Book Review: The Bone Season

TITLE: The Bone Season
Book 1 in new series
AUTHOR: Samantha Shannon
PUBLISHED: 2013
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A woman gets pulled into the criminal society when she gets accused of murder...
MY REVIEW: This book is yet another example of why I implore publishers, particularly ones with new authors, to STOP USING OVER HYPE. It does no one any favors, particularly new authors such as this one. Because had I not had all those glowing praises in my head while reading this, I probably would have been more lenient while reading it. However, I kept thinking about how everyone kept going on about how original it was, brilliantly done, yadda yadda and while reading I kept thinking "really? What did they see? Because I don't see it".
Sorry, but I don't. This is actually pretty typical YA trope stuff, just in the adult genre. While it certainly is imaginative....it's what I like to call the uncontrolled imaginative. As in, the author had so many ideas that she put them all in here and didn't think about the fact that all these ideas going on at once don't really make much sense. The result is a world that leaves me completely confused, despite info dump, after info dump. I also couldn't ignore all the flat characters. I literally can not tell you one thing about the main character. Oh, I can tell you her powers, who her love interest is, and that she has a father. But when pressed to describe what she's like personally....I would draw a big fat blank.
Honestly, this felt like a really big rough draft that should have been worked on more. It's entertaining enough to get the job done. But it wasn't nearly worth all that praise it got when it was released. Possibly I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations hadn't been so high. Which is why I repeat: please stop using over hype. You're basically kicking yourself in the nuts doing that.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans who don't mind sloppy world building and lots of tropes
MY RATING: Three out of Five this could have been better sighs

Book Review: Red

TITLE: Red
AUTHOR: Alison Cherry
PUBLISHED: October 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Realistic Fiction...sort of, Parody (was supposed to be anyway)
PREMISE: In a town where redheads are revered, Felicity has a dark secret: she's not a redhead. But if anyone finds out, her popularity is in severe jeopardy.
MY REVIEW: It pains me to say this, but this one was sadly, kind of a mess. I say sadly, because this could have been great. Subversive, at the very least. Unfortunately, it fell entirely flat and that was mostly due to its set up.
I admit, I was wary of this one mostly because the scenario of people discriminating against you for not having red hair (which by the way, is a pretty rare natural hair color) seemed ridiculous. But I gave it a chance because sometimes ridiculous premises can work out well (look at Hunger Games). Unfortunately, this was very much a case of not thought through. Apparently, the redhead thing only happens in this particular town. Apparently, no one in the town thinks it's bizarre when the rest of the world doesn't treat non red heads like dirt. No reason is actually given for why red heads are even considered special! They just are in this place for some reason. Not helping matters, is the main character, who isn't that likable, uses the system to her advantage, and mostly fights just to keep her popularity. Not at all against a system that is wrong. Oh, and the kicker? The blackmailer who is fighting against the system is treated like the horrible one. Oh, the character does go through SOME sort of revelation at the end. But she seriously never out right admits that the blackmailer has a very good point. She's just miffed that she got dragged into all of this.
The biggest surprise for me though, came when I went to do background info on this book. Turns out, this was supposed to be a parody. A parody of what, I don't really know. But apparently it was. The thing about parodies though, particularly written ones, is that I'm supposed to know as I'm reading it that it is a parody. If I don't think it is at all while reading and wind up surprised to learn that it was...that kind of implies that this is not a good parody. This read like a regular book. Not like a parody at all.
So...this was a disappointment all around for me. Cherry's actual writing is okay (has good grammar, dialogue, etc.) and it was a interesting idea...the execution of the story just fell entirely flat.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...honestly, I have no clue who to rec this too, sorry.
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five dyed hair jobs

Book Review: Blythewood

TITLE: Blythewood
Book 1 in a series?
AUTHOR: Carol Goodman
PUBLISHED: October 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy, Faeries
PREMISE: A girl goes to a mysterious boarding school full of secrets.
MY REVIEW: This is yet again, a book that with a lot of polishing/editing, could have been ten times better then what it was. Instead, what we get was a trope ridden, cliche, mess of a book.
Because man, were there tropes in this. Girl with power she can't explain? Check. Mother who has secrets from her daughter? Check. Mysterious guy showing up just in time to save her and becoming love interest? Check. Mean rich girl? Check. Plots that somehow only girl can solve despite there being tons of competent adults around? Check. Magical boarding school? Check. So on and so forth. Everything here was so damn predictable. There was even a forced love triangle. The purple prose writing, did NOT help matters.
All in all, it added up to a dull, overly long, and predictable book. The ending leaves me to believe that the author is planning a sequel of some kind. If there is, she's going to have to step it up a notch to keep people reading.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those who don't mind cliche after cliche
MY RATING: Three out of Five I've seen this plot before feelings

Book Review: The Burning Sky

TITLE: The Burning Sky
Book 1 in the Elemental Trilogy
AUTHOR: Sherry Thomas
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Adventure
PREMISE: Iolanthe gets mixed up into politics when her elemental powers get discovered.
MY REVIEW: You ever have one of those books where you wish you could give it a higher rating, but can't really because of quality level? This is me and Burning Sky. On one hand, it's awesome having more fantasy. I always want to give fantasy authors extra points because coming up with fantasy worlds is freaking HARD. Seriously, try it sometime, it's hard. I am working on one right now and I haven't even begun the actual writing part of the story and I started about six months ago (hence why my reviewing here has been funky as of late).
But...this is a very paint by numbers sort of fantasy? The writing is...average and does a lot of telling instead of showing. A lot of the things that happen are things I've seen done in other fantasy books (complete with the girl passing as a boy in a boys school). Characters weren't terribly complicated. Stuff was... predictable if you've read a lot of fantasy. Maybe stuff will ramp up in book two but honestly this one was a bit...dull, I'm sorry to say. It doesn't help that it drags in the middle. I'm pretty sure you could have cut a hundred pages and nothing would have been lost.
It saddens me, because I have a feeling this could have been much better if there had been more editing/polishing of the story. Unfortunately, taking time with stories seems to be a thing of the past in the publishing world.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five elemental powers

Book Review: Entangled

TITLE: Entangled
AUTHOR: Amy Rose Capetta
PUBLISHED: October 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction, Adventure
PREMISE: A girl's life changes as she learns she was created in a lab.
MY REVIEW: This was a interesting little read. I mostly picked it up because 1) The awesome cover. Kudos cover artist. and 2) There's not much straight up sci-fi in YA (though that has been changing these past few months).
Like I said, this one was interesting. It was mostly about Cade's personal journey and her making connections with people and honestly, it was kind of refreshing reading a story that was mostly about friendship. Some things about it could have used a little work. Such as rushed pace. But mostly, it was an enjoyable read.
This one isn't what I would call a must read though. It was fun and cute but that was about it. Mostly it was just nice for me because it wasn't the usual stuff you find in YA nowadays and I always try to give props to authors who do different things because I appreciate when authors try to break the mold and there needs to be more of that in YA.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those looking for books that aren't strictly about romance, sci-fi fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five guitars

Book Review: The Dark Between

TITLE: The Dark Between
AUTHOR: Sonia Gensler
PUBLISHED: August 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Three teenagers get drawn together in a mystery.
MY REVIEW: I don't really have much to say about this one, to be honest.
It had its good things (historical details, interesting idea) and its bad things (obvious romantic shenanigans, usual YA tropes, typical YA characters). So it made for a interesting but ultimately predictable read.
I'd recommend this to historical fiction readers more than paranormal readers though. The paranormal stuff was there, but it played a really tiny role in the overall plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical fiction fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five ghosts

Book Review: Two Lies and a Spy

TITLE: Two Lies and a Spy
Book 1 in the new Two Lies and a Spy series
AUTHOR: Kat Carlton
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: A girl's parents go missing and it's up to her and her friends to find them. Only they are spies who according to their government are traitors.
MY REVIEW: I'm a little conflicted about this one to be honest. I really like the IDEA of it. I get the feeling the author was going for a Gallagher Girls vibe and was hoping to snag those of us who were missing the series already (Bex! Macy! Come back to me!). However...it doesn't have the wonderful effortless feel that series does.
Sometimes there are these series that just feel like the author is trying too hard to be cool and edgy and that's what I get from this. Only instead of actually being cool and edgy, the book came off like a immature teenager trying too hard to fit in. There was much name dropping, there was teen-speak, etc. While there are some funny moments in it, the characters/dialogue aren't nearly as engaging as some other books (like say Percy Jackson for example).
I liked the concept. There is enough there with the parents where I may be reading the next one. But...it's a bit amateurish.
WHO SHOULD READ: Gallagher Girls fans (who don't mind a slightly lower quality book)
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five teen spies

Book Review: All Our Yesterdays

TITLE: All Our Yesterdays
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Cristin Terrill
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Mystery
PREMISE: A girl goes back in time to change her present and winds up in direct conflict with the past...
MY REVIEW: Time travel has been a thing as of late in YA. Not sure why (too much Doctor Who, maybe?) but there it is. I'll be honest, I haven't been impressed with most of the time travel books either so my expectations for this book were pretty low. It managed to surprise me.
Granted, still a few issues. As with all time travel, the way they travel is flimsy at best. But the author manages to get me to overlook that annoyance by giving a good story. A good reason for time travel in the first place. That's what's been lacking for me in previous time travel YA books: there's no real rhyme or reason for the time travel, it's just sort of there (So Close to You for instance) and it's never really used to it's full potential, it's usually just there to get the heroine to meet the sexy broody guy she's destined to be with.
This one was a pleasant surprise. A few issues with plausibility aside, it was a fun read with a good story that is likely to make me pick up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Science Fiction fans, Time Travel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers

Book Review: Asylum

TITLE: Asylum
AUTHOR: Madeline Roux
PUBLISHED: August 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery, Paranormal
PREMISE: A boy and his two friends dig into the history of the asylum they're staying at for their summer program.
MY REVIEW: You know how sometimes you read a book and you can just tell that a book was pretty much written and released to entice fans of a hugely popular book? In this book's case, the book it's mimicking is Miss Peregrine. Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly impressed with Miss Peregrine (I enjoyed it well enough, but thought the praise was way over-the-top as usual. It was pretty standard YA paranormal fare once you took away the beautiful packaging and haunting photographs). I was even less then impressed with this copy-cat.
There's nothing horrible about it. But...it's not overwhelming either. There's the usual characters in it, who never really venture beyond their stereotypes. The mystery was mildly interesting but nothing to write home about. Honestly, for a creepy book, I was kind of bored by it. You are not supposed to be bored during a paranormal book.
So...it's not the best. The author tries, I'll give her that. But it was kind of just been there, done that for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: Paranormal fans, maybe Miss Peregrine fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five bored ghosts

Book Review: Dancer Daughter Traitor Spy

TITLE: Dancer Duaghter Traitor Spy
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Kiem
PUBLISHED: August 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery, Historical Fiction (still not comfortable with the idea of a book that starts literally the same month I was born, being categorized as historical fiction)
PREMISE: A girl's life is torn upside down when her mother gets caught up in state secrets in Russia during the Cold War.
MY REVIEW: I think I liked the idea of this novel more then the actual execution of it. Come on a spy novel in the Cold War era? Awesome, right? To be sure, the author did do great research into this. I did honestly feel like this was the eighties and she captured the era and feel of the story well.
Unfortunately she takes far too much time to get to the meat of the story so I spent a large part of this novel being really bored. I'm sorry, but Marina's personal life was simply not as interesting as the stuff going on with state secrets and only like a third of the novel was spent devoted to that. The rest was mostly teen drama in a eighties setting. Which, fine, but when you promise me a great mystery and then don't get to the mystery till over half way through...I get irritated.
So, it was a good idea, it just needed better execution and less wandering plot. I do think this author has potential though, because it was interesting. She just needs to work on focusing her plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical fiction fans, those interested in the eighties
MY RATING: Three out of Five leg warmers

Book Review: Prep School Confidential

TITLE: Prep School Confidential
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Kara Taylor
PUBLISHED: July 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Mystery
PREMISE: When her roommate is murdered, new girl Anne goes on the case...
MY REVIEW: Can I just say I'm so happy teen mysteries are a thing again? For awhile it seemed like no one was writing them accept for Sara Shepard with the Pretty Little Liars series and its eighty million red herrings. As a mystery fan this made me sad. But now a few new teen mystery series have gotten started and this makes me very happy.
This is the latest teen sleuth series to start up. I didn't love everything going on it (the oh-so-obvious love triangle, the mean girl stereotyping, etc.) but there was far more good then bad. The mystery was good and even with the roommate's murderer found, there's a larger mystery to be solved. It's all very Veronica Mars and as a huge fan of Veronica Mars, I approve.
So I liked this one and look forward to the next book, coming out in the Spring of 2014.
WHO SHOULD READ: Veronica Mars fans, Nancy Drew fans, The Liar Society series fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five plaid skirts

Book Review: All Our Pretty Songs

TITLE: All Our Pretty Songs
Book 1 in a series
AUTHOR: Sarah McCarry
PUBLISHED: July 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: Two girls who have lived liked sisters find their lives complicated when a boy appears and brings a magical force with him...
MY REVIEW: Ever have one of those books where you just don't know what to make of it? I admit, this doesn't happen to me often. Usually I have a very clear idea of what I like and don't like. But every so often a book will come along where I honestly just don't know how to feel about it.
All Our Pretty Songs is one of those things that is sort of like the writing of Nova Sen Ruma. It's just not going to be for everyone. Actually, now that I think about it, this reminded me a LOT of Imaginary Girls which also threw me for a loop and made me puzzle over whether I actually thought it was good or not. It's got that same sort of writing style that I know a lot of people don't care for.
So...I think this one will be a matter of the person's taste. Me, I'm personally spit by it. There's a lot about it I do like. But I also have problems with some of it too. I do know I liked it enough that I'll probably be checking out the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Imaginary Girls fans, Wicked Lovely fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs

Book Review: Still Star-Crossed

TITLE: Still Star-Crossed
AUTHOR: Melinda Taub
PUBLISHED: July 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Classic Book Sequel/Continuation/inspired, Romance, Historical Fiction
PREMISE: After Romeo and Juliet's death, the Montagues and Capulets continue their fighting and it has gotten out of control. The Prince decides that to stop it, Benvolio and Rosaline must get married to join the two houses. Too bad they hate each other.
MY REVIEW: I'm going to go ahead and say it: Romeo and Juliet is actually probably my least favorite Shakespeare play. Yes, I know, how dare I. I just never could get into it. But then star-crossed love stories have honestly never interested me much so I can't really fault Shakespeare. It's mostly just a personal preference thing. For the record, my favorite Shakespeare play is probably between Midsummer Night's Dream or Two Men From Verona.
So I honestly wasn't expecting to get into this that much. But...I actually liked it quite a bit. First of all Taub plays with history as well as the canon of Romeo and Juliet beautifully. This is a woman who did her damn research and used it to her advantage. It's also written beautifully, a mixture of Shakespearean language but written in such a way that we don't need all those footnotes to tell us what's going on.
The result is a well done continuation of a well known play. It doesn't trod all over the original material for its own purposes like a lot of these things can do. It's well written and actually made me sort of interested in Romeo and Juliet again. So I say, well done, author. Especially considering the fact that this is a debut. This author is one to keep an eye on in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: Shakespeare fans, Romeo and Juliet fans, historical romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five swords

Special Note: If any of you are wondering what's going on with the random reviews. What's going on is my work schedule is kind of kicking me in the butt right now. After much consideration, I've decided from now on to do scheduled reviews because that's the only way to keep up on them nowadays. So I swear you will be see more frequent updates now that I've figured out how to do the scheduled reviews.

Book Review: Belle Epoque

TITLE: Belle Epoque
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Ross
PUBLISHED: June 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Drama
PREMISE: A girl gets a job by posing as the non-ugly friend of a debutante to help further the girl's prospects...only the debutante has no idea she was hired to do so by her mother...
MY REVIEW: The thing about Belle Epoque is that it honestly just isn't my thing. It's more interested in the glitz/glamour of this time period and the social scene and the drama. That's fine but I have little patience for it. It has to be really good for me to want to read it. There's a reason I never got into the Luxe series despite it being historical fiction and in one of my favorite time periods. Same with Bright Young Things.
So...this was mostly a case of just not for me. It's wonderfully written, I'll give the author that. In fact, I say she's actually kind of better then Anna Godbersen (author of before mentioned series). I like the messages in it, even if the author kind of hit you over the head with said messages. It just...got boring after awhile and became predictable as well.
So...it's not a horrible debut. I just couldn't get into it. If the author writes other stuff, I may look into it. It'll depend on the plot though.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical Fiction fans, Luxe fans, Bright Young Things fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five corsets

Book Review: The Nightmare Affair

TITLE: The Nightmare Affair
Book 1 in the Arkwell Academy series
AUTHOR: Mindee Arnett
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
SUMMARY: Dusty is a Nightmare: a being who feeds on dreams which can be drag to say the least. Her life gets extremely difficult when she not only reveals herself to the hottest boy at her old school but also gets involved in solving a murder.
MY REVIEW: Here's the thing: there are certain tropes that I'm going to enjoy no matter what. Yes, I am admitting I have bias. Really, all of us readers have preferences about what we like if we're really honest with ourselves. Magic boarding school story where sassy girl gets into solving a murder while having snarky in-denial feelings for hot guy? That's one of those tropes I'm gonna read no matter what. There's a reason I love Mythos Academy so much.
So the fact that I enjoyed the hell out of this should be taken with a grain of salt. Because this just has all those things that I kind of love. It would have had to be really really bad for me to dislike it. I will admit, it's not the most original (hell, take out a few things and it's almost exactly like Mythos Academy). There were a few things in it that made me roll my eyes (the mean popular girl I could have done without for instance). Some things in it are predictable but it's a fun read nonetheless.
So I loved it. But I admit, there'a personal reader preference going on, on my part. So I would check it out of the library first.
WHO SHOULD READ: Mythos Academy fans, teen sleuth fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five snarky relationships

Book Review: Rebel Spirits

TITLE: Rebel Spirits
AUTHOR: Lois Ruby
PUBLISHED: June 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Paranormal, Romance
PREMISE: A girl tries to help a spirit of a soldier move on.
MY REVIEW: I love ghost stories. I think I may have mentioned that once or twice...if your book has a ghost in it, chances are, I'm going to pick it up. Regardless of how corny a plot it sounds. Lets face it, this one did sound silly. But it managed to surprise me.
I really liked it. The author was good with the historical stuff. She didn't stereotype the south for once. While I was a bit ho hum about the romance part (it was usual insta love), I have to give the author credit for not taking the easy route and having the ghost magically come to life which is a plot that has been used way too often for my taste in YA. While part of me does understand why that plot device is used (readers tend to get bitchy when their romance doesn't end happily ever after, preferably with marriage and baby) I tend to find it annoying. So I appreciated the ending here.
This is a very old school type of ghost story. It's probably considered slow by today's YA standards but I liked it anyway. I would read this one, only if you're willing to let the possibility of a happily ever after type ending go. Not sure if this is going to be a series or not. The way it ended and the way the author set it up leads me to think that it could be. I would certainly welcome a sequel.
WHO SHOULD READ: ghost story fans, readers okay with a romance not ending happily ever after
MY RATING: Four out of Five hot ghosts

Book Review: Permanent Record

TITLE: Permanent Record
AUTHOR: Leslie Stella
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: Badi gets sent to a new school because he got kicked out of his old one...
MY REVIEW: I have split feelings regarding this book. On one hand, it's wonderfully written. I love the issues the author brings up in it because this is stuff that does go on in high school constantly and needs to be addressed as well as other issues that also need to be talked about such as the bs Muslims in the US frequently get thanks to 9/11.
On the other hand...it was predictable. I also feel that for all that the author did their best to make Badi and his family not stereotyped, she had no problem making the school jocks/teachers stereotyped. The jocks were very much the typical jerks that you expect in books like this and there were all the usual suspects in high school: kids who are different get picked on, jocks get special treatment, etc. It quickly turned into the typical underdog gets screwed by the system type story and thus I was able to predict what was going to happen by the middle of the book. It made wanting to finish it, kind of hard. While I understand that yes, there are schools like this and it sucks, I also wish the author had done more to make everything not so black and white regarding the situation.
So I'm split. I think the writer is good and I can't wait to read more from her. The issues raised are important. But at the same time...it was a predictable book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Contemporary fiction fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five underdogs

Book Review: Splintered

TITLE: Splintered
Book 1 in the new Splintered series
AUTHOR: A. G. Howard
PUBLISHED: January 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Retelling, Fantasy
PREMISE: Alyssa knows her family, descendants of Alice Liddell, are cursed. She goes to London to try an undo the curse and winds up in a Wonderland that is not quite the wonder the book made it out to be.
MY REVIEW: First off, cover artist? You rock. That is a freaking GORGEOUS cover ;pets it;. Second of all: I liked it. I was afraid this was going to be like Alice in Zombieland where it would be a girl named Alice and actually have nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland as promised. But this one did not do that. Actually, it reminded me strongly of The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy. Which is not bad because I have a big fondness for that series.
But this is Looking Glass Wars written by someone with much better prose (sorry Beddor, love your imagination, hate your writing style). I love the way Howard writes. Gorgeous. Can't give much points for originality because despite wonderfully crafted world, Alice in Wonderland retellings are a dime a dozen and there were a few tropes that are common in YA (such as the mean popular girl trope which we all know annoys me to death).
Still though, I read this because I wanted a creative Alice in Wonderland retelling and that is exactly what I got so I can't complain too loudly. This was a very decent debut, I can't wait for book 2.
WHO SHOULD READ: Alice in Wonderland fans, Looking Glass Wars fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five butterflies

Book Review: The Beautiful and the Cursed

TITLE: The Beautiful and the Cursed
Book 1 in The Dispossessed series
AUTHOR: Page Morgan
PUBLISHED: May 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
PREMISE: Ingrid moves to Paris with her family only to find her brother missing. Searching for him, leads to discoveries she never imagined.
MY REVIEW: This was a bit of a different debut and surprisingly, I liked it. I say surprisingly because that summary was not the most inspiring in the world and between that and the swooning girl on the cover, the most I was hoping for was a mild amusement. But I got some enjoyable reading out of this.
True, the author does play on the historical fantasy tropes that are so common in YA now. In fact, a lot of it reminded me a bit of the first Infernal Devices series with a dash of Gemma Doyle. It's far from the best series ever, but if you're looking for a historical fantasy to get into that manages to do something different then werewolves/vampires/witches, this one fits the bill. It helps that I was rather reminded of the series Gargoyles which was my favorite Disney animated show back in the day (I'm pretty sure Goliath/Eliza were my first OTP...it was them or Gordo/Lizzie from Lizzie McGuire).
Basically, this was some entertaining stuff. Tropes aside, I got enjoyment out of it and I imagine many other readers will as well if you're in the mood for just some fun historical fantasy.
WHO SHOULD READ: Infernal Devices fans, Something Strange and Deadly fans, historical fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five stone gargoyles

Book Review: Legacy of the Clockwork Key

TITLE: Legacy of the Clockwork Key
Book 1 in the Secret Order series
AUTHOR: Kristin Bailey
PUBLISHED: March 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Steampunk, Mystery
PREMISE: A girl gets a job at a manor and discovers a strange key that leads her to a mysterious organization.
MY REVIEW: Well...it was what it was? This is the author's first book so I'll admit, I'm giving a lot of leeway. Plus, I did get some enjoyment out of it. It wasn't half bad.
Meg was a enjoyable protagonist who didn't get on my nerves, the mystery was interesting enough to keep reading, and the writing was sound. Bailey's descriptions were fabulous, I could easily picture everything and wasn't confused.
It just...wasn't mind blowing. It's a decent library read, good for when you're in the mood for some historical mystery, but that's about it. It's not what I would call a must read.
WHO SHOULD READ: steampunk fans, The Dark Unwinding fans (reminded me a lot of that book)
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five lost keys