ComaCalm's Corner

ComaCalm's 2011 Book Awards

2011-12-19T12:10:00.001Z

It's the first Book Awards over at ComaCalm's Corner! I've read nearly 150 books this year and these are the best - and the worst of books I've read this year.

Best Dystopia
It took some thinking but my pick for this year's Dystopian is Crossed by Ally Condie. After waiting about a year for it after devouring Matches, it really lived up to expectations and I was surprised that Ky got a say in Crossed.

Best Contemporary
Hate List by Jennifer Brown was my most memorable contemporary this year and I'll happily re-read it again and again! Although it's a pretty thick book, I found myself flying through the pages with ease.

Best Historical
Giving a very descriptive account fo life during the Plague, At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper just squeezed past Revolution (which is only partly Historical, I have to admit). I can still remember this story vividly and look forward to the sequel, which is why I chose it!

Best Indie
This one is an easy one! Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park had me in fits of giggles and made me read out a lot of passages to my partner. I'll always remember this one fondly!

Pretty On The Inside
This nomination is for a book that is beautiful on the inside! I have to pick Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin for this, as the word moon is in red and the chapter headers are beautiful.

Best Cover
Took A LOT of thinking about but in the end I had to go with The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, whose publishers chose a model that looks like Megan Fox!

Most Unique Plot
Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson kept me guessing right until the very end with it's many twists and turns!

Page Turner
Despite the size of it, Blood by Red by Moira Young was devoured within 3 hours!

Book I Read More Than Once
I loved the cover and I love the story - The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter gets it again!

And the worst...

Worst Dystopian
Eve by Anna Carey is almost worst than it's badly shopped cover, if you can believe that!

Worst Historical
Despite a lot of rave reviews from other bloggers, Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin almost put me to sleep, it was very long, very boring and the characters added nothing to the story.

Worst Cover
'Hi, this is the back of my head.' Seriously, Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper?

The Most Disappointing
Ah, I waited for a long time for this sequel but alas, Where She Went by Gayle Forman did not live up to my expectations. It was barely a story, just a piece for the fans.

And the one that made me angry...
If you want to really, really, really have me ranting about you, the best way to do it is to mess up a Historical detail, one so obvious that you could find it out on Wikipedia. So, Raven Queen by Pauline Francis, this one goes to you, for destroying a moment in history so badly, I nearly threw the book across the room.

Of course, I have to have an overall winner of awesomeness, with a big shiny star, a special place on my shelf and my shoving copies in everyone's faces. This year, that award goes to...

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Yup, this one is my favourite this year! I cried with sadness, happiness, every emotion at the awesomeness of this book! You should go read it. Now. It has a talking cat in it. Go buy it.

Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan

2011-12-13T20:47:00.000Z

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

I've put off reviewing this for a while as I was just so disappointed by the main character. I loved the world that Waverly and Co. lived in, I loved Kieran and hated Seth (in a good way) but I really really hated Waverly. She was just so.. ergh.

Let's concentrate on the good points first. This is definitely one for fans of Across the Universe and the plotline is bit richer too, much more action. I couldn't guess some of the twists and turns, which I thought was pretty awesome and I really felt the boys, who were left behind after the girls were kidnapped. I wasn't expecting Christianity to pop up at all, and when it did I was pleasantly surprised, it fitted in well the overall story. The idea of having two identical ships was a pretty clever one too.

Kieran has got to be the first male character in a book that I loved, I usually prefer the girls. He went through a whole bunch of crap from Seth, who seems to think he can run the ship better than the captain's favourite. When Kieran finally gets some control over the ship, he uses the Bible verses to keep morale up and connect the inhabitants of the ship together.

However, stuff that Waverly does at the end of the book really grated on my nerves (unfortunately I can't mention them due to spoilers). I understand that she'd been through a lot but there was no reason to act like a total bitch to everyone. Other girls had gone through the same thing as her and worse.

Throw in a cliffhanger at the end and I'm left thinking that I'm going to have to put up with Waverly's whining even more in the sequel, just so I can read about Kieran's story.

3 Stars

Interview and Giveaway with Avery Sawyer

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000Z

Tell us a bit more about yourself!

I've been writing professionally for ten years, ever since I graduated from college. I've written all different kinds of things, from novels (recently the middle grade books THE TEASHOP GIRLS and THE SECRET INGREDIENT) to standardized test questions to travel guidebooks to Match.com articles. My latest YA novel, NOTES TO SELF, is definitely my most ambitious project so far. I'm really proud of it. Other fun facts about myself:

1) My real name is Laura Schaefer. I chose Avery Sawyer as a pen name because I write for kids and for teens and wanted to distinguish the two. Choosing a pen name was really fun; I highly recommend everyone try it.

2) One summer in college, I worked at Disney World.

3) I have the world's greatest cat. Her name is Ramona and she is composed of fur and love. :-)

4) I live in Wisconsin, and it is true what they say...I really love cheese. A lot.

5) I just got engaged!

You have 140 characters to plug your book. GO!
In the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, Robin Saunders has to relearn who she is and find out what happened the night everything changed.

What three things do you need in order to write?
Coffee, silence, and my laptop. That's kind of a boring answer, but it's true!

Are you writing anything new that you'd like to tell readers about? I am revising a YA novel I wrote a couple years ago called THE HOLLYWOOD SCOOP. It takes place during World War II and it's about a clever cub reporter who falls in love with a mysterious boy. I'm really excited about it! It should be available in early 2012.

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?
Now here's a question I haven't gotten before! Ravens sometimes represent thought or memory, and I think a Writing Desk requires its users to bring both forward to create good prose.

Thanks for stopping by! You can find Laura/Avery here:
Goodreads (Avery)
Goodreads (Laura)
Twitter
Blog

Enter to win a PDF copy of Notes To Self by Avery Sawyer! Just fill the form in. :)

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A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd and Jim Kay

2011-12-01T11:58:00.001Z

This is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming. . . .
This monster, though, is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth.

Patrick Ness brings us Siobhan Dowd's last idea, a simple story about a boy called Conor, and takes us through the stages of grief as he slowly comes to terms with his mother's illness. I can strongly relate to Conor - I was 16 when my mother died of Multiple Sclerosis. It was a pretty horrible time and Conor's truth is something I can relate to - but I didn't feel guilty about it. I think Conor's age (14 I believe) may have something to do with why he feels so guilty, although 14 and 16 is a relatively small age gap, it's pretty huge in terms of mental development.

The curse of the hype - it gets to us all. There was so much hype surrounding this book, that I eagerly bought a copy, and read it with a lot of anticipation, waiting to be moved to tears when I got to the end. Only... that didn't happen. And now I'm left with a sort of 'is that it?' feeling. Don't get me wrong, the ending was beautifully sad, the drawings were as wild and destructive as Conor's monster, everything was perfect. But I was just waiting for more. The story itself is exactly what I expected. Simple, yet full of mystery until we get to that final chapter, the ending we've all been waiting for. I found the ending painfully obvious and spent a lot of the book waiting and hoping for a twist in the tale.

Altogether, the book really pulled me in and kept me reaidng from the beginning right to the very end which is pretty impressive, even for a short book. I do wish there would have been stronger character development, particularly Conor's father who was the most stereotypical character in the book. The illustrations are much stronger than the actual story which I'm not sure is a good thing but they were pretty amazing! If you buy this for any reason, buy it for the illustrator.

4 Stars

Marly's Ghost - David Levithan

2011-11-29T19:58:00.001Z

When Ben's girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over. What could possibly matter now when Marly is gone? So when Valentine's Day approaches, it makes sense that this day that was once so meaningful to Ben leaves him feeling bitter and hollow. But then Marly shows up - or at least her ghost does - along with three others spirits. Now Ben must take a painful journey through Valentine's Days past, present, and future, and what he discovers will change him forever.

Yep, you've guessed it - this is a modern day retelling of the famous A Christmas Carol. This short book tells of Ben's journey after the death of his girlfriend, Marley. Some interesting elements are added here - for instance Tiny Tim has now become a male gay couple and Valentine's Day has replced Christmas. The rest of the elements are kept quite similar and it's interesting comparing the two books.

However, I was completely let down by this story. It's essentially A Christmas Carol copied and pasted, to the point where 'Ben' (Ebenezer, geddit?) sounds like an English Victorian man, rather than a young American kid. The concept of Tiny Tim being a gay couple did work - at first - but then it became so riduclously cheesy and over-sentimental that I nearly spewed pink fluffy rainbows. The author calls this a 'remix' and I'm all for retellings, as long as the plot feels originaland this does not in any way. I could still feel the cold harsh Victorian Streets as the story was being told and I had to frequently remind myself that I was supposed to be in modern America and Ben was a teenager, not an old man.
The house that Ben lives in doesn't help towards the retelling either - he has a doorknocker, which makes me believe that either the Author couldn't think of what to use instead or that he just couldn't be bothered. Also, Ben has a great big fireplace in his bedroom. Of all the hundreds of YA books I've read, I've never heard of anyone having a fireplace in their bedroom. It didn't really seem to serve a purpose except to confuse me.

Overall, after reading this utter rubbish, I've lost all respect for the Author. I certainly won't be looking out for their books, if they're churning out classics with a dash of glitter to get money off of people.

1 Star - My first.

Zelah Green - Vanessa Curtis

2011-11-27T21:04:00.001Z

I spend most of my life running away from germs. And dirt. And people. And I’m just about doing OK and then my stepmother packs me off to some kind of hospital to live with a load of strangers. It’s stuck in the middle of nowhere. Great. There’s Alice who’s anorexic. Caro who cuts herself. Silent Sol who has the cutest smile. And then there’s me.

Zelah Green is a wonderfully quick read which I devoured in about an hour. It was great to delve into such a simple story, without loads of characters, complicated plot line and boys with rippling muscles! Okay, so it's not the most realistic but that's the beauty of it - simplicity. Who doesn't enjoy a piece of pure fluff every now and again?

The issues dealt with are OCD, cutting, anorexia and probably a couple of others that I don't remember. These are all mentioned in a very light way and the characters with these illnesses don't have too much character development, yet I still loved them all, particularly Caro, the cutter. Caro is almost the opposite of Zelah - she's loud, outspoken and rude and prone to sudden unexpected outbursts, smashing tables or screaming and breaking things (admittedly, I can relate to this, although maybe not as extreme!). In contrast, Zelah is quite, polite-spoken and keeps her room tidy. In fact she keeps everything tidy as she has OCD. She has rituals she has to do every morning, including hand washing and stair jumping (often to avoid anything seriously bad happening) but her almost fairytale-like wicked stepmother is having none of this after Zelah's father disappears. She packs Zelah off to the local hospital but Zelah's next door neighbour takes pity on her and takes her to Forest Hill House instead, where her new life begins.

The ending was very fluffy but I enjoyed it immensely and found myself rooting for Zelah all the way through. I can't wait to start the next book and I dearly hope that we'll see all my favourite characters again - Caro, Alice and Sol. I hope they've all mostly worked through their problems and the sequel shows them coping with the outside world once more.

5 Stars

Author Interview with Tyra Lynn

2011-11-26T16:35:00.001Z

Tell us a bit more about yourself!
Well, I wrote my first poem and short story before the age of five, and I still have them both...somewhere. (I don't know EXACTLY where they are because I am a pack-rat.) I also have this habit of writing ideas on the nearest thing that ink will adhere to. I have tons of 'scraps' with brilliance scribbled on them! I can't always find said brilliance, though.(See above reference to pack-rat.) Everything else about me is pretty normal and boring.

You have 140 characters to plug your book. GO!
True love: Fate means it's inevitable. Free will means it's not. Both are true. You'll be guessing until the end - or is it the beginning?

What three things do you need in order to write?
A computer, quiet, and coffee. LOTS of coffee.

Are you writing anything new that you'd like to tell readers about?
I am currently working on the sequel to Tempus, Arcanus. All the major characters will return and we will meet a couple of new ones. Questions from book one will be answered, but you also may be left with some new ones.

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?
That's easy. Because if it were not, then horses couldn't wear yellow rain-slickers on Thursdays, and that would be tragic!

Thanks for stopping by Tyra!

You can find Tyra lurking around the internet at these sites:
Blog
Twitter
Website
Goodreads

Crossed - Ally Condie

2011-11-22T18:37:00.001Z

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

I finally got Crossed in my hands, after a year of waiting and it did not disappoint. I wasn't expecting too much (it is filler after all) but it does really deliver for me. It's not action packed and the characters spend the majority of their time wandering around the same place, but the new characters and events that happen really made me fall in love with story. The new characters are Vick, Eli and Indie (suitably Dystopian sounding names), and they really add a new layer to the story. I particularly liked Indie, whose character develops more throughout the book and she almost felt like a real person to me. Vick is similar in that he also develops through the story and after telling his past to Ky, also becomes like a real person.

The environment itself, is rather barren. This was expected – wandering around the inside of a Canyon was not. Something more desert-like, similar to the Scorch Trials was what I expected but the inside of a Canyon is certainly an interesting idea.

Ky's side of the story is a nice touch as well. I'm not if he feels so familiar because Cassia knows him so well, or because his voice is very similar to that of Cassia's.

I should mention the similarities between this and Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, as that series is a favourite of mine. Cassia, like Tally, believes in what her society is doing and is looking forward to her future, in the societies grasp. Until a stranger (in Cassia's case, Ky, and Tally's case, Shay) turns up and they see the Society for what it is and escape. Somewhere along the way they are separated and have to find each other again. And of course there's a Rebellion wandering somewhere around the middle of nowhere. I hold the hope that this is just a coincidence, however.

5 Stars

London Deep - Robin Price and Paul McGrory

2011-11-20T23:50:00.001Z

London Deep is set in the future, in a flooded London - where rival police forces for kids and adults compete to keep the peace.

Jemima Mallard is having a bad day. First two kids sank her houseboat, and now the YPD (Youth Police) think she's mixed up with a criminal called 'Father Thames'. Not even her dad, a Cheif Inspector with the 'Dult Police, can help her out this time.

I spotted this whilst at the Thought Bubble Comic Convention and had to buy a copy – I love the cover and it's a Dystopian! Plus the author was the one that sold it to me, he was really friendly and signed it too. I bought this along with Spartapuss, so there should be a review of that up too, assuming I enjoyed it as much as London Deep.

London Deep had me hooked from the very first page. Mostly a novel but with comic art on every page, it's a quick read and very addictive. The comic art complements the story and it's important too – it forms part of the story, sometimes showing the characters talking to each other about events that have just happened or showing the next scene etc, I loved the illustrations of Jem, I thought they fitted her character perfectly. She's ten years old, and has a habit of breaking the law, mostly due to her curiosity! Jem lives in a Dystopian world, where London has flooded and everybody has become pirates – just kidding, they all live in boats. Despite that fact, everything is quite similar too – you have shanty towns, just like today and the Police– now separated into 'Dults and YPD – Youth Police Department. I did feel that a little more detail would have helped here, as I was a little confused about the YPD, and why they are there, plus why there seems to be 'The Bloody Tower' – a tower thing filled with prisoners, who seem to be slaves too. I think.

Nick, the second MC in this book, has his really annoying moments but is still strangely likeable. He's one of those guys – quite power hungry and determined to hold up the law at all times. Unfortunately due to Jem he does find himself in some pretty sticky situations, but they do work really well together. I would like to see Jem and Nick becomes friends in the sequel, Father Thames.

4 Stars

Hate List - Jennifer Brown

2011-11-17T21:30:00.000Z

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.
Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Plot: Valerie is coping with life after the aftermath of a shooting at her school - by her boyfriend, Nick. Now she believes (not completely incorrectly) that everyone blames her for it, despite stopping the shooting and gaining a bullet to her leg in the process. Going back to the past to show us what happened and switching to the future to show us the aftermath, this book kept me reading until the very last page.

Characters: Although Valerie was the main character, her boyfriend Nick was the most memorable for me. He seemed to have a presence during every chapter of the book, regardless of whether or not he was in that chapter or not! Valerie is a character I won't forget easily, I felt torn in two reading her story, agreeing with Valerie's opinions of herself and her parent's opinions at the same time. I wish I could have known her brother better, as he seemed pretty awesome and I was curious to see how having a sister that's accused of being an accomplice to a murderer effected him. I really hated Valerie's dad. I wanted to understand him but the stuff he said/did just made me hate more and more.

Expectations: I got everything I expected from this book - and more. For such a thick book, it was a surprisingly quick read - probably because I enjoyed it so much! I loved watching (reading?) Valerie slowly come out of her shell throughout the book, making new friends and discovering herself again. I thought that the last chapter was just beautiful, and a very fitting ending to Valerie's story.

5 Stars

Geek Girl - Cindy C. Bennett

2011-11-17T10:29:00.001Z

"Think I can turn that boy bad?" 17-year-old Jen turns her life upside down when, out of boredom, she makes a bet that she can turn school geek Trevor into someone like her. Instead, the goth girl finds herself sucked into his world of sci-fi movies, charity work, and even-ugh!-bowling. To truly belong with him-and with her new foster family-she must first come to terms with her violent past.

Jan's character was pretty interesting but I did find it difficult to connect with her. I think this is due to two things: when we first meet her, she's not a very likeable person at all and she has an obsession with what Geek people supposedly do and don't do (apparently laying on a trampoline is one of them). The second in particular really irritated me. Trevor seemed a bit cardboard to me, I didn't really 'get' him unfortunately.

I was hoping for something that would keep me thinking and dreaming about it long after I'd read it, and it certainly has the potential to do just that, but it never really goes anywhere and just seems really long. It's definitely not an original plot and doesn't do anything better than other books and movies have. I did enjoy reading about Jan's life etc, but it takes a long time to get to know her, and her less bitchy side.

3 Stars

Received free from Cedar Fort in exchange for an honest review.

Name of the Star - Maureen Johnson

2011-11-15T23:09:00.001Z

Blurb: The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.
Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Plot: Rory's parents have a gap year from teaching, so they decide to move over to Bristol. Rory chooses to go her own way and goes to a London boarding school. Once there, she makes friends, chokes on her dinner and discovers some new abilities. Oh yeah, and there's a Jack the Ripper copycat in town.

Characters: Of all the colourful characters, Alistair was easily my favourite. Although he didn't appear often, his dry humour had me in fits of giggles. The main character, Rory, is okay and she does have her awesome moments but mostly is your typical YA heroine. When Rory first moves into Wexford, the boarding school, she's warmly greeted by Jazza, and they become firm friends. erome joins the gang around the same time too, he's obsessed with the Ripper murders. That's all I remrmber. Unfortunately, after Boo joins them, Rory drifts away from Jazza and we barely see at all throughout the rest of the book. Jerome turns up a little more regularly than Jazza but also frifts away. Later on, Callum and Stephen join in and I have difficulty working out who's who because they are so similar.

''I looked at the stained glass image of the lamb in the window above me, but that only reminded me that lambs are famous for being led into slaughter, or sometimes hanging around with lions in ill-advised relationships.'' - Rory

Expectations: I was hoping for a bit more from this. It really seemed to be working towards something truly special, but half way through the plot changes slightly, new characters arrive and it becomes your typical YA paranormal book. Only with a little Life On Mars spice added.

4 Stars

Dark Eden - Patrick Carman

2011-11-01T10:00:00.001Z

Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Although Dark Eden sounds pretty amazing (I was pretty excited about it) I was left feeling rather disappointed. The story as a whole was rather dull, surprisingly not much happens, the plot twists are rather predictable and the big secret at the end was just... silly.

I started the book with high hopes, as the blurb makes it sound amazing. Will has an extreme phobia, just like all the other kids and he's sent to Fort Eden to be cured of it. Upon arrival he suddenly decides to get the heck away from the group, finds himself a convenient underground bunker which conveniently has security cameras linking to the inside of Fort Eden and decides to stay there for a while. He doesn't question this once during the book. While we're stick with him, one by one he watches the others get cured in one of the most stereotypical ways possible. The story drags on a lot as that's basically all that happens throughout the majority of the story, with the occaisional interesting bit when I discovered what each of the other kid's fears were.

The ending. I was hoping for something with a little more... well, just more. As I said, I found it rather silly and it was quite weak too. And just in case you didn't quite get the basic concept of what had happened, the Author has added a few short chapters on Will's afterthoughts, just to make sure you're really asleep.

5 Stars

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

There You'll Find Me - Jenny B. Jones

2011-10-04T10:00:00.001+01:00

In a small cottage house in rural Ireland, Finley discovers she can no longer outrun the past.

When Finley travels to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, she hopes to create a new identity and get some answers from the God who took her brother away and seems to have left her high and dry.

But from the moment she boards the plane and sits by Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to Finley's plan.

When she gets too close to Beckett, a classmate goes on a mission to make sure Finley packs her bags, departs Ireland-and leaves Beckett alone.

Finley feels the pressure all around. As things start to fall apart, she begins to rely on a not-so-healthy method of taking control of her life.

Finley tries to balance it all-disasters on the set of Beckett's new movie, the demands of school, and her growing romance with one actor who is not what he seems. Yet Finley is also not who she portrays to Beckett and her friends.

For the first time in her life, Finley must get honest with herself to get right with God.

~Add To Your Goodreads Shelf~

I was in need of some more fluff after reading a heavy historical book that wasn't as great as I was hoping, and this little book really did the trick. On one side, it's quite serious, dealing with Finley's grief after the death of her older brother, and on the other it's rather silly - on a flight to Ireland, a place that her brother loves, she ends up sitting next to the hottest boy in Hollywood - Beckett Rush, who's filming his latest Vampire movie in Ireland. Yes, really! I couldn't help but picture him as Robert Pattinson, of course. Strangely enough, this formula seems to work.

Finley has a lot of issues. Although she's rich this isn't touched upon much but what we do know is that she became quite wild after her brother's death, and has some anorexic tendencies to work through. She goes to Ireland to try and find God, as her brother did, and she if she can finish the song she made for him, as part of her Audition piece for a school of music. On top of that she's assigned a grandmother to look after who's trying to gain her Sister's forgiveness for mistakes she made in the past. And then there's Beckett, who's always around and staying at the same Bed and Breakfast that Finley is. He might be perfect for Finley, if she can stop thinking about herself for a little while and realise his true personality.

Beckett annoys Finley a lot and has a tendency to call her by the wrong name on purpose but undeath his Hollywood charm is a very adorable guy trapped by his Father's expectations. I think he connects with Finley quickly because she's just what he needs - real. She helps his with his lines and doesn't moon over him like the other girls and he seems to enjoy the challenge!

There You'll Find Me is a great book to curl up on the sofa with on a rainy day, especially if you like fluffy reads. I loved every minute of it and I'm sad that I finished it so quickly!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.

Eve - Anna Carey

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus - and the vaccine intended to protect against it - wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust... and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

If I had to describe Eve in one word, I'd probably choose 'Watery'. The idea is very good, a great idea for a Dystopian but it never really delivers. It definitely has it's good points but I found quite a few things I didn't like about it.

Characters: Eve is a pretty weak character and I never really 'got' her. I didn't understand why she disobeyed the rules of her school, considering she's a model student, has lived there a very long time and knows of no reason why she shouldn't trust them. She's been brought up to believe that boys are basically savages, only after one thing but of course, almost as soon as she meets Caleb she's all, 'Ooh, my face is near his chest!' Honestly, this chick has a chest fetish.

The other characters are stronger, with a lot more substance which is why I continued reading. Arden should have been the main character, as she has a much stronger voice and she's a lot tougher emotionally. Plus, she has the mentality of a tough Dystopian chick. I actually got to know her character, that she likes playing pranks on people and she's easily annoyed.

Caleb was mostly cardboard hottie but with a few redeeming qualities, mostly his past. Won't say too much (Spoilers) but his past is definitely intriguing.

Story: This is almost as weak as our main character. The idea is that most of America has been wiped out after a Plague (no specific details about that) and now wherever Eve is living is ruled by an Evil King. Who uses the school girls to breed lots of babies that will become citizens (or slaves) of his Empire. Eve is caught up in it all and chooses to escape. Her and Anden end up living in a sort of underground bunker for a while with a gang of kids I could only describe as the Lost Boys. Guess who's Wendy. Eve and Arden plan to make their way to a safe haven and encounter friends and foe along the way.

The story didn't really leave me wanting to read more and I only chose to read it because it's a Dystopian! I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone but if you have it, well, it's a quick read.

Book Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Received free from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Inside - Jeyn Roberts

2011-09-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs… Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everday people into hunters, killers, crazies.

Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.

Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was hoping for something good and boy, it really delivers. At first I wasn't sure if four POV's would work and I figured it would be quite confusing, but I kept up with each storyline easily and I loved how it all came together in the end.

Although there are a few unexplained things in this, such as why an Earthquake caused so many people to go crazy or why there are certain levels of craziness - some were complete zombies, others were calculating killers and some seemed completely fine, like our four protagonists - I found that I didn't really care. I was too caught up in the action and suspense, which is pretty much a constant. Right from the beginning the four are thrown into very different situations. Mason has just learnt of his Mother's death and is waiting in hospital, Aries is on a bus when it crashes due to the Earthquake and she first meets Daniel there, a mysterious stranger who seems to be hiding his own secrets. Clementine is in a Village Hall with most of her town when her Mother tells her to escape when a couple of men with guns turn up - upon leaving, the screams start. And Michael is on a Motorway with his friend when a an argue between two motorists starts a bizarre sequence of events.

Of all the characters, I think I like Clementine the best. Aries is smart but she her stupid moments around Daniel, who she seems to think she owes or something. Micheal is likeable but makes some pretty silly decisions when he's supposed to be looking after someone, and Mason doesn't ask enough questions! Clementine however is the smartest. She keeps herself in the shadows and makes it the furthest on her own, narrowly escaping the baggers a few times. She teams up with another one of the four later on, at a time when they most needed her.
I really hated Colin. He's a complete coward and I would have kicked him out of the group pretty quickly! He doesn't expect to have to get food or keep watch or anything and he's always making excuses. He's definitely one of my most hated characters in a book!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free in exchange for an honest review from Macmillan

ReadMore App Review and Giveaway

2011-09-09T17:57:00.000+01:00

~Click images to enlarge~

A little while ago I discovered a cute little iPod app called ReadMore. It claims to help break large books into more manageable pieces and has many plans for the future, including stats of books read over time. Naturally I eagerly downloaded it and decided to write a review of it after a little while of using it to see if it would be useful to other readers.

The thing I enjoy the most about ReadMore is stacking the books up and being able to choose which colour and style I want for each book. Choosing the style and writing down the pages, title and Author name down is very simple and quick to do and there's even a notes section, which is great. Another thing I love is the little circular thing on the right of the spine that gets more coloured in the more I read, which I think encourages me to continue reading. The timer that's used during reading is a little daunting in my opinion, I think a simpler clock would be nice! I like that I can pause a session as well as well as stopping it, and the notes option is at the bottom of the screen, so if you like to jot down notes for review purposes later, it's very useful. And the best thing about it is that I can see how long it takes me to read a book, which means that I'm going to start adding reading times at the end of each review.

It could do with a few improvements though. At the moment when I click the export button I just get information that I already know, like how many pages I read in the book etc. but nothing really useful to me. Goodreads tells me the biggest book I've read and how many pages I've read in it's stats, so I'm hoping for something similar to that soon. Another problem I have is Kindle books - I have no idea how many pages there are in some books, so I put down 100 and just list what percentage I'm onto!And then there's the 'breaking large books into more manageable pieces'. It does but not very well - it thinks I could finish the next 20% of a Kindle book I'm reading in three days time - I'll actually easily finish it tonight!Small changes that I would really like are mainly to do with the look of the books. I find the current colour scheme a little too dark and would like something brighter. More colours are definitely needed as well as better 'looks' for the books. There's only 4 options of looks and the only unique one has a sort of yellow line at the top. I would like to see some damage, maybe a couple of cracked spines or some wear, to make it feel more like a book. And new title fonts would be especially awesome.

After asking the owner of ReadMore, I discovered more about the new things that are planned, including:

- Lookup book information by ISBN number (through Google Books)
- More colors to choose from in the book stack
- More stats and graphs for your total reading history
- It will eventually become a universal version that will run on iPad
- iCloud integration (not as soon as iOS 5 comes out, but it is planned)
- Tagging of books

All of this sounds promising! iPad is no interest to me but I'm eager to try out everything else. And the new colour picker will be coming out in a couple of weeks, which I can't wait to try.

Final thoughts: ReadMore is a great app and an essential one for me. I love knowing how long it took me to finish a book and making a little stack of books on my screen. It's not free but it is rather cheap, I believe it's less than £1.50. And if you're not wanting to pay for that right now, why not enter my giveaway? There's five copies of this app available to win, so you have a high chance of winning!

~Giveaway closed~

Ashes - Ilsa J. Bick

2011-09-06T10:00:00.002+01:00

It could happen tomorrow...

A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."
Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.

This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.

How to review Ashes? The first half of the story is amazing, I couldn't put it down. It reads like a modern Stephen King and the idea of Alex being able to smell fear and the changed kids is a really interesting concept. However, the second half was like reading a different book. I couldn't connect with any of the new characters, the story itself seemed very slow going, I had to drag myself through it just so I could get to the ending. However, the ending is a cliffhanger the size of Everest, which I wasn't best pleased about.

Alex, Ellie and Tom are the perfect team, they're pretty much a family unit, people who would have never even glanced at each other if they hadn't have been stuck in the situation that they're in. I liked that none of them knew each other before hand, so we're learning about them at the same time as them learning about each other. Tom has the survival skills, Alex has the butt-kicking heroine attitude and Ellie, well, she's Ellie - a fiery temper but strangely loveable.

I liked the unique things about this story - Alex's brain tumour (not something you'd usually see a YA main character having), her strange sense of smell where she's somehow able to sense people's emotions (this reminded me of R. J. Anderson's Ultraviolet, where the main character could taste words), and the obvious one - the Zap thing itself. On the other hand the second half is loaded with bland stereotypes that had me banging my head against a wall (a cult, really?) and I was quite disappointed with this.

I'm hoping the sequel will go back to the quality of the first half, which I would have happily given five stars to. Fingers crossed!

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Received free from Egmont through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blood Tide - Tess Oliver

2011-09-04T18:59:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

When four strangers move into Blackpool Cove the same week a tragic shipwreck befalls its shores, Trixie Muldoon waves it off as coincidence. Even the arrival of the appealing, young investigator, David Durham, does not convince her otherwise.

But when a girl disappears, it's obvious something sinister has gripped the quiet, coastal town, and it all leads back to the town's newest inhabitants, including the mysterious Beck Ryker.

Everything about Beck Ryker, his scarred face, his hypnotic gaze, his seemingly tortured past, says heartbreak and regret. Yet Trixie finds herself drawn to him.

But when the tangle of secrets surrounding Beck unravels, Trixie finds herself caught between terror and passion.

Tess Oliver is my favourite Author, so you can imagine my excitement when I got a copy of this. Blood Tide is a YA Vampire novel, set in the late 19th century. Admittedly I usually avoid Vampire novels like the plague but as this one is written by Tess I figured I'd make an exception. I made the right choice too - Blood Tide is (almost) as strong as the previous two I read (Bitterroot Crossing and Camille), and the main character is almost more likeable than Camille, which surprised me.

In the theme of strong female characters, Trixie Starfire Muldoon (now there's a name I won't forget in a hurry) is living on Blackpool Cove with her Grandfather and Romani-Gypsy born Grandmother, who has the uncanny ability to predict the weather. Not surprisingly though, the star of the show is Trixie's pet Pelican, Finley who definitely has a very cute personality - and a constant longing for fish.
Onto the boys. This is where I had problems. I found there were too many male characters to be able to keep up with them all! It was rather difficult to remember who said and did what as well as trying to work out who Trixie could end up dating, which was a shame. It got a little easier towards the end of the book but I would have enjoyed it more if there were less.
Piper Louisa was my favourite character (I nearly always like the sidekicks best), she's very stereo-typical 19th century girl around boys, obsessing over them and giggling a lot. I felt the stereotypical-ness was a good thing though. I found it very entertaining when her cousin, Charlotte turned up and they both hated each other, which led to many digs at each other.

Plot wise, I enjoyed it but found it a little silly in places, although what with the events that happened I suppose it needed a little sillyness! I definitely enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second though, as Piper showed up more and the characters seemed stronger.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Blindsided - Priscilla Cummings

2011-09-02T11:26:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

In many ways, Natalie O'Reilly is a typical fourteen-year-old girl. But a routine visit to the eye doctor produces devastating news: Natalie will lose her sight within a few short months.

Suddenly her world is turned upside down. Natalie is sent to a school for the blind to learn skills such as Braille and how to use a cane. Outwardly, she does as shes told; inwardly, she hopes for a miracle that will free her from a dreaded life of blindness. But the miracle does not come, and Natalie ultimately must confront every blind person's dilemma. Will she go home to live scared? Or will she embrace the skills she needs to make it in a world without sight?

What would you do if you were told you were going blind? In Natalie's case, she goes into complete denial, even after being enrolled in a Blind School. There she learns many lessons, other than Braille and using a cane, and makes many friends along the way. The story is a really quick, enjoyable read and I quite enjoyed it.

Of course, there were a few things that I didn't enjoy so much, which seems to be a common peeve of readers - Cummings becomes quite extreme at times, throwing so many life lessons and perilous situations at me I felt like a moron. A lot of it is basically saying, 'Look! Blind people can go to the mall if they want to!' and other parts were just silly. Despite this, I really enjoyed Natalie's story.

Of the characters, I liked Bree a lot. Despite her attitude when we first meet her, you learn about her past later on and she tries her best to make amends. Natalie is similar, at first she shuns everything, refuses to use her cane but after falling down the stairs and knocking herself out (true) she realises that she can't be in denial forever.
I found it a little odd that Natalie was the perfect girl-next-door farm girl, whereas the rest of the characters had some pretty serious histories but I think that was part of Cummings way of drilling life lessons into our heads...

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Giveaway: Carry On The Flame

2011-09-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

The Blog Tour train stops by here today for a giveaway! I love giveaways! *claps happily*

Here's everything you need to know about the book and the Author:

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

About Carry on the Flame:

In Carry on the Flame, humanity is in the midst of the greatest crisis in their evolution. Sharay is the one chosen to show the way forward and help humankind move through the fear and dark times of today’s world. Born into a lineage of priestesses in modern day Glastonbury, England, Sharay’s way is blocked by her jealous Aunt Phoebe, who uses black magic against her to steal her fortune and magical power. When Phoebe commits Sharay to a psychiatric ward and accuses her of murder, Sharay struggles with the temptation to fight Phoebe’s vengeance with her own. Through the ancient Celtic ceremony of Beltaine, Sharay experiences profound sacred union with the Welshman Guethyn, who shows her how to open her heart. But Sharay must learn to transform her hatred for her aunt in order to claim the mystery held deep within her cells that will allow her to fulfill her destiny and prove that the ultimate magic is the power of love.

Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call Book One is a YA/adult magical urban fantasy, paranormal romance novel.

Carry on the Flame: Ultimate Magic Book Two releases October 31, 2011.

Author Bio:

Jodine Turner is an author of YA/adult fantasy, paranormal romance, and magical realism. She is also a therapist, and a consecrated priestess. While living in Glastonbury, England, the ancient Isle of Avalon, Jodine began writing the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series about priestesses who had lived in Avalon throughout the ages and today.

About the Series:

Jodine’s series is a dark and edgy saga of a young priestess who's reborn during three different critical junctions in history in order to help humankind move through fearful and bleak times - the demise of Atlantis, the Dark Age's suppression of the feminine, and today's turbulent world.

Each novel in the series is a standalone read. First in the series is the highly acclaimed The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis. The second novel is the award winning The Keys to Remember. The third novel, Carry on the Flame: Book One Destiny’s Call, is already award winning. The story of Carry on the Flame concludes in Book Two, Carry on the Flame: Ultimate Magic, which comes out October 31, 2011.

~ Buy on Amazon ~

The next blog stop: Sept 2 – The Wormhole http://wormyhole.blogspot.com/

And the giveaway! One PDF copy of Carry On The Flame. If you win, please don't be mean. It's for your use ONLY. I will find you and beat you with a stick if you're mean.

~Giveaway Closed~

POD - Stephen Wallenfels

2011-08-31T15:46:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

POD's - strange alien spheres hover menacingly in the sky, zapping anyone who ventures outside.

Josh is 15 and stuck in his house with his OCD dad. They're running out of food... Megs is 12, alone and trapped in a multi-storey carpark. The hotel next door is under the control of dangerous security staff, but Megs has something they want, and they'll do anything to get it...

When the aliens invade, the real enemy becomes humanity itself.
What would you do to survive?

From the start the story really hooked me in and I couldn't stop reading! It follows the stories of two kids who are trapped in very different situations after an Alien invasion, although the things that happen to them mirror each other.

After the Aliens have invaded no-one can go outside without getting 'deleted' by the PODs (Pearls of Death) which makes for some pretty interesting and slightly claustrophobic reading! Josh is 15 and he's stuck in his home with his Father in Washington and Megs is 12 and is stuck in a car parking lot in Los Angeles. Josh is having to deal with his Father's OCD on top of everything else, and that puts him in some very stressful situations. On top of that, he has no idea if his Mother is alive - the same as Megs. Her Mother left her in their car just before the Invasion, for a 'Job Interview', promising to come back soon. Of course, because of the invasion she doesn't come back and Megs has to learn to fend for herself - and not let herself be seen by a gang of thugs that have taken over the Hotel that the Parking Lot is attached to. She's pretty resourceful, finding both food and water in various different places, including 'Bloaters' - dead bodies.

The story flows really well throughout, switching fromA Josh to Megs each chapter. Josh's Dad slowly gets weirder and weirder and Megs' hiding places become smaller and smaller until three quarters of the way through both are forced to take drastic action. There's some pretty heavy subjects later on, so this is definitely not a fluffy read! The ending worked very well but I was rather disappointed that we didn't get concrete answers. There were a few too many unanswered questions, so I'm hoping that a sequel will be released!

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Giveaway Announcements!

2011-08-31T15:00:00.001+01:00

Commenting Contest

Grace Smith - 1st Place

Bella (CheezyFeetBooks) - 2nd Place

Cait Lomas - 3rd Place

Grace gets a pack of three books and Cait and Bella get a book of their choice.

Pre-Order/Postcards Pack

Sara Trottier - 1st Place

There were three runners up, whose names escape me.. whoops.

Signed Copy of XVI

Cait Lomas again! Congrats!

Books will be shipped in a few days.

Worldshaker - Richard Harland

2011-08-23T19:39:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Col is a wealthy child of privilege. Raised to succeed his grandfather as the Supreme Commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker, he has lived a pampered life on the Upper Decks. He has never questioned his place in the world or his bright and illustrious future. But when a Filthy girl stows away in his cabin, suddenly nothing is clear anymore. Quick and clever, Riff is nothing like the Filthies that Col always learned about—the dumb, slow, less-than-human folk who toil away Below, keeping Worldshaker moving. Filthies are supposed to be animal-like, without the power of speech or the ability to think for themselves—but Riff is clever and quick and outspoken, and Col is drawn to her despite himself.

As Col begins to secretly spend more time with Riff, he begins to question everything he was raised to believe was true, and realizes that if Riff is right, then everything he was raised to believe is a lie. And Col himself may be the only person in a position to do something about it—even if it means risking his future.

Worldshaker is a Teen Steampunk story of an upper-class boy who falls in love with a girl from the Lower Classes, and the consequences of his actions. Worldshaker is the name of the massive ship that Col lives on, and it's powered by the 'Filthies' below, who the Upper-Classes just assume are little more than animals. Col discovers Riff around the same time that he learns the truth of his World, and together they start a war that will change the lives of everyone onboard.

Col is a character that I didn't really like too much at first, same as Riff, but I liked them more and more as the book progressed. The main problem I had with Col was when he realised he loved Riff, and had many different childish daydreams about her, which didn't really reflect on his personality. I think with Riff was that she comes and goes very quickly, so it would have been good to read a chapter or so on her thoughts to connect with her better.
The other characters are very colourful and my particular favourites were Col's crazy teacher, Mr Gibber and a girl who we get to know better later in the book, Sephaltina. They were completely crazy! Mr Gibber in particular, who was constantly ranting and raving about immoral angles and various other bad things, when he wasn't whacking desks or himself with his canes. Sephaltina seemed to want to be the perfect partner, wondering if she should turn her head one way or the other and fainting on cue. Some of the other crazy characters were less funny and more horrifying though. Ebinolia, Col's Grandmother, was probably the most mentally disturbed. I think I'll have nightmares of her!

The book is quite a slow read though, and I did have to drag myself through some parts. There's a large section dedicated to Col's schooling, which was boring at times, although Mr Gibber kept me entertained! After that section, things do pick up a lot and I really enjoyed the rest of it. The sequel, Liberator, sounds promising so I'm looking forward to reading that!

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Solid - Shelley Workinger

2011-08-18T10:00:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Teens discover they were secretly genetically altered before birth are brought together at a classified site where they forge new friendships, find love, develop "super-abilities," and even unearth a conspiracy.

Solid is a brilliant, fast paced book that I found very easy to get into and loved nearly every part of! I read the eBook version, for review and I was really pleased with the quality of the eBook. It had a little border around the numbered pages and the writing was easy to read, not so small that I had to squint all the time. Along with the fantastic writing, the whole thing gave off an air of professionalism, which I think all eBooks should be like.

The story itself was quite unique, although it reminded me off a book I read a long time ago that I can't remember the name of! I loved the idea of having a group of friends, as lately the YA Heroines seem to be loners! I loved all the main characters, especially Miranda, despite her faults! She's strangely loveable and very funny, constantly worrying about her skin - and everyone else's!
Onto the love interest. Jack was perfect - funny but thoughtful and the kissing scenes were written perfectly for him and Calliope. Hopefully there will be more in the next book...

I did find the ending rather cheesy however, very cheesy in fact. I was hoping for something with a bigger punch but what I got was kinda disappointing as I guessed everything before it had happened. The bad guy idea was straight out a Point Horror book too. Despite this, the ending did strangely fit well with the story and I can't wait to find out what will happen next!

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Gamerunner - B. R. Collins

2011-08-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Rick is a Gamerunner. His job is to test there are no glitches or bugs in The Maze - the computer game that is much more than just a computer game. In The Maze you physically become your avatar. You fight, run and loot, all the time avoiding the deadly slicing traps - whirling blades that appear from nowhere. Rick has known nothing outside The Maze and his life at the headquarters of Crater, the company that owns his father, who created the maze. When Rick's father falls out of favour and Rick is faced with being thrown out of Crater HQ into the outside world - a world of flesh-dissolving acid rain and ferocious, feral roving gangs - Rick has some life-changing decisions to make ...

It seems like lately I've been reading bad book after bad book and Gamerunner is no exception. It starts off by throwing you straight into the action, showing you the maze. Then after Rick leaves the maze his Guardian, Daed, asks him to re-enter and stop someone from completing it. Rick does this but does what Daed ordered him not to - he completes the maze himself. His actions causes a lot of problems in his world and he finds himself caught up in a lot of politics.

I found myself with more questions than answers in this. I wanted to know who exactly the Government is. I wanted to know what the world outside of the building was like. Mainly, I wanted to know why everyone kept saying 'Gods' when there seemed to be no religion. Mostly, I was just bored.

I'm not sure why Ganerunner failed to entertain. I think it was due to a number of things: the two main characters, Daed and Rick, seem to have spilt personalities - Rick is childlike at times and a moody teenager the next and Daed is a loving Father-figure one minute and a complete psychopath the next - so it was hard to understand them. The world itself was rather grey, I never got a glimpse of the world outside the building which bothered me, with Dystopians I like to have a good look at the whole world. I spent most of the book waiting for plot twists and action but the story failed to deliver - there was plenty of action at the end but it was dulled by an annoying cliff-hanger and if there were any plot twists I fell asleep through them. It's a shame, as the cover is amazing!

Book Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Betrayal - Lee Nichols

2011-08-16T10:00:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great when she's battling the wraiths her enemy Neos sends, but terrible when she's flirting with fellow ghostkeeper (and possible boyfriend) Bennett. When ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power, and that's not something Bennett can handle. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school with fellow ghostkeeper, Natalie. When a new team of ghostkeepers arrive - one a snarky teen boy, the other a British scholar - Emma finds solace in training for the battle against Neos. But as the team grows stronger, they are threatened by an unknown force. One they thought was good.
As hilarious and page-turning as Deception, this sequel will grab readers and hold them to the last page. Will Emma ever defeat Neos and find her parents?

~Read my review of the first book, Deception~
Will contain spoilers of the first book if you haven't read it yet!

As with Deception, the title of Betrayal fits perfectly with the story, which I think is a brilliant idea. The plot is just as strong and made me giggle a lot throughout! My favourite moments are when the characters talk in a different language to each other - and the translations are in the footnotes!

The story introduces two new characters, Simon and Lukas, and they're great additions. Simon is the strict father-figure, who has them up late training and eating rather bland food and Lukas is your typical teenage boy, he reminds me of a less-uptight version of Harry. The obvious attraction between Natalie and Lukas made for even more hilarious moments. Harry, and Sara are in this too - but they blame Emma for Coby's death, and want nothing to with her.
Emma herself is just as awesome as she was in Deception, but you do have to put up with her thinking about Bennett all the time! Personally, I'd tell him where to go if he chose his Ghostkeeping abilities over me. Bennett has more substance in this but I'm not sure I like him as much as I did in the last book. He's less of a protective, sexy-older-guy figure and more of an asshole, to be honest!

There's some great twists and turns too, that kept me guessing right until the very end and the sneak peek of Surrender just made me want the third book even more! Is it December yet?

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Shimmer - Alyson Noel

2011-08-13T10:00:00.005+01:00

Cover Rating: 4 Stars

Having solved the matter of the Radiant Boy, Riley, Buttercup, and Bodhi are enjoying a well-deserved vacation. When Riley comes across a vicious black dog, against Bodhi’s advice, she decides to cross him over. While following the dog, she runs into a young ghost named Rebecca. Despite Rebecca’s sweet appearance, Riley soon learns she’s not at all what she seems. As the daughter of a former plantation owner, she is furious about being murdered during a slave revolt in 1733. Mired in her own anger, Rebecca is lashing out by keeping the ghosts who died along with her trapped in their worst memories. Can Riley help Rebecca forgive and forget without losing herself to her own nightmarish memories?

I originally wasn't going to read Shimmer - I didn't enjoy Radiance much - I found a few plot holes and thought that it was a bit too childish altogether. However I received a copy for review of Shimmer, and decided it would be worth the read - after all, it's pretty short!
I'm pleased to say that I made the right decision as the plot, once it gets going, is pretty unique and much stronger than the one in Radiance. Riley's character isn't as irritating and a found myself liking her much more. She reminded me very strongly of a younger Ever.

This one follows a tougher subject - the slave trade. I would advise some caution with really young readers as there's a few moments that aren't pretty but I believe the author handles them and the whole subject very well and it seemed very believable.

We also get a glimpse of Bodhi's past but he doesn't feature too heavily. I found this particular section rather intriguing and I'd love to know more of his past. As well as that we also see the past of a new character, Rebecca, who's been blinded my rage after her death, trapping people in her bubble. Riley's unassigned task this time is to get to the root of the problem and rescue Buttercup and Bodhi in the process. Thankfully she has help in the shape of Prince Kanta, one of the slaves. If he hadn't have been there the book would centre of Riley banging her fists against a bubble for the entire book and I don't think that would sell nearly as well! Needless to say, I hope this isn't Prince Kanta's last appearance.

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Prisoner of the Inquisition - Theresa Breslin

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

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Zarita is used to basking in the pampered lifestyle being the only daughter of the town magistrate affords; she is free to roam the town as she likes, consort with the son of a nobleman and spend her days studying the arts. Saulo's family have fallen on hard times, and when his father is hanged for an assault on Zarita he did not commit and Saulo is hauled off to be a slave at sea, Saulo swears revenge. But when Zarita's mother dies in childbirth, and the formidable and frightening Inquisition arrives in the area, a curtain of suspicion and brutality comes down on her old life for good. Saulo may believe that Zarita is his sworn enemy, but in a time when the whole of Spain is in turmoil, are him and Zarita each other's only hope of survival?

This historical novel, set mostly in Spain in the 15th century, follows the journey of two very different characters, whose lives are strangely connected. Zarita is a very spoilt girl who unwittingly causes the execution of Saulo's father. Saulo himself is sent away on a ship, and as he grows up he plots his revenge against Zarita's family. The story is told from both points of view, Zarita tells of the horrors of the Inquisition and Saulo's of his life at sea.

With this, the idea of the two different stories should have been really interesting to read about but I found Saulo's half rather boring, and just dragged myself through it. No offense to Saulo but I didn't really want to know about life on a ship when the other tale was of the Inquisition and public punishment, every day more terror! I think this could have quite easily been just one story - Zarita's. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if it had.

Zarita's half involves a wicked Step-Mother, the loss of her mother and of course, what it's like to questioned by the Inquisition. Zarita, although spoilt, is a very likeable character for me because she does her best to help others, just like her Mother. When Saulo is sent away after his Father dies she goes out of her way to find his Mother and look after her in her final days. Her character just gets stronger throughout the book. Saulo, on the other hand, I can't really say much about. He's sold for some wine and then spends his next few years on a ship. It seemed like he kept forgetting that he was supposed to be blinded by revenge until it suited the author.

The last 150 pages just seemed to get get sillier with some rather ridiculous plot twists and an ending that made me groan aloud, it was so cheesy and sloppily written. I felt like I'd won a 500 mile race to be rewarded with a cheese sandwich. A mouldy one.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Interview and Giveaway: Marc Johnson

2011-08-10T10:00:00.009+01:00

Self Published Author Marc Johnson stops by today to answer a few questions today. That's him, down there in the fetching hat.

1. What made you decide to Self Publish? Was it easier or harder than you expected?

I self published because of all the rapid changes that are happening in the industry. I can adapt to the climate changes far faster than any traditional publisher. I’m also a bit of a control freak.

Self-publishing was exactly what I expected—very hard. I formed a business plan, read other blogs and interviews, and listened to other podcasters so I knew the things I had to do. The only thing that caught me off guard was how much time I had spend on things like marketing, promoting, and editing. It was a lot more than I thought.

2. What made you want to write your current book?

They always say you should throw away your earliest work. I disregarded that. Catalyst was my first major work. I wrote it when I was about 13, and it’s something I want to see through to the end. There’s this deeply seeded drive within me to publish and finish the entire series. All my other ideas and stories can wait until it’s done.

3. Can you describe your book in twenty words or less?
My Hollywood pitch is Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter.

4. What are your plans for future books, assuming you have some!?
My plan is to write six books for The Passage of Hellsfire series. I will get them out once a year. Once I’m done with that, I have plenty of other books I want to write in various genres.

5. Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Because they both can fly!

6. Write three sentences on anything you like here!
Don’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of your dreams, especially yourself. But if you go for it, you have to give it your all. There is no in between.

Contact him!
Website: http://www.marcanthonyjohnson.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Hellsfire
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/marcjohnson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marc-Johnson-Author/147258962007724

Deception - Lee Nichols

2011-08-09T10:00:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian--her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern--and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.
After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore--except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.

I received a copy of this from Bloomsbury and as I hadn't heard if it before, it was pretty intrigued! After seeing other bloggers positive comments I decided to read it as soon as possible, and I'm really glad I did. I couldn't stop reading! I read 100 odd pages before I went to bed and then read the rest of it the next afternoon. 

You do have some stereotypical elements - main character has stronger powers than everyone else, forbidden love, etc - but I enjoyed them just as much as the rest of the book as they were well written and fit in really well with the story.

I enjoyed the potential romance between Bennett and Emma a lot and found myself enjoyably frustrated every time there was a potential kiss and then something else happened! Bennett is a great love interest, all moody but with a sweet side too.
The addition of ghosts with actual personalities was really appreciated as there doesn't seem to be many YA ghost books with a real presence of ghosts these days. I loved the little boy with the Tetris obsession the best, he was really sweet. Second favourite had to be the Rake, Although I found it a shame he couldn't be a potential love interest too as I found him rather appealing!

Emma herself is one of my favourite main characters, she's really goofy and hilarious when drunk. A particular conversation about catapults had me showing my OH the paragraph! 

This book does remind me a lot of Hourglass by Myra McEntire, which I think is great as I loved that one too. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book so I can find out what will happen with Emma and Bennett next, and see if her parents turn up, as there were some interesting events that happened at the end of the book...

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Giveaway - Signed copy of XVI by Julia Karr

2011-08-06T14:00:00.000+01:00

Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world-even the most predatory of men-that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past-one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer.

Make sure you check out my Giveaway Policy!

International, anyone can enter.

Just fill the form in!

~GIVEAWAY CLOSED~
Sorry about that.

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum - Mary Hooper

2011-08-04T10:00:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

It is 1665 and Hannah is full of excitement at the prospect of her first trip to London. She is going to help her sister, Sarah, in her candy shop, 'The Sugared Plum'. But Hannah does not get the welcoming reception she expected from her sister, because the Plague is taking hold of London. However, Hannah is determined to stay and together the two young women face the worst-with the possibility of their own demise, growing ever closer. But through it all they persevere with the support of their neighbors and each other. And at last, they find hope in a daring attempt to escape the city.

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum is a very quick read about a young girl's experiences in London, during the Plague. It's told in the usual Mary Hooper fashion, a lot of attention to detail with a very rich, vivid storyline and a very likeable heroine.

Hannah did annoy me at first because she was a very stereotypical, 'fresh from the country' girl, she's very naive and the only things on her mind are getting rid of her freckles and the latest fashions. However, after seeing all the horrors of the Plague - Plague pits, dead and dying lying in the street and being trapped in London - only people with signed papers stating they're healthy can leave, and they aren't cheap - Hannah starts to see how the world really is and she starts to be more like her sister, despite still having a weakness for the latest fashions!

The cover is an eye-catching one too - if you look closely at Hannah's eye you can see a skull in it, which I find pretty creepy! There's also a newspaper style background with larger words like 'Plague' and 'Prayers' really standing out. It's a brilliant cover.

As I said, the storytelling is magical. There's enough gruesome detail to really get a picture of what it was like there (I swear I smelt a house full of rotting bodies at one point) but not so much that you'd want to hide it from your 13 year old sister. A perfect balance really!

I would have liked the book to have been longer so we could have found out what happened afterwards with some of the characters and I'm not sure why this wasn't done, after all, the book is only 163 pages long so another chapter shouldn't have hurt?

Review Update: Since writing this review I've learnt that there is a sequel, Petals in the Ashes, which I'll be doing everything I can to get my hands on!

Rating: ★★★★★

XVI - Julia Karr

2011-08-03T10:00:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

The idea behind this book is quite a clever one, with your typical Dystopian themes - different classes of people, called 'Tiers', a controlling Government, a Resistance rebelling against the Government and right in the middle of it all is the main character, getting caught up in the politics of her World whilst falling in love and dealing with that.

This story should be perfect for me, I am a Dystopian junkie after all. But I just couldn't connect with the story at all. The writing was okay but I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters exept for Wei and I couldn't picture the world at all.

The back of the book is quite misleading, the XVI tatto and all that it means is pushed to one side (at the same time as being brought up often) in favour of playing Fathers For Justice. Indeed, most of the book is about Nina keeping her little sister, Dee, away from her Mother's crazy ex, Ed. Which bored me to death. I thought the book was slow going when I started it but once it stuck itself in the rut of Nina narrowly escaping Ed, it really stuck itself there.

Sex was the side dish of this book. Nina is terrified of becoming sixteen because she expects that as soon as she does she'll get gang raped. She decides she never wants sex due to watching Ed's Sex-Teen tapes when she was younger, the details of which aren't really mentioned. Actually, for a book so heavily centred on sex, the Author does a great job not mentioning it. Anyway, as soon as Nina meets Sal for around the third time she immediately notices how hot he is and spends a lot of time wanting to hump him. But she can't hump him, she's too traumatised! But she wants him! Oh dear.

Characters wise, I have no idea why Nina and Sal are together, I have no idea what Sal looks like or what his personalities like, I couldn't care less about him. Wei was the only character I cared about as she actually had a personality.

Strangely enough, the thing that annoyed me the most (apart from the trannies) was the constant reminder that Nina takes the 33 bus. I think it must have been mentioned at least 10 times.

Book Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Jessie ♥'s NYC - Keris Stainton

2011-08-02T10:00:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Jessie's just arrived in New York, hoping to forget about her awful ex.

New Yorker Finn is in love with his best friend's girlfriend.

They might be perfect together, but in a city of eight million people, will they ever find each other?

After being stuck in a rut of three really disappointing books, Jessie Hearts NYC was the perfect next read for me. It was sweet, funny and fluffy in all the right places and I nearly cried when I finished it. Nearly!

The idea of Jessie and Finn nearly bumping into each was inspired - and rather frustrating at times! Both have their own problems to solve before they finally meet though - Jessie needs to reconcile with her mother and Finn needs to get over his obsession with Sam - his best friend's girlfriend. It was a lot of fun reading about all the places Jessie and Finn visit on their emotional journeys, knowing they were in the same places! Plus the added excitement that I discovered today that I'll be visiting New York myself next year!

Relationships is the main thing in this - Finn and Sam's relationship is in danger if Finn's obsession causes him to do something stupid, Jessie's mum, Natalie and Jessie tend to avoid each other instead of dealing with their problems, Finn is worried about yelling his Dad he doesn't want to work in insurance, Emma, Jessie's best friend, is helping Jessie get over a difficult relationship, you get the idea. I loved Emma best in this, she's the ultimate best friend! Really supportive and she's alway giving Jessie a push in the right direction.

Although I've never visited New York, I really did feel as if I was there too and I can tell the Author loves New York and must have visited a lot of places there! My favourite scene was in the revolving restaurant, which is my favourite restaurant in the world. Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to visit. Maybe next year?

I would have loved to have read more about Jessie and Finn, I think that's my only complaint! A 1000 page book would be more than fine by me! I think a sequel would be nice but I don't think there will be one. *sob*

Rating: ★★★★★

Stories That Inspired Tower of Parlen Min

2011-07-27T14:56:00.000+01:00

Stories that Inspired Tower of Parlen Min:

Hey everyone, and thanks so much to Vickie for featuring my post on her blog. I'm really humbled but excited to be here.

So someone once asked J.K Rowling (my favorite author of all time - cliche, I know) how much of the elements (creatures, magic, characters etc) from the Harry Potter series that she'd created on her own, and she replied that she'd created about 95% of the Harry Potter world all on her own. If some asked me this same question, however, I'd say I created about 35% of the world in Tower of Parlen Min because I don't consider myself a 'natural creative writer' but rather a 'synthetic creative writer' . So then where did the other 65% of the Tower of Parlen Min come from? Let's have a look at some of the stories that inspired the ideas behind the book.

And I'd say a lot of what influences my writing isn't mostly from novels and books that I've read before but from art, movies, comics, video games, manga (japanese comics), anime (japanese animation) and music videos.

Ves Asirin, the protagonist of TPM, himself (before, I'd say, the Sword Challenge chapter) is an amalgam of various main characters that have intrigued me over the years. The main influence I'd say is Lain Iwakura from the Japanese animated series Serial Experiments Lain. The second main influence would be Link, the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda games. Some elements of Ves' character, particularly in his stubbornness I got from Uzumaki Naruto from the Naruto anime, and his temper I got from Edward Elrick in Full Metal Alchemist. Apart from Lain Iwakura, who is pretty much a mirror of Ves' external mannerisms and behavior, I drew a lot of inspiration from Haley Joel Osment's characters in the movies The Sixth Sense and A.I: Artificial Inteligence. There's also bits and pieces of him from the kid in Home Alone and also Dennis the Menace. The character design for Ves is mainly based on Field Cate's character in the Placebo music video for the single Song to Say Goodbye, Sasori from Naruto and Orbito (in his kid form) from the manga Arghata.

I drew a lot of inspiration for the cast of the other children invited to the Tower particularly from books like Enid Blyton's Famous Five and The Secret Seven a lot of the countless anime I'd seen over the years. For the designs of most of the children in TPM, I decided early on that they would look like those of the kids in The Animatrix episode Beyond by Koji Morimoto and the characters designs for the kids in the Kingdom Hearts games by Tetsuya Nomura.

The Sword Challenge, which is a series of puzzles and tasks that the children must compete in to win a prize of $12 million, was inspired by a lot of the action-adventure and RPG video games I've played over the years: Tomb Raider, The Prince of Persia, Kingdom Hearts, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Uncharted, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. Combining some of the concepts in these games, as well as the Chunnin Exam in Naruto and the Triwizard Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I created a nice template to play around with a lot of ideas. Plus I'm sucker for puzzles, riddles, brain teasers and boardgames, these inspired me to create rather intricate clues for the kids to solve before they got to the actual tasks.

Although the Sword Challenge is the main part of the story in TPM, the overlying plot was largely inspired by a nightmare I had back in 2006 which was a bizarre mash-up of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the House on Haunted Hill movies. Of course I changed a lot of it and added a lot of fantasy and sci-fi elements.

As for the Dark Teenage Girl ... well I can't say too much about her. You'd have to read the book to find out more ... but if you'd like to catch a glimpse of what she's like, watch the AFI music video for the single Love Like Winter.

cheers and thanks for reading!

This Matt Xell

Tower of Parlen Min - Matt Xell

2011-07-24T17:48:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Ves Asirin wins a trip to the Tower of Parlen Min. There, with 19 other children, he competes in the Sword Challenge; a series of puzzles and tasks, for $12 million. As fantastic and glorious as the tower seems to be, Ves finds that it keeps a dark and secret history that he has been connected to for over 150 years, a secret that will define his destiny ... if he can escape 'The shadow'.

Where to start with this particular book? Well, it's very, very long. It's taken me over a week to plug through it, usually it only takes me a day. I think my overall reaction is 'too much'. There's just a little bit too much of everything and it kinda spoiled my enjoyment of the story. The Sword Challenge is only a small part of many different things going on at once, I really enjoyed reading about that but then there was murders going on somewhere in the village and wolves attacking and family secrets and Ves's amnesia and first love...

In short, my brain is hurting. As I said, I really enjoyed the Sword Challenge and if it was me, I'd scrap all the extras and just focus on that and first love, just have one book. It would be shorter but not too short, certain things that annoyed me wouldn't happen and the book would get a nice simple 5* review and a physical copy purchase.

Stuff I did like without complaining: Ves's relationship with Vikey and Tammi was very cleverly written and it as fun watching Ves muddle his way through everything at the same time as dealing with his memory loss in a strange place. I would have liked to have seen more of the Tower and the Pirate Ship bits sounded awesome!

I'd highly recommend this to Harry Potter fans who can take in a lot of information at once.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

~GIVEAWAY CLOSED~Sorry about that.

ARC's and UK Bloggers

2011-07-23T13:25:00.002+01:00

If you’re a UK Blogger you have probably learnt early on that ARC’s are very hard to get. If you’re in the US, you have the best chance. As long as you’ve been blogging for a while and in the US, you’ll find ARC’s fairly easy to get, depending on your reliability and quality of your posts. However in the UK, there are no ARC’s of the latest popular releases like Vanish by Sophie Jordan or Lola and the Boy Next Door available. Or are there?

Blogger Giveaways

This is the most obvious way to get ARC’s but you can also win some great swag and signed copies, all sorts. Enter as many as possible and you have a better chance! Don’t think ‘Everyone else has entered, there’s hundreds of entries so I have no chance.’ and walk away, remember that the more giveaways you enter the more likely you are to win. I’ve won loads in my short time blogging and one particular favourite was a signed copy of Julia Karr’s XVI, and Kiki Hamilton stuffed the mailbag with signed swag. Look out for giveaway’s after BEA too, there’s loads.

Twitter

Bet you didn’t think of this one. If you have the time to follow quite a few of your favourite bloggers and Authors, there’s a good chance you can win something just by retweeting! I’ve won a copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone (yet to arrive, I admit) and A Season of Eden of Jennifer Laurens.

Goodreads and LibraryThing

It’s probably a good idea to sign up for a LibraryThing account and join the early reviewers program and look at the current batch. I haven’t won anything yet but that’s because not a lot of the books appeal to me! Goodreads is much better. Click on explore and then Giveaways and you’ll have so many books to enter for you won’t know what to do with yourself. Just looking through now I can see a copy of Dark Parties by Sara Grant and Mistwood by Leah Cypess. You will be obligated to review these if you win, so choose carefully.

eBooks

Can you review eBooks? If you can there’s a wealth of them to be found. NetGalley is an obvious choice and they have some really amazing ones lately, including Vanish by Sophie Jordan. Another one is the Simon and Schuster Galley Grab which has some amazing eBooks to download. You will need to read them through Adobe Digital Editions though. If you want the current e-mail stuffed with eBooks, just e-mail me. Simon Pulse It is another site I’m on… I do believe you are supposed to be American but they’ve never asked so… ;) They have around four books a month on there and you cannot download, just read from the website. Their current books are Sixteenth Summer, Blood Red Road, Wildefire and Possession.

How Fast Can You Read?

Here’s something I worked out, how to get actual ARC’s – review for someone else. You do need to have the time and commitment and don’t expect to be loaded with ARC’s but you may get a couple. I’m reviewing for Truth Be Told, who lives in America (somewhere) and I’m really enjoying it. I hope she won’t kill me for stating about the ARC’s. I would happily continue reviewing without getting any ARC’s! But it is an excellent bonus to get even one!

Publishers

You can always go ahead and contact the Publisher directly about reviewing for them. You have a better chance if you ask for a lesser reviewed book first and then there’s a good chance if they accept you that you’ll be added to the mailing list and may get UK proofs or the finished copy early. I have Jana Oliver’s Forbidden which comes out August 5^th and I’m pretty excited to have it!

Allison Wonderland - Diana Caporaso

2011-07-20T14:22:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

They are three teenagers of a lost generation. Brother and sister Jeremy and Zoey not only befriend Allison, they take over her life. In a world where parents don't understand and teachers don't care, Allison learns of many vices that teenagers use to block out the pain and hopelessness that they don't know how to handle. If Allison isn't strong enough to survive the wonderland that is the teenage years, her friends won't only teach her how to feel alive. They might just teach her how to die as well.

I decided to start reading this last night. Unfortunately I read the entire thing on my Kindle app without stopping so when I finished the book I had a rather large headache! 

The story itself is very, very heavy for a short book. It covers drugs, drinking, incest, rape, self harm, suicide, pregnancy, sex, paedophillia, eating disorders, you get the idea.

Allison first meets Jeremy outside of school and the effect it has is similar to a car crash. She quickly spirals into a pattern of drug taking, self harm and Bulimia. I think this is partly because she wants Jeremy's attention and partly because she knows she can - her parents never notice her. She just gets worse and worse throughout the book, I think she's always been depressed due to her parents but after meeting Jeremy it really hits her how much her parents don't care.

Jeremy himself is a very messed up character. He messes Allison around a lot, saying he can't love her one moment and telling her he lives her the next day. He also is very short-tempered and easily jealous, he hates any guy talking to her. Zoey is on the same downward spiral that Jeremy is, she's very messed up but continues her schooling because she wants to get away from her hometown. 

Despite the heaviness of the story, I really enjoyed reading it (well, I read the entire thing in one go, so of course I did!). The situations that Allison finds herself in feel very realistic and the writing style is brilliant, not one I'd expect from an Indie author. I don't think I found one spelling mistake in any part if it. It's also very cheap too - just 70p for the eBook on the Amazon UK site. If you do choose to review it, please pop by Goodreads - I believe there's only one other review on there!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Author Interview: Ransom Riggs!

2011-07-19T10:00:00.001+01:00

I'm really over-excited right now because Ransom Riggs is answering some questions! Apart from being my first published Author to answer questions, he's also one of my favourites, after reading Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.

The finished copy of Miss Peregrine is really pretty. What did you think when you first saw it?

Isn't it? I thought, how did this beautiful piece of publishing artistry wind up in my mailbox? Where's MY book?

Only kidding. I'm always impressed with the care Quirk takes in their book design, and the craftsmanship of the final product, and Miss Peregrine was no exception. I love the jacket design, the nice, thick paper, the way they laid out the chapter heading pages. But my favorite detail -- and one I didn't even realize was happening until I saw the book for the first time -- is Miss Peregrine's signature on the front of the bookplate (under the jacket). Nice job, guys!

How difficult was it to get the right photographs?

It probably would've seemed more difficult if it hadn't been so much fun. But then, I'm weird when it comes to things I consider fun. I looked at more than 100,000 photographs in the process of choosing the less-than-fifty that appear in the book, and I'm sure some people would consider that a special form of torture. But I love old photos, so for me it was a joy.

(CC: More than 100,000? Oh my gosh. *falls over*)

Miss Peregrine ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Are you planning a sequel or any other books?

I hate to be mysterious, but I can't officially talk about any Miss Peregrine sequels yet. (Note: I said yet!) So stay tuned and hopefully in the weeks to come I'll be able to elaborate.

There is *one* book I can talk about, that's coming out in early 2012. It's a book of photographs -- found photos with writing on them -- called Talking Pictures. I'm really excited about it. It's a bit hard to describe, though, which is why I made this video.

How on earth does one pronounce ymbryne?

I say it like this: IM-brin. It's a word I stole from Old English that means, variously, revolution, circuit, anniversary and lapse of time.

Thanks!

Ransom

Shadowland - Alyson Noel

2011-07-18T21:11:00.002+01:00

At the start of this breathtaking novel, Damen and Ever travel to Summerland in search of an antidote to reverse a powerful poison. But instead of the cure they seek, they find something far more sinister: the truth about their existence and the fate lying in wait of an immortal’s soul.

Now, with Damen fighting to save them from the Shadowland, Ever turns to magick, hoping to break Damen’s curse. Along the way Ever encounters the mysterious Jude, finding herself drawn to him in a way that will test her love for Damen like never before . . .

Evermore - Alyson Noel
Blue Moon - Alyson Noel

This will contain spoilers for the first two books so you should read them first before reading this.

If Shadowland was part of a sandwich filling, it would be that bit of soggy lettuce that you don't really want, but decide to eat anyway. It wasn't the best book in the series and quite frankly, it's pretty boring. Unfortunately I wanted to get to the last book, so it needed to be read. I do love The Immortals series, purely for it's silliness (I'm not a Vampire! I have magick juice!) and hopefully the rest of the books will be better.

Ever is the main problem in this. She's developed a rather large ego and ignores everyone's advice, which just makes everything more awkward. She doesn't seem to realise she's immortal and has all the time in the world, she too focused on getting laid, to put it bluntly.

The addition of the twins was a nice one, as they were my favourite characters in the last book. They show their age more in this one and actually start acting like 13 year olds. This would be great but Ever just sees them as the second obstacle in the way of her, Damen and a large bed. The first one being your favourite creepy stalker that's about as scary as a Scottish Fold kitten, Roman. Roman does what he's good at in this - he turns up every so often, basically sings 'I've got the cure and you can't have it!' and disappears again. Only without the singing. And poor Ever. Not only dies she have to cope with Roman and the Twins but Sabine has a new boyfriend who's also Ever teacher! They shouldn't be dating! It's gross! And Ever has to get a job with a really hot surfer guy! How Ever* will she cope?

*Pun intended.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆
Cover Rating and tags will be added later.

Wuthering Hearts - Kay Woodward

2011-07-12T10:00:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Passion, the Yorkshire moors, a wild and handsome stranger . . . sound familiar?

When Robert arrives in town with his dark good looks and mysterious background, Emily has a huge crush! It’s almost enough to take her mind off this year’s school play . . . miserable, wailing Wuthering Heights.

But Robert is no prince, with his black moods and fierce temper. The beautiful untamed moors would be the perfect backdrop to their fiery romance, if only Emily could work it out.

On stage or off stage, will Emily ever be the Cathy to his Heathcliff?

After reading a lot of YA, this cute fluffy book was the perfect next read for me. Although it's blatantly obvious it's aimed at younger readers, I still found it appealing and easily got lost in the story. Kay's writing fits the style of the book but it's not patronising or tries to act too young, like I've noticed with other books. There's plenty of humour and mix ups too, plus a brooding love interest to throw in to the mix. A particularly interesting thing for me was this book's setting West Yorkshire, in the UK. Why? Because I live there! This definitely helped me connect to the story easier.

Emily is your usual sort of teen girl - she lives with her father and her sister after her parents divorce and has ambitions to become an actress. She meets Robert for the first time when she's complaining about the choice of Wuthering Heights for the school play and develops a crush on him. She's desperate to become Cathy in the school play because acting's her thing but this quickly changes when she realises she wants to be Heathcliff's (Robert's) Cathy. She tries to be nice to Robert, thinking he needs cheering up but he always brushes her off or glares at her. Will she ever be able to be at least friends with him?

Shuffle along Jacqueline Wilson, this author knows what teens actually do these days. I thought the mentions of Facebook and Edward Cullen were quite fun and I think teens can easily relate to that. This book is perfect for teen girls and the young at heart, where you can follow Emily as she deals with her first crush and discovering love for the first time. Emily has a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and it was a little nerve wracking wondering if she would get with Robert, who kept getting more annoyed with her everytime she did something a little silly.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Andersen Press in exchange for an hones

Small Blue Thing - S.C. Ransom

2011-07-12T01:09:00.005+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Celebrating the end of exams with best friend Grace, 17 year-old Alex rescues a swan caught on a wire in the Thames mud and finds an extraordinary bracelet. Through its disturbing and compelling powers, she finds Callum, a soul locked in a half-life of sadness and mystery following a terrible accident, and his persuasive and sinister sister, Catherine. As Alex and Callum grow closer despite the enormous obstacles to their love, the dangers mount until Alex must risk everything to save Grace, and Callum must risk everything to save Alex.

Read my review over at Chicklish!

One Of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies - Sonya Sones

2011-07-12T00:59:00.005+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

I saw a review of this on another blog and I was quite intrigued by the title. I'm used to titles with no more than three words! Anyway, I decided to read the review and upon discovering that it was told in poetry style, like Ellen Hopkins, I immediately swapped all my SwagBucks for a £5 Amazon voucher and waited eagerly for it to arrive. Which was today... I had to read this!

I wasn't disappointed. One Of Those... is a great fluffy read, rather quick and I was left with a feeling I can only describe as satisfied. I blame the quote on the cover. The tale focuses mainly on the poetry format but it's also told through letters and e-mails sent between Ruby, the main character, Lizzie, Ruby's best friend and Ray, Ruby's boyfriend. I found Ruby's voice fantastically hilarious at times and I'm guilty of reading many snippets out to my OH!

I did feel sorry for Whip, Ruby's Dad, quite a lot through this. Before she had even met him she had him pegged as an asshole without getting his side of the story. As soon as she turns up he tries to make her as happy as possible but she's not interested in the slightest. Ruby is really hurting after losing her mom though, and I felt sorry for her, being stuck in an alien environment with no-one she knows to grieve with.

There were parts of this that were a little silly and a little predictable but I feel that that's a good thing and it compliments this fluffy read nicely. I definitely will be buying more from Sonya and re-reading this a lot! If you liked Ellen Hopkins but want something a little shorter and not as heavy, I'd definitely recommend this.

Book rating: ★★★★★

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

2011-07-11T19:11:00.004+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

I was so excited to get a copy of this as this is my favourite type of book: nice flat spine, a secret signature underneath the cover, thick pages that smell amazing, filled to the brim with photos and illustrations and the start of each chapter has a different patterned page. In short, a book made with a lot of love. Of course, all this work is useless if the story isn't as good but for me the story was just as rich and delightful as the book!

The narrator of this gripping and mysterious tale is Jacob. The story starts when Jacob is a young boy, listening to fantastic tales by his Grandfather, of Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children. He believes every word about the levitating girl, the invisible boy and many other children who lived with Miss Peregrine, but as he grows up he realises that what his Grandfather has been telling him might not be real after all. Then the worst happens - Jacob's Grandfather dies and he's left with many unanswered questions. So he decides to find the old house and see if he can find his answers.

I loved every word of this book, just as Jacob loved every word of his Grandfather's tales. It drove me insane wondering if the children were real or not and I was so happy when my questions were answered! There's many twists and turns that I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed the book even more for them. I did find that Jacob seemed to act a little older than his age (16) but that may be because I'm used to YA books written by women who use a different tone. The tone of this book is quite gothic and mysterious and I even felt a slight chill down my spine when I read it! Thankfully it didn't keep me awake though! Miss Peregrine is definitely a book that both teens and adults can enjoy and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes spooky tales. I believe there's a sequel in the works, which I can't wait for!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Quirk Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Raven Queen - Pauline Francis

2011-07-10T00:25:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

I have lived the life of a princess since the day I was born. But it did not bring me what I wanted. I am still trapped. My beloved Ned speaks of love, freedom, a future. To walk with him in the forest, our raven soaring above us, is my only joy. But my father plans that I shall be betrothed to the King and I am afraid. Queens of England have a habit of dying. I have no desire to take the throne, no wish to find myself in the Tower of London.

Wife, Queen - I fear it will bring me to my knees.

Raven is the vividly descriptive tale of the few months leading up to Lady Jane Grey's death. Adding a love interest, the narration switches between Ned, a Catholic, and Jane, a Protestant. Readers get a glimpse of what Jane's life might have been like before she got caught up in the politics of her world and became a tool of her parents. Jane saves Ned after he is hanged, and finds him work. They fall in love but their love is doomed from the start.

Lady Jane Grey is a part of history, and she's always fascinated me. So I picked this book up eagerly, hoping I had found a new Historical Author to fan girl over. Sadly, it wasn't to be. I was very disappointed by this book. I never understand why or how Jane and Ned fell in love in the first place, as we're never told. I couldn't connect to the book at all. This is just part of what annoyed me. It needed more detail. The book is very quick to get through, which is probably why everything went so quickly. Another problem was the Historical accuracy. Ned's character didn't seem very realistic at all and when it got to the end of the book, everything got really silly. I can't really go into specifics due to spoilers. Back to Historical accuracy. Everyone knows Jane was executed in private but it seems that in this book she's outside.

Considering this is my first read of a book by this Author, I'm a little wary of reading any more by her but I would like to have a go at one or two.

Book Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Tags and cover rating will be added at a later date.

Pretty Twisted - Gina Blaxill

2011-07-09T20:26:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ros has a secret crush on Jonathan. Jonathan is massively hung up on Freya (even after she dumps him). And Freya? Well, Freya is a beautiful enigma. Even more so when she goes missing without a trace..."Pretty Twisted" is narrated in alternating chapters by Jonathan (16) and Ros (14) who meet online at a time when things are going sour for Jonathan. His stunning girlfriend, Freya, is away at college and they are growing apart - consequently, he is struggling with his own sense of identity.

Ros is also experiencing some problems - one of her friends is dating an older man whose strange behaviour gives Ros cause for concern. Meanwhile, the local news has been reporting some kidnappings of teenage girls. So when Freya dumps Jonathan, then seems to disappear off the face of the earth, he enlists Ros' (somewhat reluctant) help in tracking down the girl he still loves. With danger lurking around every corner, their stories become inextricably linked in a way nobody could have predicted...

Pretty Twisted is Gina's debut Young Adult novel and it's pretty good read too. The story is told from two people's POV's - Jono, who is obsessed with his missing girlfriend, Freya, and Ros, who is younger than Jono at 14 but in many ways she is much wiser. Finding themselves drawn to each other they try to find out where Freya has gone. There's a lot of suspenseful moments in this, which I enjoyed and I liked working out the culprit and finding out what happened to Freya.

However, this book was a little painful to read near the end because there's so many moments that are painfully obvious and very over-done. I found the ending a bit too pretty and I never understood why one if the missing girl's name was never mentioned. Despite this, I really liked the character development. Ros was very easy to relate and despite her age, which everyone never shut up about, she was much more mature than Jono, who spent most of his time whining about Freya. Normally I would find this annoying but I felt as if I could understand why Jono acted the way he did.

Freya was rather strange. She was very much a background character and yet at the same time she was central to the plot. I never did understand her character.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Received free from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

Scatterheart - Lili Wilkinson

2011-07-05T19:04:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

The turnkey pushed Hannah into the cell, and clanged the door shut behind her. Hannah’s eyes stung and she felt a heavy churning in her belly. The smell of urine, vomit, sweat and rotting flesh was overpowering, and she broke out in a hot, prickly sweat, despite the icy night.

1814, London Town. Hannah Cheshire - wealthy and spoiled - has fallen from grace. Punishment: transportation to the colony of New South Wales.

When I first saw this book, I knew I had to read it, just from seeing the cover alone. I wasn't disappointed - this extraordinary historical tale with a fairytale feel to it blew me away. I finished this in a few hours as I couldn't stop reading.

Right from the start the book hooked me, by not letting me know how Hannah ended up in Newgate. Instead, it starts when Hannah is in Newgate, and starts to tell you how she ended up there, which was a great way to grab my attention and made me want to read more. After prison, Hannah is transported to New South Wales and a lot of pages (around 100, probably more) is dedicated to life on the ship, which I usually find boring. However, due to the people on the ship and the bizarre goings-on there, I wasn't bored at all!

There's a lot of things in this book that are quite shocking, but I'm glad they're there, as they made the story feel more realistic. I loved that when Hannah was in London I felt as if I was in a fairytale world, which is what she saw it as. Then when the story moved onto the gaol and the ship, I felt as if I could really understand just how disgusting the accommodations where and how much Hannah went through.

There's a lot of really strong characters in this, that really stand out. One in particular was Dr Ullathorne who was just repulsive and I spent a lot of time hoping for him to get his. I also loved Molly, the street child with a melted face. She was really sweet and kept Hannah going throughout the journey. Another favourite was Long Meg, who befriended Hannah back in Newgate and looks after her. Long Meg is a typical London girl, very ballsy and she's not afraid to speak her mind, which added a lot of comedy to the tale.

Hannah herself was less likeable than the others, due to how she was brought up. She's a great character, she looks after Molly and she isn't afraid to stand for what's right but she has moments where she wants impossible things to be true and she can act quite spoilt too. I think the journey was quite good for her though, as she learnt a lot along the way.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Hourglass - Myra McEntire

2011-07-01T22:15:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.
So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Read my full review over at Truth Be Told!

Crusade - Linda Press Wulf

2011-06-29T17:48:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Robert: Left on the steps of a church as a baby, Robert was often hungry but never stole food like the other orphans in town. Introverted and extraordinarily intelligent, he knew all the Latin prayers and hymns by heart by the time he was five years old.
Georgette: Her own mother died in childbirth, leaving Georgette with a father who, seventeen at the time, had neither experience nor aptitude as a nurturing parent, and a brother known in town as Le Fuer - The Spitfire - for his terrible temper.
Perhaps to replace something missing from their own lives, both Robert and Georgette are drawn to the news of a crusader, twelve or thirteen, no older than themselves, travelling down through France with thousands of followers - all, unbelievably, children too. Of those thousands, this is the incredible story of two. This is a story of hardship, loss and love.

The picture is weirdly wide but there's nothing I can do about that yet as Blogger has decided we can only copy and paste images today. Thanks Blogger.

The first chapter of Crusade had me hooked, starting with Robert's story of how he ended up with the scar on his face and then how he ended up in the clutches of Pere Abbe. After this chapter the book moves on to Georgette, who is a peasant living with her father and brother in a small village. Georgette has a friend, Father David, who teaches her to read, which is quite unusual for a Peasant girl but fits with Georgette’s intelligent character perfectly. Christianity, Robert and Georgette's faith, is what eventually brings them together and is always there, throughout the whole of book.

A lot of the story is devoted to The Children's Crusade in France, where the 'Prophet' Stephen leads around 2,000 pure souls - children - to the Holy Land. Georgette, Gregor (her brother) and Robert plus any children from Georgette's village all decide to join the Crusade. The way isn't easy and many fall and die from such a hard journey.

In the first half, Georgette and Robert don't really talk to each other, but they notice each other. I was desperately hoping they would fall in love with each other and thankfully they do. The second half (technically it's a little less than half but it feels like the second half) is devoted to Georgette and Robert and what they do after the Crusade. I loved this part the best as I wasn't expecting it at all! I was expecting the book to end when the Crusade did. There were quite a few surprises along the way for me, which I can't say due to spoilers... but they're brilliant.

Although The Children's Crusade is quite a popular subject, I haven't seen many books about it and the only YA book I've read about it other than this one was part of the Angels Unlimited/Agent Angel series by Annie Dalton. So my knowledge was a little limited. Thankfully I know a bit more now.

Linda Press Wulf is definitely an Author to look out for if you love Historical YA, like I do. The writing is beautiful and I completely lost myself in the story. The world she created was very vivid and I could easily picture everything going on around me. I’m definitely going to look out for more by her!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchnge for an honest review.

Living Dead Girl - Elizabeth Scott

2011-06-29T10:32:00.003+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice’s story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

As anyone who has read this will say, this book will stick with you. I have been wanting to find out what this is like and I'm not quite sure I'm glad I did. I got it over and done with so hopefully once I've finished this review I'll never have to think about it again!

Living Dead Girl is very well written and I could see how detached form the world Alice was. Alice's voice is perfect, confused and detached bUt hopeful too, the highlight of her day is when she manages to steal some food or when Ray leaves her alone. I did find Alice quite annoying at times as there was so many opportunities where she could have escaped and gone home. I understood that Ray had brain-washed her from a very young age but I still found it quite frustrating, I just wanted to get her out of there!

One of the most horrifying things about this book is what Ray makes 15 year old Alice do. Elizabeth Scott writes a little about it and leaves the rest to the imagination, which really worked at making me feel like throwing up at times.

This book is quite short but the amount of emotions Elizabeth Scott manages to pack into it is quite astounding. I was disappoined with the ending as it wasn't what I wanted, I have to admit. But that's the only fault I can find with this book. I'd definitely aim this more towards a teen audience but I think all ages can 'enjoy' it.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Violet Midnight - Allie Burke

2011-06-27T13:41:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

He knew she was gone the second her cool touch withdrew from his arm. He never saw her but had felt her disappear into some cold, dark place. He perceived the black emptiness where she had been summoned, her deep anxiety filling his heart. But he couldn't reach her. He didn't even know her name.
Elias moved to Hazel Grove, California to get away from the rain, his parents, and everything that was taken from him in Hayward, Washington. But he thinks he may be going crazy when he starts seeing purple glitter in the air, the scent of rosemary is everywhere, and he is hearing a beautiful voice.
Jane is content in her life of solitude in the quiet town of Jasmyn Lake, but when her special magic sends her on a journey to meet the man she has been dreaming about for months, she cannot resist.
Look into the world of The Enchanters, where water has a sense of humor, trees scare people, and love - is destiny.

The way this story is told is quite bizarre and it took me a few chapters to get used to it - it jumps quite a lot and a few things are confusing. I didn't mind this though as I find the bizarre-ness of Jane's world quite entertaining. The writing is very, very good but I think the pacing needs a little work. The jumping from past to future was slightly confusing, having a date on them would be a really good idea. Despite that though, I really enjoyed this book.

I read many YA books, where the heroine has just discovered their powers and are going through all the emotions of it and discovering what they can do - I like that with this book, Jane (who's much oler than a teen, I think she's in her 30's. I forget.) has had her powers for quite a long time and she's pretty comfortable with them. I found Elias and Jane's relationship quite amusing but I did think they got together a bit too quickly. They're perfect for each other and the sexual tension between them just makes certain scenes funnier (like when Elias had a problem with his pants. In public.

I should mention there is sex in this, which I why I rated it 16+ (see tags). It's descriptive but not too descriptive and to be honest, it's expected!

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Passion - Lauren Kate

2011-06-25T18:27:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

(This is the third book in the Fallen series. My review of Fallen is here and my review of Torment is here.)
"Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have chosen me. Forever."

Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . . .
Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.
Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.
Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever.

I was pretty excited about this book when I got to the end of Torment (which is appropriately named). To be able to go back to Luce's past and visit her old incarnations! The possibilities are endless! I eagerly ordered it near the date and very happily received it two days ahead of the release day. Did it live up to my expectations?

Yes, yes it did! This is easily the best in the series so far and so much more than I was hoping for. Once you get past the prologue which bored me to death, anyway. When you first meet Luce she's just left the garden and has been thrown right into Moscow, in 1941. I loved how unusual the locations were. There were some usual ones butthe majority were really different, from Tibet to Mesoamerica. All the settings were described brilliantly and I loved wandering around various scenes in history.

A new addition to the book: instead of bonus chapters of Daniel's thoughts, he frequently gets a voice in many different chapters, which was really needed for this story. It was fun seeing where he was and comparing it to where Luce was. Poor thing, he kept turning up too late.

I enjoyed watching Luce's past incarnations, seeing how different (and how similar) they were to Luce. There were a couple that where I couldn't understand why Daniel fell in love with her again but that's soulmates for you. I hope thi isn't a spoiler (read the next paragraph if you want to avoid it) but I was really curious about the peonies that keep popping up in the storyline. I wonder if they're important. I'm probably just grabbing at straws.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Infinite Days: Rebecca Maizel

2011-06-22T10:18:00.002+01:00

When Lenah Beaudonte, a 500-year-old vampire queen, wakes up a human teenager at an ultra-cliquey prep school, she must choose between embracing the humanity she’s always craved and saving her new friends from her vicious coven. The first in a sizzling new YA series.

Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

(Read my review over at Truth Be Told)

Wood Angel - Erin Bow

2011-06-22T01:39:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

(Published in the US as Plain Kate)

Plain Kate lives in a time afraid of magic.

She has a gift for carving ‘lucky’ wooden-charms. Known as Witch-Blade, her unusual gift attracts dangerous attention in a place where witches are burned. When her village falls on bad times, suspicion falls on Kate. Scared for her life, she seeks the help of a mysterious stranger.

In exchange for her shadow, the stranger will assist her, but Kate becomes part of a terrifying plan, darker than she ever dreamed.

There was only ever two books that made me cry - Before I Die by Jenny Downham and the Harry Potter book where Dumbledore dies. Now, there's a third. I'm not sure how to write a review that's fitting for a such an amazing book but heck, I'll try.

Wood Angel is told like a fairy tale and I quickly fell in love with the writing. It's the sort of writing that I lose myself comepletely in and can imagine everthing so easily, it's almost as if I'm there. The story is either set in the past, or in a different world, or both (I'm guessing both), in a world that fears Witchcraft as well as accepting it. Witch burnings are a common thing for Kate, who is accused of being a Witch often, due to her beautiful carvings. Knowing she has to get away from the town where she grows up, she strikes a bargain with a man who will change her life forever.

The Roamers were an interesting bunch and I wish Plain Kate could have stayed with them longer. I particularly liked Drina and Daj, who both warmed to Kate quickly and made her feel at home. Of course, my favourite character was Taggle, who's everything you expect a talking cat to be and more! He's the perfect companion for Kate, getting her out of quite a few scrapes - and getting her in them - all the while with his mind on food. That cat eats a lot.

It was nice to escape for a while into this fantasy world, with no love triangles or messy relationships to worry about. Just a beautiful fairy tale about a girl, a talking cat and many adventures. And carving.

Note: As much as I love you Chicken House, whoever chose the title and cover of this book needs a slap on the wrist. I don't find the cover appealing as it's not very original and I have no idea why the title is called Wood Angel. I actually thought I would end up reading about fairies when I started this. I will be buying Plain Kate, the US edition (with a beautiful cover) when I can!

Book Rating: ★★★★★
Received free from Chicken House in exchange for an honest review.

This review is part of the Review Appreciation Day at The Cait Files!

Replay Tour: Excerpt and Giveaway

2011-06-21T09:00:00.000+01:00

As part of the Replay tour, I'm hosting a giveaway of Replay as well as posting an excerpt. Also, the Author of Replay, Keira Lea, is giving this amazing swag!

Description

Kelsee Lewis has a new school, a prima donna best friend, and one week to write a hit play. Throw in a self-obsessed mom and an absent executive dad, and it’s no wonder she has panic attacks—complete with time-warp special effects. When Kelsee meets comic book maven Quinn, she realizes the attacks give her the ability to rewind time.

Replaying life seems like the best way to erase mistakes. But will second chances leave Kelsee flailing in the orchestra pit alone?

Excerpt

Stellar. Yeah, right. It’s hard to be stellar when ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is coming out of the pen. To be stellar requires the actual creation of something that is capable of shining. I glance at the clock for the fiftieth time and sigh. Z. Braff stands up on my thigh, stretches, and settles in for another marathon session of no writing. Even Mom is being more productive than me, and all she’s doing is vegging in front of the TV. Before the divorce Mom never watched primetime comedies, but I can hear a laugh track echoing up the stairs.

I reach over and push my door closed. Time for some action. I can’t sit here all night staring at these empty blue lines. I stand up, toss my notebook and Z. Braff on the bed, and take a deep breath.

“Wall Street,” I say to Z. Braff. “Corporate overhead.”

He blinks.

“Hostile takeovers, workforce makeovers, business trip layovers.”

Hmmm. Maybe Miranda is onto something with this technique. I’ve always thought it’s a little odd the way she has to say words aloud before she can arrange them into poems, but it just might work. I raise my voice a little, letting the words push forward instead of merely falling out.

“Workforce reduction. Director induction. Mild compunction.” I was a little off-track on that one—don’t think there is any such thing as mild compunction—but still not bad. I try to think of all the words I’ve heard my dad use when talking about his company. Then I really let go with the next string of words.

“Upsizing, downsizing, rightsizing! No one wins in commodisizing!”

Crap, commodisizing is not even a word. I bend down and write some phrases in my notebook, but I’m still not getting any closer to new lines of dialogue.

Mom knocks on the door and then opens it without waiting for me to respond.

“Are you okay? I heard you shouting.”

“Thanks for the two-second warning,” I say. I sit down on the bed and pet Z. Braff, who immediately begins vibrating with kitty love.

“Warning for what? We have no secrets,” she says. Despite the risk to the delicate skin around her lips and eyes, she scowls.

I shrug. “No, you’re right. Please walk in whenever you feel like it. It’s not like I’m busy writing a play or anything.”

“Sarcasm, Kelsee. Not attractive. That’s what you pick up from those so-called comedians you’re always watching. I told your father he shouldn’t buy you all those DVDs.” She actually shakes a finger at me. Z. Braff mistakes her gesture for an invitation. He leaps out of my arms and follows her back downstairs.

“Traitor,” I say, throwing a pillow at the door to make it close behind them.

I fall onto the bed, grab my magic gel pen, and hold it over the page in my notebook. I’ve

done the mental stretching, so the words should come flowing out. Except that they don’t. Plenty of stupid rhymes are floating around in my head now, but I can’t come up with one useful line. I flip onto my back and gaze at the ceiling as if I can see the stars right through the roof of the house. Maybe there’s a falling star somewhere I can wish on for inspiration. Oh Gilda, grant me the cleverness to write a decent scene on this starry, starry night, amen.

The truth is, there’s no way I can meet this deadline. For my first official act at Bonne, I’m going to disappoint Miranda and Nix—not to mention it’s probably going to mean curtains for our writing program. There’s no other way to say it: I suck. Prodigy? Ha!

As soon as I sit up, my chest tightens and I feel a zap near my heart, like an intense charge of static electricity. I raise my arm, but it takes five minutes to bring my hand from my lap to my chest. My body has sloooooooowed doooooooown. Every blink feels like an eclipse, every breath a lazy breeze meandering over the ground. More rhymes roll in my mind: Kelsee’s brain is on the fritz again. Board the train, go back to Main.

It’s official. I’ve lost my mind.

~Giveaway Closed~

You can buy Replay from Amazon or Barnes and Noble!

Be sure to check out the next tour stop: June 22 – Mysterious Books http://mysteriousrose.blogspot.com/

A Season of Transformation - Jayne Fordham

2011-06-20T19:08:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

A Season of Transformation is a young adult fantasy/ romance novel set in the contemporary world. It is the story of five young people drawn together to complete a Quest, to protect their town from destruction. In order to defeat the story’s villain, Maxvale, the five virtual strangers must come together and not only forge a bond of trust but become proficient with the ‘abilities’ temporarily bestowed upon them.

In the midst of the lead up to the battle each of the young people has their own personal struggles they are trying to deal with. Lucas, an adopted and bitter teenager struggles to become the person he wants to be whilst developing feelings for Makenna, a rich kid who doesn’t like his attitude. Bonnie is a ‘gothic’ that is dealing with an alcoholic father, Ben the school nerd and Adam the class clown are trying to break free from their high school stereotypes. Can these five teens put their differences aside to defeat Maxvale and save their town?

I really enjoyed this story. I loved how defeating Maxdale wasn't overdone and the plot mainly focused on the teens relationships with each other. I also liked that they were all from different backgrounds and wouldn't have talked to each other if it hadn't have been for their powers but they then became really close friends. I was pretty sad when it ended and I'm still missing the characters now, particularly Bobbie.

There were a couple of issues with this book. The main one being grammar. There was a distinct lack of commas when they were needed and the author really needs to work on third person narrative. It was a bit painful at times but the plot really made up for it.

The main character in this Makenna, or Mak. When the book focuses on her it's in first person narrative but switches when showing a different characters point of view. I would have prefered a first person narrative for the other guys as well because apart from the grammar, it just felt weird.

As I said earlier, I really liked the focus on the teens relationships. I loved Bonnie's character (although I cringed everytime I heard the word Gothic, as they're general just caled Goths) and I would have liked to have seen the story from her point of view a lot more. Makenna's relationship with her bitchy mother was interesting to read about, and pretty funny at times too!

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Received free from the author on exchange for an honest review.

Undead - Kirsty McKay

2011-06-17T21:14:00.015+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Being new at school bites. But at least it doesn't kill you. Mostly.

Bobby thinks she might well be on the School Trip from Hell. Too bad she's a noob, too bad her classmates don't rate her weirdo accent and too bad that Scotland is having the worst blizzard since the Ice Age. Looks like she's going to be on this school bus for a quite a while; could things get much worse?

Yep. They could.

Inexplicably, her classmates start dying...and then they come back to life again...and what's more, they're very, very hungry.
With nowhere to run and no contact with the outside world, Bobby is thrown together with a raggle-taggle group of survivors at a roadside café. There's indie kid drop-out Smitty, the class beauty queen Alice, dweeby Pete and two near useless adults: a half-conscious bus driver and a volatile petrol station attendant.
The frenemies struggle to stay alive - through explosions, deadly battles and a breakneck chase through the snowbound wilderness.

Somehow they have to make it to safety - and get some answers - no matter what the cost.
Can they survive the Undead? And each other?

Although this sounds very stereotypical (a bunch of kids are attacked by Zombies) I was pretty excited to read it after reading many books about Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts, Fallen Angels and Pretty Boy Zombies. In that order. In this, we meet Bobby (who's female, it took me a couple of chapters to find that out), she's just come back to England from America and is struggling to fit in. She goes on a class trip, stopping off at a local cafe and madness ensues!
This is a great story, as long as you don't take it seriously. It's meant to be stupid. At least, I hope it is because if the Author wanted me screaming in terror, she'll be disappointed - I was laughing for a lot of it.

I find it strangely hilarious that my favourite character in this was wearing a giant carrot costume, but that's the way this book goes! The four main characters - Bobby, Smitty, Alice and Peter - were all reat characters, particularly Smitty, whose deadpan humour and flirting had me giggling a lot. Bobby was a great character - I could sympathise with her and cheer when she kicked the guts out of the Zombies. Alice was your stereotypical blonde, worrying more about her Candy Couture handbag than the fact that all of her friends were dead.

There was a couple of things that confused me - questions and suspicions that weren't quite answered. I like everything to be tied up neatly but I couldn't stp thinking about the unanswered questions last night.

This is great read to pick up in September, whe it's published, especially if you're looking for a nice light read with plenty of humour - and zombies! You'll nevr look at carrot juice the same way again... not that you looked at it before.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆
Received free from Chicken House in exchange for an honest review.

Darwin's Children - Excerpt and Interview

2011-06-17T20:41:00.000+01:00

Excerpt

From the other side of the glass, Mason Lerner watched Haylee Mitchell circle the monster like an aerial hunter while Sasha Gray stood like a statue, waiting. The revulsion Haylee felt was visible in the air around her. Mason had to stop himself from going in there and killing the man himself – his perverted and cowardly thoughts were sickening.

Mason watched Haylee’s mouth move. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. She leaned over the man who’d stolen her very soul and whispered something that filled his face and thoughts with terror. Then silence filled the room. Mason could tell that Haylee had said everything she needed to say. He stuck his head in and met her eyes. There was something there he couldn’t place ... something that worried him. “Haylee,” he entreated, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I don’t think...”

Haylee glared him to silence. He already knew she wanted to be there in the room when it happened. He hesitated until he saw the need in her mind. She had to do this her way. It was her battle to fight.

He nodded to Sasha Gray and retreated from the room, closing the door behind her. He watched her move with an unsettling grace, like an undead ballerina preparing for the hunt. Her alien blue eyes flashed with thirst.

Sasha gave Haylee one last questioning look. Haylee nodded, and Sasha went to her victim. It looked as if the vampire was simply giving him an intimate kiss, but Mason could hear her razor-sharp teeth ripping the flesh away from his neck. Mason had deliberately shut himself off from the man’s mind, but he could still see the utter agony in his eyes. Being burned alive by his own daughter would have been a serene death compared to this. Mason knew the pain accompanying a vampire’s bite was so incomprehensible that the living world held no equivalent to it. No one had even given voice to it. It was the physical equivalent to Haylee’s internal pain. Possibly even worse.

The man’s face twisted in agony and, despite his psychic defense, Mason still heard a whisper of the scream inside his head that never escaped his lips. His body offered no relief. The pain was trapped inside. He couldn’t go into shock or pass out. He felt every ounce of his blood being sucked out of him. His organs gave out, one by one, and he quickly went mad from the pain.

The dying man looked up at Haylee smiling down at him sadistically. As his body fell to the floor with a dull thud, he finally understood Haylee’s pain. His body was drained, and his life was over.

Quick Questions

What made you decide to self publish?

I am not self-published.

(CC: I didnt know this. No-one tells me anything! *sob*)

Who designed the cover?

Penumbra Publishing

What do you do when you're not writing?

Teaching, taking care of my kid, reading comic books and enjoying family.

Decribe your book in 20 words!

A twist on the teen, paranormal genre.

(CC: Short!)

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

They both seem to be omens for death.

(CC: Writing desks: they're lethal. :P)

The Declaration - Gemma Malley

2011-06-14T20:39:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young.

Children are all but extinct.

The world is a better place.

Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status.

Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you’re on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can’t decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death.

The Declaration is very English. I've noticed this a lot with English books, the environments in Dystopian books just seem so much smaller. With American Dystopian you get some pretty massive worlds and elaborate settings but with the English ones, there's usually a lot of walking around one building. In this book, around 3/4 of it is set in Grange Hall, where the Surplus kids are sent. Anna is a Surplus, an illegal child caught by the catches and sent to learn how to be Useful to the Legals - really old people who take a lot of drugs. She believes that she doesn't deserve to exist, that Mother Nature doesn't want her because she's a Surplus; but when Peter arrives her whole world is turned upside down as he shows her the truth of her world and they decide to escape.

I didn't really like Anna at first but after a couple of chapters I understood her much better and grew to like her. Her diary entries are quite strange and her personality seems a little different in them but it was nice to see what she's thinking about the events that have just happened. I was surprised that she came across as quite selfish at times, particularly when it came to another Surplus named Sheila, who was a favourite character of mine. The narration shifts through different characters (although the main focus is Anna) and I think that helps the storyline in many different places.

The ending was much better than I was expecting and I'm pretty interested to see what will happen in the net two booksof this trilogy. Hopefully the environments that the characters find themselves in will be much bigger and there'll be more action.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Ultraviolet - R.J. Anderson

2011-06-13T15:12:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.

This is not her story.

Unless you count the part where I killed her.

Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori - the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

Ultraviolet didn't appeal to me at first, I think it was mainly because of the cover, which I dislike. A couple of blogger friends recommended it to me, so I started reading it and I was immediately hooked. The writing in Ultraviolet is beautiful and works really well for the story. Alison can taste, feel and/or see the colours of various things - numbers, colours, emotions, sounds. I felt as if I could too due to the beautifully descriptive writing.

The story isn't fast paced and most of it is spent in Ali's head, descovering the world behind the walls of the mental facility whilst trying to piece together her memory. I didn't mind this as Mental Asylums fascinate me. The action picks up a lot during the last 100 pages and it feels different too as there's different settings etc. After spending so long viewing the world inside the walls, being thrown into new environments felt as weird to me as it did to Ali.

''Dark chocolate, poured over with velvet: that was how his voice tasted. I wanted him to follow me around and narrate the rest of my life.''

Dr Faraday's character was certainly my favourite in this and he's pretty central to the plot. Plus he's hot. That helps. The other characters, although background, are pretty awesome too. You have Kirk, who latches into Ali as soon as she arrives in the new ward and helps her adjust, Sanjay, who believes in Aliens and thinks they're out to get him and Micheline, who's basically just pissed at everything.

This book is definitely worth the read this year, especially if you like mysterious stories that keep you guessing right until the end and I'd defnitely say that this is one of my favourite reads this year.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey

2011-06-12T23:36:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.
Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother's scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she's known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?

This novel has a great gothic feel to it, set in the 1800's when the spiritualist craze was at a height. I loved that I found out some of the tricks that fake mediums used, although I'm not sure if they would have tied bellows to their daughter's legs but who knows? Maybe they would have done! The setting feels very realistic and I really did feel as if I was actually there, both in the grand country house and in the filthy London streets.

Violet's character really appealed to me as she's not your usual sort of Victorian girl. Before her mother became famous through her faked seances Violet was lower class and she keeps that mentality throughout the book. Preferring to escape with a novel over sipping tea, she keeps away from the society that her mother craves, keeping only a couple of friends - Colin and Elizabeth. When she discovers her gift and meets Rowena for the first time, she chooses to hide it but still tries her best to find Rowena's murderer.

I really liked Elizabeth' character in this, she's pretty vital to the plot in the sense that she reminds Violet to have fun and be a girl, and she's not afraid to go snooping throughout the house and ask people questions. Her infatuation with Frederic was really funny at times, although it was a shame he never seemed to notice her.

Violet's mother, however, was defnitely a 'love-to-hate' character. She thinks higher of herself than she is, treats Violet like dirt and is constantly drinking. Later on she reveals her true nature and I hated her even more for it. Despite this, she was a vital addition to the story.

Violet and Colin's relationship really added to the story and it was nice to read about her falling for a character that appears from the beginning of the book and relates to her, instead of falling for the first rich guy that notices her, like Xavier Trethewey, who I didn't like at all. Colin really cares for Violet and I really felt for him when he was obviously jealous of Xavier, although he had no need to be.

The mystery surrounding Rowena's death is the main focus of the story and I think it was written very well, with lots of twists and turns, secret letters and stolen kisses...
Guessing the murderer was quite difficult for me (I used to guess easily but lately I'm rubbish), I think I suspected everyone but the actual killer, who I only vaguely remembered when they were revealed. At times it reminded me of a Miss Marple TV show, with many characters and many different motives. I do love those shows.

The cover I'm not too happy with. I liked it when I first received it but after reading this, I think I may try and buy the cover with the girl in the water as it makes more sense to me. I like the gothic feel to it but it just doesn't fit with the book in my opinion.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

What's Your Lifetime Goals?

2011-06-12T15:13:00.000+01:00

I was thinking about things I want to achieve at some point and I thought it would be cool to make a list of them. Please feel free to join in. They're just personal goals, nothing stupidly ambitious and other people might find them a little silly but I know how proud I'll be once I've acheived them!

1. Be No.1 on The Story Siren's IMM list.
There's usually 10-20 blogs listed within the first minute of the IMM being posted, so to get to number 1 is a pretty awesome acheivement.

2. Be quoted in a book.
Cait from the Cait Files mentioned this yesterday at the blogger meet up but it's something I've wanted to do for a while.

3. BEA or Bust.
I'm desperate to get to BEA next year as this year's one looks amazing.

4. Happy Birthday Blog!
I can't wait to announce the first birthday of my blog!

5. Get through my TBR pile, with only 10 books left.
I counted my TBR pile this morning, of physical books, sitting on my shelf. I discovered that I have 386 books to read. Yes, you read that right.

6. Level 100!
I've been playing on www.omgpop.com on and off for a while now, and if I can get to level 100 I gain lifetime STAR status. I'm halfway there!

7. Classics? Pah!
I've never been good with classics. They just bore me to death and in my head, they've gained a bad reputation because whenever I see them I think of the people who believe that we shouldn't read anything but classics. Which is stupid.

Interview with Kim Rich

2011-06-11T20:56:00.000+01:00

Kim Rich stops by today to answer questions vaguely related to her self published book, Marked.

What made you decide to write and publish Marked?

The idea of Marked was so much fun and original – I had to write it. It was one of those things I just knew I had to do.
I decided to publish Marked myself after being rejected by the many publishers/agents. They all said the same thing: they loved it, but it didn’t “fit” their list at the moment. What the heck does that mean Who decides who’s on this list? Why can’t readers decide what books they want to read? The control aspect of the self-publishing world attracted me. As an artist, I did my own cover; decided how I wanted the inside to look like and I chose the price. I didn't have a whole team of people telling me what I could and couldn't do. And that was loads of fun!

Who designed the cover art? (In my defence, I asked this before she mentioned she did the cover herself)
I did. I was an Animation Supervisor for 14 years, art comes naturally to me.

What do you do when you're not writing?
Taking long walks in the country with my two Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Plug your book in 10 words!
It's about a girl who dies and becomes an angel.

Why is a raven like a writing desk? :P
Only Lewis Carroll can answer that riddle J

Bracelet of Bones - Kevin Crossley-Holland

2011-06-10T16:06:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

It is 1036. Halfdan is a Viking mercenary who is determined to travel to Constantinople and become one of the Viking Guard serving Empress Zoe. He promises to take his daughter, but one morning Solveig wakes up to find him gone. Setting off in her own tiny boat, she is determined to make the journey from Norway to the breathtaking city. Her boat is washed up, but Solveig is undeterred. What awaits Solveig as she continues on her summer journey across the world? She finds passage with Viking traders, witnesses the immolation of a young slave girl and learns to fight. She sees the clashes between those who praise her Norse Gods and the new Christians. In this perilous and exciting world, a young girl alone could be quickly endangered or made a slave. Will Solveig live to see her father again, and if she survives, will she remain free?

I was expecting/hoping for this book to be a gripping tale of a young girl's journey from her home to Miklagard, with many dangers along the way, the sort of book that I would stay up late reading, wanting to find out if Sloveig managed to find her way to her father. What I did get was rather bland. There's plenty of dangers and Sloveig nearly dies at one point but something went wrong and I found myself bored at times. I think the problem was that with these sort of stories I usually expect many different characters (after all, she's travelling pretty far) but I got stuck with the same people nearly the whole way through and there seemed to be a lot of sitting around on a ship. It kind of reminded me of the latest POTC installment at times, only with a less interesting cast.

The Viking elements/world is pretty strong in this. My OH is heavily into Vikings so I know a little myself but still managed to learn some more from this book. I recently bought him Kevin's other book, The Norse Myths, which my OH enjoyed, so I can safely say the author knows what he's talking about when it comes to Vikings. I definitely recommend tis if you're a Viking fan.

Sleveig's character is good but a little stereotypical. I like that she was willing to look after herself and took a lot of crap from people without letting it get her down but I think there was also a little too much of 'you're young, you're female, you're useless'. I think some romance would have really helped here but there was none.

When I finally got to the end I was pretty excited. I felt like I'd been sitting on a ship for weeks myself, and I really wanted to get to the part where Solveig meets her father and I could settle down and read the family reunion in the corner, preferably with a glass of coke. They didn't have coke back then, so I guess some water will do. Unfortunately I never got to sit down next to Solveig and her father and enjoy that cup of water as the reunion went something like, 'Father!' 'Daughter!' The end. I guess the Author wanted to leave some space for the next book but it would have been nice if he'd have given me something to make me want to read the next book.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Forgotten - Cat Patrick

2011-06-09T14:40:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

I found the concept of this book far too confusing to wrap my head around and I'm fairly sure there's a lot of plot holes in this. I could have done with a better explanation about London's condition, as it gives me a bit of a headache to think about it. Ignoring that though, I loved it! Part mystery, part romance, part coming of age, this book seems to have everything. I think what intrigued me the most about it was the many different covers, despite being released this month. It's not my favourite but my cover is to the right. Actually, I slightly hate this cover. I get the idea behind it but it's just not for me, far too dark. This is a great book if you loved the concept of 50 First Dates as a few elements in it are similar.

London is a great character but she did annoy me quite a bit. Mainly with the notes. If my memory was like hers, I would have written everything down in extreme detail, about five pages long every night, so I didn't mess up or get confused the next day. London just jots down a few bullet points and usually ends up forgetting things. London's boyfriend, Luke, is amazing, he's so patient and takes her out on the most amazing dates. When he first meets her he immediately gives her his jacket, as she's freezing but for some reason London chooses not to remember it's his. I think London was too harsh with him at times and I wish she'd have appreciated him more, as he really loved her.
At times London could be a total bitch, especially when it came to her friend, Jamie, who gets herself into a messy relationship. I could understand why London didn't want her friend dating that person but I think she went about it completely the wrong way.

It was fun following all of the twists and turns of this story. Just when I thought I'd guessed what was going to happen, it turned out to be something else and then there was another mystery to solve. It kind of reminded me of Lisa McMann's Wake in places. This is a very good debut novel and I'm really looking forward to reading more from Cat Patrick!

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

The Cost of Reading

2011-06-09T13:54:00.000+01:00

If you’re a reader, chances are you have the same problems as everyone else – many books to buy but not enough money to afford them all. I received a book in the mail this morning from a publisher, just your average paperback, usually marketed at around £7.99 (around $13 US). However when I checked the price on the back of book, the RRP is £11.99 (nearly $20 US). This made me think – just how much more money is reading going to cost us?

In England, where I live, you might know that there’s a recession going on. No need for extensive political detail as I’m not actually sure what it means – what I do know is that less is more – I’m paying more money and receiving less in return.

Bookstores are closing down quicker than you can say Twilight and this is because they just cannot compete with online stores, such as Amazon or Book Depository. I’m not surprised. The same book that would cost me nearly 12 pounds would cost me £9.89 on Amazon (for the Hardcover!) and £8.24 on Book Depository (paperback). So it’s no wonder really, why I, like everyone else, head straight to my local online stores. It’s not just about convenience anymore.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might have heard of a device called a Kindle. I think this is a great gadget but after having two break for no reason, I no longer use one. However I do use the Kindle app. The Kindle is a great place for Self Published Authors and since the Kindle was released in the UK last year, the Self Published market seems to have exploded with cheap, easily accessible reading material.

On the other end of the scale, published eBooks on Kindle are not doing so well. Publishers are getting greedy, fixing the prices of their eBooks so you can expect to pay a lot of money for pixels on a screen. I quickly glanced at the first eBook I recognised – Kathy Reichs Virals. The hardcover will cost you £7.40 and the paperback will cost you £4.69. Very reasonable prices. Want the eBook? That will be £7.03, please. A small part of my brain when seeing this gets muddled and then walks into a wall upon thinking about the price differences. I imagine that many other customers do the same, as the Guardian reported on the 3^rd November 2010:

''Authors found themselves in the firing line this week as fans furious at sudden rises in Amazon's Kindle prices protested by giving their books one-star reviews on the retailer's website.''

However there are some pretty good offers on Kindle too and I’m not talking about the free Kindle books (I don’t do classics). During Easter I managed to get books like The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and Paper Towns by John Green for no more than £1.20 each. I think I spent a good £15 that day.

But what does all of this mean for the future of reading? In ten years will we expect to walk into a supermarket (as all of the bookstores have closed down) and expect to pay £20.00 for a nice new paperback? It doesn’t seem that difficult to believe – I still have books with a price label of £2.50 on them.

Re-Read Wednesday - Crow Girl

2011-06-08T10:00:00.006+01:00

This is the first post of a feature I'll be doing every week, where I'll re-read a book I decided to keep. I kept putting off reading them but realised that that's what I kept the for, so I created something to make sure I do that! Last Wednesday I read:

Lily is an outsider. Girls bully her, boys don’t know she’s alive. She begins to hide from her troubles at the nearby Wakeless Woods. But she is not alone. The crows are there. Watching. When she finds the crows, she finds herself –and a burning need to show everyone at school the new Lily. Will this Halloween be a night to remember?

Was it as good as the last time I read it?

Yes, defnitely! There were a few details, like Lily's bullying and that she was scared of the crows when she first met them that I forgot and it was nice to refresh my memory of the story.

Still keeping it?

Yes!

Between - Cyndi Tefft

2011-06-05T22:37:00.003+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★☆☆

It just figures that the love of Lindsey Water's life isn't alive at all, but the grim reaper, complete with a dimpled smile and Scottish accent.
After transporting souls to heaven for the last 300 years, Aiden MacRae has all but given up on finding the one whose love will redeem him and allow him entry through the pearly gates.
Torn between her growing attraction to Aiden and heaven's siren song, Lindsey must learn the hard way whether love really can transcend all boundaries.

When I started this book, I found it quite surreal. Lindsay dies but instead of going to Heaven like she's supposed to, she meets the guy who's supposed to be taking her there and they fall in love. I quite fell in love with him too, he was just perfect, all Scottish and manly. Not the best description I've ever given!

When I say surreal, I mean surreal. I was thrown into this really bizarre world, which started out as a giant field, with this dead chick and a hot Scotsman. After this, they took me to various points in time - Paris and Scotland in the 1700's and Lindsay's time, visiting the Opera and (I think) a Sea World center. I was kinda blindly following them about, oohing at the battling Scots and falling asleep at the Opera (it's an Opera. I do not find these entertaining).

Although I loved Aiden's character there were a few times when I wanted to slap him, particularly when he says that Lindsay is talking like a whore. I understood hi difficulties, being from a different time zone but it still made me mad at him!
Lindsay's character is really likeable too and really heartbreaking at times. I really connected with her character and it felt like I understood what she was going through.

This is an older YA book, there is sex in it, although not in detail. The romance is pretty heavy, so don't read it for the time travel bits. Also, God is a pretty big subject but it really works with the story. I definitely can't wait to read the sequel!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Everworld: Search For Senna - K.A. Applegate

2011-06-03T23:35:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

In the dark past, Zeus and Odin, Huitzilopoctli and Ra, and the other gods of myth decided to abandon the real world. They created another universe, where magic rules, where all the mystery and terror of these capricious immortals holds sway. It is a place where Vikings still sail in the name of Thor, where the Aztecs still make human sacrifices to Huitzilopoctli, and where Merlin still weaves his subtle webs.
For a thousand years and more, Everworld has existed apart from the real world. But now Everworld is in trouble. The cozy universe created by Earth's ancient immortals has been invaded by the creatures of myths that are no part of human tradition. The gods are under attack, divided and terrified. And in this moment of supreme danger, Loki, Norse god of evil, reaches across the barrier between Everworld and the real world to seize a new power: Senna Wales.
Senna carries with her four ordinary high school kids from the Midwest: David, the insecure hero and Senna's love; Christopher, the joker Senna spurned, who hides his own anger and bigotry beneath a glib veneer; Jalil, cold, calculating, and so devoted to rationality he can't even acknowledge his own strange tie to Senna; and April, Senna's half sister, actress, flirt, and Senna's most dangerous enemy.

Wow, where to start! This book is pretty short, only 200 odd pages and reads pretty quickly too. This is a classic adventure story, similar to the likes of Narnia or The Never-Ending Story. I would have loved this as a kid. It's a fast, action filled read with plenty of gods, monsters, trolls and aliens! Although, there's mostly Vikings. One aspect of the Viking lifestyle that was confusing was a lack of mead or wine, there was just beer. Myabe there was wine and beer but it just wasn't mentioned?
Although this ends on an annoying cliffhanger, I'll forgive the author because there are 12 books in the series, the rest of which I can't wait to dive into. I've wanted to read a longer series for a while and it will look great on my bookshelf!

There's four main characters in the story, David, Jalil, Chris and April but the story is told by David, which I'm pretty grateful for after reading a book where the story was told from the point of view of about 20 different people! Jalil is the scientist, always insisting that there's a logical explanation for everything. Chris is apparently the class joker but this doesn't show much during the story. April is nearly as mysterious as her sister, Senna, but I got a better feel for her character. I admit, she's a bit stereotypical about her and I can't think of anything about her off the top of my head.

''David, when it happens... when it happens, David, will you save me?''

Senna's character I really can't connect with and I'm not sure if I will. She doesn't turn up much and not much detail is given about her. I'm guessing her character will come through later and we'll find out more about her but for the moment I think she's supposed to remain mysterious.

David's character kinda grew on me as the story went on. I've yet to really connect with the other characters (I expect to as series progresses) but with David, I didn't find his character all that likeable, he was a bit of a show off and quite cowardly but as the story continued he discovered how much he liked the Vikings and wanted to be like them. Which was a little foolish but he enjoyed himself! He really threw himself into the Viking lifestyle, trying to prove himself by helpping row the longboat and running off to battle. He's not much of a beer drinker though!

I'm interested to see what will happen in later books. Despite what I said earlier, I'm hoping for a switch in narrative as I'd like to see some of the other character's point of views. Switching is okay if it's a different book, authors, scribble that down!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Dressing a Nation: Civil War Fashions - Kate Havelin

2011-06-02T18:52:00.000+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

What would you have worn if you lived during the Civil War era? It depends on who you were:

Upper-class women wore tight corsets, bustles, and wide hoop skirts to fancy balls. The layers weighed almost 30 pounds (14 kilograms)!
For everyday, whether at home or nursing soldiers, women put on multiple layers of simple fabrics. Some daredevils sported women's trousers—called Bloomers—to make a statement on women's rights.
Civil War soldiers wore flannel and wool uniforms—blue in the North and gray in the South.
Men of fashion donned suits with velvet collars and silk lapels during the day and coats with fancy tails for parties.
Underneath their everyday clothing—a shirt, tie, vest, coat, and trousers—men wore "drawers," baggy long undergarments that buttoned in front and tied in back.
Slaves wore whatever their owners gave them—usually only two sets of rough linen clothing, one for winter and one for summer.
Girls had loose garments called pantalets and pinafores, while sailor suits were popular for boys.

Read more about wartime fashions of the 1860s—from ankle boots to parasols and tiaras—in this fascinating book!

So, why would a blogger that focuses solely on Young Adult books be interested in the American fashions during the Civil War? Well, for a few reasons. The first is that I love history and if there's a book I can actually understand that doesn't bore me, I'll read it. The second is because I also read historical YA, like The Luxe, for example and reading this helped me picture the sort of dresses they would be wearing.

Although the cover states 'from 1861 to 1865' I got a good idea of the clothes from around the 1840's right up until the turn of the century, as this book is filled to the brim with quotes and little snippets of useful information, interesting and short enough to read and digest. For example, did you know that the makers of the Tuxedo are still running today? And that Singer's sewing machine was the first home appliance? That's just off of the top of my head.

The book has five chapters: Women's Clothes, Men's Clothes, Slaves Clothes, Soldier's Clothes and Designers and Inventions. Women's Clothes spoke about how Queen Victoria was the fashion icon of her day and influenced fashion and life worldwide. It also covered the dangers of corsets, who invented Bloomers and various fashionable hairstyles of the time.
Men's Clothes seemed to centre largely around keeping them clean! There were many ingenious solutions to keeping one's clothes clean, including rolling up your trousers, wearing a large bib that looked like a shirt when worn under the rest of your clothes and disposable collars.
Slaves clothes were pretty dismal. Many had to wear little or no clothing and were only given new clothing once a year. Children, on the other hand usually got one shirt to wear, so were definitely worse off. There's one amusing story though, of how a woman's washing line helped the Northern troops.

''If you don't have my army supplied, and keep it supplied, we'll eat your mules up sir.''

Soldiers Clothes (or lack of) detailed the production of so many clothes for so many soldiers. Many soldiers ended up making their own uniform. For the first time, factories started mass producing clothing. Many free and enslaved black men joined the Union army whilst many Native Americans fought for both sides. Meanwhile, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee showed that the clothes don't make the man.
My favourite chapter, the last, is Designers and Inventions. I learnt about the first Haute-Couture fashions, ready to wear clothes, new dyes and Singer's sewing machine, which changed the world of fashion forever.

Despite the extensive amount that I've written about this, the book is actually less than 68 pages long! It's a great read for anyone curious about this subject and although it seems like it's aimed at school kids, I felt like I was reading an awesome history book. I'm definitely looking out for more books by this Author!

Book rating: ★★★★★

Received free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Flash Gold - Lindsay Buroker

2011-06-01T10:00:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Eighteen-year-old Kali McAlister enters her steam-powered "dogless sled" in a race, intending to win the thousand-dollar prize and escape remote Moose Hollow forever. The problem? Fortune seekers and airship pirates are after her for the secret to flash gold, her late father's alchemical masterpiece.

With her modified rifle and a pocketful of home-made smoke bombs, Kali wouldn't normally hide from a confrontation, but taking on a whole airship single-handedly is a daunting task. Unfortunately, the other racers won't assist her--they're too busy scheming ways to sabotage her unorthodox sled.

When a sword-slinging stranger shows up, wanting to hire on as her protector, she's sure he has ulterior motives, but he's the only one interested in helping her. The question is...why?

I really enjoyed this book. Although it's a short story I really got into it, everything was well written and descriptive and I could imagine all of the scenes in my head. It's set in Yukon, in the Gold Rush era, a subject I'm pretty curious about. I particularly liked the addition of many Steampunk gadgets and contraptions, particularly the guard dogs!

Kali's ambition is really inspriring and her character overall is really likeable. Her father died a while ago, leaving behind 'Flash Gold' which as far as I can tell, is basically gold fuel. Kali wants to win the dog sled race so she can get the hell out of Moose Hollow and actually make something of herself but first she has to win the race - with many enemies afoot.

I also loved Kali and Cedar's relationship - it worked really well and I thought that they were really cute together. Despite her trust issues after already being betrayed by a past lover, I could see she was really starting to like Cedar and he looked after her. He's very handy with a gun! I would really like to read more adventures about these two and hopefully they'll get together too! I'm definitely very hopeful that I'll be able to read more about this story. No more has been written yet but I'm defnitely hopeful that something will be, as te end of the novel is left wide open for a sequel.

Need anymore persuading to read this amazing steampunk story? It's rating on Goodreads is 4.21 - the highest I've ever seen a book rated on there.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free as part of the BLB eBook tours in exchange for an honest review.

Sky Hawk - Gill Lewis

2011-05-27T16:32:00.001+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

Something lives deep in the forest... something that has not been seen on Callum's farm for over a hundred years.
Callum and Iona make a promise to keep their amazing discovery secret, but can they keep it safe from harm?
The pact they make will change lives forever.

Sky Hawk is quite a rich book, filled with vivid descriptions of Callum's world. Callum lives in a village in Scotland and his family own a farm. Like most kids he's interested in the latest technology and hanging round with his friends. He first meets Iona when she's trying to catch a fish, on Callum's land. Well, his father's. Callum's friends, particularly Rob, weren't very interesting or likeable to me but I did start to like them more as the story went on.

I really liked Iona's character. She was a cute kid and seemed to be a pretty good artist too. I felt sorry for her because she was bullied so much by her other classmates, even Callum ignored her when he was in school. She's a social outcast and lives with her mad old drunk grandfather, who has a habit of turning up to school in his pyjamas. I do think that Callum's family should have tried to help her out more, as she clearly ahd to do all of the housework etc. by herself.

About half way through something terrible happens that had me yelling about it on Twitter. I'm still not sure why it happened, as I think Callum would have done the same thing had it not happened. You try reviewing without spoilers when you need to talk about something spoilerish. It gets confusing! Anyway, I hated it.

I liked that I got to read about a girl in a dire situation, in another country. I felt really added to the story and it kept me reading. The ending finishes off perfectly and I'd really like to read more from this promising author! I love the cover too, it's difficult to take your eyes off of it. I think this book is definitely one for fans of Michael Morpurgo, which is handy because his quote is on the cover!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free for review by Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review.

The Dragons Saga: Legend of the Oceina Dragon - J.F. Jenkins

2011-05-25T16:20:00.004+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Darien Oceina is the youngest son of the Great Dragon Lord of the Water. For years he's loved and cherished Tai Dawson from afar. Tai is a simple, ordinary girl who doesn't even know Darien exists. On his eighteenth birthday, he chooses her as his wife. But there’s one problem: She thinks his choice means she's going to be offered as a sacrifice to the Dragon Lord, but instead, she’s forced to move to his home, far away, to give up her life and be his bride.
When she first sees Darien after the ceremony, she doesn’t expect to feel anything but hatred toward him. The two are struggling with the complications of a new marriage when their nation is attacked by a rival dragon species. Together they learn to love one another while they struggle to stay one step ahead in a game where the prize is their survival.

I'm not sure what to think of this book. When I started it I liked that it read the same as a fairy tale story but it went downhill after the first chapter I really started to hate it. Then, around page 110 I started to enjoy it again. It was really bizarre.

The writing style (barring the first chapter) is okay but needs some work. I just wanted... more? I'd just be getting into a chapter and then it would skip to the next, and it would be a day, a week later and that made it difficult to connect with the story. I'd class this as older YA as it feels more adult (plus there's sex in it). The story ends on a cliff-hanger and I have to admit that books that do this are really starting to annoy me.

Tai was an interesting character. One minute she's yelling at Darien for kidnapping her, the next she's humping him. Stockholm Syndrome? The story is really lacking in plot for a good 70 pages; I can't even remember what happened. I wanted to read about Tai settling in, getting to know the characters more. Apart from Tai and Darien, I never really understood any of the other characters as they didn't say much.

The breeding and birth was an... interesting... one. To be honest, I've never read anything so bizarre in my life, apart from Breaking Dawn. There are no graphic descriptions of birth of sex but if you read this you'll get what I mean.

The dragon politics and the possibility of war was one I'd not normally read a book for but in this it really felt like the plot was actually moving somewhere! Until it stopped dead and now I have to read the next one to find out what happens. This is one of the rare books where I think, 'I could make this so much better.'

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Received free from BLB eBook tours in exchange for an honest review.

Alis - Naomi Rich

2011-05-25T16:13:00.004+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

When Alis’s parents reveal that she has been chosen to marry a man of forty, she is distraught — how can such an unnatural marriage be right? She abandons her life in the oppressive community where she has been raised, and flees to the city in search of freedom only to find herself caught up in events beyond her control.
Will Alis’s decision to defy her parents have fatal consequences, not just for her, but for everyone who tries to help her, including the boy she loves?

It's difficult to know what to say about Alis. It's not really bad but it's not really good either. The story was interesting enough to keep me reading but some of the plot seemed a little unrealistic, like how quickly Alis found her brother. Another thing that put me off was that it kept skipping. Not a day or two, quite frequently weeks and months had gone by. I wouldn't mind this but the plot didn't really let me getting settled into any particular part of Alis' life before skipping again and I found it quite difficult to connect with Alis' character due to this.

The world that Alis was in didn't feel real to me. This may be because when Alis journey's from one place or another, she'd get in the wagon and BAM we're there. I wanted to get a feel for the city but again, due to the skipping I didn't learn much. As it seems to be a historical world unlike ours, that really didn't help. Although it felt very American. I no idea what the date was supposed to be or anything.

The only character in this story that seemed to have any substance was the Minister. He was very kind to Alis, considering she was quite horrible to him, even though he clearly wanted to be in that situation as much as she did. Other characters, like Ethan, Luke and Joel should have been memorable but due to the sheer lack of conversation (especially Joel, I remember him speaking once), I'm already forgetting them. I'm not even sure why Alis and Luke love each other. They just do.

There was just a general lack of detail that made the story feel a little washed out, like a painting that someone had done but hadn't bothered to colour it in properly. I don't think it will be a story that I will still be thinking about in months to come.

Book Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Received free from Andersen Press in exchange for an honest review.

Bookshelf Porn!

2011-05-24T15:09:00.001+01:00

A while ago a blogger (I can’t remember which) did a post about Bookshelf Porn. It’s the most amazing site I’ve ever come across. Click ‘Random Photo’ and you could spend a full day browsing… unique and imaginative bookshelves! Well, what did you think I’d say? Here's some of the one's that caught my eye:

BookBarn closes, leaving behind around 1,000,000 books. The new owners let readers grab what they want for free!

Would anyone feel uncomfortable stepping on these giant books?

*snore*

That Shakespeare head is creepy.

I want a room like this in my house.

Books as art?

I really enjoyed looking though all of these and if you have a spare moment, I think you should too!

Mad Love - Suzanne Selfors

2011-05-23T17:00:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★ ☆☆
A bit headache-inducing!

When you’re the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can’t write it. Alice needs a story for her mother - and she needs one fast. That’s when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol’s voice in her head and see things she can’t explain, she must face the truth - that she’s either inherited her mother’s madness, or Errol is for real.

I really enjoyed this book, it started off really well and it's paced well. It did a dip a bit a quarter of the way through and Alice started to annoy me because she was lying about everything, even the little things that don't matter. After a few more chapters I really started to like her character and found myself laughing more frequently.

I liked that this book touched upon quite a few subjects that are difficult to write about and are not seen enough in YA books - sexuality, cancer, bipolar depression, anorexia, etc. I would have liked to have seen life through Realm's point of view though, as she was definitely one of the more interesting characters in this as she has a heck of a lot of feelings and feels quite abandoned by her parents, plus she'll do anything to prove her dad wrong. I'm not sure her book about a cat who tears it's owners faces off would sell but her, Stephen King did something similar!

''YOU SHOT ME WITH AN ARROW?''

The humour in this story did seem to come in a little later for me, it seemed to start about page 50 onwards, although it could be me, maybe I missed something. I found myself laughing out loud on various occasions though as some of the stuff in this is hilarious, particularly from Archibald. After Alice has scribbled 'Alice + Errol' all over her walls he kindly scrubs most of it off for her and leaves her some cleaner with the message, 'Wash that man right off of your walls' which I nearly died laughing at.

One thing that I believe will surprise readers is the romance. There was a lot less than I was expecting. The main focus of the story is getting Errol's story written, with small stories from different characters in between. There is a definite vibe between Tony and Alice but we don't really get much from their relationship other than the odd kiss. To be honest, Tony felt like a third wheel to me, he just didn't fit in with the story. Errol (does anyone else think of the owl in HP?) is definitely a character that a lot of readers will be digging out their tissues over, as his is the most heart-breaking story of all the characters.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Fallen Grace - Mary Hooper

2011-05-23T00:30:00.004+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Grace Parkes has just had to do a terrible thing. Having given birth to an illegitimate child, she has travelled to the famed Brookwood Cemetery to place her small infant's body in a rich lady's coffin. Following the advice of a kindly midwife, this is the only way that Grace can think of to give something at least to the little baby who died at birth, and to avoid the ignominy of a pauper's grave. Distraught and weeping, Grace meets two people at the cemetery: Mrs Emmeline Unwin and Mr James Solent. These two characters will have a profound affect upon Grace's life. But Grace doesn't know that yet. For now, she has to suppress her grief and get on with the business of living: scraping together enough pennies selling watercress for rent and food; looking after her older sister, who is incapable of caring for herself; thwarting the manipulative and conscience-free Unwin family, who are as capable of running a lucrative funeral business as they are of defrauding a young woman of her fortune. A stunning evocation of life in Victorian London, with vivid and accurate depictions, ranging from the deprivation that the truly poor suffered to the unthinking luxuries enjoyed by the rich: all bound up with a pacy and thrilling plot, as Grace races to unravel the fraud about to be perpetrated against her and her sister.

This book felt much longer than it was for me. I liked the Dickensian feel to it, the plot could quite easily have been written by Dickens himself and he even makes a cameo appearance! However I did feel the plot was quite slow in places and others I wanted more detail. I would have like to have seen things from Lily's point of view more, she doesn't get much of a say in it. There's one particular situation that Lily finds herself in that I really wanted more detail on.

The strongest part of this story was the beginning, where Grace gives birth to her child. I loved that it wasn't glossed over and told you as much detail as possible without being too gross. This reminded me of the beginning of Oliver Twist, which I watched the other day. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens but I know Oliver Twist quite well and strangely enough, this plot feels similar.
Another strong part was when Grace recounted hers and Lily's pasts to James and to herself. These show you what London girls back then went through and really made me feel for Grace and Lily. Their situation slowly becomes more desperate before the Unwins take them in.

There's lots of twists and turns in this, a lot that I wasn't expecting which was nice but felt a little too clean, a little too coincidental, like they'd been thrown in the make the plot spicier or something. I really liked the addiction of James Solent, who was by far my favourite character in the story. It would be nice to have a sequel where James and Grace get married by I believe Mary Hooper isn't one for sequels!

I have to comment on the cover. A lot of people have said that they love the cover and it is nice, with the pretty swirly decoration around the edges of it but... it's the back of some girl's head. How can that be attractive? If I was in a shop I wouldn't pick that up and go, 'Oh, I like the back of her head, I'll buy that!'

I did enjoy this story, all in all. I thought it was quite rich and would make a perfect TV movie.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Cover Reveal: The Onyx Talisman

2011-05-20T10:26:00.001+01:00

I'm excited to reveal the cover for The Onyx Talisman, the third and final book in the Talisman series. The links for the previous two are below:

The Emerald Talisman
The Sapphire Talisman

The covers of these books are beautiful, I would love to see them on my shelf!

~Possible spoilers if you haven't read the first two books~

All was perfect in Julia’s life until Nicholas had his vampire blood-lust activated by his mother Alora, her immortal enemy, turning him evil and bent on revenge. Heartbroken and out of choices, Phil and Julia ran away in the middle of the night, with Scarlett on foot, to Orange County to warn and plead Nicholas’ Godfather for help. Once arriving at Harry’s though, the local coven accosted them and they narrowly escaped.

After they returned home, there was a huge showdown between Phil, Nicholas, Scarlett, Alora, Katie and Julia. Alora almost got what she wanted—Julia’s vampire warding talisman—but Preston, Nicholas’ father, and Harry came to the rescue. They escorted Nicholas and Alora back to Beverly Hills, pledging to return Nicholas free from his blood-lust. But all Julia’s received in the past four months is a letter stating Nicholas missed her along with some song lyrics and promise of a quick return. That was a month ago.

Now Julia awaits Nicholas’ return with the Fab Five Coven: Phil and Katie—the sober vampires, Scarlett—the half-vamp/shape-shifter, and Tyler and Julia—the inducted humans. She’s stuck in Scotts Valley with Phil as her self-appointed chaperon and no way to return to Los Angeles to check on Nicholas. Only Scarlett and Julia know her fate ultimately involves the demise of all vampires, possibly including the ones she loves. When the time comes, will she even have a choice?

The Onyx Talisman is released on November 16th, 2011!

You can find Brenda on her blog: http://brendapandos.blogspot.com/
On Twitter: @brendapandos
And on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brenda-Pandos-Author/147707291958883

Low Red Moon - Ivy Devlin

2011-05-19T21:12:00.004+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver—deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can't, and there's nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school—Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she's ever experienced. When Ben reveals he's a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she's not the only one who can't remember the night her parents died.

Although this followed a similar YA formula (girl's parents die, she meets a hot guy, madness ensues) I found I enjoyed this much, much more than other similar YA books. I think this was partly due to the writing style, which flowed really well, I quickly lost myself in it and also because of the plot, which concentrated mostly on Avery's parents deaths, instead of her boyfriend. There was plenty of romance but at appropriate times and it wasn't smothering the plot, which I really appreciated.

I also loved the setting. There wasn't much said about the town, which was tony anyway but plenty of descriptions of the woods, making the plot mysterious and suspenseful. It was also a perfect setting for the wolves, although there were only ever two wolves mentioned in the entire story, a lot of the time they were just there as an idea, howling away in the distance.

I love Avery's name. There needs to be more girls called Avery, it just isn't used enough! She was a great character and I could almost feel what she was feeling while she was trying desperately to remember what happened to her parents that night. I liked Ben's character too, who also has a dark past. His werewolf side isn't shown many times, it's more about his struggle to deal with that side of him while he's in love with Avery.

Couple of extra things that don't affect the review: I received this from Bloomsbury and then spent about half an hour on Twitter complaining about it. Why? It smells really bad. Like sheep's lungs or something. I don't know who the printers are but someone needs to fix that. Also, I liked that there was a new colour other than your usual black: red. There two pages of an illustration of some trees, done in red and the chapter headers, page numbers and the word moon are all printed in red too! There's also a little drawing of a couple of trees at the bottom of the page, which I think is a nice touch.

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free in exchanged for an honest review from Bloomsbury UK

I've Read That Before!

2011-05-19T12:13:00.001+01:00

Recently I’ve noticed that scenes from one book crops up in another. And another. The majority of these seem to be in the Young Adult Paranormal/Supernatural market, where the heroine of these stories seems to be doing well, nothing original.

I was thinking about this as I read Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin. I only just started this and I’m really enjoying it but I can’t help but notice similarities. I wouldn’t mind, after all nothing is original today but the similarities seem to be cropping up in one genre and they’re very specific. Here’s some I noticed:

Parents

They seem to dying a lot don’t they? They can’t just die though, oh no, they have to die in a really bizarre way and the heroine has to either find them or be there and not remember anything. Turns out later that their deaths are crucial to the plot! Who’d have thunk it?

High School/The Hot Guy

There has to be a guy. I’m okay with this. What I’m not okay with: they always meet by bumping into each other when either the girl is new or the guy is. Later on they take a class together and shock! The guy’s repulsed by her! Is it my strawberry shampoo? Do I have ink on my face?

Later on there will be scene where said guy is linked to the girl’s parent’s deaths. She probably doesn’t care too much at this point, who needs parents when you have a hot guy that’s grumpy and ignores you randomly? Cue mystery solving, much romance and probably certain death. Except it’s unlikely the heroine or her boyfriend will die. It just doesn’t happen.

The hot guy. Ha, I know all your characteristics mister! One thing to start with, you have to have muscles. So tone up to a ridiculous level so said heroine can admire your toned-ness when you just happen to take your shirt off. Secondly, are you human? No can do! You can be a werewolf, zombie, vampire, angel, possibly even a freaking pixie but you can never be human.

Look at me! I'm so white and toned!

If you’re a Vampire or a Zombie you have to stick yourself in an ice bath every night so the heroine can comment on how cold your skin is. This will set her off wondering why your skin is cold and will lead the conclusion that you’re a Vampire/Zombie. Also, you have to be really old. You can’t just have been a Zombie for a year or so, no! Give it another 80 years and we’ll talk.

Your clan: don’t get too attached to them. There will be a huge battle between your species and if you don’t win the world will explode. Poof. Also, keep an eye on your girlfriend as she’s probably crucial to this.

Also, you can’t have parents. Just saying.

Stereotyping

What these stories really need are something that pushes the boundaries. Why are all of these girls white? Why are they straight? I really wanted Kate to get with Catherine in Die For Me. Now that would have been readable. It’s nearly always set in America too. Just once I want a girl who’s not white to get with a werewolf. Who just happens to be female. Our world is still learning to accept that different sexualities and are normal, what better way to say ‘It’s okay!’ than to write about it?

Montacute House - Lucy Jago

2011-05-18T23:53:00.002+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★☆

At first a boy’s body is discovered, then Will, Cess’s best friend, disappears . . . What is the mystery behind these sinister events?

Cess works caring for the chickens at Montacute House but on her thirteenth birthday everything changes. She finds a precious locket hidden in the chicken coop and is convinced someone has placed it there for her to find. But the day is overshadowed by fear as a boy’s body is found by the river, and then Will disappears. Cess is determined to find him but is soon embroiled in a plot that threatens her world and forces her to draw on powers she never knew she possessed, powers that will place her life in danger if they are discovered by the villagers. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realised novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s.

I've wanted this book for a while, so I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. At points I had to physically force myself to read this book. The plot kinda felt like it was all over the place and the characters felt very clichéd. The plot was fairly basic with some uniqueness but not enough to make me want to keep reading.

The story felt like it was aimed toward the younger YA set but I'm not sure to be honest. The main character is 13 (unlike the model on the cover!) but she does come across as younger. On the other hand Drax, a man of around 30 years of age, I kept forgetting his character was over the age of 15. There was also Will, who I couldn't connect with at all. He wasn't around long enough for me to connect with him before he disappeared so I didn't really care whether he lived or died.

Somewhere down the line, to spice things up a bit, there's a new character thrown in that Cess ends up in love with. So the idea of a chick saving her boyfriend is thrown out of the window. Poor Will. I'm not quite sure why there needed to be a love interest thrown in. It didn't add anything to the story and although Jasper was useful at times and one of the most interesting characters he could quite easily have been a chick.

The main unique factor in this story was magic. Yes, real magic, not 'ooh, she's got a broom, burn her!' magic but actual witches and a coven, which I quite enjoyed reading about. I would have liked to have the story about that and not some complex political plot with a thousand holes in it. Another problem I had was the house itself. Montacute House is real, you can visit it and everything but it was completed in 1601. The story is set in 1596. I'm rather confused about this. I found this on Google very easily so I have to wonder where the author did her research.

Book Rating: ★★★☆☆

Released - Megan Duncan

2011-05-16T00:14:00.003+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

After a demon apocalypse kills their parents and everyone they know, 17-year old Abby Phillips, her brother, Carter, and friend, Max flee their home to travel through what has become the wastelands of America. When radio transmissions of a resistance offering shelter and safety cease, Abby is tempted to give up. Struggling to overcome life-threatening obstacles in their dangerous journey, Abby and her companions quickly discover there are much worse things lurking in the dark than they could have ever imagined.

I would usually watch a movie of this kind of idea - apocalyptic future where demons (no zombies here (I think), sorry zombie fans) have invaded and a kick ass chick with weapons, her brother his friend head to New Mexico to find a military base, making friends and enemies along the way.

Abby is an awesome main character. She's tough, knows her guns but you know she's got the softer side of her too and she has quite motherly instincts towards Taya. I liked that she got on with things instead of expecting the guys to do everything for her. She's still grieving after the loss of her father and that shows in places through the book.

I loved this book. It's quite a quick read and I devoured every page. I'm not hoping to be able to buy a physical copy and the sequel. The story is quite action packed but not rushed, it's nicely paced and Megan writing really works with it, no huge descriptions, straight to the point. There's lots of suspense too and I was reading frantically, wondering if Abby and her family would make it to their destination.

The romance between Abby and Max is well written and really sweet but not heavy, it's more of a sub-plot in the book. I did find myself wondering if they would have dated if the demons hadn't of turned up, as in a situation like theirs, these things tend to happen. I'd like to think they did.

I also really liked Taya's character. She's smart, knows how to look after herself but still shows her younger side, which is what Abby needs, as Abby's still a teenager herself. I think the trio really needed a tough little sister to look after (even if she insists she doesn't need looking after!) and she really fits the part, I love her. It would be awesome if in the next book there's a scene where Abby shows Taya how to clean guns and stuff.

If you buy this book for any reason (and I hope you do!) at the very least buy it for the cover. This is a self published book and whoever created that amazing cover needs a pat on the back. I'm desperate to see it on my shelf!

Book Rating: ★★★★★

Received free from Author in exchange for an honest review.

Need - Carrie Jones

2011-05-15T19:56:00.004+01:00

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since she's had a pretty rough life. Her father left when she was a baby, and her stepfather just died. Her mother's pretty much checked out - in fact, Mom's sent her to live with her grandmother in cold and sleepy Maine to keep Zara safe. Whatever that means. Zara doesn't think she's in danger; she thinks her mother just can't deal. Zara's wrong. The man she sees everywhere - the tall creepy guy who points at her from the side of the road - yeah, he's not a figment of her imagination. He's a pixie. And not the cute, sweet kind with little wings. Maine's got a whole assortment of unbelievable creatures, like pixies and were-people. And they seem to need something - something from Zara...

I used run screaming from anything to do with Fae, unless Holly Black wrote it. I hadn't found anything that interested me, unless she wrote it. Until I read Need.

Just to make this clear, whoever designed this cover needs to be slapped. It's one of the worst cover's I've ever seen and it really creeps me out. I love the story however so it's all good as long as I don't have to look at it too much.

I love that Zara's a hippie. You don't get enough Hippie girls in books. Weres and Pixies after I've posted my Urgent Appeal letter! I love it. The plan didn't work out well but it was hilarious all the same. I cracked up when she started yelling about Were-Bunnies. I liked her character from the beginning which is unusual for me, I usually find them annoying at first. I think it was partly because she's a part of Amnesty International. I'm more of a Greenpeace girl myself. Saving sharks from becoming tuna and all that jazz.

I actually liked the love interest! A certain blogger will love me for this. Usually I'm quite picky but Nick was a really good character and actually fit in with the story instead of just being there or having the story centred around him. I liked that his and Zara's relationship was there but not really full on and heavy like in other books. Usually I feel like I'm suffocating with it.

When you start the book it might feel a little like Twilight but I didn't notice that until a review pointed it out. Sure, Zara's mom has packed her off to a small town but I honestly didn't notice any Twilight references as the plot is a lot stronger and the characters aren't cardboard.
I found the Stephen King references fascinating (although one does wonder if there are any Vampires in his books? I think not). Of course, she's going to Maine so that's an obvious one. I also picked up the quote as soon as I saw it, which I wanted to pat myself on the back for.
There's a few clichéd moments in this and moments where you go 'I knew it!' but that's to be expected after all. I'm curious to see how the plot develops in the next book as this could quite easily have been a stand-alone.

Book Rating: ★★★★★
Cover Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Flawless - Lara Chapman

2011-05-15T00:47:00.003+01:00

Cover Rating: ★★★★★

Sarah Burke is just about perfect. She's got killer blue eyes, gorgeous blond hair, and impeccable grades. There's just one tiny-all right, enormous-flaw: her nose. But even that's not so bad. Sarah's got the best best friend and big goals for print journalism fame.
On the first day of senior year, Rock Conway walks into her journalism class and, well, rocks her world. Problem is, her best friend, Kristen, falls for him too. And when Rock and Kristen stand together, it's like Barbie and Ken come to life. So when Kristen begs Sarah to help her nab Rock, Sarah does the only thing a best friend can do-she agrees. For someone so smart, what was she thinking?

To start with, I adore that cover. As soon as I saw the cover, I knew I had to read it. The story itself is quite a quick read at around 250 pages and quite enjoyable as a quick, fluffy read (with nothing that you don't want the younger YA set to read about) about embracing your flaws. Perfect for a lazy day at the beach or something.

Part of the fun of Flawless for me was trying to imagine what Sarah's nose looks like, as every character in the book seem to point out how huge it is at some point. I ended up imaging it as the guy in the egg card advert with the huge nose. You know, the one where he sneezes? I miss those adverts! Sarah's character is definitely more likeable than Kristen's, a lot of the times I wanted to slap some sense into Kristen and make her realise what she was doing to her friend. I found it weird that they were friends as they were quite opposite from each other but then again, I had a friend like Kristen. I don't have a big nose though. Mine is quite cute.

One good thing about Sarah is that she's smart. Very smart in fact. She gets on with her school work, panics if she's late for class and is filling in every college application she's eligible for. Lara Chapman could have gone with your typical giggling blonde chick with no brains but I'm glad she didn't as that wouldn't have worked at all. Kristin however, is the opposite - she's not very bright and says a lot of things that are downright stupid (The Impressionists - not comedians!) and you can see she envies Sarah's writing ability. Oddly enough though, she's very good at maths!

Right from the start I could see that Sara and Rock worked together and I couldn't blame her for being jealous of her friend. I found her chats to Rock quite painful to read, I wanted him to realise it was her writing to him! I would have liked to know more about Rock's character as I never really connected with him.

Book Rating: ★★★★☆

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.