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Dark Parties by Sara Grant

Posted on August 10, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • Dystopia books are all the rage – so I figured I’d check this one out.

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Summary from GoodReads:

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield “protects” them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there’s nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says…

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a “dark party” to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she’s ever known, including the people she loves the most.

My Review:

With Dark Parties, Sara Grant jumps on the dystopia train and offers her version of a future that might be.  Neva lives in a dome, a place where people are disappearing, where the calendar has been reset to 01/01/01 and where life’s luxuries, things we take for granted today, are disintegrating quickly.

Honestly, the book was okay.  But just that – okay.  I kind of felt as if Sara Grant took a stock “this is the outline for dystopia” booklet and filled in the blanks with her own special tweaks (in fact, a part of the book made me wonder if she was intending to just outright rip part of George Orwell’s 1984 ideas out of his book and make them her own).  The world was not put together very well, I mean, it was okay, it was a world, but there wasn’t much detail and it was sort of like reading the text equivalent of standard background painting in a low-budget film.

It’s funny, but as I write this review I wonder exactly why I had a hard time putting the book down.  I think the answer is that it was entertaining fluff.  Just enough interesting material to keep me from wanting to put the book down, but not enough to fill me up with yummy book goodness.  In fact, the book really started getting interesting just as it ended – which made me a bit upset.  Although the ending wasn’t as bad a cliffhanger as has become quite the fashion, it still was enough of one to let me know that there would be more.. and I’m ready for stand alone books to make their way back into fashion again.

So, long story short, interesting enough book, will scratch the itch if you want to read yet another dystopia novel, but if you are picking and choosing your way through them, this is one you might want to put on the “maybe one day” pile.

Check these reviews!

Candace’s Book Blog

Bookalicious

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The Marked Son by Shea Berkley

Posted on August 9, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • I don’t read enough books with male protagonists (well, YA books) so this one caught my eye.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he’s never met, he had no idea what.
When Dylan sees a girl in white in the woods behind his grandparents’ farm, he knows he’s seen her before…in his dreams. He’s felt her fear. Heard her insistence that only he can save her world from an evil lord who uses magic and fear to feed his greed for power.
Unable to shake the unearthly pull to Kera, Dylan takes her hand. Either he’s completely insane or he’s about to have the adventure of his life, because where they’re going is full of creatures he’s only read about in horror stories. Worse, the human blood in his veins has Dylan marked for death…

My Review:

The Marked Son is an action-packed story focused around 17 year old Dylan and the “ghost”, Kera, who inhabits his dreams.  Dylan struggles, coping with a mother who will not stay in the same place long and goes through men like crazy and, eventually, ends up dumped into the lap of relatives he never knew existed.

Then things get crazy.

What I loved about this book was how much fun it was to finally be seeing things through the eyes of a male – and not just any male, a strong, decisive male who wasn’t wanting to shy away from things and was out to figure things out.  I enjoyed the humor contained in the brief interactions he had with friends and I loved the passion Dylan exhibited when faced with some insurmountable odds.

The Marked Son is fast-paced and filled with all sorts of fights and a nicely-paced story, however there were some things that seemed to be a bit glossed over and made for a bit of clunky going, especially as the end drew near.  I had a hard time accepting that Dylan was so capable right off the bad of channeling his powers, that he and Kera developed an “all-or-nothing” relationship that fast, and I was really confused as to what exactly went on in Kera’s world.   So I guess mostly my issues were on the world and magic building in the book.

There didn’t seem to be any clear-cut explanation of the powers Dylan (and the others in Kera’s world) possessed.  Nor was there really an explanation of how the world worked, what people used their powers for, etc.  Just that there was a big, bad guy and he was going to take over.  I understood that he was bad, but I didn’t really understand why.  That’s what made me struggle with this story.

I’m sure I’ll check out the next one when it’s released, because it was interesting – just had issues with what I’ve mentioned.  I did appreciate that the book was given a solid ending without a major cliffhanger as trilogy books are wont to have these days.

Check out these reviews!

YA Book Haven

Reading Lark

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The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

Posted on August 7, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • I’m a sucker for car accident stories and I’ve been feeling somewhat melancholy lately.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Sixteen-year-old Laurel’s world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new reality in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel’s life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss—a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.

My Review:

I’ve been in such a melancholy funk lately – I go through these stages where I need to read about tragedy and redemption, life moving on, just to feel as if I’m not the only one out there feeling these moments of sorrow and pain and to remind myself that there is worse and that I really am not all that bad off.

So with that in mind, it’s inevitable that I’d gravitate toward The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle – the story of a girl with two parents and a younger brother all taken from her in the blink of an eye.  Laurel is a Junior in high school at the time of the accident and she has to struggle.

There are things I loved in this book.  I thought the portrayal of her grief stages, of her wants, wishes and eventual acceptance were very realistic and portrayed well.  I felt for her, but it was hard to really feel moved for her because, in spite of it all, she still had so much and was so self-centered through it all.  She was not the only one affected by the accident, but it takes quite some time before she is even able to acknowledge that and… honestly, when a girl has to choose between ivy league schools and maintains a high GPA through a tragedy of this level, it just gets a bit unrealistic.  That was the part that turned me off – that in spite of this crippling event, she still manages to live a life that most of us would have loved to have.

Don’t get me wrong, a love a good “happily ever after”, but sometimes it’s too much and in the case of this story, it came off that way.   It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and was saved from being terrible with some fantastic writing and character building on the secondary characters, but still – I admit to rolling my eyes more than feeling as if I wanted to shed a tear.

Still, The Beginning of After is a worthwhile read and I read it easily in an afternoon sitting.  I’d highly recommend supplementing it with Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver or even something by Elizabeth Musser.

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Coffee Table Reviews

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The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Posted on August 2, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • Pam at Bookalicious raving over this in her review (and on Twitter) was enough to make me bump this up my TBR.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who needs her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

My Review:

Elisa is not your typical heroine.  She likes to eat, and her figure shows it.  She’s the second born girl, with an older sister who has been trained to be a Queen.  Elisa loves to read and is incredibly smart, but rarely gets to show that off due to a low self-esteem.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns begins with a wedding. Elisa’s wedding.  She is being married to a King and sent away from her family on her 16th birthday, and so begins her adventures.

What I really appreciated about this book was, although Rae Carson went just a little overboard with Elisa’s “fat” figure (references to eating, to calling herself a ‘pig’, etc), she also made sure to give a fairly accurate picture of what it feels like to be large.  The whispers and glances, even a wedding night – all made sense, especially during later events.  I was worried that this would be one of those stories where the fat girl loses weight and all of the sudden everyone likes her, but Carson manages to skirt around that cliche and still maintain the integrity of the story.

There is a lot of religion on this book, it’s a world based around the premise of religion and of Elisa being the first “chosen-one” in about 100 years.  It’s fascinating stuff, but also very, very religious so it was interesting to me to read a fantasy based so heavily on prayer.

I really enjoyed The Girl of Fire and Thorns.  I loved that, although there is love, it is not the central focus of the story, but rather Elisa’s growth and confidence is.  The fantasy world was interesting, but could have been a little more fleshed out (with less prayer next time, please!) and I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series to see where Carson takes us next.

Check out these reviews!

Bookalicious

The Midnight Readers

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Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

Posted on August 1, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • It just looked.. fantastic.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

“Now, for those of you who know anything about blind children, you are aware that they make the very best thieves. As you can well imagine, blind children have incredible senses of smell, and they can tell what lies behind a locked door- be it fine cloth, gold, or peanut brittle- at fifty paces. Moreover, their fingers are so small and nimble that they can slip right through keyholes, and their ears so keen that they can hear the faint clicks and clacks of every moving part inside even the most complicated lock. Of course, the age of great thievery has long since passed;today there are few child-thieves left, blind or otherwise. At one time, however, the world was simply thick with them. This is the story of the greatest thief who ever lived. His name, as you’ve probably guessed, is Peter Nimble.”

My Review:

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes is a stunning, stunning debut novel. Brilliantly conceived, filled with masterful descriptions that provoke not only the imagination with sights, but also with sounds, smells and touch.  From the first few paragraphs I was spiraled into a story, much like Alice falling down her rabbit hole, and caught up in a tale of the completely fantastic and I loved every single second of it.  Every one.

Now and then I’ll pick up a middle grade book and, more often than not, I’ll put it down feeling an overwhelming urge to pet a kitten or cuddle a puppy, but sometimes, those rare, few, precious times, I put the book down and feel as if I’ve been transported back in time and I’m 11 years old again and surrounded by a word of magic and mystery; a world where a boy without eyes can overcome impossible odds, where a knight without bravery can overcome his cowardice, and where a lost fantasyland can be found again.  Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes is one of those stories.

One of the most brilliant, fantastic things about this book is way Auxier describes not only the people Peter comes in contact with, but also the places he visits and the things he does.  Peter is blind, he has no eyes, and since the book (even though it’s in third person) is from Peter’s main point of view, we’re treated to smells, touches and sounds.  If a man is tall, we know because of the sound of his tread, if two people are related it’s due to their smell.  All this is done in such an exquisite way that it slipped by, unnoticed, until a moment came and I felt as if I’d just woken up and the world around me began to sparkle.

Bravo, Jonathan, bravo.

I cannot rave about this book enough.  If you loved Gregor and the fantastic world Suzanne Collins made in her books, if you loved Plain Kate by Erin Bow, then you will adore this story of Peter Nimble, the blind thief.  There are books I love, books I tolerate, books I cannot stand – but every now and then I come across a book like this one where I feel privileged to be allowed to read and experience the story.

Thank you, Jonathan Auxier, for giving us this story.

Check out these reviews!

Karissa’s Reading Review


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Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

Posted on July 30, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • It’s about Mermaids.  I like mermaids.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

When fourteen-year-old Luce is assaulted on the cliffs near an Alaskan village, she expects to die when she tumbles into the icy water below. Instead, she transforms into a mermaid. Luce is thrilled with her new life—until she discovers the catch.

My Review:

With all the stories of vampires, werewolves, angels, demons and witches/warlocks out there – of course the time of the mermaid was bound to come.

I’ve read a few mermaid novels in the past year or so, and Lost Voices has to be the best of the bunch, but that said, it still lacks that extra umph I was hoping for.

Sarah Porter does a beautiful job with crafting a thought-out version of mermaid lore. Gone are the beautiful mermaids in The Little Mermaid a la Disney and, instead, here are mermaids that are more like the ones in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

How do they get that way?

Through intense pain and struggle. Each of the mermaids in this tribe has been abused and now they have formed a band of beautiful girls living under the ocean waters. But for Luce, there’s an issue. She cannot bring herself to hate mankind because of the love she had for her father.

Oh, and there is a lot of singing.

The singing is actually what made the book for me. Sarah Porter did a beautiful job describing the sounds, the practice and the results of the songs. The scenes in which the mermaids sing are exquisitely written and I loved them so very much – but they made the dialogue and the juvenile descriptions of the girls interaction that much more painful.

Overall, the book seemed to be a jumbled bit of a mess, background stories tossed in here and there when absolutely necessary, an entire group of girls brought into the story for.. what purpose, I’m not sure. A Queen Bitch added in and a struggle between Luce and her “best” friend that switched around so often I felt like I was getting whiplash just from reading it.

I don’t know if I’ll pick up the book to follow this one (and it’s plainly obvious there will be another). If I do, it’d just be to see if the writing has improved on the character interaction level. I know Porter is capable of doing it – those musical passages in the book really did leave me breathless.

Check out these reviews!

The Garden of Books

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Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Posted on July 29, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • The fact that I now own this book (and have read it so quickly) is proof that book blogs work.  When I first saw the title, I passed it over thinking it’d be way too cheesy for me – but enough ranting and raving on Twitter from book bloggers (and reviews from the same) had me going out to buy it.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near – misses end with the French kiss Anna – and readers – have long awaited?

My Review:

Cute. Cute, cute, cute. By the way, Anna and the French Kiss = Cute. You know the cliche, “my teeth are hurting, that was so sweet”? That fits this book perfectly. I think it gave me several cavities in the few hours it took for me to devour it, and yes – I devoured it. Sweet, real, funny (Oh so funny – laugh out loud funny), filled with perfect puppy-love, romantic atmosphere (can you get any more romantic than Paris?), friends, struggles, relationship drama, high school drama, boarding school drama.. you name it, this book had it. I’ve heard so much hype over the last several months about how perfect this book is, and while I agree that it was pretty darn close to perfect, I can’t say that I necessarily LOVED IT AND MUST SWOON OVER ETIENNE. Because I can’t – there was just a few too many cliched moments for me. However, I did find it absolutely adorable and a cut above the other books out there trying to capture that first “real” love moment. Despite his horrible name (Etienne St. Claire… really?) Etienne was a likeable guy with issues that were pretty darn real. Anna also struggled with some very familiar feelings – being away from home, learning lessons on forgiveness and on how to be independent. Anna and the French Kiss gently speaks about these issues while coating them into a delicious candy coating, filled with descriptions of Paris that had me longing to visit and descriptions of a romance that was just too. darn. cute. I’ll be checking out Stephanie Perkins next book, to be certain. I enjoy a good, fluffy young adult novel every now and then and this definitely hit the spot.

Check out these reviews!

Good Books and Good Wine

The Eager Readers

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Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady by L.A. Meyer

Posted on July 23, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • I’ve been hearing rave after rave of the audio books – and having read Bloody Jack, I figured I’d give this one a go as an audio.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

 

After being exposed as a girl, Jacky Faber is forced to leave the Dolphinand attend the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a lady.

 

Everything she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners–disgusting! And whenever Jacky roams the city in search of adventure, trouble is never far behind. Then there’s the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo. . . .

 

So will Jacky ever become a typical lady? Not bloody well likely! But whether she’s triumphing over her snobbish classmates, avenging a serving girl’s murder, or winning over a stubborn horse that’s as fast as the wind, one thing’s for sure: Jacky’s new life in Boston is just as exciting as her old one on the high seas.

My Review:

I made the mistake of actually “reading” Bloody Jack (the first book) and this time chose to listen to the audio after reading an incredible amount of ravings over Katherine Kellgren. Let me tell you right now, the ravings were spot on.

Kellgren makes these books come alive. I laughed, cried, hooted and hollared right along with Jacky as she navigated the perils of becoming a “fine lady”. I felt her longing for Jacky, her confusion at the rules and regulations of this new place she called home. I wanted to spit on my hand and join the Dread Sisterhood and to scheme along with her as she plotted to take down the evil Reverend.

While I certainly enjoyed reading the previous book, it did not come alive nearly as much as this book did. I’m NOT an audio book fan, normally – I like to read at my own pace and get impatient when I have to wait for someone else to get to the “good parts”, but Katherine made every part of this book the “good part”. I’m raving here – but her enthusiasm, spirit, accents, singing talents (the songs came alive so beautifully), emotion and just.. love shone through.

I’m a huge fan of these books now. This audiobook converted me and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to listen to a fantastic story – especially if you are wanting to entertain an entire car full of folk on trips. I cannot even imagine how much fun it would have been to listen to this in a group!

It’s nearly impossible to talk just about the story and not about the audiobook, because they became one and the same – but I will say this. I found the story in The Curse of the Blue Tattoo to be filled with adventure, colorful characters, just a touch of improbability (The Lady Lenore’s maker was.. well, I did roll my eyes) and to be a fantastic account of the misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady.

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Bookworming in the 21st Century


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The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Posted on July 21, 2011
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Reason for Reading:

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Summary from GoodReads:

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister’s face before Annah left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the Horde as they swarmed the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.
Annah’s world stopped that day, and she’s been waiting for Elias to come home ever since. Somehow, without him, her life doesn’t feel much different than the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Until she meets Catcher, and everything feels alive again.
But Catcher has his own secrets. Dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah has longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it’s up to Annah: can she continue to live in a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return’s destruction?

My Review:

I took a few days after finishing The Dark and Hollow Places to collect my thoughts before writing this review, because I’m conflicted about it.  I loved The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and while I wasn’t a huge fan of The Dead-Tossed Waves, I still had faith in Carrie Ryan and the world she’s created in these books – because there is so much that is fantastic about it.

I think, though, that the problem is there is so much focus on love, falling in love and desperate emotions that it makes the actual terror take a back seat.  Yes, it’s still there and prominent, but as a reader, I was so caught up in who loves who and how they are going to be together that it was easy to discount.

It wasn’t that way in The Forest of Hands and Teeth – there was actual DEATH in that book to a main character, there was heartbreak, there were circumstances that molded Mary into a strong woman who pursued what she dreamed of.  Between Gabry (who plays a secondary part in The Dark and Hollow Places) and Annah, I did not find much of that strength at all.

I appreciate the message that Carrie Ryan was trying to impart, beauty is not just skin deep, and the emotional issues that can result due to guilt and betrayal, but it just didn’t work for me the way the first book did.  That is disappointing – because I had such incredibly high hopes.  I just felt that this and the previous book went a little too far off the probability (well, as probable as a zombie book could be) with immunity, hot air balloons and several “near-death” circumstances.

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Good Books and Good Wine

The Book Cellar

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Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Posted on July 17, 2011
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Reason for Reading:
  • I can’t seem to stay away from Angel stories.  It’s an addiction.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip – and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

My Review:

I have rated Angel Burn right dead center of a 1-5 rating system. If I could, I’d rate the first half a good, solid 4 and the second half would waver between a 1 and a 2.

The first half of Angel Burn is filled with action, interesting characters, a really unique twist on “angel lore”, and is fast-paced and just downright fun reading. It’s not great literature, but it was fun and it had me reaching to pick up my book whenever I had a few spare minutes to read (and actually, it kept me up until a good two hours after when I should have been asleep last night).

But then, about halfway through the book – just about when the love interest really takes over the relationship between Alex and Willow, the book started to lose its edge. Between the realization that these two teenagers “love” each other, the convenient placement of skills and money (who rides around with that much money, seriously), the overuse of the term “half angel” (I think I counted it five times in two paragraphs), the “you” “no you” “no you” back and forth between Willow and Alex in their lovesickness moments… it all got to be too much. I felt as if Weatherly went from creating what could have been a very kickass story and fell in love with her own characters so much that she went into some daydream world and wrote out a story that, in all honesty, should have been kept in her own mind.

The result? A very unsatisfactory ending and one that really disappointed me. Even the climax, the moment we were all waiting for, was flooded with regrets, teenage angst and moments that had me rolling my eyes so violently that I gave myself a headache.

In short – great idea, great beginning, really crappy ending. I’d hoped for better.

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There’s a Book

Good Books and Good Wine

 

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