Book Review: Wish

TITLE: Wish
Book 1 in a planned series I believe
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bullen
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: drama, romance, teeny tiny bit of fantasy
PREMISE: Olivia has lost her twin sister and still dealing with the grief as well as a new town and school and making new friends. Then she gets a dress that she learns grants her three wishes...
MY REVIEW: I'm trying to rack my brain to figure out why exactly I didn't get into this book and I think it boils down to this: the idea of the book was more interesting then the actual book itself. Let me explain. I love the idea of a dres granting wishes. I mean who wouldn't? A thousand questions come to mind when you think of it: who made the dress? Why did they make the dress? What are the rules? Why those rules and just so many others. Unfortunately the author apparently didn't think this was worth exploring, instead we get told the boring day to day drama of the wisher instead. Then it plays out like a rehashing of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Minus the interesting characters and good writing.
That's another issue too: the writing is amatuerish. Long vivid descriptions that we don't need, needless detail, and stereotyping of high school and a rather blah main character that I just didn't get a feel for. Basically stuff we've seen before in YA. Nothing new. It's disappointing too. I mean if the author had done it in maybe the dressmaker's point of view I would have been a tad more interested then I was in the predictable angst tastic drama between Olivia and her friends.
It's not that the book is horrible, it's just been done a million times before and is rather boring. Plus again, the idea of the dress was more awesome then the actual book itself. Apparently there's going to be a second one out next year. Not sure if I'll bother with it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fans, Gossip Girl fans
MY RATING: Two and a half out of Five dresses

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in October
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library

Book Review: The Dead Girl's Dance

TITLE: The Dead Girls Dance
Book 2 in The Morganville Vampires series
AUTHOR: Rachel Caine
PUBLISHED: 2007
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Vampires, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Claire and company continue to deal with the vampires of Morganville and now Shane's crazy dad is in the mix...
MY REVIEW: I will say that I like this series. There is something intriguing enough about it that keeps me reading. However, I'm not in love with it like I am with Vampire Academy. I think it's a multitude of things that do so but two major ones are mostly to blame.
The first one is: the characters are flat to me, particularly Claire who is the main character. Don't get me wrong, there is SOME characterization. Caine does actually try. Unfortunately she doesn't try hard enough because really these characters are more stereotypes then characters. I feel no real attachment to them as a result.
The second reason, kind of ties into the character thing: it's too over the top. I think Caine is too focused on having excitement/angst/romance and then some and cramming it all in less the three hundred pages that the characterization sort of gets lost in the shuffle as result. Seriously, like every ten pages Claire or one of her friends are running for their lives, dealing with danger, or angsting over something. Then suddenly they go into cute couple mode. It's rather inconsistant. I'm all for excitement but there needs to be a balance. Look at Sookie Stackhouse. There are a lot of things happening in a single Sookie book, but Harris never forgets to add in character developement as well which makes me more attached to Sookie and co. Here, I don't really feel any attachment, I just want to know how all this going to go down, but I won't cry very hard if any characters are killed.
Those two things I think are what keep me from truly loving and enjoying this series. I like it well enough that I'm continuing it but if I never pick up the next book, I'll manage you know? About the only character I feel strongly about is Monica: I want her to get either her butt kicked or to get some sort of payback because her character is utterly dispicable (but once again it's also over the top).
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, House of Night fans, vampire fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five crosses

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in October
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Locoal Library

Book Review: Magic Bleeds

TITLE: Magic Bleeds
Book 4 in the Kate Daniels
AUTHOR: Ilona Andrews
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, mystery
PREMISE: Kate wrestles with Curran over their relationship as secrets from her past emerge to threaten her world...
MY REVIEW: Definitely the best Kate Daniels book yet. As always what sells me most is the relationship between Kate and Curran. Finally, a relationship that I buy and support wholeheartedly. These two are actual EQUALS and you actually see that they work well together as well as have chemistry.
I will say I was surprised in the direction this took but I'm happy about it. I look forward to Kate dealing with now being sort of in charge of the pack and now apparently starting her own order. The only thing I'm slightly disappointed about is Andrea and how that turned out. I'm hoping she does a turn around in the next book and that things work out for her because Andrea was one of my favorites in the series. I sort of hope she ends up joining Kate in her new order.
If you read this series already you know what to expect: snarkiness, lots of action, interesting world building, and a great female lead. Though it feels like the series is ending, there is going to be a book next year apparently and I personally can't wait for it. I'm also now going to check out Andrews' new series The Edge which started last year for those that don't know it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those who have read the first three books, Urban fantasy fans, Patricia Briggs fans, Kelley Armstrong fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five black poodles

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in October
One Hundred Plus Books
Finish that Series (finished!)
Support Your Local Library

Book Review: Paranormalcy

TITLE: Paranormalcy
AUTHOR: Kierstan White
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: urban fantasy, faeries, vampires, werewolves
PREMISE: Evie has worked for IPCA nearly her whole life, bagging and tagging paranormals for their own protection. But then a paranormal her own age breaks in and makes her start to question everything she thought she knew about IPCA and even about herself...
MY REVIEW: Doubtless, you bloggers have already heard of this one and are tired of the rave reviews. I'm sorry to say my review will be no different. I adored this book to death. Definitely one of my top books this year. I will say that it isn't totally unique, the idea is vaguely similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (lucky for the author I consider that one of the best shows ever so I didn't mind too much). Writing could also use a bit of polishing description wise and I would have maybe liked more character developement.
But other then those minor issues, this book was phenomenal. Especially for a first book. Evie is a fantastic character that you just can't help but grow to love. She's fiesty, hilarious, has vulnerability but isn't weak, and I actually bought that she was a teenager for once. I also found her romance with Lend very refreshing. Finally, a couple I buy and see why they work. But literally every character in this had their own type of personality that made you just enjoy them. Even the love triangle was refreshing. Mostly because I'm not sure if it counts as a love triangle. Reth seems more obsessed with Evie then in love with her but that's just me. Plus, Evie doesn't go around saying she and Lend are soulmates. Yes, she says the l-word by the end but only once and to herself. they don't see each other go "oh this is my life mate, we're spending the rest of our lives together" like other couples in YA have been known to do, particularly lately.
Then there was just other things that made the book for me. I loved the world building and the different takes on vamps, shifters, and faeries. I loved that Lend had a FAMILY (finally teens with involved parents, because even Evie had Raquel as a parental figure) and friends and that high school wasn't treated like the circle of hell nor was it treated like the best place on earth either (unless you're Evie but her worship is more understandable) it was just that: high school.
So yes, I loved the heck out of this book. In fact, I kind of had to dig to find something I didn't like and I'm coming up blank, aside from the uniqueness and perhaps lack of character developement (but there still is some developement). I'm kind of torn about whether or not I want a sequel to this. Part of me does want one, another part of me wants to see what else White can create because if this is her first book, just think about what ideas she can come up with next! Either way, this author is definately one I'm watching in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, paranormal fans, urban fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five pink tasers

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

Book Review: Royal Blood

TITLE: Royal Blood
Book 6 in the Vampire Kisses series
AUTHOR: Ellen Schreiber
PUBLISHED: 2009
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: vampires, romance
PREMISE: Alexander's parents come to town and they want to meet Raven...
MY REVIEW: As enjoyable as these books are, I have to say this series is starting to lag. Screiber either needs to wrap it up now, or at the very least have stuff happen. Because in this book Alexander's parents showing was literally the ONLY thing that happened. Granted it was still fun with Raven's hijinks, but really, plot needs to start happening otherwise this series will become utterly pointless.
I also want the author to develop Raven's character. I enjoy her, yes. But she needs to do some more growing up. Now I will say there is some developement but there needs to be more of it and not much of it happened in this book that's for sure.
So if you read Vampire Kisses this is frankly more of the same. If you've missed it, you're not missing much because nothing big really happens so I'll repeat: please add in actual on-going plot otherwise I'm sorry I'm going to have to quit this series.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those who read and liked the first five vampire kisses books, Twilight fans, younger vampire fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five lace gloves

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
12 by 12 in October
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library

In My Mailbox (15)

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. The links all go to the books Amazon page if you want more info on them. I got a pretty decent haul this week:

Downloaded onto my Kindle (I just realized I haven't been doing ebooks on here, shame on me):
According to Jane by Marilyn Brant.-Kindle Freebie that looked fun.
Nikki Heat series Book 2: Naked Heat by Richard Castle.-What can I say, I'm a big Castle fan and I enjoy my murder mysteries...

Bought at store:
Kane Chronicles Book 1: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan.-Enjoyed Percy Jackson and if you think Greek gods have issues...wait till you find out about Egyptian Gods.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larssen.-Finally caved and got the paperback. When everybody and their mother starts reccing a book I usually take that as a sign that maybe I should take a look.

From the library:
Kate Daniels Book 4: Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews.-After this one I'm all caught up!
Wish by Alexandra Bullen.-Debut novel I believe...so I picked it up because the debuts have been rather good this year.
Morganville Vampires Book 2: The Dead Girls Dance by Rachel Caine
Vampire Kisses Book 6: Royal Blood by Ellen Schreiber.

And that's all of them. What did you get in your mailbox this week?

TV Weekly Recap (aka my excuse to chat about my guilty pleasures)

Dancing with the Stars: Not totally surprised about Michael Bolten leaving either, though I am surprised Brandy was in the bottom. Perhaps I will change my theory about her and Jennifer being the top two at the end. I also must say I'm rooting for Kyle Massey. He's just so darn adorable. Plus, I remember when he started out on That's So Raven/Cory in the House (yes, I'm a Disney Channel watcher, don't look at me like that some of their shows are hilarious even if they're not exactly intelligent).

Castle: Oh this was so much fun and embodies everything I love about this show: witty banter, Castle not afraid to make bad jokes and snark with the other cops. I really felt bad for Martha at the end though, what happened with Chet sucks.

Glee: Despite the kids claims in this episode, it's really people my age (those in their mid to late twenties) who REALLY grew up with Britney Spears. We are the ones who remember watching her on Mickey Mouse Club (I for one would like to say I totally predicted that she, Justin, and Christina would make it big; to those that didn't believe me I say HA!), had Christina vs Britney debates (I was Team Christina all the way), and remember a time before she became tabloid queen. So this episode was rather nostalgic for me. I wonder what it says about me that I still know all the words to Hit Me Baby One More Time? Oh well, this was a fun ep but I missed the new characters. The only new one still there was the new coach and while I like her I thought she was supposed to rival Sue? How can she rival Sue if she's nice? Maybe more will be done in the future because I am rather intrigued by her and by Sam (who I hope is the guy who will become Kurt's boyfriend).

No Ordinary Heroes: watched this on Hulu and I am kind of intrigued about it but it still needs a lot of work. Right now it's full of the drama cliches and it's keeping the show from being the utter fun that I was anticipating it would be. If they get rid of the cliches and obvious plot ideas then I bet this show will be great fun like Heroes was (I'm still bitter about it being canceled...) so I'll be tuning in probably.

Project Runway: Mondo! Oh my God. I totally want to send him flowers and chocolates right now because that was some serious revealing the poor guy had to go through on national tv (for those that don't watch, he revealed that he's been HIV positive for the past ten years and literally hasn't told ANYONE before the events of this episode). I'm so glad he won to. He also didn't win because of his revealation, the judges were ohing and ahing over his outfit before the big reveal. The only sour thing about this ep was Gretchen (as usual). God, I wanted to smack her when she was all "I'm so grateful I could be here to share this journey with you." God Gretchen, it's not all about YOU you know. Can we please get rid of her already?

Didn't get to watch Undercovers and The Whole Truth due to that pesky thing called work this week.

Book Review: Hourglass

TITLE: Hourglass
Book 3 in the Evernight series
AUTHOR: Claudia Gray
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: vampires, romance, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Bianca and Lucas are now in the hold of Black Cross. If they find out about her nature, they'll kill her no questions asked, even the few friends she's made. Then there's a raid and Bianca's friend Balthazar is caught...
MY REVIEW: The first half of this book is rather dull. I did find learning about the ins and outs of Black Cross interesting but I found it annoying the way Bianca's mind was like 'Lucas, Lucas, Lucas' almost twenty-four seven. Come on girl, you've got more important things to worry about you know? Plus, I still don't understand her big attraction to Lucas because I'm still not sure what exactly makes them such a good match though I do say the pairing has grown on me (though I still prefer Balthazar but not for Bianca because she frankly doesn't appreciate him).
So the first half of this book was rather annoying for me. Then I got to the middle and was finally on board. For one thing, Vic and Ranulf were back! These two are my absolute favorite characters in this series, they're such a breath of fresh air after the angst buckets that are Balthazar, Bianca, and Lucas. The scene with Vic revealing he knew about the vampire school all along and looking at Bianca and co. going "duh, I'm not stupid guys." was PRICELESS. Then the way he and Ranulf bantered back and forth? Awesomeness. I hope there's much more of them in the next book (and I wouldn't mind a spin-off book with the two of them Gray, hint hint). Also after these two things finally start happening that push the plot forward into ways I didn't expect.
So if you are still a fan of this series, you won't be disappointed. I know the first hundred pages or so aren't the greatest but stick with it, it gets better I promise. Still one of my favorite vampire series out there even if it's not the best thing in the world. Can't wait for the next book Afterlife which comes out in Spring of next year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Those who read and liked the first two books, Twilight fans, House of Night fans, Vampire Academy fans, vampire fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five crosses

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library

October Releases

Here's a list of interesting looking books that I (or you readers) may be interested in that are coming out in the month of October. If it has this by it: (!) that means I'm excited about it and you can expect a review from me on it at some point in this blog. The links go the books Amazon page if you want more info on them.
iDrakula by Bekka Black. Paperback, released October 1rst (today!).
Star Crossed by Elizabeth C. Bruce. Hardcover, released October 1rst (today!).
Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde. Hardcover, released in October (no exact date is given but it says in stock on Amazon so I'm assuming the first).
The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K.Madigan. Hardcover, released October 4rth (!).
The Devouring Book 3: Fearscape by Simon Holt. Hardcover, released October 5th.
Ash by Melinda Lo. Paperback version, released October 5th (!).
Twisted Tales: Cinderella, Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan. Paperback, released October 5th (!). She's also releasing one about Sleeping Beauty as a Vampire Slayer. Don't tell me these ideas are made of awesome even if I have no clue how she'll make them work.
Leviathan Book 2: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. Hardcover, released October 5th.
Jane by April Lindner. Hardcover, released October 11th (!).
The Goblin Gate by Hilari Bell. Hardcover, released October 12th.(!)-no, your eyes do not decieve you. This is a sequel to Goblin Wood. Totally excited for this.
The Dragons of Noor by Janet Lee Carey. Hardcover, relased October 12th.
Maze Runner Trilogy Book 2: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. Hardcover, released October 12th.
Elixir by Hilary Duff.-yes, THAT Hilary Duff of Lizzie Maguire (man I miss that show...) fame. She's apparently taken to writing now. I'm a little curious to see if she's any good...
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst. Hardcover, released October 12th.
The Caster Chronicles Book 2: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margeret Stohl. Hardcover, released October 12th (!!!).
Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen. Hardcover, released October 12th.
Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein. Hardcover, released October 12th
Banished by Sophie Littlefield. Hardcover, released October 12th.
The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy Book 3: Archenemy by Frank Beddor. Paperback version (!).
Crossing Over by Anna Kendall. Hardcover, released October 14th (!).
A Girl, A Ghost, and Hollywood Hills by Lizabeth Zindel. Hardcover, released October 14th.
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. Hardcover, released October 19th (!).
Hush, Hush series Book 2: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Hardcover, released October 19th.
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb. Paperback version, released October 25th.
The Exorsistah by Claudia Mair Burney. Paperback version, released October 26th.
The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee. Harcover, released October 26th (!).
House of Night: The Fledgling Handbook 101 by P.C.Cast. Paperback, released October 26th.
Blue Bloods Book 5: Misguided Angels by Melissa de la Cruz. Hardcover, released October 26th.
Morganville Vampires Book 9: Ghost Town By Rachel Caine. Hardcover, released October 26th (!).
Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck. Hardcover, released October 28th.
Witch and Wizard by James Patterson. Paperback version, released October 31rst (clever timing Patterson, I tip my hat to you and your publishers).
Also being released this month: annointed versions of Jane Austens novels, boxed sets of series like Mortal Instruments, Maximum Ride, Twilight, Vampire Academy and more (just in time for Christmas/Hannekuh/Kwanzaa); graphic novel versions of Daniel X, re-release of The Good Neighbors by Holly Black and Sandman by Neil Gaiman, and even re-releases of Thirst by Christopher Pike and Lois Duncan's horror novels just in time for Halloween. October is definately a good month for books. As you can see, my most anticipated release this month is Beautiful Darkness. How about you guys? What are you looking forward to most this month?

Book Review: The Dark Divine

TITLE: The Dark Divine
Book 1 in the Dark Divine series
AUTHOR: Bree Despain
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: werewolves, fantasy, romance
PREMISE: years ago, Daniel left leaving Grace heartbroken and big secrets among her family. Now he's back and those secrets are threatening to change everything she thought she knew.
MY REVIEW: I really wanted to like this book. The writing was good, it was nice seeing something that didn't involve vampires, and there were some interesting things going on. But I just didn't and I think it's a combination of things.
First is that it suffers from what I like to call Twilight-ism. I have a feeling this author was a Twilight fan and it shows because there were many elusions to the series, down to a scene that was outright stolen from it and Grace suffers from Bella Swanism like whoa (though she at least has SOME backbone. Not much, but some). It disapoints me too. Because I felt like there was a lot of potential in this and without the author trying to dumb it down by appealing to the Twilight crowd it could of been so much better.
The second major thing is that throughout it I felt like I was being preached at/condescended to and that there was much judgmenting going on. It got very annoying very fast. Then there were little things like I didn't like any of the characters (they were all annoying at some point, even Daniel, the one I liked most of all), it was very dull up till the last hundred pages or so and even that was slightly lackluster (another similarity to Twilight), the whole werewolves being a gift from God or whatever was so much of a stretch that I didn't buy it and much more.
But this is all mostly just because I wasn't really the audience for this series. Twilight fans (particularly the Team Jacob camp) will probably enjoy this immensely. Me, I just wanted more from it and so was slightly disappointed. Maybe the second one will be better...who knows? Like I said, there is potential here.
WHO SHOULD READ: Twilight fans, werewolf fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five moonstones

FOR THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:
One Hundred Plus Books
YA Challenge
Support Your Local Library