Dreaming In Books

The picture makes no sense.  WAIT.  It does.  You see, this is how I feel when I write reviews.  Like this cat, I feel fluffy and a little hesitant.  That lea - I mean review - is something delicate and honest.  How do I know how to go about touching it without turning said leaf/review metaphor into a pile of dead plant dust?

I HAVE TO THINK OF THESE THINGS. 

This is the kind of tug of war I have when I write a review of an author that I know:

Brain:  It has to be honest.

Heart:  What if they don't like it?

Brain:  IT HAS TO BE HONEST!

Heart:  Bu -

Brain:  HONEST OR THEY WILL NEVER RESPECT YOU.

Heart:  ....okay....

This is not meant to be a 'bragging' comment, but I honestly am friends to an extent with a lot of authors.  When you interview them, help them with book related things, talk to them about book related things, you get some sort of bond.  It's inevitable.  What's also inevitable is that, if they write in a genre you read in, you'll probably read a book of theirs.  If it's a genre you blog about, you'll probably want to review it too.  Commence a repeat of the Brain to Heart self conversation.  Maybe with a little more annoyance on both sides if the book was particularly good or bad.

Honestly, it's not easy.  I'm not going to say that bloggers find putting bias aside no big feat.  We have connections no matter what, and thus we have to watch what we say.  It isn't easy, but it isn't terribly hard, either.


I tell myself this every day.  "If you are friends with this author, you must treat them like a friend.  That may involve you emailing them and telling them the book didn't work with you.  It may involve writing a review with some flaws.  Whether or not they are happy with you, honesty is the only way to keep a true friendship."  ( I also tell myself that I'm pretty and that someday I'll have to deal with reviewers and agents and OMG BOOK KERFUFFLES as an author.  But, unlike the cheesy saying, it doesn't resonate that well.  That's the teenager self esteem for you.)

As cheesy and reminiscent of a Lifetime movie as it sounds, it's what I have to do.  My morals outweigh any want to please authors, because my reviews are for myself and for my readers.  I will be the first to say that reviews can help authors as well - I mean, if you see the same thing come up a lot in them, you may have something to fix or work on in your next book!  That doesn't mean that you have to cater to their feelings.  You don't want to hurt them, because that's bad, but you don't want to write an overly zealous review if it was a book you were honestly meh about.

Bias like that just isn't something you can throw away, but it's something that's a lot easier to erase when you look at it in perspective like that.

(I'm pretty.  I'm pretty.  I'm pretty.  I'm pretty.  I'm pretty.  I'm pretty.)

Putting that in perspective isn't so easy.  Maybe I should come up with something a little more controlled.

(I will not fall up the stairs today.  I will eat healthier today.  I will flirt with that hot Mexican guy.  I will not be a whore.  I am not a whore.  Why am I talking about whores?  Get back to the mantra.) 
I SAID NO MEXICAN GUY.

I wish I had the same self control here as I do with my reviewing.  Sigh.

What about you guys?  I want to hear it ALL about your opinions on overcoming review biases.  The blog hasn't had a decent discussion in ages, and I'd like to hear one.  So, comment away!

Title:  Unbroken Connection  (Michael and Leesie #2)

Author:  Angela Morrison

Publisher:  Independent/Self-Published

Angela Morrison has become one of my favorite authors over the last year or so, but she's an author you either love or hate.  Her love stories are great and intense, but easily border on the dramatic side for some readers.  I personally love her books and get sucked into the story every time, and the first book I read of hers (coincidentally her 2009 debut novel) was Taken by Storm.  This book impressed me, made me a bit uncomfortable, and gave me a lot to think about.  Her sophomore novel, Sing Me To Sleep, wasn't as impressive, but still very good.  Angela was adamant that Michael and Leesie needed three books to have their relationship become full circle, but it wasn't in the cards when her editor left Razorbill.  Needless to say, Angela felt their story had to be told and decided to self publish the final two thirds of the Michael and Leesie trilogy.

Michael and Leesie have finally gone their separate ways - kind of.  Michael is diving in exotic places, making quite a bit of money and reveling in his alone time.  Leesie is finally at BYU, just like she dreamed, and is making a whole bunch of new friends.  They should be happy.  They should accept that they have what they've always wanted.  But they don't, because they're not near each other.

Chatting and flirting with each other each night, Michael and Leesie are feeling the pains of separation.  It never would have worked out.  It was never supposed to work out.  So why are they continuing with it?  Why can't they break their connection?  As impossible as it seems, they can't give up on the feelings they share for one another.  Michael has begun to accept that his parents have gone on to a better place, and many pretty girls populate the bars he goes to for wireless internet.  Yet he can't forget Leesie.  Leesie is jealous because of these girls and how close they are to Michael.  She already has to deal with a doormate that can't live vicariously under the Mormon code like the rest of the dorm girls.

Despite these passing issues, Michael and Leesie can't seem to stay apart.  Their connection is too strong - and they aren't willing to give up on each other.  Michael wants to marry.  Leesie wants to accept, but can't.  She wants their marriage to be permanent, and that means getting married in the Mormon church.  Unbroken Connection is the part of the relationship that everyone finds the most difficult.  The indecision.  The urges.  The undeniable attraction.  The heartache that goes with compromise and trust.  The true love.

Of the two main characters, I think I'll start with Leesie.  She's a character that, while very great and well-developed, nearly got annoying in Taken by Storm.  Since I myself am not as religiously devote as her, it made her constant push of things a little hard to handle - hence why I was uncomfortable, but not in a bad way, during  Taken by Storm.  This book, I felt like she was a little more subdued.  The first book was about the characters setting boundaries, and with the boundaries in place, she knows not to be so overbearing with things.  Her moral compass wavers occasionally, but her heart remains true and her faith is strong.  I've grown to respect Leesie throughout these books, and she's a character I can honestly say has made me a better person.  I've not only respected her faith more, but have felt more willing to take in one of my own.  I felt like Unbroken Connection helped that along really well, and her conflicts throughout this feel even more genuine.

Michael is also a great character, because he's just as honest and realistic and good as Leesie is.  He wants to marry her and honor her the way he can, and he respects her so much.  His trouble is just that her faith hasn't spoken to him, and if that doesn't happen it creates complications.  He's the more adventurous and daring of the two, and he matches Leesie perfectly.  By now I am completely invested in their relationship no matter how it turns out, and I feel that Michael is such a great example of how guys can be so good despite their occasional misjudgments.  Michael restored a lot of the faith I had lost in regards to males.

What really made this novel as good as the first one, in retrospect, is how much of a maturity we see in the two characters.  Not only are Michael and Leesie a little older and wiser because of their past experiences (which makes them prone to smarter choices), but they have a better respect of each other now.  Michael will never, ever cheat again.  Leesie won't push her religion on him to the point where he gets tired and won't listen to her.  While there are still trust issues and religion issues throughout the book, they are a lot more subtle.  I also enjoyed the positive outlook for Michael possibly becoming a Mormon.  While I'm not a One-Faith-Fits-All person, I do think that their connection would have had this happen, and Michael is the kind of character that has a void that a positive religion could fill.  It's not for everyone, but this novel is a lot more hopeful that something good will happen in either direction.

Angela Morrison's writing is just as wonderful and vivid as usual.  Each page is filled with tension and joy, and Leesie's poems and chats, as well as Michael's dive logs, really add to the effect.  For whatever reason, this type of narration just works for these two characters.  She did traditional narration well in Sing Me to Sleep, but something about this format just makes me so very happy.  Never a dull moment, and I was very pleased to see that the editing and plotting did not suffer despite the fact that it was self-published.  Just goes to show that she knows her stuff.  One thing I did have a problem with was a nurse's dialect of horrible English when Michael went to a foreign hospital.  I don't know, I just figured that if the doctor could speak it well, the nurse could probably not have mangled it so much.  I'm not a big fan of that kind of thing, even if it is realistic, though.  It was a small part, though, so it didn't impede on the overall experience.  Also, the ending is so good but so bad.  It made me ache for the final book. 

I was surprised by this book.  I expected a slow-down, or a middle book slump, but Leesie and Michael were as interesting and dynamic as ever.  A few pages were slow, but overall the book moved surprisingly fast considering what was going on.  Their characters grew and matured, the writing was just as fun and polished as ever, and I really cannot wait to see how things pan out in Cayman Summer.  If it can keep this up, this will go down as one of my favorite contemporary series of all times!  Angela Morrison isn't for everyone, but she's an author I've come to think of as a favorite.

Cover Comments:  Adore it.  It matches the paperback for Taken by Storm pretty well (although I like the hardcover better, IMO) and it's a very good quality cover.  Kudos.

Rating:  5 Stars

Copy:  Gift

Wow, I haven't done a legitimate IMM in a few weeks.  That's rather sad.  I actually got books in the mail this week, which has been like a rarity for some reason, so I've been really excited.  Especially considering I got some really exciting looking reads.  Thanksgiving break has been dramatic on the internet perspective as well, but that kind of stuff happens when people eat too much turkey and act stupid.  Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren for hosting this awesomeness, and Alea at Pop Culture Junkie for inspiring In My Mailbox.  Two great girls who have made their mark on the blogosphere for good.

For Review:

All-in-all, some great reads by some great authors.  Three I'll have to wait to read, but it's worth it.  I'm very, very excited if you couldn't tell.  I also highly recommend Angie Frazier's debut, Everlasting, if you haven't read it.  It's enjoyable fluffy historical fiction with some Indiana Jones-esque adventure and high seas sailing!

Now, what did you get in your mailbox?

Title:  Gone  (Gone #1)

Author:  Michael Grant

Publisher:  Harper Teen

I've actually had this on my bookshelf for a while now.  It's been almost a year since I bought it, but I never got around to reading it.  It's rather big and intimidating, and lately I've enjoyed reads that take one or two days max.  With all the latest brough-haha that's been going on in the blogosphere, I noticed Michael Grant, the author, has a tendency to comment profusely on certain subjects.  Since I like the premise of the series well enough, and figured that I might as well see how he is as an author, I finally got the incentive to read the book.

What would happen if everyone 15 years of age or older suddenly disappeared?  In Presido, a town famous for its nuclear reactor and lack of new residents, this is exactly what happens.  Everyone suddenly poofs.  Sam, his friend Quinn, and the resident genius named Astrid are scared when it happens at Presido's public school, but they figure they have to find out the specifics.  Not only did their teachers and every student 15 or above disappear, but every adult in the city did.  From the police to the preschool teachers to the day to day workers, there's no one left but the kids.

As Sam, Astrid, and Quinn go off to try and find Astrid's brother, an autistic kid who was with one of their parents at the time of the poofing, the children of Presido begin to realize that they have to work.  Mary sets up working at the preschool with her brother, John, and a lone kid named Albert starts running the local McDonalds.  Outside of town, a girl named Lana gets in a car crash when her grandfather poofs, nearly getting killed with her dog, Patrick.  When it turns out that Astrid's brother, Petey, wasn't with his mother at the local hotel, they get a new 'team member' named Edilio, and run into the local bullies on their way back into town.

They get ready to set off to the power plant, where Astrid's father used to work, when Sam sees that the rich kids from Coates Academy are pulling into town.  Promising hope and peace, their leader named Caine starts assigning people jobs.  Sam is made to be the rescue chief, as he performed acts of heroism that everyone admired him for.  Yet...there isn't something right about Caine, and with him and the strange powers Sam finds himself developing, they have to wonder if it's really going to be the peaceful society they want.  Gone is a novel of suspense and survival that is sure to please a lot of dystopian fans.

Gone was a combination of things I liked and disliked, and the characters were a big part of that.  Our main protagonist, Sam, was always interesting, and it was nice to see him be a truly good person in relation to his character and personality.  He always put the needs of others first, even if he didn't want to, and he practiced forgiveness with his friends many, many times - even if they didn't deserve it.  While not everyone appreciates a very good character, within the context of the series it works well.  It's very much about the good vs. evil theme, and in that case it doesn't hurt to have a character like Sam start off so good.

Astrid was also great.  I'm a big fan of the smart characters, and she is nice in that she isn't overly smart (ie. she sounds so unbelievable and intelligent it gets annoying) but knows how to apply her knowledge and remembers enough of what she learns.  Like a smartness you'd see in reality.  Grant also likes to work with minority groups (pretty much every one is represented, which is good and bad - you'll find out why) and her autistic brother was one of the ones handled better.  He managed to convey her love for him yet her occasional despising of him - something common with people that have to parent their siblings, especially ones like Petey - and I enjoyed that she was religious as well.  Sometimes it felt a little forced, but overall I thought it added a good aspect to the book, and realistically explored the idea that religion would be a factor in their lives and society.

Quinn was a douchebag and I really did not like him.  He's a type of friend that isn't half as loyal as he should be.  Many times throughout the book he's so stressed or something - I can't even pinpoint a general motive - and lashes out or doesn't talk to Sam.  Sam is a good friend to Quinn, and Quinn is just mean.  He also insults Edilio for being Latino several times, and that's never really dealt with.  I wanted to smack him for it.  Quinn started off as a pretty laid back character, but I quickly wished he was just out of the pages, no matter what he did to redeem himself.  Also, his excessive use of the word 'brah' got annoying to me, because I personally don't think that all laid back surfer dudes say 'brah'.  It just seemed unnecessary.  I don't live in California, though, so I could be wrong about that seeming uncommon.  Lana was okay, but wasn't really around enough for me to gauge how I liked her, and Albert was cute with his need for stability, meaning that he tried to follow the McDonald's rule book as much as possible.  It was funny. 

The set of 'evil' protagonists from Coates Academy was overall pretty solid.  Caine is just a little crazy, which I like.  It made him seem more disturbing than, say, an outrightly evil protagonist.  I liked the seductive and conniving Diana even more, because she's clear about who she is, she's a little sorry for it, but she won't change.  Her character gives the reader a lot to think about, and she's one of those bad guys you don't mind having around.  Drake, the crazy sadist, was a tad over the top, and after a while I felt he was around to just to be like 'Look, more action and drama and violence!'  While Caine's evil in a way I can comprehend, I felt like Drake's sadism was a little much.  Not to mention there was a general abundance of bullies and evil people in this book.  It felt like they didn't have a purpose beyond adding another action scene.

Grant's writing is actually very quick and action packed.  I occasionally got bored and felt like the book could have been streamlined a lot, because a lot happens in the span of a week or two in this book.  Although in all honesty, it still reads really fast for a book of its size.  Aside from that, it felt like he had to reveal the character's minorities early on.  Which ones had single parents or eating disorders or a different race or religion or whatever.  Mostly I thought it was good, because he made it clear how diverse our society is, but occasionally it felt like he started off by defining the character by these things, which is totally not in the spirit of writing them.  Not to mention the problem of filling random spaces with Action! and Drama! when I would have preferred better plotting.  It's really simple as well, which didn't hurt it per say (it is a good middle grade crossover for that reason) but didn't really impress me. 

For the most part, Gone is a good novel that does the dystopian thing well.  It doesn't have the depth of Lord of the Flies, but it's pretty scary and has some great characters behind it.  Other characters just aren't that solid, and the writing could do with a good streamlining to make the reading experience a little less cluttered and jagged.  I'm intrigued enough to pick up Hunger and possibly Lies and Plague (I don't know if I would by them as of yet, because I am conflicted on whether or not I want to support the author post-kerfuffle and all) , but I really hope the next books improve some on things.  It's violent and creepy, but it's exciting enough that teenagers and middle schoolers alike will be interested in the series.

Cover Comments:  It's fine, but there's nothing majorly exciting about it.  The characters at least look they are supposed to.

Rating:  3.0 Stars

Copy:  Bought

I know I'm a little late to the party with this, considering some people accepted this challenge as soon as it popped up, but I was lazy, okay?  Anyway, I figured I had so many reviews this week that something non-reviewy may be in order for you guys.  This will be a quick post, because I really don't want to hound you with all of my debut author goals and stuff.  I accept the challenge (obviously) and can't wait to show some debut-love this year.

Some books I'm really interested in, based on month of release:








January:

Warped by Maurissa Guibord  (Tapestry!  Unicorns!  Historical fiction!  YES!)
The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal (Okay, so I already read this one, but trust me - it's so good.)
Timeless by Alexandra Monir (Time travel story!  Romance!  Woo!)
Across the Universe by Beth Revis  (I've heard some amazing things about this - and I hate Sci-Fi.)
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand  (Angels and a gorgeous purple cover.  Sign me up.)

February:

Angelfire by Courteny Allison Moulton  (Angels and paranormal ass-kicking.  Need I express excitement?)
The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney  (This sounds all shades of cool.)




March:

I Am J by Chris Beam  (Transgender story!  Can't say no to that.)
Wither by Lauren DeStafano  (I've heard amazing things.  Amazing.  Things.  Plus...polygamy!)
Falling Under by Gwen Hayes  (I've been waiting for this book for a little less than a year.)
Entwined by Heather Dixon  (I ADORE fairy tale retellings...and dress covers.)

April:

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton  (Love the cover for this one.)

May onward...

I actually don't have any information for books past May, so I just stopped.  I mean, I'm a hear and now reader, who occasionally reads stuff from the past.  I don't mind waiting for these books, but some do sound really good.  There are also a lot of non-debut releases that promise to be all kinds of great, too.

The reason there aren't pictures for every book....well, there are a lot of books, a lot of pictures, and I only had so much time to spend on Goodreads tracking them down.  Needless to say, they ALL have covers by now, and they are all pretty awesome.  I am a cover whore.  I do not deny this.  

How will I spend my reading time with these, other debuts, and older books?

I guess you'll find out.  :)

Or maybe not.  ;)  

This is the time of year where we give thanks for things.  Not that we don't do it already (well, we should do it) but it's a way to give it some official-ness.  Some jazzy, important airs that let people know, 'Hey, I'm REALLY thankful.'  Without coming off as cheesy.

Granted, some people still come off as cheesy (like my older brother), but that's not their fault.  Usually.  Some people are just cheesy people.  *Off topic*

Today I bring you a review that was a little hard to think up (as I write as I go, and I write first to last - which is why I'm so humorous.  Tired writer = not funny writer right here) but is interesting.  It's another anthology, but not.  So I'll rate it as a whole, but only give it a paragraph summary.  It'll be a shorter review, but it's a really interesting book I think libraries and lgbtq people should pay attention to.  Okay, now for the review...

Title:  Hear Us Out!  (Insert Really Long Subtitle Here)

Author:  Nancy Garden

Publisher:  FSG

Nancy Garden, lovely woman that she is, sent me this as well as Annie on My Mind to review.  I decided to save Annie, because I figured it would be the more fictional of the two books.  This one is a hybrid, being a book of essays with accompanying short stories.  I expected to enjoy it and learn a lot, and I did do both.  It wasn't as strong as I imagine Annie on My Mind is, but it is still a very important book.

Hear Us Out! is a collection of stories and essays on the last 60 or so years in lgbtq history here in the US.  From the ultra-conservative and repressed 1950's to the Stonewall Riots to the current 2000's, where gay marriage and adoption are the biggest concerns, Nancy Garden looks at things with a factual eye.  She has written essays for each decade, outlining the triumphs and tribulations that the lgbtq community has gone through.  With each essay is a series of two short stories about gay teenagers in that time period.  From religion to AIDs to simple romance, each of the characters deals with the very subjects that Garden talks about.

Hear Us Out! is essentially an informative history for the lgbtq youth of the now from an author who has experienced each one of those decades.  It's a way for us to realize how far we've come, yet how far we still have to go.

Right off the bat, I want to let everyone know that this read was something I didn't expect at all.  As someone who prefers fiction to nonfiction, I thought the essays would have been snores-ville and the short stories would have been the impressive part.  Nancy Garden actually had the opposite going on, which both helped and hurt the book in my opinion.

I'll start off with the short stories.  The first half of the book, from the 1950's to the 1970's, the short stories were really just not awesome.  From a technical standpoint they were great, because they did have plots and they showcased what Nancy Garden wanted to showcase.  The mindset of these earlier time periods was just too formal and off-putting in my opinion.  Especially the letters.  I didn't despise them, but they didn't feel like something I could relate to so much.  They felt like they were written just to comply with the essay, which made them less appealing.  None of them are horrible, mind you, but they don't really stand out as being something you want to read on for.

The short stories from the 1980's to the 2000's - Present were a lot better.  Each decade showed a more exciting venue, and an easier type of story to get into.  Nancy Garden is an author that clearly does better with contemporary stories of the hear and now, and I could tell from the way her later stories shined.  Some had rough patches, but the characters were a lot more genuine, and they didn't have the issue of feeling written just to be a foil for the essays.  Their placement at the end of the book just means that readers who aren't patient may abandon the short stories before getting there.

What truly shines and shows Garden's abilities is the essays.  Her writing style is accessible and interesting, and she knows just how to grab one's attention.  I normally don't enjoy non-humor essays (there is a reason David Sedaris is one of the few essay authors I can read), but in this case I felt they were the most superior part of the book.  Garden catches your attention from the start and expertly weaves in information on how things went during that decade.  I learned some things I never would have learned otherwise, such as Green Thursdays (where gays would supposedly wear green on Thursday - weird how that turns out, huh?) and about the Stonewall riots.  This is a book made for information and history, and the essays are really meant to to be the meat and inspiration for the collection.

Garden's take on an lgbtq teen history is one of mixed feelings.  Some of the short stories are unmemorable and dull, while others show a lot of heart and ability.  Her essays are wonderful and show readers a wealth of information they wouldn't otherwise learn about lgbtq history.  It's a great book that I think libraries - classroom, school, and public - as well as individuals should buy.  But for the history.  It's not a book for everyone, but a great place to start if you need or want to learn about recent lgbtq history.  As they say, "If you don't know your past, you don't have a future."

Cover:  I enjoy the cover, which is sort of a play on Am I Blue?  It's not too amazing, and the title and subtitle are extraneous, but it isn't awful.

Rating:  3.5  Stars

Copy:  Received from the author and publisher for review (Thank you both - this is a book I'll keep for a long time!)

Title:  Geektastic

Edited by:  Holly Black and Cecil Castelucci

Publisher:  Little, Brown

I've recently begun a marvelous appreciation of short story or novella collections.  In romance, they provide a fun diversion with several small stories instead of a gigantic story.  You can read these books in bits and pieces while doing other things, which makes them great for those few days or weeks where you just can't concentrate on one solid narrative.  Holly Black is one of those authors I tend to enjoy, as is Cecil Castelucci, and I enjoyed the other anthology Black recently edited, Zombies Vs. Unicorns.  Considering I am tres geek and have a tendency to enjoy geek related story lines...this book was an impulse buy.  Since Zombies Vs. Unicorns was quite a long review (and quite tedious) I'll give them a one sentence summary and a small paragraph review.  Each story, I mean.  (I need to learn to specify subjects!)  Before I mess up another sentence in the name of early school dismissal excitement, I will write!

Once You're a Jedi, You're a Jedi All the Way
Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

 At a science fiction convention, a guy who lives for the Jedi and a girl who is all about the Klingon intermix, and cause mass panic amongst the convention-ites.

This story opens the anthology, and was one of my favorite ones.  It has the right mix of geekery while still being accessible to readers without knowledge of Star Wars or Star Trek.  I say this because I know next to nothing about each of those things, and I found the story quite entertaining.  Nice romance with some surprising character depth, an Asian heroine, and a hilarious look at conventions and taking fandom a wee bit too far.  Worth it.

One of Us
Tracy Linn

A cheerleader gets help from a group of geeks and learns the basics of geekery to impress her boyfriend.

One of those stories where the idea just isn't fleshed out enough for me.  The plot was interesting, and it was cool to see a sort of crash course in geek related activities.  The main character was fairly interesting, the cast of geeks was as well, and she covered some subjects no one else (sadly enough) covered, like manga and anime (which I recognized well enough).  It's a good thing this opened the anthology, as those less geek inclined would find this a good starter story for the lifestyle.  However, it just didn't do much for me.  Meh.

Definitional Chaos
Scott Westerfeld

Two ex-lovers are transporting a large sum of money for a task and debate the meaning of chaos.

Westerfeld usually impresses me, but some of his stories tend to fall flat.  I really enjoyed the one in Zombies Vs. Unicorns, although it left the reader hanging.  This one actually had a conclusion (great) and some really interesting and vivid backstory with the characters.  Their dynamic really worked, and I enjoyed the debate based on character affinities in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, for you newbs/less geek inclined).  Really strong, really interesting, and one of my favorites of the collection.  Worth it.

I Never
Cassandra Clare

A girl who casually plays an online role playing game in text form with her friend meets a boy she may be in love with online.

This story is based off of Wuthering Heights, which I haven't read, but it's easy enough to understand.  Cassie Clare's writing is subpar for me, but she knows how to bring the action and is a good 'book candy' read for me.  However, her short stories are like those little linty pretzels left over from your house party.  They are familiar and taste stale and blegh.  The characters annoyed me, it was predictable, and it had nothing unique about it that I could suggest.  While the idea of basing it on Wuthering Heights was cute, the MC is firmly adamant that she is NOT a geek like everyone else.  Even admitting she is at the end of the story didn't help.  Skip it.

The King of Pelinesse
M . T. Anderson

A boy travels to talk with his favorite serial adventure story writer, whom his mother had an affair with.

I haven't read anything by M.T.Anderson up to this point, but this story was wonderful.  The main character is vivid and well drawn, the conflict is pretty darn awesome, and I adored the subtle jabs at the ridiculous but enjoyable adventure stories in the vein of Conan the Barbarian.  His writing hooks you from page one, and this story was probably one of the deeper ones in the collection.  Worth it.

The Wrath of Dawn
Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith

A girl and her iffy step sibling go to a special showing of the Buffy musical episode.

Eh.  I've read Cynthia's debut, Tantalize, and found some good things about it, but also some bad things.  I'm looking forward to Eternal...but didn't know how she and Greg would to on a short story.  It wasn't bad, but it was short.  Not only that, but totally nothing memorable for me.  It wasn't a bad story, but it just wasn't anything spectacular.  Meh.

Quiz Bowl Antichrist
David Levithan

A quiz bowl team has issues as they go to semi-finals - especially their singular member who reads fiction instead of science books.

I will freely admit I adore David Levithan.  His books are great, and for the most part, they work really well for what they are meant to do.  This short story was chock full of that awesomeness, and he manages to work a lot of great character motivations (teamwork, self gratification vs. the good of the whole, unexpected romances and friendships) in the span of a couple tens of pages.  He makes a lot of great literary references, which I enjoyed very much, and overall it was one of the cuter stories in the anthologies.  Worth it.

The Quiet Knight 
Garth Nix

In a live-action role-playing game, a silent teenager finds a little romance with the new lady in town.

Ah, Garth Nix.  Haven't read his novels, but I enjoyed his Zombies Vs. Unicorns story, even if it was a little lacking.  The same can be said for this story.  A nice idea, good writing, and a cute take on friendship with a slight possible romance in the future maybe.  However, it just ends.  The character gets some back story, and he solves a little problem, but it didn't have a lot of meat to it.  Not a bad story, but nothing I took from the collection as really good or really awful.  Meh.

Everyone But You
Lisa Yee

A twirler/majorette from the continental USA moves to Hawaii and realizes that being cool isn't easy when transferring schools.

She's supposed to be a good writer.  Supposed to be.  I haven't read her novels, mostly because I never really heard of Millicent Min until after that kind of thing left my interest radar.  Yet...god this story just disappointed me.  Hardly anything about majorettes was presented, absolutely no other band geekery was present, and it read like a thirty page story outline.  I felt no emotion, the character could have been replaced by anything (robot, monkey, toothpaste) and it wouldn't have mattered.  If I ever see a copy of Millicent Min, I'll think of picking it up, but this short story - no.  Skip it.

Secret Identity
Kelly Link

A girl writes a letter to a guy she met online after failing to find him at a hotel during a superhero and dentist convention.

This is probably the story I took away as being the best, especially by an unread author.  Kelly Link doesn't normally write in the YA spectrum (that I know of), but she pictured so beautifully the complex hopes and yearnings of a teenager who wants to just get away from everything.  Her superhero idea was interesting, and the characters were delightfully flawed.  It's a story that's a little unconventional, makes you think a little more than usual, but so great.  Worth it.

Freak the Geek
John Green

Two girls at a private school are considered geeks and reflect on a school tradition that involves 'freaking' geeks like them.

Never read Green.  (Don't hurt me - I have two of his books in my TBR.)  It was an interesting look on bullying from a geek perspective, but it didn't really rattle my chain or impress me too much.  One can tell the author writes really well, and I commend him for that, but it just wasn't up to par considering the stories in this anthology I really loved.  Meh.

The Truth About Dino Girl
Barry Lyga

A girl obsessed with dinosaurs tries to get a boyfriend through unconventional and cruel means.

Barry Lyga is another author I mean to try some day, but I hope his novels are better than this.  The writing was interesting, sometimes amusing, yet there was one problem I had with this book.  It dealt so much with being cruel to other people, and it didn't show any kind of apology on the protagonists behalf at the end when (spoiler spoiler spoiler)
she spreads and makes fake evidence of a viscous rumor that the guy's current girlfriend is a prostitute
(end spoiler).
Even if said character was a bitch, that's just not cool.  It didn't really leave me with many other thoughts.  Meh, leaning towards Skip It.

This is My Audition Monologue
Sara Zarr

A girl writes her own audition monologue for the school play auditions, and tells the director off with her harrowing theater experiences. 

Story of a Girl was great, so naturally I expected good things from this work.  I'm also a theater geek like nobody's business, so I was expecting it to appeal to me.  It did.  Zarr hits all of the important notes for a good short story (interesting way of telling it, wonderful character with backstory, killer motives behind the story's appearance) and also includes so many theater references.  This is the story for my kind of geekery, and I adored it.  From the stupid way people get parts sometimes to the way the lighting booth can be deadly, this story shows it all.  Worth it.

The Stars at the Finish Line
Wendy Mass

Two rivals in school meet up to study astronomy and explore their relationship.

This woman writes some mean middle grade.  Her book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, was one of the best ones I read in middle school.  This story, however, did not click with me in the slightest.  Astronomy is pretty interesting, and I was excited to see how she would deal with it.  It just felt...lacking.  I really didn't want to finish reading it, but I managed.  I don't know if it was a like of chemistry between the characters or what, but I just was not impressed by it.  Meh.

It's Just a Jump to the Left
Libba Bray

Two best friends drift apart as they change, and try to find solace in their favorite thing, the Rocky Horror Picture show.

Libba Bray is a great writer, and I love everything she does, but there are some instances where her stuff is a little flawed for me.  This is one of those times.  I adore her writing style and I adore Rocky Horror, but occasionally this story felt a little meh to me.  There were some great themes, though, and I adored the ending.  The Rocky Horror references were off the charts, and it made me very very happy indeed.  It's a tie between Meh and Worth it.

On another note, there are comics related to geek subjects in between each story.  They also vary in awesomeness from Skip it to Worth it.  I especially enjoyed the theater and band geek ones (no surprise there).

This is the anthology for the geek or the geek minded.  It's hard for some of these stories to cross non-geek borders, and some of them are devoid of anything really geek minded as well!  It's good for everything that's inside, and I would love to see more geek themes in YA, but some of the stories really left a bad taste in my mouth.  Others were great.  It's all a matter of perspective.  And geekery.

Cover Comments:  LOVE.  THIS.  COVER.  SO.  MUCH.  *spasms*

Rating:  3.5 Stars

Copy:  Bought  (Yay for supporting the industry!)

Title:  Blood Feud  (Drake Chronicles #2)

Author:  Alyxandra Harvey 

Publisher:  Walker Books

I read the first book in this series and was hooked.  While it's not the best series in the world - characters tend to blend together, and sometimes parts can get dull - I find it's one of those ones I can go to when I get bored.  The read won't be entirely engrossing or perfect, but it's fun and there's some great familiar elements that I personally enjoy to read.  For paranormal readers, it's a fun venture into a world that has a nice blend of action and romance.  Blood Feud continues on from where Hearts at Stake left off, and has some good parts and some bad parts compared to the first installment.

The Drake siblings have recently battled and gotten their mother on the throne of the vampire world.  Monmarte, the vampire ready to take the throne and Solange Drake as his bride, is still fighting to have what he wants, and the politics of the vampires are being torn asunder.  Enter Isabeau St. Croix, a Hound vampire only recently awoken from her grave.  Fresh out of the French Revolution (kind of), Isabeau has been sent to help and act as an ambassador between the semi-peaceful vampire species.  She also went with a warning: that someone at court is meant for her.

Logan Drake is entranced by Isabeau from day one.  She's fiesty and reluctant to show him the time of day, but she has the affection for dogs that only a Hound vampire can have.  This, as well as her other bits of knowledge about the Hound way of life, lure him into liking her a little more than she should.  Protecting his sister Solange from the devious vampire Monmarte and his Hel-bar creations is getting harder as well, especially with his mother being a big target for assassinations.

The world of the vampires needs to either band together or fall, and concerning those between species like Isabeau and Logan...the combination could be just what the world needs.

The narrative is split between two different characters, which is a style Harvey favors with this series.  In the last book I enjoyed it because Solange and Lucy were such different characters.  Even though Harvey tends to use her same voice for both characters, making the head hopping a little redundant sometimes, I liked it a lot.  Solange and Lucy were very kick-ass and awesometastic.  Their romances were also really well done for me.  Isabeau is in the same vein as Lucy and Solange, and I enjoyed her rigid outlook on things and her more formal style.  It's nice to see a heroine that would rather focus on saving the world and fall in love unexpectedly, as opposed to just falling for the guy while totally ignoring the important issues at hand.  I also really, really enjoyed the look into her past.  I love France and French things, and this was the most interesting character backstory wise for me.  She had a lot of it, and it really added to her!  Her Hound status was also really intriguing, and did a lot for the world building geek in me.

Logan is a lot like the other Drake brothers.  While I enjoy the twisted take on Snow White with them, it's really difficult to manage seven different male siblings in a series, and the books are just too short to draw them all extremely well.  Aside from his affinity for clothing a few centuries behind, I didn't really have any personality knowledge of Logan before reading this book.  He wasn't as well drawn as Isabeau, but I think his speech was more accessible and not as frustrating.  However, he felt like a flatter hero than the ones from the last book.  Everyone has their favorites, and while I like what Logan is about, getting inside his head was mixed for me.

Harvey's writing is witty and quick.  She likes to go quickly and does a nice action scene - especially considering I don't really like overly action-oriented reads.  That being said, she can sometimes get tedious with things.  For books that should theoretically be streamlined, there are the occasional passages that I just find difficult to read past.  They aren't too long, but they can hinder the reading process.  Her best thing is her world building.  Sometimes it's really confusing, and it's something that makes reading from book one a very, very good idea, but it's cool.  She has some really interesting ideas with the different vampire tribes and their influences, and their magic and culture is really cool.   And yes, it's more in depth than having sparkly skin. 

Hearts at Stake, while not reviewed here, was a solid four for me.  Blood Feud is a little lower, but I can't wait to read Out for Blood soon.  This series has a lot of potential, and if Harvey can continue to grow and up the anty with each book, I will be a happy reader indeed.  She also has a single title YA ghost mystery coming out in a few months, and that sounds great as well.  Hopefully she make the series to single title transfer easily.  She's an author that gives a consistent paranormal read, and one that will easily win fans of vampires and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Cover:  I like the cover idea, and the purple and black is really attractive.  Isabeau looks a little odd, though.  Logan, however...nom.  (The background on the US cover is black, and the title is different, but it's not a major difference.)

Rating:  3.5 Stars

Copy:  Received from Bloomsbury/Walker Books for review (Thank you so much!)

Title:  Matched

Author:  Ally Condie

Publisher:  Dutton

I knew I would love this book when I first heard about it in April.  Honestly, there are some titles I have a sixth sense about.  I don't know how it happens, but I can feel that ethereal connection with them.  Reviews across the blogosphere have been mixed, so they worried me prior to actually reading the book.  Many bloggers loved it.  The Book Smugglers hated it (and I thoroughly enjoy their blog, so that really concerned me) and Steph Su felt it had promise, but still thought it was a meh-ish read compared to other books this year.  After a lot of pondering and the realization that it would be released in a few weeks, I picked up my lovely advanced readers copy and went to it.

By the end of the night, the book was finished, and I had yet another finished copy that I had to put on my Christmas list.  I wonder if you can tell where this review is going?

Cassia has lived in the Society all of her life.  Their rules have always felt fair, and everyone is happy and lives to the ripe old age of 80 before dying peacefully.  They can also choose to be Singles (which can date for fun, but don't ever get married), or Matched.  Like many people, Cassia wants to be Matched, and is very excited for her Matching ceremony.  To be Matched means to have someone of the opposite sex chosen that best fits your personality and type.  You 'court' and eventually get married and have kids around 24.  Being Matched is good, and Cassia can't wait to partake of this wonderful experience.

In a gorgeous green Matching dress, Cassia has her ceremony and finally gets her Match mate.  Xander.  People rarely ever get Matched with someone who lives close to them, but Xander has lived in the City with her forever.  He's also one of the most eligible males around, and she thinks it's amazing to be paired up with him.  She does love him.  Cassia is elated to have things go off without a hitch.

Except they do.  On the microcard that each of the two Matched get with basic information on the other appears another face.  A face other than Xander's.  Ky's.  Ky also lives in the City, but he is a social outcast.  He already has his assigned occupation and has been considered quite odd by their group of friends.  Ky's face on the microcard scares and intrigues Cassia.  What is Ky really like?  And how exactly does the Society make a mistake when their so close to being perfect?

Matched was probably my favorite series opener of the year.  It's got so many YA components that usually don't work, like the love triangle and the girl torn between two great guys, yet it holds its own as being unique and mind boggling.

Cassia is a main character meant to be studied.  At the beginning of the novel she is very reserved and accepting of the Society's strict rules and ideals, which would off-put some readers.  Her growth throughout the novel is intense and very obvious.  I really felt like she showed great character change, and it was all subtle and well played out.  Her thought process was not an instant 180, and that made it very believable.  Her tear between Ky and Xander was also understandable, though she didn't fool herself over what type of love she felt for each of them.  One was clearly better than the other, and she was honest about it.  That made me very happy.  Characters that can't even notice the line between friendship and amour urk me to no end.  Cassia has a great thought process, and is a heroine that I can't help but adore, and I really felt she had a legitimate and deep connection with Ky.

As for Ky and Xander, both of them were pretty good male leads.  Xander didn't suck me in as much as I would of liked - he's very goody goody and Vanilla Awesome Guy - but some readers will fall in love with him anyway.  Ky was awesome.  Ky wasn't just the brooding outcast.  He actually had deep thoughts that went beyond Cassia is pretty.  Early on he teaches Cassia how to write in cursive, which is something the Society doesn't encourage, and challenges her way of thinking.  I loved it.  He's artistic and creative and disappointed by where he is in the Society on the social class ladder, but he knows he has to change the world to make it a better place.  He's a thinker and a doer, and he knows that Cassia needs to see things through his perspective to understand exactly how flawed in morals the Society really is.  He totally impressed me, and I'm going to be firmly in Team Ky for a long time.

The other thing I really have to rave about was the writing style.  Some have commented on its simplicity, and I will say that it is accessible to younger, middle school aged readers as well as teenage readers, but that's not a bad thing for this novel.  The Society has a firm hold on how 'creative' their residents can be, and they have decidedly limited vocabularies and creative limits, especially compared to our standards.  This means the wording will be simpler and more concise, and the language isn't going to be obviously deep and metaphorical.  This is due to Cassia's first person present perspective (which is extremely well done and totally engrossing, for those of you who can't stand first person present) and the fact that she grew up in the Society more intensely than Ky.  However, Condie's prose still has a certain lit and flow to it that's effervescent.  It turns a vocabulary that would normally sound stilted into something that is beautiful.  Not to mention her plotting was very admirable, and I felt like it had just the right amount of hardcore events and introspection on Cassia's part.  Both of the male protagonists also had equal page time, which developed the characters and their relationships much better than in some other novels.

I've had a lot to say about Matched, and for good reason.  It really got into my head and make me think about the place creativity and individuality has in our world, and just how perfect things are without perfection.  Odd, I know, yet incredibly inspiring.  It won't tug on everyone's chords the way it does mine, but I really think this book is something special.  It will find a large and eager audience, and the publisher may have been right with the 7-figure advance.  (To be fair, I don't give a flying fig about advances in relation to a book.  They aren't always a judge for quality.)  If you want something that will make you think and still give you an interesting dose of romance and dystopia, this will so be your book.  I highly recommend it.

Cover:  This cover is something I cannot live without.  Her dress is gorgeous, the bubble is a nice metaphor, and the shiny-ness is positively YES making.  I think I love it more than Incarceron's Blue Key cover.  That's a lot of cover love.

Rating:  5.0  Stars

Copy:  Received from Allison at Penguin  (Thank you a hundred-thousand times, Allison!)

On a small and totally unimportant note - this is my 200th post!  For some reason I find this important.  You probably can't wait until I get to post 666.  I'm weird with numbers.  I don't even like math.  Possibly I do this to keep myself entertained with numbers.

I do not have a number fetish.

I'm sorry to those who feel this way.

Today was my marching band's annual craft show.  We integrated a used book sale because you ALWAYS make money that way.  Money was indeed made on this venture.  I was also made very very happy.  I found a Fran Drescher autobiography - Enter Whining (Enter fucking amazing, more like it.  Fran is awesome.)  And a hardcover Amanda Quick and Johanna Lindsey.  AND A HARDCOVER JENNIFER CRUSIE.  THAT IS AWESOME.  Oh, and a whole bunch of other romance novels or novella collections.  I was quite the happy duck today.  Even if I only got four hours of sleep, and was working there for eleven straight hours.

For the professional and exciting note, I have a new giveaway!  It's not officially for my 200th post, but you can pretend it is if that makes you feel better.  I'm giving away 2 copies of Keep the Change by Steve Dublanica. 

All you have to do to enter is to fill out this form.  I'll be giving away bonus entries for links to social media adverts, blog list or post announcements (both of which are usuals for me), and for commenting on the review - which got no comments.  It spruces up the blog, and gives you a better chance at getting some free stuff.  Have at it, and have a nice weekend.  I'll be back tomorrow, but I never know who is reading what posts at what time.  :)

You hear that, readers.  I'M ON TO YOU.  If I find one of you wants to steal my Blue Key (Incarceron) before I read it.....*Grrr* 

Title:  Keep the Change:  A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of Gratuity

Author:  Steve Dublanica

Publisher:  Ecco  (Harpercollins Publisher)

This book was written with the express (and mostly true) assumption that Americans have no idea how to tip anyone.  Even waiters, whom people should theoretically know how to tip, seem to get the short end of the deal.  Then there are the tattoo artists, the body massage people...Tipping is a big friggin' deal, apparently.  I've had Dublanica's debut, Waiter Rant, on my TBR.  The beginning was hard going, though, so I set it down for when I had more time.  When I was given a chance to read this, I couldn't really resist.  It's out of my comfort zone, and it was pretty funny, but still has the trappings of a novel too bent on its purpose - as do most nonfiction takes like this.

*Note*  Since this book is nonfiction, I'll only give a one-paragraph summary.  No real "plot" to summarize with this kind of thing and all of that.  

Dublanica is on a self-imposed mission - to become the guru of gratuity, aka tipping.  As a former waiter turned writer, Dublanica knows how people in the service industry take tips.  Tips often make a large chunk of their salaries, which are more often than not low because the profession socially accepts tips.  Waiters, casino workers, it seems like everyone requires a tip nowadays.  It's time that everyone (including Dublanica) finally understands what they should be tipping.  People who have never worked in the service industry or who haven't thought about how much work it is to work in the industry may not understand why, but tips are important.  Especially when they help pay off many of these workers basic necessities. 

The author is searching for the Answer in this book.  The Answer to Proper Tipping.  In that, he most certainly succeeds. 

Since there aren't any characters or plot related bits in this book like a fiction book (darn, I was so hoping I could continue with my pattern here) I'll just talk about what worked and what didn't. 

The writing is funny.  While you may not expect this (it is a book about tipping), Dublanica has wit.  Charm.  Personality.  It shows quite well, especially when he tells his anecdotes.  I lived for the anecdotes.  From the mundane (waiter stories that we've all heard before) to the not so mundane (being given a tour of a dominatrix facility), he makes it all seem hilarious.  The chapters are, for the most part, rather enjoyable.  If you have Waiter Rant, the waiting chapter is redundant.  Most of them I liked, especially the ones dealing with the sex industry (no surprise - well, actually, those chapters were very surprising) and jobs in the cosmetics industry.  Massages, tattoo artists, hair stylists, dominatrixes, strippers....I learned a lot about how to be polite to people through proper monetary compensation.

What Dublanica relies on is that the average reader is going into the read with limited or no knowledge of these tips.  That will make the book worth the read in itself, because I bet you don't know half as much as you think about serving people.  Even the author, someone who worked in the service industry for many years, had no idea how to handle many of the people interviewed for the book.  The appendix includes some tips for Tipping on Holidays and the like, as well as an interesting section on Tipping and Race.  That was very worth the read for how much it set me thinking.

Now, it may sound like this book is very awesome, but there is a downside that made it a trudge for me.  It's still not something  you want to read on your downtime.  For someone like me who reads a lot for escapism, picking this book up was a rude awakening.  While it handles its information well, it is more informational than amusing.  Sure, there were a lot of fun situations, but also a lot of tipping theory and ideas from Dublanica.  Intriguing, but not my cup of tea.  His writing also has a tendency to feel overdone at the beginning and the end.  Hooks are important, but for something like this, the concept is something that people will either be interested in or not.  The chapter title does more than enough to hook me, and the 'Epic Starts' as I like to call them are really unnecessary.  Not a bad thing per say, but something that makes the flow of the book more choppy than needed.

You'll enjoy this book, but you won't enjoy this book.  It's funny and amusing and get's the job done, but it doesn't have the entertainment that fiction or memoirs do.  Nonfiction isn't really my thing, and I guess this proves it.  If you enjoy nonfiction, this read will probably entertain you from all perspectives.  I highly recommend it for at the very least a fun and interesting way to learn how to tip.

Cover:  Meh.  It wouldn't attract me in a bookstore, but it's nonfiction, which is a different market.

Rating:  3.5 Stars  (May be higher for those non-fiction inclined folks)

Copy:  Received from Steve's publicist  (Thanks a bunch!)

*Check back later tomorrow when I'll be giving away 2 copies of Keep the Change!  Try it for yourself! 

Hey everyone.  This post won't be long, but it's going to go in place of a book review today.  For a good reason.

Today, at my high school, I found out that a lesbian girl has been banned from changing in the locker rooms for her phys. ed class, and now has to go change in the main office with an escort.  This is all because one girl went to the principal and expressed her lack of comfort concerning this.

I feel like crying right now.  Seriously, I feel for this girl (who shall remain nameless, as I doubt she would want people all up in her business right now) because not only are her rights being taken away from her, but THE SCHOOL IS DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT.  She also once got suspended for hugging her girlfriend, where many hetero couples mack in the hallways like they are in a sleezy motel room.  HOW IS THIS RIGHT?

It isn't.  I even told my father about this on the way home, and he felt like it was alright because "She's different.  She's a dyke."

Cue the bile in my stomach rising to epic proportions.

Naturally, this is horrific to me.  Not to my parents (love them I do, but horrid people they can be) or some other people in school apparently, but certainly to me.  And a good chunk of the student body.  And to a good chunk of the world.

*Update*


Our principal was apparently out of town on the day of this incident. He thankfully understands that whomever made this decision for the now dubbed Awesome Lesbian is an idiot, and told her to change in the bathroom stalls in the locker room until things cool down. This is still not enough, but at least I know the man running my school is reasonable with these things. Now if only the girl who started this (bitch) could change in the main office with an escort for a few days. Maybe then she'll understand how incredibly hypocritical and judgmental she's being.


So, I'm sorry for this Rainbow Thursday being a downer guys, but you need to hear about this. Because of this, a few friends of mine (lesbian or bisexual friends) and I are thinking of starting a GSA. Consider this. GSA's are vital to a working gay population in school. It's a way to establish a safe place and a presence for students - gay or straight. It's about unity and tolerance. A better high school experience.




Prejudice is wrong.  This is why we NEED more gay characters of all kinds (protagonists, secondary characters, stereotypes, breaking stereotypes, fantasy, paranormal, vampire, banana slug.)  If we as a society can get to the point where gosh darn it people realize it's fucking normal, then we can move on.  As Nancy Garden says in Hear Us Out, "It's hard to start a civil rights movement."

We clearly haven't worked hard enough yet.

Title: Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods #5)

Author; Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Disney/Hyperion

Reviews for Previous Books:  The Van Alen Legacy;  Keys to the Repository 


I've mentioned in my review of The Van Alen Legacy that this series is my vampire crack. Some series I will wait a while to read the next book - whether for prolonged pleasure or because it's only mildly interesting. Usually you can tell which series is which, so I won't bother naming them. Knowing that Bloody Valentine: A Blue Bloods Novella was going to come out in a month, I was easily able to glom on this read.De la Cruz knows how to write a compelling story that you don't want to put down, and her plots are always deliciously gossipy yet still complicated. Her vampire/angel mythology is well known for being confusing after a few books.It's a series that is my current YA weakness, and I always suggest it to people that love the paranormal.

*Note: Major spoilers here if you haven't read books 1-4 yet. BE AWARE.*

Schulyer Van Alen and Jack Force have been in the presence of the duchess for almost a year now. She won't let them leave. They have to find the next gate to Hell, which is a sure target of the Silver Bloods. They perform a harrowing escape off of a secluded Italian island and begin searching.Their love for each other is great, and they are happy to have left everything behind in New York. The bonding incident. Oliver. Chasing their big problems has provided them an odd kind of escape from the smaller things, but they've still got a lot to do in order to keep the order of things.

Mimi Force has dealt with Jack's denial of their bond and Kingsley's disappearance as best she can. After Forsythe mysteriously disappeared when new evidence showed that his family was harboring the Silver Bloods, she has named herself Regent. Standing in for her blood father, she is now the most powerful Blue Blood in North America. At least, the most politically powerful Blue Blood. When a video surfaces that shows a now-disappeared Blue Blood girl drinking at a party, she realizes that someone knows about them.Someone human has betrayed the Blue Bloods.

In order to deal with these problems, Mimi brings in a newcomer named Deming. Deming is the new third character following Bliss' incident, and she must discover who caused this Blue Blood girl to disappear. She is one of the rare Blue Bloods to not have a bond, and she's never been one for romance. But a geeky boy is slowly finding his way into her heart, and her investigation is bringing back startling and horrible results The Blue Bloods are in the heat of their struggle, and it will take a lot to get them out of this new mess.

De la Cruz does good things with her characters in each novel. She tries to instill a sense of growth in them so the series doesn't get stale, but some obviously grow more than others. In the past one or two books, Mimi Force has become my favorite character. She's consistently shown a lot of originality and deviation from her 'bitch character' cliche, and her romance with Kingsley last book was my favorite. She put up the best third of the novel this time, and I continued to adore her character.  Schuyler was iffy for me at times, as was Deming.  They seemed a little weak.  It's a shortish book for this series, so I took it to be one of the setup novels.  Thus the characterization and incidents weren't as fleshed out for the most part.  I loved the idea of Deming, but I felt like she was forced into a romantic situation too quickly - though I was happy to see the ending wasn't something I expected.  Nice to see an Asian Blue Blood on the scene as well. 

( Though I still miss Bliss.  Is it wrong to want her book to come out like right now because I miss her so much?  She was such a fun character.  WHERE ARE YOU, BLISS?)

Side characters were awesome as always.  Oliver just keeps getting deeper!  He's one of those characters you constantly find yourself checking on.  Will he hold up?  How is he changing?  Will he ever get over Schuyler?  Love it!  Jack is getting a tad vanilla (which bothers me more and more lately) and I was surprised by how unexciting I found him this time. He's still a subject of one of my vampire/angel fantasies, but I'm leaning more towards Kingsley now.  Maybe it goes along with my Mimi thing.  Who knows?   This book wasn't centered too much on side characters, so I can't have a really good grasp on who we are going to see more of.  We are given a good promise of future twin-action with Deming and her twin (not like Mimi/Jack twin, but soul twins - which are like legit siblings in the Blue Blood world.)  I really didn't care too much about them, either.  You like the protagonists a bit too much!

Her world building was spot on complex and exciting as per usual.  I don't think I could ever hate this world.  It gets better and better, especially considering she's going away from some of the classic 'Gossip Girl' like situations in favor of more paranormal and interesting ones.  Her romances are getting more interesting, and her writing feels just a little tighter than in the first book.  Still some cliffhangers, but her intent with them isa  lot clearer, which will satisfy series readers.  You get a quick fun read with this one, but it leaves you begging for the next installment (and the new novella, and the graphic novel, and the spinoff with Bliss.)

This wasn't the strongest in the series.  Probably on par with Masquerade, which had a lot of the same character issues.  The world's more established and the characters were brighter than in Masquerade, but not a lot happened to make me feel like it was a good growth book.  None the less, it's a great fan pleaser that people like me will enjoy.  Don't start with it if you haven't read the other four books, but if you have, you must pick it up.  Not to be missed for the paranormal junkie who loves their vampire crack.

Cover Comments:  Coincidentally, like Masquerade, this is one of my favorite covers in the series.  Asian model.  Beautiful cover shot.  Like the Italian city underneath.  Totally sweet.

Rating:  4.0  Stars

Copy:  Received from Jen at Disney/Hyperion (Thanks a ton, Jen!)

So I had nothing in my mailbox this week - kinda sad, yet I needed the break.  Although my pained mouth would have enjoyed something on Wednesday or Thursday, hahaha.  I did get two books from my classroom library and my school library, so I'll share those with you guys.

Title:  Butterfly Swords (Harlequin Historical)

Author:  Jeannie Lin

Publisher:  Harlequin

Note:  This is a romance novel.  So it has sex.  If you are a teenager, take this into consideration.  I am all for teens reading romance, but maybe no one under 13, eh?  Just so you know.

 
Historical romances are my favorite type of romances.  Most are set in Regency England.  Since Judith McNaught, this has pretty much been a 'staple' for historical romance.  Now, however, we are finally moving away from that.  At least a little bit.  Butterfly Swords takes place in Tang dynasty China, and features an Asian heroine and a hero from a more western country. So it's breaking genre conventions with a PoC protagonist.  Naturally, I had to get my hands on it, and it was so worth the read!

Princess Ai Li has been betrothed to Li Tao, a wealthy man who is friends with the Emperor, Ai Li's father.  She has prepared herself for the dull fact of marrying for station.  She must honor her family by making the marriage, and she is willing to do so to keep the honor.  However, suspicions she had concerning Li Tao were confirmed at her wedding.  He actually was supplying ships carrying weapons to be used against her father, the Emperor.  He also caused the death of one of her several older brothers, which caused her family horrible pain.

Furious, Ai Li runs away from Li Tao as they are about to be legally bonded by hiring bandits to fake a kidnapping.  She disguises herself and runs into a man from a western station.  His name is Ryam, and he is in no way like Ai Li.  Blond hair and blue eyes make him impossibly different from the local Chinese.  With a limited understanding of their language, he can barely understand Ai Li.  He even calls her a westernized slang version of her name, Ailey.  Ryam also finds that he is attracted to her independence and her masterful skill with butterfly swords.  Female warriors are rare, and good ones even more so.  Tang China is liberal with women, but finding one so independent is unsettling.

And sexy.  Ai Li and Ryam travel together - Ai Li determined to get to her father and let him know of Li Tao's treachery, and Ryam with getting her to safety.  She has decided not to tell him about her royal status.  It would only impede on how he treated her.  She was on the run, and didn't need the benefits of even more politeness.  When love blooms between these two opposing figures, how do they react?  And what of Li Tao, who wants Ai Li no matter what the cost?

As we all know, character is A Big Deal when I read a book, and romances especially have to have good characters.  I mean, you are reading a narrative centering around a hero(ine) and a hero(ine.)  Two main people.  Both are emotionally distraught and have heavy introspection as they go through their connection.  This means you have to like them a lot.  Ai Li is totally worth reading this book for.  Her independence is great and very modern ( I will not skim over this - the characters do have more modern motivations, but you can't have them all .)  Readers will enjoy her kick-butt attitude and lack of fear of sexual situations.  It's helpful to know that while she loves Ryam, she still has her morals and sticks to them.  The emotional journey with Ai Li and her quest to keep her family's honor as best she can is great, and it's a great source of conflict for the characters.

Ryam is also well-drawn.  He's a respectful hero that is balanced with Ai Li.  He's not Beta but not Alpha.  Probably more Alpha, but it was interesting to have a hero that wasn't either.  Normally you see either very intense or very subdued heroes.  I felt like he didn't have as much depth as Ai Li, but was still well crafted and three dimensional.  I loved the swordplay scenes between the two of them.  The tactical thoughts as well as the personal ones were interesting, and it was really action-y for a romance.  Not my usual cup of tea (I enjoy regencies for the court intrigue and such,) but really enjoyable.  It's sure to attract people to the romance genre - or at least the historical subgenre - if they don't usually read it.  I have to agree with many reviewrs that the swordplay scenes were perhaps more interesting than the sex scenes!  Ryam was very romantic outside of sex (sex was still nice, but nothing amazing) and he made me coo a few times.

If there is one thing that makes Butterfly Swords a novel that isn't perfect, it's the plotting.  While Jeannie Lin has a great prose style that works for the genre, her plotting was uneven during the last 50 pages of the novel.  It was going along a pleasant pace - not too slow, not too fast - then speed up to the point where my head was reeling with the characters introduced and the political back stabbings.  It's sudden, and while it resolves in a fine and dandy HEA, the ending is definitely lackluster compared to the rest of the work.  Despite this, I think Jeannie Lin did a great job with things, and will capture a lot of lifelong fans with the way she did this work.

While not the most even of romances, there is something to be said for breaking genre conventions in such a big way.  Jeannie Lin's romance has been publicized extremely well by Harlequin, and bodes well for more exotic and cultural historicals.  She already has another book slated for next year, and I am extremely excited to read it!  Ai Li was great, Ryam was romantic, and her prose was awesome.  If you haven't tried romance novels, or at least historical romance novels, this would be a great jumping off point.  Aside from the ending, it's even and filled with enough action to keep any reader occupied.  The sexual tension is also fun to read about, though you'd prefer to have them swordfight it out!  Definitely a can't-miss novel of the year in the romance category.  Especially if you're one for PoC protagonists. 

Cover Comments:  The physical cover is a little fuzzy, but I love the intense look on her face and the way she has her sword drawn.  It'll attract a lot of skeptical readers for sure!

Rating:  4.5 Stars

Copy:  Received from Natashya at Harlequin (Thanks a bundle, Natashya!)