Book Review: Deadly Little Secrets

TITLE: Deadly Little Secrets
Book 1 in the Touch series
AUTHOR: Laurie Faria Stolarz
PUBLISHED: 2008
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal, mystery, romance
PREMISE: Camelia meets Ben and her life turns upside down.
MY REVIEW: Honest, I'm a bit split about this book. Part of me dug it. Kimmie and Wes were hilarious, the author had a nice suspense thing going, her parents were cool (and she actually ;gasp; appreciated them!) and for once, the high school life was accurately portrayed, a few stereotypes here and there aside. Also, yay for stalking NOT BEING ROMANTIC. Thank you, Stolarz.
However, it was also really cliche. It had the tendancy to feel like a Twilight rip-off (but as always with those rip-offs, was better), and it was melodramatic. Especially where the romance between Camelia and Ben were concerned. I also didn't care for the use of present tense because I saw no need for it and again, I hate present tense.
Ultimately I think it's a decent book. But it's one of those that will appeal to a certain few or if you're in the mood for a light suspense romance thing. A must read? Not much.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, those that like fluffy paranormal romances
MY RATING: three and a half out of five roses

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Book Review: Clockwork Angel

TITLE: Clockwork Angel
Book 1 in the Infernal Devices Trilogy
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, historical fiction
PREMISE: Tessa Grey comes to London at the request of her brother and finds herself swept up in a magical world that she never knew existed...
MY REVIEW: For me the Mortal Instruments series is the ultimate guilty pleasure series. Is it super fantastic? No, not really. But it is very very entertaining and enjoyable so I have no problem with the series like a lot of other people seem to have with it. Infernal Devices is no different. I enjoyed it a lot. Great? No. It's a tad predictable, none of the "twists" are really surprising, some of the prose get a tad cringe worthy. It also has the tendancy to feel a bit like a remix of the first Mortal Instruments.
But...I don't care. I got into it. Tessa was more enjoyable then Clary, I'll give her that. I also found Will and Jem really interesting. I even am genuinely stumped about what Will's deal is though I'm betting half-demon/angel whatever has something to do with it if I know Clare. It didn't hurt that the books were set in my favoirite time period to read about: Victorian England. What my deal with this era is, I don't know. I just know that this factor made this actually a little better then Mortal Instruments for me.
If you've read Clare before, you know what to expect from her and this is honestly more of the same (though I will say her pacing/suspense is getting better as she goes on). If this is your first venture into these books, enjoy it. Don't nitpick, otherwise you won't have fun reading them. They aren't great works of literature by any stretch of the imagination. But Clockwork Angel is at the very least very entertaining.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that read and liked Mortal Instruments
MY RATING: Four out of Five clockwork devices

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Book Review: Empty and Merry Christmas!

TITLE: Empty
AUTHOR: Suzanne Weyn
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: science fiction/dystopian
PREMISE: In the near future, the world is running out of oil and effecting lives.
MY REVIEW: I've finally figured out why it is that although I find Weyn's books immensely interesting and thought provoking, I can't say they're excellent. Number one reason: they need to be longer. Seriously, she sets up these great detailed worlds that I want to know more about especially as she makes it so you can believe all this will happen but then she quickly runs through plot because the books are so short and I'm left with that "but...wait!" feeling that leaves me dissatisfied. Second: She needs to work on making her characters as interesting as the premises/settings that she sets up because in all honesty her characters are boring and uninteresting and a majority of the time, irritating.
If Weyn would work on this, I'd be singing her praises because she has the makings of a great author. She's creative with ideas, she writes well, I love the settings she comes up with (even if they're mildly scary because they just might happen someday). But due to a rushed plot and boring characters, these books just don't click for me like say Life As We Knew It or Hunger Games or any of the other fantastic dystopian stories out there.
So I have to say that once more, an average book from an author who I think could do a lot better. Dystopian novel enthusiasts may be more interested in this one though.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of The Bar Code Rebellion, dystopian future novel fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five engines

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Happy Holidays to everyone out there! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or enjoys whatever you happen to celebrate.

Book Review: The Goblin Gate

TITLE: The Goblin Gate
Sequel to the Goblin Wood
AUTHOR: Hilari Bell
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Tobin and Makenna deal with problems on the other side of the gate while Tobin's brother deals with the fallout of his brother leaving.
MY REVIEW: This is the first time I've been disappointed in Bell's work and it honestly doesn't have much to do with how good the book is. It's just mostly that when I wanted a sequel for Goblin Wood, this wasn't actually what I had in mind. I wanted more focus on Makenna and Tobin because I find their relationship the most interesting. I honestly could have cared less about Tobin's brother.
But, apparently I'm supposed to care about him because a majority of this book is in his point of view. I will say it helped me understand his character a bit more so I liked him a lot more then I did in Goblin Wood where I found him quite annoying. But still, I wish Bell had focused more on Tobin and Makenna instead. Oh well, maybe in the next book?
Dispite that, it still has Bell's usual quality writing, interesting characters, thoughtful ideas, and quirky humor. So it wasn't that the book was bad. It's just that it's not what I was expecting or wanted for Goblin Wood's continuation. However, it looks like there's going to be another so maybe that one will be more interesting then this one.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that have read The Goblin Wood, Hilari Bell fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five goblins

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Book Review: Thief Eyes

TITLE: Thief Eyes
AUTHOR: Janni Lee Simner
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mythology, fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Haley's mother disappeared in Iceland a month ago and now she's in the country, determined to find her. However, finding leads her into crazyness involving thousand year old Iceland legends...
MY REVIEW: I will say this for the author: she is creative. I love when authors are creative. That said, I was a little lost reading this but I think that mostly has to do with not really being familiar with this myth that Simner is using. Plus, it would have been nice to have character development and what not.
But for the most part this is a decent book and much better then I was anticipating. I didn't have much expectation as I don't know the myth, I've never read the author's more popular series Bones of Faerie (though I now am intrigued enough to try it out) so I wasn't expecting greatness. But it was a pretty interesting book. As I said, the author was creative, it was a refreshing change of pace from the vampires/werewolves/angels/faeries scene that is basically YA fantasy now, and I even found myself liking Haley even if I wished now and then I could get a feel for her personality more. Ari was also adorable but then I have a weakness for musicians. Particularly musicians who like Star Wars ;)
So a spectacular book this is not. It also may help you better if you're more familiar with the myth Simner is using. But if you're tired of the average fantasy going on right now, this is a nice a change of pace from that.
WHO SHOULD READ: those familiar with norse mythology, fans of Simner's other series Bones of Faerie
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five coins

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Book Review: Zombies VS Unicorns

TITLE: Zombies VS Unicorns
AUTHOR: various authors
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy, short stories
PREMISE: This is an anthology of short stories that features either zombies or unicorns which is designed to help you decide: Team Unicorn or Team Zombie.
MY REVIEW: For the record, I'm neutral when it comes to the whole zombie vs unicorns thing. Mostly because I sort of find the arguement dumb. Both creatures are cool and have their merits, who cares which one is better? But I liked a majority of the authors in this collection (a rarity in short book collections where I usually only end up liking two or three and thus the book isn't worth my money) so I picked it up for fun quick reads. I wasn't disappointed either. One or two of the stories lacked and I wish some could have been longer but for the most part, this is a solid good short story collection.
My only major complaint about this collection was the Team Zombie head Justine Larbalestier. While some of her comments were funny and I understand snark, I do it myself sometimes. I sort of felt her arguements were a) poor. Mostly she was just: zombies are cool just because they're zombies! What more do you need? and b) I felt she was unneccessarily rude to Holly and some of the authors on Team Unicorn. Look, you can disagree with someone about unicorns but there's no need to dis a story simply because it involves unicorns or say it's bad when the author probably worked really hard on it. You could at least acknowledge a good author like Holly would do with some of the Team Zombie stories. For the record I've never read any of Larbalestier's books, hell have never even HEARD of her before this collection. Frankly her rudeness in this book leaves me with no desire to read any of her books, whereas the other authors in this book I haven't read before I am going to be checking out now. I'm sorry I just felt her slightly mean snark was unneccessary and brought down the fun of a otherwise enjoyable book.
So whether you're Team Unicorn or Team Zombie or like me don't give a damn, this is a fun collection to try out.
WHO SHOULD READ: unicorn fans, zombie fans, fans of any of the authors in the book
MY RATING: Four out of Five unicorn vs zombies battles

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Book Review: Arch Enemy

TITLE: ArchEnemy
Book 3 in the Looking Glass Wars Trilogy
AUTHOR: Frank Beddor
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fiction rewrite/mash up, fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: The war continues in Wonderland with Alice and Redd joining sides against Arch.
MY REVIEW: For some reason I wasn't as happy with this one as I was with the other two books in the series and I can't put my finger on why. The writing and characters were the same, nothing had changed. I think it may have had something to do with a rather predictable ending and not much focus on the most interesting characters to me: Molly and Hatter.
Overall if you liked the other two books, you know what to expect with these. The writing is average (and sometimes not good), the plot is fast paced so not much room for character developement, but that's not really why one reads these books. For me, at least, the appeal is this vast interesting Wonderland that Beddor has created. I would seriously LOVE to see all of this on screen, particularly if they get a fine actress to play Redd. I'm thinking Susan Suranden (who can totally pull off crazy diva queen, see Enchanted), Angelica Housten (see Ever After and Addams Family), or Helena Bartem Carter (I personally think Beddor modeled this character after all of her crazy lady performances such as the girl in Sweeney Todd, Bellatrix Lestrange, Corpse Bride and so on).
So while I may have been disappointed in the predictable ending. I do still like this series and recomend it to all Alice fans (who aren't purists and don't mind their characters messed with, otherwise you'll HATE it) and those looking for a good action series.
WHO SHOULD READ: alice in wonderland fans, action/adventure fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five card soldiers

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Book Review: The Grimm Legacy

TITLE: The Grimm Legacy
AUTHOR: Polly Shulman
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: fantasy
PREMISE: Elizabeth gets a job at a repository hoping to make some friends and some cash. She finds more then she bargained for because this collection of items is more then it seems...
MY REVIEW: I have mixed feelings about this book to be honest. Part of me loved the whole premise and idea of it. A library that is actually items? Not just items but historical items and magical items from fairytales? Awesome! That aspect of the novel I loved. I also liked Elizabeth a bit and found the romance with her and Aaron cute. There were also some hilarious scenes that just made me grin.
However there were some flaws. Characters weren't wholly fleshed out, Much of the adventure part is random and a bit confusing at times, and I wished more details could have been added such as how did this collection get started in the first place? That sort of thing.
But overall it was enjoyable. If you're a fan of fairytales like I am you'll like this one. This seems tailor-made for a sequel (hint hint, author) and I certainly wouldn't mind one.
WHO SHOULD READ: Grimm fairytale fans, fantasy fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five fairytale shoes

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Book Review: Before I Fall

TITLE: Before I Fall
AUTHOR: Lauren Oliver
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: drama
PREMISE: A girl has to relive the last day before she died over and over again.
MY REVIEW: Before I go into the one issue I have with this book I will say this is actually as good as everyone has been saying. Good writing, complex characters, a actual ACCURATE portrayal of high school life (although oddly enough, no one's on Facebook or Twitter...), and it's actually thought provoking which lets face it, is a rare breed of book in YA. The premise isn't very unique though and it's a tad predictable but all in all it's an excellent first book.
Now, on to my issue with this that is entirely personal and had no say in how the book was rated. My issue is the bullying angle. I appreciated that Oliver tried to get us to see things from both sides of the spectrum but I sort of felt like it was making excuses for bullies and I did not like that. I'm sorry, I'm aware that not everything is black and white but there is no excuse for cruelty, particularly the kind of bullying that Lindsey put Juliet through. Now this strong feeling probably comes from my own school experiences. I was never heavily bullied like some in this book, but I was most certainly picked on and teased by self-entitled popular kids who did it just because they knew they could get away with it. Lindsey reminded me strongly of these kids and that's probably why I detested her even at the end.
So, while I may not have agreed with some of the things and I found it a tad predictable, I still say this is very good book and the praise it's been getting this year is well deserved. I encourage all teens to read this especially. I can't wait for the author's next book that comes out March or so of next year.
WHO SHOULD READ: anyone interested in it, teens
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five cell phones

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Book Review: The Reformed Vampire Support Group

TITLE: The Reformed Vampire Support Group
AUTHOR: Catherine Jinks
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: vampires, werewolves, drama, adventure
PREMISE: Being a vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Nina and her friends in the Vampire Support Group.
My REVIEW: I've been going through the vampire books this year as you can probably tell so I'm a little burnt out on them. After this one I'm reading Blue Bloods and Crusade and then I think I'm cooling it with the vamp books for next year. As far as these vampire books go, this was definitely one of the most original ones I've seen in awhile. It was refreshing seeing a vampire's life NOT GLAMOURIZED. Finally!
Best way I can think of to describe this book is quirky. The characters all are interesting and not your usual vampires, the take on vampirism was different, and it was fun seeing vampires act like people and have actual problems that didn't include who to date. In fact, there was no high school in sight! The book was also rather hilarious if a bit confusing at times.
I will say it sort of dragged at the end and felt a bit random at times, but overall it was an okay book. Definitely an interesting take on the vampire lore which is something that's been sorely missing in the genre. There is a sequel coming out in December apparently and I'll probably end up reading that as it's about the werewolves that get introduced.
WHO SHOULD READ: vampire fans, you like quirky books, fans of Jink's other books
MY RATING: three and a half out of Five sullen vampires

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Book Review: The Lying Game

TITLE: The Lying Game
Book 1 in the Lying Game series
AUTHOR: Sara Shepard
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: paranormal(ish), mystery, drama
PREMISE: a girl discovers she may have a long lost twin and goes to meet her only to discover long lost twin has been murdered and she must put together the pieces of what happened to her as she poses as her twin, not realizing her twin's ghost is following her around as she investigates...yes, I'm serious...
MY REVIEW: I went into this book with slightly low expectations. I didn't really enjoy Pretty Little Liars (the books mind you, I'm ashamed to admit I've gotten addicted to the tv show) so I wasn't expecting much with this even though the premise sounded promising. I admit I was pleasantly surprised. Is it mind blowing? No, not really. Lying Game sometimes feels like a remix of Pretty Little Liars, you still have some pretty selfish hateful characters, and it doesn't take a lot of mind power to read.
But like Pretty Little Liars the strong part of this series is the mystery aspect. I literally couldn't guess who it was that murdered Sutton. After the end, I still have no clue. I know I don't really want it to be the foster sister but I'm not ruling her out either. I actually am stumped for a change. It's nice having a mystery that genuinely stumps you. Shepard's strength is not really her writing (though I have to say it's vastly improved since the first Pretty Little Liars) but her ability to set up a good story and mystery and in buiding suspense. It also helps that this time around I actually LIKE some of the main characters whereas in Pretty Little Liars I found all the girls insufferable at one point or another and kind of ended up WANTING A to win because they needed a big wake up call.
Shepard is making this a series (good thing because that cliffhanger is EVIL) and the next book apparently comes out in April. The Lying Game will be available on December 7th. I for one can't wait to read the second one. If you are maybe tired of the somewhat annoying girls in Pretty Little Liars, this series may appeal to you.
WHO SHOULD READ: Pretty Little Liars fans, mystery fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five prada bags

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Book Review: Enchanted Ivy

TITLE: Enchanted Ivy
AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: When Lily gets offered a once in the lifetime oppurtunity to get into Princeton, guarenteed she takes it. After all, it's just a test, right? However, this test ends up being life changing.
MY REVIEW: While this book could of used some polishing I definitely enjoyed it. It was nice seeing good old fashioned fantasy for a change instead of vampires or werewolfs. The book also had a great sense of humor in it, Lily was a nice spunky heroine, and I even liked the romance between her and Tye (who was hilarious).
But there were one or two issues. I felt the romance, while sweet, was a tad bit rushed. The ending was rather rushed as well and I sort of think some of the dialogue with the villian was cheesy (plus the villian kind of became obvious after awhile).
But for the most part, this is a fun book. If you're looking for a good old-fashioned fantasy minus vampires, werewolves, and angels this book is for you. It's fun and creative and convinced me to look into the author's other book Ice. I look forward to whatever else the author has in store for us in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans, those tired of the current vampire/werewolf/angel thing going on
MY RATING: Four out of Five Princeton shirts

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Book Review: Beautiful Darkness

TITLE: Beautiful Darkness
Book 2 in the Caster Chronicles
AUTHOR: Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, romance, drama
PREMISE: Ethan's caster girlfriend Lena starts to pull away from him, and as their relationship dissolves he is drawn further into the caster world.
MY REVIEW: Okay so you guys probably remember I adored Beautiful Creatures so this became one of the books I was most eager to read this fall. I'm happy to report I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, since they avoided the whole town vs. Ethan and Lena concept (for the most part) I'd go as far to say it was better then the first.
They didn't go at all the usual route these books tend to go. Okay, there is the love triangle trope but this was actually BELIEVABLE and for once involved two GIRLS and a GUY instead of the other way around. Nice change there. New characters were introduced (I LOVED Liv), and many other changes were introduced as well. Granted, I did find some of the things a little out there, such as the seperate galaxy thing (really?) but for the most part I was totally on board with this interesting world that these two authors have created. There were even some suprises and twists that I wasn't suspecting at all. It's nice when a book actually manages to surprise me for a change.
Yes, it's a tad bit more angsty, but on the whole this book was a delight. I still love these characters and world to death (Link and Amma are my favorites btw) and I look forward to the next installment in this series. My only complaint: I have to wait a YEAR till the next one?!
WHO SHOULD READ: those that read and liked the first book, fans of southern type fiction, anyone inclined to pick it up
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five fried chickens

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Book Review: Radiant Shadows

TITLE: Radiant Shadows
Book 4 in the Wicked Lovely series
AUTHOR: Melissa Marr
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: faeries, urban fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Ani is an unusual half faerie in the dark court not sure where she belongs. Then she meets Devlin...
MY REVIEW: I will say this is possilby my least favorite of the Wicked Lovely books, but it's still good. Which says a lot for Marr's writing ability there. The thing is I didn't care as much about Ani as I did about what was going on with Irial and Niall so that isn't totally Marr's fault. I'm just a huge fan of their relationship (platonic or otherwise) so I loved (and hated) the parts with them in it and they were the highlight of this rather lack luster book.
But I do still say this is a good series. Mostly because I just love all the twists and turns of the relationships and all the court intrigue. This series is literally like a game of chess. I feel like Marr is slowly but surely setting up the pieces and the courts and the players and it's all leading up to something big that will go down in the last book or so. I love authors that do that (thus one of the main reasons I'm such an HP freak).
So while this maybe isn't the best of the Wicked Lovely books, I still enjoyed it (except for the evil cliffhanger with Irial) and I look forward to what plots Marr brings us in Darkest Mercy, coming out March of next year I believe. That said, Marr? Please do another story focusing on Niall and Irial. Pretty please?
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read and liked the first 3 books, faerie fans, fans of Tithe
MY RATING: Four out of Five faerie wings

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Book Review: Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover

TITLE: Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover
Book 3 in the Gallagher series
AUTHOR: Ally Carter
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: mystery, adventure
PREMISE: When Cammie visits her friend Macey on her father's campaign trail they are attacked but survive. However, the attack is just the beginning to an even larger mystery...
MY REVIEW: I'm loving this series more and more as it goes on. Part of it is again, spy school is awesome. I love the whole idea of it and that we learn more and more about the daily activities as time goes on. I love taking a peek into their classes and watching the day to day activities. It also helps that the characters are just plain fun. I love watching them all interact with each other. Carter's dialogue is excellent and manages to be snappy without the annoying "teen speak" that's been plaguing YA lately.
It helps that Carter is introducing an ongoing plot this time. The first two books were just one shot sort of mysteries but now it appears that she's building it towards something bigger and I heartily approve of this. I also appreciate that finally, there are girls who are actually friends with each other. Lately it's been as though the frenemies idea has been taking over popular mainstream YA. Or at least the idea that girls have to compete in order to win that one hot guy as if that's the only thing girls are interested in. It's nice seeing girls be genuine friends to each other for a change and not compete over a guy. Also: more Zack! Yay!
If you liked the first two books, you will not be disappointed with the third one. The fourth book is already out (I'll be reading it as soon as I can) and the fifth comes out next year (as well as Heist Society 2!). I reccomend this series to all YA readers looking for something outside the fantasy spectrum, but isn't something like Gossip Girl.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first 2 books, you like spy movies, fans of Heist Society
MY RATING: Four out of Five spy gadgets

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Book Review: Claire de Lune

TITLE: Claire de Lune
Book 1 in an apparently planned series
AUTHOR: Christine Johnson
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Werewolves, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Claire discovers she's a werewolf and it turns her life upside down.
MY REVIEW: This book was getting a lot of buzz but also a lot of mixed reviews when it came out. I kind of just shrug my shoulders at it because it wasn't the greatest, nor was it horrible. It was just one of the many average books written this year. The author has potential and I'm glad she stayed away from the weak female having to choose between two strong males trope that has been popular lately but that doesn't erase the issues in the book.
The main issue was it was predictable to the point of being boring. Seriously, this has all the makings of a lifetime/disney channel original movie it was that boring. Second issue I had was that the characters were two-dimensional, particularly Claire who reeked of Mary Sueisms. As a result of them being two-dimensional I found it hard to care about the book and that next to the predictability basically had me yawning through the whole book, when I wasn't rolling my eyes at the angsting and the whining Claire did about being a werewolf (why did she whine so much anyway? From what I saw it didn't majorly effect her day to day life, aside from not being able to date Matthew, so what gives?).
So in short, not a horrible book but not the greatest either. Just average and utterly forgettable. I'm not entirely sure why the author plans on making this a series as from what I saw all the plot lines were neatly tied up in a pretty little bow, but who knows? Maybe she'll surprise us in the next book. But for a debut novel I will say it's not half bad. The author just needs to work on creativity a bit as well as characterization.
WHO SHOULD READ: werewolf fans, Twilight fans (particularly Team Jacob fans)
MY RATING: Three out of Five full moons

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Book Review: Guardian of the Dead

TITLE: Guardian of the Dead
AUTHOR: Karen Healey
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy
PREMISE: ....I honestly have no freaking idea HOW to describe this book...
MY REVIEW: This book was just...wierd. Not the good kind of wierd either, such as the wierdness in the Haruhi Suzimiya series. This was just wierd in a I didn't know what was going on half the time. It started off okay but then it just got to be an utterly confusing mess and I'm one of those that can usually follow a complicated plot. It honestly wasn't that the plot was confusing, it was just that the author failed to explain things properly and that did not help the book any.
I will say I'm happy the author was creative and wasn't using all the common tropes in YA nowadays (no love triangle!). I also found the diversity in the cast refreshing. I even want to commend the author for being brave enough to put in an asexual male character. I have yet to see an asexual person in a YA book so I'm pretty sure Healey is the first to do this. So that was nice to see. I also will even admit the mythology used was interesting as it's not mythology I'm familiar with and I always like learning new myths. However, that's not enough for me to say this book is actually good. Because it still was a very flawed book. The main character is rather Mary-Sueish, the characters kept drawing conclusions out of thin air with little to no evidence and had me going huh? half the time which only added to the confusion, also the romance? Pretty lame. Even by YA standards.
In short this book had some great ideas but the execution was a big hot mess. The author needs to take time to explain things more. Especially as much of this took place in New Zealand and most Americans (and people in other countries I'm guessing) know next to nothing about this country so a lot of the cultural references/jokes she put were totally lost on me and probably will be lost on all readers not from New Zealand. The author has potential, that's for sure. But her writing needs a lot of polishing before she can be called good.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um...I have no idea, sorry
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five masks

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Book Review: Haint Misbehavin

TITLE: Haint Misbehavin
Book 1 in a planned series apparently
AUTHOR: Maureen Hardegree
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Paranormal
PREMISE: Heather's summer is pretty rotten so far and it's made worse when she discovers a ghost that is hell bent on getting her attention...
MY REVIEW: I've never heard of this book but saw it on net galley as read now so I figured what the heck? Reading it, I understand why it never became uber popular or got a mention. The writing is terribly amatuerish, despite the fact that apparently the author has been writing for awhile now. All the characters are obnoxious at some point or another, especially the main character. There doesn't really seem to be a plot of any sort and when the solution finally comes along it seems pretty easy.
But for the audience that I'm guessing this book is aimed at (tweens of the Twilight variety) it's okay. It's just that I've read much better and honestly don't have much to say about it as it's one of those books that isn't completely horrible or totally brilliant. It's just there to fill a niche in the market.
WHO SHOULD READ: Paranormal fans in the younger crowd
MY RATING: Three out of Five ghost children

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One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge

Book Review: The Iron Daughter

TITLE: The Iron Daughter
Book 2 in the Iron Fey series
AUTHOR: Julie Kagawa
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Faeries, romance, adventure
PREMISE: Meghan Chase has saved her brother only to now be stuck in the Winter realm abandoned by Ash and trying to convince the fey of the growing threat of the Iron Kingdom.
MY REVIEW: Okay, I love this series. Really I do. Kagawa has created something with lots of potential here. I love reading about this world because everything is so wonderfully described and planned out that I can easily picture it all and have no problem believing it exists. Also, I love Puck and Grimalken. There needs to be a Grimalken plushie (hint hint publishers, if you want promotion ideas...).
Now that said, I still feel this series could stand for some improvement. Because while Kagawa has an awesome world building imagination I feel like her plotting/romance skills...are somewhat genaric. For instance a lot of the scenarios in this book have been done before in fantasy books/movies in the past. I mean the whole mind control bit? Done. The idea forming about Meghan's powers that I can't talk about because it's a spoiler? Done. As for the romance part...while I definitely see potential in the relationships (although I still think Ash and Meghan's relationship could have stood for more slow developement) it's all so terribly cliche. I mean how many love triangles of this sort have we seen lately? Tons. Forbidden love? Been there, done that. These particular issues to me bring down an otherwise really good book series.
Since I know people are wondering, I'm Team Puck. But not Team Puck for Meghan. I'm Team Puck because Puck is an awesome character and I like him more then Ash. After this book, I personally don't think Meghan deserves him. Not that she even looks at him twice with hunky sullen Ash around. That was another thing that annoyed me in this briefly was how Meghan was practically Ash, Ash, Ash throughout the whole book. It was like all that personal strength she got near the end of the first book went away. Though luckily she never got as bad as Bella Swan. So that said, I still enjoy this series, and I think it's good. I just think that Kagawa is capable of so much more. But this is only her first series so maybe she'll improve even more and then her next books will be even more awesome because she's more creative with the plot.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those that read the first book, fans of faerie books, Wicked Lovely fans, Twilight fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five dresses sewn by dwarfs

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in November
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge

Book Review: Princess of Glass

TITLE: Princess of Glass
Book 2 in the 12 Dancing Princesses series
AUTHOR: Jessica Day George
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: retelling, fantasy, romance
PREMISE: Poppy from George's Princess of the Midnight Ball gets her own romance in this retelling of Cinderella
MY REVIEW: Some of you may recall that I read George's Midnight Ball a few months back and kind of loved it. So I was very happy to find out that George decided to give my favorite princess Poppy her own book. It doesn't disapoint either. This one is a retelling of Cinderella and it's one of the more interesting tales of it that I've read (and I've read quite a few of them being the fairytale freak that I am).
One thing I loved about this was hands down Poppy. I love me my spunky princesses (can't wait for the Rapunzel movie coming out next week) and Poppy is definitely spunky and kind of hilarious. I love that she plays cards and isn't overly concerned with finding true love. I also found the character that was Cinderella interesting because I know that Cinderella has never been written this way. Granted, I found Ella rather irritating, but it was an interesting idea character wise. I will say I found the ending chaotic like I did with the other one and didn't particularly care for that part, but overall it was good. Definitely reccomend this to those that liked The Princess of the Midnight Ball. I also really hope that George continues writing these retellings with all the princesses because I would personally love to see her take on Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Frog Prince and so on.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Cinderella, if you've read Princess of the Midnight Ball, fans of fairytale retellings
MY RATING: Four out of Five glass slippers

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in November
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
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