The Forbidden Library

A book blog. About books. Some reviews do contain spoilers. Hello, I am The Keeper Marishka, and I write reviews about books. Enjoy! I read almost everything I can get my hands on or my digital hands on. I've always thought that it's better to give a book a chance and find you hate it, then to give it no chance and never find out it was amazing.

[imarishkai]

This Shattered World By Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World By Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner Ah, ladies!  How this series has stolen my heart! From These Broken Stars to This Night So Dark and now finally to This Shattered World, I have loved every second I have spent with these books and immersed in these vast, beautiful worlds.  It’s not just the story, the plot, that sucked me in, but the way Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner weave the words together.  Stunning imagery, imaginative worlds, and just plain amazing prose are making these two women into some of my favorite authors!  I cannot wait to see what wonders you magic into existence next! And now, getting over the author-crushes and fan-girling! In These Broken Stars, the first book in the Starbound series, we met Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux, a couple that I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of.  In This Night So Dark, we get a little glimpse into Tarver’s past and, although short, it was still sweet.  And now, in This Shattered World, we are introduced to the next couple in this brilliant series: Jubilee “Lee” Chase and Flynn Cormac.  Brace yourself!  They are just as amazing and interesting as our previous couple! Jubilee and Flynn are on the opposites sides of a war, one that has only recently called a tenuous ceasefire.  And one that, with only the tiniest of sparks, could cause a whole world, a world not even able to sustain life on its own, to be covered in flames and blood.  It is up to Jubilee and Flynn, though they believe they are fighting for two separate causes, to try and find the one thing they are both desperately looking for: peace. Jubilee Chase is amazing.  She is strong, something we get to see and witness in the first couple chapters in great detail.  Although she gets into some distressing situations, she is not a woman to lie down and wait to be saved by prince charming.  She fights, tooth, nail, and pink plastic cocktail sword to save herself.  And although she can’t always escape, she never gives up.  She always looks for a way out; never relying on another to save her when she knows all she needs is strength, bravery, and an opportunity to use her muscles or brain. This was another thing I loved about Jubilee.  Her muscles and, really, the way she was portrayed.  Although she is in the military, although she is strong, although she has muscles, she is portrayed as graceful.  The muscles and strength don’t make her “butch” or “macho” or “manly looking.”  They make her graceful.  And wonderful.  And down right awesome. All in all, Jubilee Chase, you are amazing and a role model.  Wanna be friends and hang out?  I’ll bring the ration bars. Flynn Cormac is more amazing still, though in a different way than Jubilee.  Although it’s not stressed a lot throughout the book (except, perhaps, near the end), it’s very obvious that the people Flynn is apart of, the Fianna, are torn between wanting Flynn as their leader because his sister led them before; or wanting McBride, a well spoken, secretly slightly mad warmonger, instead.  Flynn speaks of peace, a peace that his people are becoming more and more skeptical about.  While McBride speaks of acts of open aggression, with lives lost on both sides but the day eventually won.  And the Fianna are pulled between the two, their respect and yearning for peace pulling them towards Flynn, but their hatred and anger towards the military pulling them to McBride. And the reason I think Flynn is so well written is because he doesn’t whine about being a leader, weather he wants to or not sometimes.  He knows it’s what his people need.  Knows that he has influence over them and instead of being a cliché as I’ve seen happen so many times, he at least tries to help lead his people in the right direction instead of whining about “why me why me I don’t want to, wha wha wha.”  He tries and that’s what I like to see. And don’t forget!  Our two favorite people, Tarver and Lilac, make an appearance and even stay true to their personalities from their book.  Sweet! The characters in this sequel are both well written and absolutely full of life.  Like These Broken Stars, This Shattered World was written from the perspective of its two main characters, Jubilee and Flynn.  And unlike many books, it was done amazingly well.  It is because of these POV switches that I think the characters seem to have so much life in them.  Instead of only seeing the war through Jubilees eyes, as a soldier fighting to prevent the disaster that left her an orphan from happening again on Avon, we also get too see it from Flynn’s perspective.  We get to see a young man, thrust into a position of semi-leadership that he’s not so certain he can handle and yet doing the best he can.  We get to see Jubilee’s struggle to do what she feels is right over what she has been drilled and taught to think.  Flynn’s struggle to save a people becoming more and more desperate from doing something that will end in only blood and violence.  Jubilee’s struggle to face the fact that, while she believes in what she is doing, not everything is as simple as following orders. That was one of the things that so captured me about this book: watching both of these young adults doing the best for their people, only to find that maybe, just maybe, they have been fighting the wrong person the entire time. I won’t go into the plot to much.  It was amazing and, although I found some parts of the book seemed to suddenly slow way down, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all.  I simply don’t want to accidentally give anything away.  Everything is connected, one way or another and, if I got into it, I would just start spilling the beans about everything.  Suffice to say, if you like the first book, you’ll love this one, though they are both very different.  Sadly, or really happily, there was no falling Icarus-like scene in this book, but I suppose that’s a good thing.  Fewer bodies and fire to deal with and all that. Although we didn’t get to see much of Avon, the story being restricted to the military base and the area around it, it was still enough.  More than enough really, because this set it apart from These Broken Stars wonderfully.  Instead of getting a sequel that is nothing more than a copy paste from the first, we get a wildly different story that sets it part from it predecessor.  They did wonderfully! So, finally, although I would love to go on and on, I will simply add this: I tip my top hat to you Amie Kaufman, and to you Meagan Spooner.  You are quickly becoming two of my favorite authors and I can’t wait to see what wonderful worlds you’ll show me, what amazing people you’ll introduce me to, what astounding places you’ll take me, and simply what beautiful books you will write alone or together. See you in the Stars!

[imarishkai]

Willow Vale by Alethea Williams

Willow Vale by Alethea Williams

I won this book through the Goodreads Giveaways.

I found this story adorable and just long enough to give it purpose, but just short enough to give it mystery and leave the reader wanting more.  Although sad when thought about as a whole, when only seen as the journey of a man and a woman trying to find their way in the world, it becomes sad AND beautiful.

Although little is known about Francesca and Kent before the story takes place, they are still well rounded, enjoyable characters.  They are both very real and very believable.  Their love story was well worth the read, and I am so glad I enjoyed it!

Four out of five stars, and a very short review for a short, lovable book.

[imarishkai]

Skylark by Meagan Spooner

Skylark by Meagan Spooner

  Ah, Meagan Spooner, you have done it again.  You have taken something that I thought I was beginning to love less, the Young Adult genre, and made me realize why I was passionate about it in the first place.  Between “These Broken Stars” and “Skylark,” Meagan Spooner is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors to watch.

Harvest Day.  The annual celebration of taking, or harvesting, the innate magic, the Resource, of children.  Every year since she came of age, Lark Ainsley has waited for her name to be called and her Resource to be taken.  Although she both fears, and longs, for her name to be called, each year she is disappointed and each year she finds herself wondering more and more: why?  It’s not like she doesn’t have the Resource inside of her, she has felt it bubbling and building before, and so she believes something might be wrong with her.  And with no one to turn to and no one to ask, Lark is left on her own.

That is, until this year.  This year, her name will be called.  Finally, finally, she knows it.  It has to be called this year, she knows it will be called this, year, she has no doubts.  Until she sees the list of those chosen.  And realizes, once again, she is not there.  She is not called.  She is not going to be harvested.

Or so she thinks.  When her other brother, the one not missing, comes to collect her and take her to the Institute, Lark can’t believe it.  She saw the list of names, she knows she isn’t on it, so why is she being taken in?  Sadly, for Lark, the truth is not always so obvious, and the people she can trust even less so.  It is at the Institute that Lark’s struggle to survive will begin, and it is in the wilds beyond the safety of the Wall that it seems it will end.

The question Lark will have to face is of who she is…and more importantly, what she is.

The world building in this book was breath taking.  Although we know almost nothing about the world before the Wars, as Lark knows them, you know that it is for a reason: Lark doesn’t know either.  She has been lied to almost all of her life, as have all of her people, not only about what is beyond the Wall but also what is inside it.  Their whole history is either hidden, fabricated, or an outright lie.  Those not working in the Insatiate, the government of the city really, know almost nothing about the world before and, for the most part, accept that mystery.

They have no real knowledge about what their leaders do, or even why, but have been taught to question nothing, unless they want to be Adjusted.  Although clouded is mystery the whole book, the Architects and those who work with them seemed suspicious from the start.  Through obvious (to the reader) lies and misdirection, they lead their people into a future that is uncertain even to them.

This was a real page turner for me.  I couldn’t put it down once I started it and had it finished and was onto the second book, Shadowlark, in only a few days.  I really found myself liking Lark, she was so well put together, as were all of the other characters, and I could really feel her being alive.  She was vivid and real and I felt myself always on the edge of my seat, hoping, hoping, hoping she’d make it out of the next bit of the book safe and whole and better.

Skylark is a survival story, in more ways than one.  Not only does Skylark have to survive in the wilderness, she also has to survive from herself, and everything she starts to realize about who she is.  It is also an ongoing mystery about who she is, what she is, why the world is changing, and what her role in everything is going to be.  I’m so invested in these books so far that it’s going to be hard when they end!  But I also what to know what is going to happen!

Lark, the outcast.  Shunned by her own people because she has never been Harvested, she is a mystery to them, one that they don’t wish to solve.  For years she holds herself together on her own, after the mysterious disappearance of one of her brother into the wilds of beyond the Wall.  With a family that pays her no more mind then the rest of her people, Lark is more alone than even she seems to realize.

Oren, the wild mystery.  The first person Lark meets in the world beyond the Wall, Oren is a wild, ferocious, mysteriously gentle boy.  Not much older than Lark, he is quiet and unknown, a puzzle Lark is unable to comprehend, and a person she doesn’t know if she can trust.  Dangerous and gentle by turns, he confuses and intrigues Lark.  Promising to help Lark on her journey, and yet also trying to warn her off of it, what is his role in wall of this?  Who is this boy she has met, and can she learn to trust him?  Should she trust him?  Or, like everyone else, does he have a deeper, darker meaning in all this?

Kris, the savior.  Just who is he?  A central character in helping Lark escape her confinement, Kris is still a mystery.  Why is he helping Lark?  Who is he really?  What will he become?

A favorite so far in my 2014 reads, this is a definite 5 out of 5 stars.  So excited to see a lot more from Meagan Spooner in the future (hopefully!), and I really can’t wait to finish Shadowlark!

[imarishkai]

Midwinter Magic by Erica Ridley

Midwinter Magic by Erica Ridley

  I was given this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t really impressed by this book.  Although cute, for some reason I didn’t find myself enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  I really like angel related story and try to pick up as many as I can.  I’m not really sure what it was about this book (possibly that the pace seemed to stagger around to me) but I just couldn’t get into it.

I did, however, really find Jack and Sarah cute.  Their conversation were fun to read, although it didn’t seem like they REALLY had very many, mostly because this was such a short read but…any-hoo.  I really liked them together and was pleased with how well they worked together.  There are some romance stories where, no matter how much character growth happens, I really just can’t see the two main characters not stabbing each other in the eye.  But these two?  No stabbing for them!

As I said, I found the pace to be a bit sluggish in parts only to suddenly speed up at unexpected moments, which threw me off my game.  The pace was so choppy in a few places that I kept having to go back to read certain passages, wondering if I had missed some important clue as to why everything was suddenly going to a mile an hour when two sentences ago it had been going fifty.  However, ignoring this, I still enjoyed the story enough to get over it.

I have to wonder, now that I’m writing this review, if part of my uninterested in this story comes from that fact that I didn’t read it during the holidays (Christmas really, but right after, in January, when I was all poop’ed out from them.  I might try this book again, during this coming Christmas, to see if I get anything more from it.  Who knows?  Maybe a little cold and hot cocoa will change my mind.

Just a short review today, for a short, but cute book.  2.5 out of 5 stars, and maybe I’ll enjoy it during next Christmas.

[imarishkai]

The Stubborn Lord by Michelle M. Pillow

MILD SPOILERS The Stubborn Lord by Michelle M. Pillow

I’m not really sure what went wrong with this series.  I quite enjoyed the first few in the Dragon Lords and Lords of the Var series.  But with this new continuation of the Dragon Lords, I’m finding that my interest has really been stunted.  I’m not sure if it’s the awful editing, the plot holes, or simply the fact that everything seems to be a repeat of paragraph after paragraph, word for word, from previous books that has made this new installment a downer for me but…well, it is what it is.

In the previous books, I didn’t really mind the copy and pasting of paragraphs as much as I did in both His Highness the Duke and The Stubborn Lord.  Even though, as I recall, almost whole chapters were copy pasted in (I seem to remember one very obvious one in every Lords of the Var books) it really didn’t get on my nerves as much as this go round.  I’m not sure why, besides the fact that I felt I was getting less story.  I would assume all of this is done because the author wants to make sure the books can be read separately, but still…who chapters repeated?  Mmm, I don’t know. I also found that the grammar in these last two stories seems to have plummeted drastically.  I found myself re-reading sentences a few times, just to make sure I was getting the right context, only to find…I had no friggin’ clue what I was being told.  It usually took a few more sentences for me to understand ‘oooohh…you meant this when you said that in that poorly constructed sentence.’  Again, again, again, I really just don’t know what has happened to this series.  It was so much better before!

Sadly, I think that the plots and ideas for these stories are running out.  Probably ran out a while ago.  It was the old hash from previous stories (pretty much every single one) that Kendall didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to marry, and wanted to leave.  I’ve read that before, in the previous books.  I want something new!  I was not impressed and felt very disappointed that I had just re-read a previous installment, just with the characters names changed.

I also felt very let down that none (NONE!) of the cliff hanger from the previous book was addressed.  When His Highness the Duke ended on such a cop out, I thought it would be addressed in The Stubborn Lord.  Sadly not, not even a tinsy bit.  And now a cop out with this ending to!  <spoiler> Want to know what happens to Margot?  Sorry, buy the book she’s in.  It literally says that at the end of The Stubborn Lord.  They take so much time to find her, and then give almost no information as to what happened to her.  Although I would like to know, I’m not sure I want to buy the book, what with how uninteresting that made Margot sound.  She got into fights?  Sounds like Pia’s story.  She’s hot headed?  Sounds like Olena.  I don’t believe I would take a lot away from Margot’s story for me to really want to invest my time and money into her book, when it looks like her personality and story have already been covered in two others. </spoiler> I honestly get that Michelle Pillow is trying to sell her books and get people to buy the new ones.  However, the way she is doing that, with cliff hanger after cliff hanger, and then no relief in the next book, doesn’t seem honest to me.  Because now I have to buy the next book, and the next book, just for the solving of the mystery to be…well, probably a let down.  But, as always, I will get her books and read them and hope it will get better.  I like a lot of your stuff Michelle Pillow!  I just want it to be as good as it was before and as good as I know it can be again!  And if not well…someone in my book club can spoiler it all for me! I do have to say, as a positive note, although I didn’t really like the beginning of this book, it did get better in the middle, before getting worse again in the end.  But I’m glad I was able to enjoy at least some of it.  And I’m also glad it was such a quick read.  A hop, skip and a jump in two evenings and it was all done and put away.  So, slow beginning, pretty good middle, and eh ending made this book an ok read.  And oh, God, so much more enjoyable then His Highness the Duke.

As a whole, I’ve found that in every story, there seems to come a point when they all start to talk like…well, to me, robots.  They lose all contractions in their sentences and come off sounding robotic, stiff and way to formal.  It happened quite a few times when Kendall was asking Alek to take her home.  Their speech patterns would just suddenly change and really threw me out of the story.  I feel the author was trying to show that these moments were important, but it all just came out…wrong.

In conclusion, I’m going to give this 2.5 out of 5 stars and, as with many books lately, a hopeful look to the future of this series getting better.  Come on, keep at it!  I know I can fall in like with these books again!

[imarishkai]

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

First of all, where’s my TARDIS?  I need it to go into the future and get the next book! These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, has so far been on of my favorite young adult books of 2013.  A friend of mine got it from NetGalley and let me read it together with her (literally over her shoulder).  Time to find a way to repay her!

A boy, Tarver Merendsen, with nothing to his name except a few hard won medals as a young war hero, meets the seemingly high class but normal girl Lilac LaRoux.  Lilac, however, is anything but normal, even for a rich girl.  Only daughter and sole close family member to the owner of LaRoux Industries, she is a sheltered, protected, and adored women of extremely rich means.  She is also ridiculously over-protected by her father, who doesn’t understand the word “extreme” when it comes to keeping his daughter safe and, ultimately, out of the reach of any unworthy man.

This, unfortunately, also means that her pool of friends is limited and mostly made up of ever changing guards.  So, when she finds that she is drawn, even on a wholly friendship (maybe a little attraction) basis to Tarver, a young war hero of no consequence in her world, she knows that she can’t let herself foster that friendship.  At all.  She goes out of her way to coldly refuse Tarver who, in his own turn, returns that coldness is kind.  For Tarver and Lilac, ice is the first barrier set between them.

Skip well ahead and this is also the first barrier the two will have to conquer after they are ship wrecked on an alien planet that they don’t know.  The only survivors as they soon learn, they will have to learn to accept each other and to look past each others flaws, families, fortune (or lack-there-of), and to slowly, maybe, fall so deeply in love that not even the biggest secret the planet holds will be able to tear them apart.

It was the classic boy meets girl, they fall from the sky and almost die, survival on a hostile alien planet, things are going to explode big time, let’s see how this is all going to end sort of love story.  You know, “normal.”

I was really pleased with this book.  I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding a good young adult book that didn’t stick to the norm and bore me with the same cookie cutter, copy and paste, cliché characters.  I was a little apprehensive starting this book, mostly because I didn’t realize it would be a survival story and honestly thought it was just going to be a sappy lite romance Titanic-esque blah blah story.  Thankfully, it exceeded my expectations and I really fell in love.

My biggest compliment to this book is the fact that, to me, the twist(s) were quite unpredictable.  Most YA novels have the same sort of twists and turns to them, or at least very easily guessed plot points.  Although “These Broken Stars” couldn’t totally outrun that failing (and really, what book can these day) it really made up for it with the twists it did get away with.

My biggest complaint was Lilacs initial attitude.  And really, this isn’t much of a complaint since her attitude had a purpose and she had a reason for being the way she was.  But that didn’t mean I wasn’t annoyed by her!  Goodness girl, just kick the man in his junk and leave off!  You don’t have to keep going while he’s down.  But still!  Her attitude was for a reason, and I understood that, so biggest complaint is just small complaint and arguably ignorable.

I really enjoyed the writing style as well.  Simple, so simple, but extremely vivid.  I could really imagine the environments and people.  And that crash!  Such a scary things, but it was amazing in my head.  It really made me wish I was an artist so that I could capture the image on paper.

The slow, but tense pace of the book was also very good.  Slow in the beginning, anyways.  About half way through, the book really picks up pace and the tension the reader feels from wondering what is going to be thrown at Tarver and Lilac next was perfect.  As I flipped every virtual page, I kept wondering “what is going to happen next?”  I never wanted to put the book down!

There isn’t much else I can think to say about this book besides it was really one of the better 2013 YA novels I read and I am so pleased that I was able to enjoy it, and to enjoy it was a friend who loved it just as much as I did.

5 out of 5 stars and, really, where is my TARDIS?  I wanna read the next one!

[imarishkai]

The Irish Princess by Amy J. Fetzer

The Irish Princess by Amy J. Fetzer

When I first picked up this book, I was pretty excited.  I had heard a lot of good things about it and, so far, I have really loved Amy J. Fetzer’s writing.  And, honestly, at first I really, really enjoyed this book.  It wasn’t until about 60% or so that it started to lose my interest and just slow down considerably.

This book really felt like it should have ended before it did.  At a certain point in the story (spoiler) a bit before Meghan is killed (/spoiler) it seems like everything is wrapped up in a eat bow and we’re ready to move on and start closing everything down.  And then…it just goes on.  Something that was a sub plot (and I felt should have been finished long before) was suddenly and quickly turned into the main plot.  And I’m left sitting there, relaxed because it seemed pretty over, only to get confused as to why it is just continuing.

It felt as though the author wanted or needed to introduce us to a certain character (Fionna) who is the main character of the second book in this series.  Or that she remembered that the mystery sub-plot wasn’t finished and needed a whole 40% or so of the book to finish.  It just dragged on.

I don’t know.  The story had been so well paced until then, going steadily from one point to the next, giving just enough detail that I felt connected to the story.  But it just fell apart for me.  It got slower and slower to the point that I would skip ahead just to see when things were going to start happening again.  The repeating, over and over again, of certain plot elements (spoiler) how many times is Siobhan going to be kidnapped?  I mean…really.  And how many times is Gaelan going to say “oh, you’re safer with me, but actually, wait here, alone.  You won’t get kidnapped.  Or attacked.  Or anything.  Again.  Bye.”  Smart smart smart.  (/spoiler) really made me roll my eyes and wish that something different would happen.

I thought the attraction between Siobhan and Gaelan was ok, if a bit generic.  The elements of magic bothered me because they only seemed used to further the plot, and otherwise had no significance.  There was no rhyme or reason to the magic and I felt the book would have been better with it all left out.  But that’s just me.

Most of the book was predictable.  Which I actually liked in this book because it made a lot of the “why” thing were happening easier to understand.  I think without knowing some of the twists I would have been ever more disappointed in this book.

Otherwise, I really liked the dialog between some of the characters, and I still am in love with Amy J. Fetzer’s style.  Although this is a miss, I’ve enjoyed enough of her work that I will continue reading (maybe not the rest of this series) but a lot more of her work.

All in all, 3 out of 5 stars and a hopeful look to the future.

[imarishkai]

The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Going in, I was pretty pumped about this book.  This cover is really cool and the description sounded even cooler.  However, as seems to be happening more and more often with sci-fi YA books recently, everything fell short of my expectations.

The setting was not at all what I expected.  The characters were bordering on uninteresting and cliché.  And, sadly, the dialog fell flat on its face and stayed that way.  I couldn’t get invested in the characters, Riven especially.  She was presented over and over again as being good, even perfect, at her job as Legion General.  And yet she constantly, constantly, constantly makes stupid or ridiculous mistakes/statements.  She was a very unbelievable character, made even more so by the contradicting personality she seemed to portray.

In the beginning, she is given an urgent mission: find the missing prince.  The rest of the book is her waffling on about the importance of finding him…and then, when she finally does fid him, waffling on about, well, nothing really.  The mission was portrayed as being Important.  Really Important Mission Here.  (But, apparently, complete at your leisure.  No rush.  No war going on or anything.  Take your time)  Er…really?  The book seemed to stall and never really get going again.

The descriptions of the characters (main and side) were unreliable.  We’re told, quite confidently, one thing about a character, only to have everything turned on its ear after a few chapters.  Riven is (supposedly) a cool, confident, good Legion General.  So stick her in high school.  King Cale is calm and a good king.  So make him awful and flat when you meet him.  On and on.

Although I liked bits and pieces of this book, there was more that I was either uninterested in or was simply forgettable.  I was so, so, so disappointed that I was disappointed.  The plot of the book could have been beautiful if it had only been explored more quickly.  My biggest, and sadly greatest, complaint about this book is that it was just to slow and meandering for my taste.  Off on one tangent, then another, then a bit of plot, then off again.

I do have to say, though, that I did enjoy the way the book was written.  Maybe not the dialog, but the rest of it was very smooth and pretty.  If only their voices weren’t so hard to read!

An unfortunate (and sad!) two stars for this book, and a little frown for what it could have been.  :(

And a huge smile for that beautiful cover :)

[imarishkai]

Darcy’s Voyage: A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas by Kara Louise

Darcy’s Voyage: A Tale of Uncharted Love on the Open Seas

  Have you ever read a piece of fiction (whether fan-fiction or otherwise, but in this case published fan-fiction) that you think would have worked better with original characters and not ones from another book?  This book is a perfect example.

Although all of the character names are the same from the original Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice, the setting, the story, almost everything about this book is very different.  Almost 40% of it is spent on a boat.  And of that 40%, 20% is describing them talking, but giving no dialog, and the other 20% was either Elizabeth/Darcy waffling on about how they like the other person, but of course the other person doesn’t like them.  The something happens, and maybe, just maybe, that person does like me back.  Oh, but no, he can’t……

Seriously.  I have just summed up the first 40% of this book, though I suspect it probably applies to a lot more of it.  This book is also just so full of clichés and predictability and probably other words I can’t think of right now.

This is a real example from the book:

“Neither was aware of how long the kiss lasted, nor were they aware of passengers who strolled past them, smiling at their ardent display.”

I’m pretty sure from reading other historical novels of all sorts that kiss or, really, almost any public display of affection, is usually really, really, REALLY frowned upon.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe the rules don’t apply in this story.  Maybe everyone went blind for a few moments and just didn’t realize and were simply smiling to themselves anyways.  Who knows?  I don’t’.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book.  I got to almost 80 or so percent of this book and I just couldn’t do it anymore.  With 20% left, I gave all this ridiculousness up and had to leave the book for another.  I can almost always trudge through a book, no matter how much I dislike it, simply because I.need.to.know.  I NEED to know what happens and always feel distracted for a while if I don’t finish a book (for any reason, good or bad).  However, I just couldn’t here.  I found myself finding any excuse to not read this book and turning my attention away when I DID read it.

However, I do feel that 80% is good enough to have a grasp at most of the story and a skim of the rest proved that I didn’t miss much.  I’ll refrain from rating this officially for now since I didn’t finish, but unofficially, this is a 1 star book.

[imarishkai]

Dancing in the Shadows of Love by Judy Croome

Dancing in the Shadows of Love

I received this book from Goodreads quite a while ago, and gave it to a friend as a gift as I realized, with my book list at the time, I would never get around to it.  However, after she had read it, she practically thrust it back at me and demanded I read it now, it was that good.  So…I agreed and promptly put it aside.  A few months of constant badgering later, however, I finally decided to read Dancing in the Shadows of Love and…well…I have to say, I enjoyed the book, but I didn’t really love it.

The book centers on the stories and lives of three women: Jamila, Zahra, and Lulu.  And, really, I can’t praise them enough.  They were beautiful, well though out and just alive characters that you couldn’t help but get invested in them.  You wanted them to succeed, no matter how hard their lives got, or what tragedies that had to over come.

They also all had purpose.  They weren’t introduced as all being important characters, only to have their individual story glossed over somehow.  We got glimpses into each of their pasts, got to see them struggle to find where they fit in the world, and who they fit with.  To find love and happiness when it, sometimes, seemed impossible.

And I loved that the characters were so relatable.  Maybe we hadn’t gone though what they did, but on a deep, personal level, we were connected.  We could feel their struggles and feel their achievements.  I really, really loved that sort of writing style.

However, unlike my friend, and perhaps unlike many other readers, I didn’t really feel like it had too much of an effect on my after I had finished it.  While a lovely, deep read, it simply didn’t deliver the heart wrenching after punch I had been lead to believe it was going to.  Maybe because I went in knowing what to expect, it maybe stopped me from being as moved.  Still, I really enjoyed this book and, maybe, after a break and lighter reading, I would come back to it and read it again, to see if there is a change.

So, all in all, 3 out of 5 stars.

Also…dat cover!  Amazing!

[imarishkai]

The Convict's Bounty Bride by Lena Dowling

I really, really wish this book had been longer.  I honestly think it would have been better if it was.  However, this was a rather short story, easy to get through, but it fell a little short in the end.

This is the story of James Hunter and Lady Thea Willers.  James was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but now he is out and seeking his “payment” for being in prison in the first place: the hand of Lady Thea Willers.  She, however, knows nothing of this bargain that her father made.  The story pretty much goes on quite expectedly from there.

One of the biggest problems I had with this book was pacing.  Everything seemed a bit to rushed and I was left scratching my head, wondering how the two of them fell in love.  This book would have been so much better if it’d had more to it!  There was just too much left unsaid and undone that it really tempered my enjoyment of this book.  It was all desert and no meal, and just a bit to rushed.

I did, however, really get invested in the characters.  This was both good and bad.  Again, I wanted more from them but, with this only being a short novella, I was left wanting.  But still!  I enjoyed the characters (mostly…and when they weren’t being annoying) and wished a little more building had gone into them.  Flat and uninteresting at times, I was hoping they would change a bit.  However, when I was enjoying them, I was really really enjoying them!

Overall, the concept of this book was good, the idea was good, but the story as a whole fell a bit flat for me.  I was left wanting to much more information then I should have been that it didn’t make up for the good pieces throughout.  However, still a short, enjoyable read if you’ve got a few hours to kill on something romantic.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[imarishkai]

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise by various

Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Promise

Although I, overall, enjoyed this very much, I also found myself very disappointed in it.  The “voices” of the characters, I felt, were very spot on.  I really felt that they stayed true to them.  There were only two things about this comic that really disappointed me: the direction the storyline immediately went, and the romance.  The romance I could have done without and the plot was predictable and upsetting.

First off, the romance.  It was very annoying to read “sweetie” over and over again, especially as this, particularly, seemed very out of character for both Aang and Katara.  I know they were together at the end of the anime, but it still seems very out of character for them to continually be calling each other sweetie over and over again.  I almost felt as if their relationship was being forced on me, or that the story was trying to remind me that, hey, they’re in a relationship!  Remember?  Yeah, they are.  It got very repetitive after a while.

The other problem I had was the predictability of the story and the direction they had Zuko take.  In the anime, we got to see Zuko’s journey from an angry, Avatar obsessed boy, to the great, powerful leader he was to become.  All of this, it seemed, was immediately destroyed when Zuko made Aang promise to end him if he went “bad.”  I did think that was something he would say.  However, I didn’t think it was something that would have happened.  Zuko had grown and changed so much in the anime, but he seemed almost back to square one in this comic.

And then, of course, we have to watch as he regresses more and more into his adolescent, immature self.  He starts to essentially become his father, the one thing he didn’t want, and seems to do and say things I really don’t see Zuko doing/saying.  In all honesty, this is, of course, my own personal opinion of Zuko, and perhaps I’m simply pushing my own views on the character off on this book but, either way, I was just very disappointed with Zuko and the direction they took him.

I did love the “voices” of the characters though.  Sokka and Toph in particular.  They stayed very true to their originals, and their humor stayed intact to!  I found both of them funny, and was glad that they really grew Toph’s character.  She had really moved on, by opening that school, and I was impressed by her growth.  I’m glad they gave us quite a bit of her story!  The alternating stories, between Sokka/Toph/Suki, Aang/Katara, and Zuko was well shown.  Again, I’m very happy that I got to see each of their takes on the events happening around them.

I received an e-book of this from NetGalley and was very excited to read it.  However, I did have trouble because of resolution and overall pixilation of many of the words.  The comic itself was much easier to read then any of the annotations.  I struggled with those quite a bit, but was probably able to read less then 20% or 30% of them.  The one I was able to read were nice little tidbits, and so anyone thinking about picking up a copy should absolutely take the time to read them.  They’re interesting and some of them explain why the artist drew something one way or another.

So, all in all, 4 out of 5 stars and I’m looking forward to reading The Search.

[imarishkai]

Shakespeare v Lovecraft by D.R. O'Brien

Shakespeare v Lovecraft

I’ve been very skeptical and wary of mash-up books since reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I didn’t enjoy very much.  However, I found myself pleasantly surprised by Shakespeare v Lovecraft which drew me in not just because of my love for Lovecraft, but also that cover!  I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but just look at it!  Who wouldn’t just pick this book up and say, “Yup, I think so!”

Moving on.  It was definitely a different story than what I was really expecting.  Many mash-ups, or crossovers, or even re-writes are simply a story (whether original in its own right or now) that simply has familiar names in it.  Although I do admit that, at its very base and simplest, that is what this book is, I found myself not minding as much as I might have because I was actually enjoying the story.

It was also shorter then I had expected.  At 36,000 words it was the work of only a night to get through it all.  But it left me wanting more, which was a good thing!  I found myself thinking of the story long after I had put it down and really wishing the author had more works I could read!  D.R. O’Brian is absolutely an author I will continue to look forward to reading more of his work, when/if anything ever comes out.

But, moving on again, I really liked the comedy of the book, and I loved that it was horror-comedy.  I truly, honestly think that is difficult to write, but more difficult to write well.  The blending of the two styles, Shakespeare and Lovecraft, was perfectly done.  The heroes (and some of the villains) are from Shakespeare, while the beasties and monsters are of the very sci-fi, very Lovecraft persuasion.  But even so, they were placed together well and, even being fiction, were very believable.

I haven’t read as much Shakespeare as I probably should but it’s mostly because I don’t like tragedy stories.  Once everyone starts to die, especially when everyone starts to die in sad…er, tragic ways, I’ve always found myself to be a bit of a coward and wanting to put the book down and kept everyone alive in my mind.  This, however, did not keep me from enjoying this book.  Even if I didn’t know who any of these characters were, I think I would still have wanted to read this, and I think I would still have understood it.  Foreknowledge of these characters isn’t necessary, as their personalities are, for the most part, very apparent and why they do things is well explained.  Or, even when it’s not, it isn’t confusing.  Again, it was very well written.

All in all, I give the book 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I really hope to see more form this author in the future.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[imarishkai]

Starseed by Liz Gruder

Starseed

I’ve been having a difficult time lately finding a good YA Sci-fi mix that really kept my interest, and didn’t do a complete 180 on my radar.  However, after reading Starseed, my faith in YA Sci-fi has been mostly restored!

When I first saw this book on NetGalley, I almost passed it over.  I’m glad I didn’t!  But I almost did because I had, at first, believed this would be a bit of a “The Host”/”I Am Number Four” crossover.  Again, happily, I decided I was probably wrong (especially considering I’d looked up more about the book…and I was wrong) and so I requested it.  Lo and behold, I got it and started reading immediately.

The concept of starseeds was a big selling point for me.  I’ve watched enough Star Trek and sci-fi in my time that this really hooked me.  Aliens, who look perfectly normal, and so much like humans they might as well be, are hiding among us.  Maybe they’re trying to help us into a Golden Age.  Maybe they simply want to watch and learn about us.  Or, maybe, they’re here for another, darker reason.  Who knows!

On to the characters.  I found myself really connecting with Kaila, even if I had never shared her experiences.  She was believable and reacted to situations as I expect most teenagers would.  Or, really, most teenagers in her situation would.  She has a strange family, is forced to do strange things (not all of which she seems to understand), and, in the end, really just wants to be a normal girl and do normal things.  I was cheering for her when she rebelled, even though it did cause some problems…which left me not cheering so much.

Jordyn is a starseed/Hybrid.  He is an alien that has human DNA and is living, breathing, and pretending to be one.  He soon falls in love with Kaila, and that’s where the real trouble starts.  He’s been raised/trained/taught, whatever you want to call it, all of his life to see human emotions as the thing that makes them weak.  However, that doesn’t stop him from having them about Kaila, and this becomes a conflict for him.  He loves her, but isn’t suppose to.  He cares about her, but doesn’t want too, because he knows/thinks it’s forbidden and wrong.  However, he also knows that being without her is painful, and that’s not something he wants either.  His struggle to come to terms with his feelings, and what to do with them (and really Kaila herself) was an interesting part of the story.

The only disappointing bit of the story for me was that the central struggle (the good vs bad) seemed like it was more of a sub-plot and not really the engaging bit of the story.  The back story of it all, why everything was happening, who everyone was and why they were there, really seemed to take a back seat to the romance bits.  Or, maybe, the journey that Kaila had to go on, both physical and metal.  I’m not saying that this was necessarily bad, but I simply wish more had gone on and there had been a bit more explained/shown.  I really found myself wanting more from the good/bad guys!

The book, however, was still intriguing and I’m very glad I didn’t pass it over.  I didn’t want to put it down, and it had enough mystery and suspense to keep me going, page after page.  Superb job, and 4.5 out of 5!

I was given an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[imarishkai]

Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Shades of Earth

The third book in the “Across the Universe” series, Shades of Earth is rather more disappointing, perhaps understandably so, then the two previous books.  It starts off only a sentence after “A Million Suns” ended, quite literally, and follows the struggles Amy and Elder have reaching the new planet.

Sadly, I found their “struggle” to be entirely predictable, but guessed that might have been the point.  The reader is given hint after hint as to the state of Godspeed and, if not directly, told that many things are broken or simply dysfunctional.  <spoiler>  However, the fact that it seemed as if something hit them was surprising.  </spoiler>  The aftermath of the event was interesting, and their first steps on the planet were fun to read.  I was very interested in what the planet looked liked, and it was great to see it trough both Elder’s prospective (having never seen a planet) and through Amy’s (who has seen a planet).

Although I enjoyed this book, I must confess that I had to put it down for a few days at one point near the beginning.  I had just grown too frustrated with Amy’s selfishness and contradictory attitude which, sadly, does persist through the rest of the story, more or less.  However, upon picking the book back up again, I found I was enjoying it much more then previously.  It wasn’t exactly that anything got less bothersome, but maybe more that I’d had a chance to review my notes on the book, as well as the previous two, and remind myself why I liked it to begin with.

The characters of Amy and Elder stay mostly consistent throughout the three books.  Although I don’t think I will ever like Amy’s personality, her growth in the third book really surprised me.  In the first two, she is dependent on her parents, even though they are still frozen.  They are her strength and who she turns to, most of the time.  However, in this third book, we find her becoming more independent and/or more reliant on Elder, as he seems to be the only one telling her the truth.

A side note about the deaths in these books.  <spoiler> Although I found Orion’s death a little touching, I didn’t find all that sad.  One of the biggest complaints I have about this series is how many deaths there are.  Now, I’m not saying the books should have had no one die at all.  I am saying that it seemed too many people died, too close together, to have had much impact.  It seemed every few chapters one person or any other is dying until any time the scene changed I wondered whose body they were going to find.  When Kit died, I didn’t feel much besides “oh, well…who’s next?”  Her mother’s death was easily the most annoying moment.  Of course she’s going to die.  She’s the only one of Amy’s family to get on the shuttle, which is made obvious.  Although sad for Amy, I really found myself wishing the author would just stop killing everyone off so that their deaths could have a bit more impact. </spoiler>

The only other complaint I have is that there were some details/scenes/objects in the book that were talked about or explained…and then either absolutely unimportant, had no story value, or were never talked about again, even if they seemed important.

Example: The scene where Elder is describing the lake.  He says is round and, from his description of its coloring, sorta makes it sound like it looks like a target.  Circular, with a gradient of colors going to the center, with the very center being deep and dark.  Doesn’t that sound like a target of some sort?  I pondered it for a while, and I’m wondering if it was some sort of impact point, maybe for one of the probes or something, for it to be circular etc.  However, this was never explained.  It could be that the lake is just…a lake, but it seemed like it was more important than that.

Without giving spoilers, I must say that I did like the “plot twist” bit near the end.  Okay, one spoiler <spoiler> Chris is a bit lame.  Don’t trust him.  </spoiler>

So, all in all, 4 out of five and, after a short break, I really enjoyed this!

[imarishkai]

The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires by Katie MacAlister

The fifth book in the “Dark Ones” series, “The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires” was an expected read and quick to get through. As it is sadly coming to pass, with each successive book in this series the plot has gotten more and more cloned from previous books. Each book could be summarized as: we are introduced to the female protagonist (Portia Harding in this case) and possibly a best female friend(s). Something (usually magical) happens, and we are then introduced to the love interest (Theo North) and there’s some witty dialog. Then add a little bit of conflict with mostly interchangeable bad guys, a few sex scenes, some self sacrifice, and poof! you have yourself a Dark Ones novel. I do enjoy Katie MacAlister. But only in small doses. If these books are taken on their own, and not read one after another, they might be better received. As I said, the most trouble I had with these books were how the same they were. However, I did find myself liking the first one, as well as one of the later books, which I had read after taking a long break from the series. Even though I knew the plot by heart, it was much easier to swallow because I hadn’t just been reading it the night before. I must also admit that I skipped through most of the “sexy” bits. Once you’ve read one moan-moan-groan-YAY scene, you’ve read ‘em all. And it wasn’t particularly detrimental to the reading. Although I know they talked a bit during their fun times, they usually re-capped what they had said not long after they were done. I do like Katie MacAlister’s style, however, when it comes to some of the witty comebacks she provides. Although not everything is a zinger, there was enough laughs and giggles I this book to make up for anything found lacking from the duds. Conclusion: 3 stars, and recommended only if you can take each installment in small doses.

[imarishkai]

Marked, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

I had such high hopes for this book.  I really, really did.  After the abysmal failure of Twilight, I found myself wondering if I would ever find a vampire series/novel that put the whole “blood sucking romance” thing into a better light.  Surprise, surprise, this book did not.  I made it through the first few books but, like with Sookie Stackhouse, I simply had to give up, as the writing went more and more down the drain.

I don’t like being overly critical of books, but if I have more bad things to say about a book then good, then I truly believe the author(s) have a lot they could improve on.

I’m not really sure where everything started to fall apart for me, but I’m pretty sure it was all of the “asides” the authors decided to put in.  (By the way there were a lot)  Every few paragraphs I was told “ew, boobies!” or “what a hottie!” etc. etc. etc.  (There are a lot more examples)  And it really threw me off of my game.  It might have just been me, but I really felt I was being forced from the story any time Zoey made a little side comment.  Was it really necessary to tell me about those “boobies?”  (No, no, not really)  See where I’m going with these (…)?  It was like she kept whispering boring nonsense into my ears that I didn’t really care about.

Zoey was a hard character to relate to, unless you are quite an airhead.  Just about the first thing she sees/hears when she gets to her new school is someone about to get a blow job.  She investigates.  She goes to see what’s happening, even though it was blatantly obvious.  She doesn’t walk away, she doesn’t try not listening, she simply goes towards the sounds.  Her personality was vapid and left much to be desired.  Her selfish attitude had me wondering how she any friends at all.  Her later “hoe-bag” tendencies, selfish attitude, and uninteresting dialog had me putting a later book down once and for all, hoping to forget the whole experience.

The only redeeming factor, and a small one at that, of the whole book was the whole mythical Nyx interference factor.  Her character interested me, what little there was said of her.  Now a book about her!  I would certainly…well, not read, but maybe give a polite nod to in passing.

It may simply be the style, or the way the authors try to be “hip and with it” that makes this book seem like it is trying to hard and absolutely failing in all the right places, but it was just not my cup of tea.  Main characters need to be engaging and interesting, but so terribly the ultimate clichéd blonde tee-hee-hee-I-thinks-boobies-are-funny-for-no-reason-tee-goddamn-hee.

1 star, half a star, no stars is my rating.  Recommended for no one.  Please, please tell me it’s over.