is fun, and has decent character developement. True being a retelling it has a predictability factor and the romance didn't really do anything for me as cute as it was. But all in all I really enjoyed this one.
One thing it did that I liked was that it actually went into the father's relationships with the princesses because honestly that has always been something that I wish more of the Twelve Dancing Princeses did. I've always been intrigued by the King with these twelve daughters who probably had no clue what to do with them. It also gave motivations for why the girls danced in a obviously evil place to begin with and so on. Also the sister relationships were fabulous. For the record, Bramble is made of total win in my book.
If you've been looking for a fairytale retelling this is one of the better offerings this year.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairytale, fairytale retellings fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five dancing slippers

Book Review: Awaken

2011-10-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Awaken
I believe this is the start of a new series?
AUTHOR: Karen Kacvinsky
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: dystopian, drama, romance
PREMISE: A girl in the future meets a boy who tries to get her to see past her society's reliability on technology.
MY REVIEW: Let's face it, thanks to the success of Hunger Games, dystopians have sort of become the new vampires. They're everywhere (and thankfully most of them are better then the vampire genre). So it's easy to see why people probably overlooked Awaken this year. It's a shame too, because I think this is one of the better ones. Yes, the romance is rather obvious and probably not as interesting to people as say Matched but the good writing and character developement going on in this more then make up for the lackluster romance which while the poorest part of the book is still decent at least. I mean it's rather refreshing having a guy encourage a girl to be more independant and not rely on him.
It does sort of hit you over the head with the don't rely too much on technology message but this dystopian had what the more popular Matched and Wither did not for me: a actual plausible world. I can picture this world happening. Also one of my issues with Matched/Wither was that I couldn't see how people let things come to the way they were (especially in Matched when it was clear people weren't happy with the society but they didn't DO anything either) in this one the author gave plausible reasons for how this world came to be and why people let it continue. That's the trick with dystopians for me: making people believe that this world could happen. Some dystopians succeed very well in this while others...not so much.
This is like Delirium where it's quieter then most dystopians and I honestly don't mind that. I don't know if the author is making this a series/trilogy but considering the way it left off I'm pretty sure she is. Or I hope she is because no way can you leave it like that. Either way, I'm definitely keeping an eye out for this author's stuff in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: dystopian fans, fans of Delirium, fans of Matched,
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five computer consoles

Book Review: Wrapped

2011-10-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

TITLE: Wrapped
AUTHOR: Jennifer Bradbury
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, mystery
PREMISE: A girl investigates a curse in victorian england.
MY REVIEW: I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book going in. There were next to no reviews about it, I've never read the author's other book Shift and the summary wasn't really informative. Thankfully this turned into a pleasant surprise book. Granted there were a few things I found iffy such as the plausibility of it all, the one dimensional and obvious villain, and it is guilty of dragging a bit.
But on the whole this was a fun historical fiction book which is good because I've been rather disappointed by the historical books this year. Really guys, what's up with this genre this year? It was so nice last year and you have so many this year so really, what gives? But this one was one of the better historical offerings of the year. The main character is pleasant, while the romance is obvious it's sweet and fun so I don't mind it, the mystery is fun and it combines two things I love: victorian england and ancient egyption stuff. Got to give the author kudos for pulling that off in a slightly believable way. Also the writing was actually decent.
While it is a slightly quieter book then YA readers are probably used too these days I dug this and will now be looking into the author's other book, Shift.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fiction fans, ancient egypt fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five curses

In My Mailbox (57)

2011-10-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren that tells people what new books we've gotten over the week. Since I haven't been able to do this for two weeks (darn work...) I'm going to include bought books from the last two weeks as well as this week. As always all the links in this post go to the book's Amazon page if you want more info.

Downloaded to Kindle (aka I love the new monthly deals thing they're doing way too much):
Pretense for Murder by Karen L. Abrahamson-Freebie that's a mystery with a paranormal twist apparently. Some point in time I will start to actually get to all these mysterys I download...
The Bloodhoud Files Book 1: Dying Bites by DD Barant-UF I've been curious about. Currently on sale for 2.99
The Paranormals Book 1: Jenny Pox by JL Bryan. Currently a freebie. Another UF thing.
Night Huntress Book 1: Halfway to the Grave by Jeanine Frost-One of the many UF book series I'm trying out. Now currently 1.99 on Kindle.
Mistborn Book 1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson-I've heard many good things about this adult fantasy/steampunk series. It's now back to regular pricing though.

Bought at Barnes and Noble:
The Steampunk Chronicles Book 1: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross-I've been eager to read this one for awhile and I finally gave into that gorgeous cover. ;pets the pretty;
Paranormalcy Trilogy Book 2: Supernaturally by Kierstan White-FINALLY got my hands on a copy of the sequel to one of my favorite books from last year. Can't wait to finally read it.

From the library this week:
The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch-Apparently about witches which is why I picked it up. We need more YA books about witches.
Shadow Falls Book 1: Born at Midnight by C. C. Hunter-Paranormal thing that looks interesting.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick-I read this way back when it first came out and remember loving it. I'm super pumped for the movie (coming out on my birthday!) and am rereading it to refresh my memory.
Shade Book 2: Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready-Shade was another favorite from last year so I'm really eager to get to this one.

That's all for me! What did you get in your mailbox?

Book Review: Mercy

2011-10-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Mercy
Book 1 in the Mercy Trilogy
AUTHOR: Rebecca Lim
PUBLISHED: 2011 (in US)
CATEGORY: Young Adult
GENRE: angels, urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Mercy goes from body to body in exhile helping humans better their lives.
MY REVIEW: If I can sum up one word for this novel, I would say pretentious. It felt like the author thought she was doing this great thing when really all it was is just another cheesy YA angel book. Granted, there is some creativity and ideas going on here. I was intrigued at first by the mystery of the sister, Mercy's purpose, and the main plot idea. But all that is derailed by tropes upon tropes and bad writing.
First of all, Mercy is a Mary Sue of the worst kind. She's one of those "I'm deep and all other women are shallow and have problems I must fix for them" type of Sues a la Anita Blake and I seriously hate that. Seriously author you must hate other females don't you? At least that's the conclusion I have to draw when Mercy snarks about other females automatically after only one conversation but miraculously has no problem with guys (who of course all think she's awesome). The amount the B word is used to describe females in this book is ridiculous. Especially when one considers Mercy is supposed to be an Angel. If she's an Angel why does she curse so much, thinks rude thoughts about people who don't praise her, and on one occasion drink? Look, I don't like the goody two-shoes angels either (see my rant about Halo) but this is rather ridiculous.
The book is also not helped by how of course Mercy winds up being special, she has a insta romance with the emo brother who has little to no personality either, I didn't at all understand why Mercy was put into Carmen's body in the first place (insecurity doesn't really seem to be a needs a angel problem), the rushed ending, dragging middle, and again bad writing with cheesy dialogue. Oh, also it pays no attention to angel mythology whatsoever.
It's a shame too, I had such high hopes for this one. But sadly it's yet another angel book that I didn't like. I really need to stop trying these things out so far I've only found like three that I actually like and one of those (Hush Hush) is honestly not that great, it's just a guilty pleasure. Sigh, angel books, why can't you be better?
WHO SHOULD READ: angel book fans, Hush Hush fans, Fallen fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five choirs

Book Review: The Dead and the Gone

2011-10-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

TITLE: The Dead and the Gone
Book 2 in the Last Survivors Trilogy
AUTHOR: Susan Beth Pfeffer
PUBLISHED: 2008
CATEGORY: Young Adult
GENRE: dystopian, science fiction, drama
PREMISE: In other parts of the world in New York we see how young Alex copes with the consequences of the moon being knocked out of orbit.
MY REVIEW: I loved Life As We Knew It which I first read last year on a whim. This book is a bit of a companion to that one. It takes place at the same time but deals with Alex in a different part of the world. I will say I didn't feel as much a connection to Alex as I did to Miranda but his stuff is still as bad as hers, if not worse.
What really gets me about this series is the amount of thought and detail Pfeffer puts into making this feel as real as possible. If this happened, I could totally see this scenario becoming real. It's also really interesting seeing how differently Alex's experiences with it were as opposed to Miranda and it makes sense, different upbringings/places deal with stuff differently. For instance in this one there's a lot of wrestling of faith more then Miranda's because Alex's family was more religious then hers.
So maybe it wasn't as personal as Life as We Knew It but it's still pretty good and just as fascinating to read. I can't wait to finally read the third and discover what happens.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Life As We Knew It, dystopian fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five moons

Book Review: Where She Went

2011-10-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Where She Went
Mia Hall Book 2
AUTHOR: Gayle Forman
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: drama
PREMISE: Adam and Mia meet up years after her accident and a rough break up.
MY REVIEW: Okay I was not as enthralled with If I Stay as everyone else seems to be but this book I'm definitely giving kudos to the author. Granted, it still has that Lifetime Movie feel and I feel it was a little cliche that (spoiler) they found each other again in the end and that made everything worth it. But still this was a lot better for me then If I Stay.
For one, I bet no one was expecting Forman to go this route when they asked her for a sequel. They probably wanted happyness and roses after the accident and I love that Forman wasn't afraid to not give them that. Accidents leave scars and Mia's accident in particular was rough because of all she lost, it would have been unrealistic if she had moved on so easily. I'm glad the author gave everyone flaws and issues and had them work through it in a way that was believable and thoughtful at the same time. For me these books are really interesting character studys and lets face it, we don't get much of that in YA. Plus as a bonus, her writing is really good.
So I give these books a thumbs up even I do find parts of it a bit contrived and cliche the writing and character stuff more then make up for that.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of If I Stay, contemporary book fans, fans of Piccoult
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five cellos

Book Review: The Poison Diaries

2011-10-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

TITLE: The Poison Diaries
Book 1 in the Poison Diaries series
AUTHOR: Maryrose Wood
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, fantasy, romance
PREMISE: A girl who lives with her father in a medical garden finds her life altered when a mysterious boy is brought to their doorstep.
MY REVIEW: Yet another book I wanted to love more then I actually did. There is a lot to like here. I love the gothic feel to it, the research the author obviously did really shows and is explained wonderfully and with good writing, the interesting use of magic and plants, and the themes of loss and innocence and such.
But all that good stuff was hampered by the fact that it drags a LOT. The main female character is pretty useless and has little personality to relate too. The romance is boring and predictable even if it is rather sweet. I sort of felt like this would have been better in Weeds point of view to be honest. Her was pretty much the most interesting thing in the book but we never got a sense of who he was either so it became a bit frustrating.
I am curious to see where this series goes and am looking forward to Nightshade because of where the author left it. I'm hoping that what happened at the end is a way for the female character to actually become stronger and more useful.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of gothic type novels, historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five belladonnas

Book Review: The Time Traveling Fashionista

2011-10-11T10:37:00.001-07:00

TITLE: The Time Traveling Fashionista
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Bianca Turetsky
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, fantasy
PREMISE: A girl tries on a dress and is inexplicably sent back in time to the 1920s on the Titanic.
MY REVIEW: Okay first of all I have to give major kudos to the artist and design of this book. First time I saw it I did a major fangirl. The fashion illustrations are beautiful and the design/packaging of the book are a major happy for this artist. I just wish the story/writing lived up to the beautiful design of the book.
You can tell this is the authors first book. She does all the amateur mistakes: tell don't show, long desriptions of what everyone's wearing/settings because of course that's the important part of the plot, whiny heroine who naturally hates her normal charmed life which is actually very good (seriously, she's even popular!), predictable plot with a lot of conveniances, and it all just shapes up to be a rather dull time travel tale that makes no sense. Seriously I am sick of these random time-travel devices with no explanation for HOW they transport you. I can forgive it on Doctor Who because the Doctor is an alien and time travel is the main purpose of the TARDIS (and they do sort of give plausible explanations for how it works). But why the hell do these random fashionista women have gowns that transport you to random times? How does it even work? Oh and they aren't even going to have the decency to help you leave? I don't think so, author. Try again.
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I love history and fashion, I SHOULD like it. Unfortunately I can't ignore all the huge gaping plot holes in this or the very juvenile tone to the books or how the character is one giant Mary Sue that almost rivals Bella Swan. Honestly the only people I can really recomend this book to in seriousness is maybe younger Gossip Girl fans. Everyone else...I wouldn't bother.
WHO SHOULD READ: younger YA crowd into stuff like Clique/Gossip Girl, fashion gurus
MY RATING: Two out of Five corsets

Book Review: Overbite

2011-10-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Overbite
Book 2 in the Insatiable series
AUTHOR: Meg Cabot
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: vampires, urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Meena gets wrapped up in a vampire plot once again when her ex Lucian returns from hiding.
MY REVIEW: Insatiable was one of my favorites from last year so admitedly I probably had higher then normal expectations for Overbite. Cabot goes an unexpected route with this second book and I have to say, I liked it. I was maybe not totally thrilled with the ending but I like Cabot's tendancy to surprise me. It's why I keep reading her stuff she does things in ways I don't expect and then once I think about it, it makes sense.
One of the things that intrigue me so about this series is not only how it cleverly pokes fun at the vampire genre but how Meena acknowledges Lucian has evil tendancies. One of the most exasperating things in vampire novels for me is how much the female excuses all the bad their vampy boyfriends do by saying "oh there's good in him, really!". While Meena does think there's good in Lucian she does not use that as an excuse for all his a-hole behavior and calls him out on it. She goes, "dude I sort of love you but seriously, what the hell?" It's just so refreshing to see in this genre of excusing bad behavior because you're in love.
This second book felt a bit final so I don't know if we're going to be getting a third book (although that thing with the tourists was never solved...) but if we do I'll be happy and if we don't I'll be satisfied.
WHO SHOULD READ: Cabot fans, vampire fans, those that read and liked Insatiable
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five cross necklaces

Book Review: The Coven's Daughter

2011-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

TITLE: The Coven's Daughter
AUTHOR: Lucy Jago
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, fantasy
PREMISE: A girl gets accused of witchcraft and wrapped up in political plots in historical england.
MY REVIEW: There is a lot to like about the Coven's Daughter. It's decently written, it's creative, and some of the political aspects were very intrigueing. This is a novel that had to grow on me though because it's also rather slow and a bit dull at times.
The romance didn't really do much for me and I found the main character a bit two-dimensional but everything else was really good for a first book. I hope to see more from this author in the future. I just hope she works on making things a little more interesting in the beginning because I imagine there's a lot of people who gave up very early in this book out there.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fiction fans, fans of witches
MY RATING: Four out of Five cauldrons

Book Review: Dark Mirror

2011-10-08T09:19:00.001-07:00

TITLE: Dark Mirror
Book 1 in the Dark Mirror series
AUTHOR: M. J. Putney
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, fantasy, time-travel
PREMISE: In a time where magic is seen as a curse among the rich, a girl is sent to a school to be cured of her magical gift.
MY REVIEW: This book has a lot going for it, I will give the author that. It's creative, the world building is interesting, some stuff is fun, and for the most part I enjoyed it. However there were a few nagging details that kept me from being in love with it.
First the main character is a huge Mary Sue. Not Bella Swan level or anything but she's a bit too perfect for my taste. I also didn't care for the tell don't show sort of writing that the author uses which brought down the book a lot in terms of quality. Also the main romance made no sense to me. They had no chemistry at all. It would have made more sense for her to end up with Jack because at least Jack was mildly interesting and they had some chemistry. I also was rather irritated at the constant villainfication of Cynthia who in my mind was far more interesting then the bland main character. Also the time travel was very random and unneccessary. Honestly, what's with all the time travel in YA lately? I don't mind it but you could at least work out a plausible way for it to happen other then oh hey look, random mirror/object that telaports people! Seriously authors, did you all watch Doctor Who one too many times and decide you wanted time travel in your books or something?
But it's still a decent enough first book and I'm a little curious about where this is going to go. I just hope the author works on the amateurish part of the book and make details more clear because I'm still a bit confused about how this magic thing even works. Very decent library read.
WHO SHOULD READ: historical fantasy fan, fans of time-travel plots
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five time traveling mirrors

Book Review: The Demon's Lexicon

2011-10-07T20:58:00.001-07:00

TITLE: The Demon's Lexicon
Book 1 in the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy
AUTHOR: Sarah Rees Brennan
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, drama
PREMISE: in a world of demons and magic, Nick and his brother Alan have survived on their own by relying on each other. Then two kids show up and change everything...
MY REVIEW: Oh my God, why didn't I pick this trilogy up sooner?! I had heard of it and everyone kept reccing it right and left but I just never got around to reading it. Well I finally saw a cheap copy in Books a Million (seriously best chain store ever. Their bargain book bins are glorious) and picked it up. I'm not sorry I did either.
This book has good writing, interesting characters, engrossing storytelling, action, a wee bit of romance (but not the sappy annoying kind thank god and it's relagated to subplot like romances should be in fantasy books), humor, and most important: creativity. Granted while reading sometimes felt the author went a tad over the top with trying to make her book too edgy. She didn't need to do so because it was a good solid book without all that. Also sometimes Nick angsted a bit too much for my tastes but it never got to Bella Swan levels and he did stuff so I'm not going to complain about that too much.
But seriously if you haven't read this trilogy you totally should. Just be warned, it's dark. If you like happy tales with moral characters or sappy love triangles this is not for you. But if you don't mind darkness in your YA enjoy.
WHO SHOULD READ: Holly Black fans, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five long swords