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This month showcased the release of Julia London's third book in her Cabot sisters series: <i>The Scoundrel and the Debutante</i>. I just finished reading it, and it's a wonderful road trip romance gone awry with a solid amount of tension and heat to it. In honor of the book's release and the blog tour, I got the opportunity to share some questions &amp; answers from the author herself on the blog today!<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="color: purple;">1. Can you tell us a little more about the Cabot sisters?</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: #0b5394;">The Cabot sisters are four young women born into privilege and wealth in Regency England. They’ve been raised with the standard education of debutantes: Basic reading, writing and geography, and some unmarketable skills in embroidery, music and gossip. When hardship falls, their sheltered life has not given them enough experience in a world in which men are kings and women are legally and socially helpless. They don’t know what to do, but the Cabots are what we’d call street-smart today, and they are determined to control their fates. However, because they’ve been so sheltered, they make some terrible decisions that have far-reaching ramifications. Honor and Grace, Prudence’s older sisters, have already caused enough scandal to last a lifetime. Their younger sisters have felt the consequences, too—now, no one wants to marry into their family.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: purple;">&nbsp;2. If you could live during any time period from the past, when would it be and why?&nbsp;</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: #0b5394;">I guess it’s obvious that I would have to try living in the Regency era. But I would have to be among the wealthy. I wouldn’t want to be crammed into any tight living quarters with a lot of people and maybe even some animals. I would need one of those big Georgian mansions, a butler, a ladies’ maid, and a very handsome and rich husband. Oh, and the gowns. I would need a lot of those beautiful gowns. I have always been a student and fan of history, but, in the end, knowing what I know, I like the creature comforts of the twenty-first century.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> I agree with Julia on a number of things - especially the Georgian mansion and the gowns. Check back on the blog for a review of <i>The Scoundrel and the Debutante</i> towards the end of the month. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading this historical road trip romance with a dash of kismet, the book is available at all major e-retailers and in bookstores.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOusRN6Q389hNeT0bQeIJiHNrfXnWIZI6DEPpf86aAwD_2d8xiFZ1ABiU-e0CEux_4hSdsDZ_1XB5maYd6-4E7ZFQDW4mBxoP20-Et-oTigD8BhlEWWJ8RxVtfND3UlMj4zYTHTJkCgmM-/s1600/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOusRN6Q389hNeT0bQeIJiHNrfXnWIZI6DEPpf86aAwD_2d8xiFZ1ABiU-e0CEux_4hSdsDZ_1XB5maYd6-4E7ZFQDW4mBxoP20-Et-oTigD8BhlEWWJ8RxVtfND3UlMj4zYTHTJkCgmM-/s320/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> A big thanks to Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour, and to Harlequin and Julia London for making this book and series a worthwhile read!http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2015/05/blog-tour-julia-londons-scoundrel-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-5897707097214976247Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:00:00 +00002015-03-13T09:00:10.941-04:00Blog Tourcontemporary romanceinterviewSarah MorganBlog Tour: Q and A with Sarah Morgan about First Time in Forever <i>Hey all! Thanks to the lovely folks at Meryl L. Moss, Harlequin, and Sarah Morgan, I have a Q&amp;A with Sarah about her latest book, </i>First Time in Forever<i>, to share with you as a part of the blog tour today. Later today will be a review of the book (spoiler alert: it's one of her best). I adore Sarah and the work she brings into the romance field, so I hope you enjoy this Q&amp;A as much as I did!&nbsp;</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0tc9Lowm-OXUDqJrc2JgJfTdHEYz7MduHL-8HnEo5ZcJqV9qnblqr8FrEnqKYk2i3XI6FQg3rXHAYwV-E2nS9sXUFcEvBP6dsX-aGTKddCysTxSq5o2TpuaNA7nZG-a7tXDcUW-slKxl/s1600/Morgan,+Sarah_First+Time+in+Forever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0tc9Lowm-OXUDqJrc2JgJfTdHEYz7MduHL-8HnEo5ZcJqV9qnblqr8FrEnqKYk2i3XI6FQg3rXHAYwV-E2nS9sXUFcEvBP6dsX-aGTKddCysTxSq5o2TpuaNA7nZG-a7tXDcUW-slKxl/s1600/Morgan,+Sarah_First+Time+in+Forever.jpg" height="320" width="202" /></a></div> <i><br /></i> <br /> <b>1. First Time in Forever is the opening book in your brand new Puffin Island series. What inspired you to write this series?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;I knew from the start that I wanted the link between the characters and stories to be a strong friendship. I write romance, but I also love exploring the other relationships in my characters’ lives, including family and friends. I had finished my O’Neil Brothers series, which was set in the beautiful mountains of Vermont, and I wanted a completely different setting for my new series. I decided on an island, a coastal retreat where three friends could escape when life was hard. I want readers to dive in, breathe in the sea air, taste the fresh blueberries and the smooth chill of ice cream and take a beach holiday while they read.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;2. What is the title in reference to?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> The title was chosen by my publisher but it’s perfect for the story because for my heroine, Emily, it is a summer of firsts. Like many of us, she lives her life well within her comfort zone. She thinks she has control of everything but life has a way of shaking up that theory and overnight her life changes. Suddenly she’s forced to do all the things she has been avoiding and by pushing herself she discovers she is capable of more than she thought. For Emily, it really is ‘First Time in Forever’.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;3. Can you tell us a little about best friends Emily, Brittany and Skylar?</b><br /> <br /> I love these characters, and their friendship is a constant theme flowing through all three books. They met in college and formed an instant bond that has deepened over the years. Theirs is a deep, authentic friendship. They know each other, accept each other without judgment and they’re always there for one another. In a crisis, they’ll be on the phone – they may not always agree, but they always support. They encourage, laugh, listen and forgive. They share history, secrets, and they always want the best for each other. All three girls are very different. Emily is the more cautious of the three. She’s guarded, but very loyal to her friends. After a difficult childhood, she protects herself emotionally by keeping tight control over her life. She lives well within her comfort zone, avoiding responsibility for anyone but herself. When she finds herself responsible for a child, everything changes for her. Brittany is an archaeologist, a cross between Lara Croft and Indiana Jones (but nothing annoys her more than being asked if she owns a whip!). She is smart, adventurous and given to impulse. At the age of eighteen she married island bad boy, Zachary Flynn. It lasted all of ten days. Since then she has travelled the world and put that relationship behind her. Brittany’s story, Some Kind of Wonderful, will be out in September in the US, but readers who would like to meet her early can find her in Playing by the Greek’s Rules, a story I wrote for Harlequin Presents, which is out now. Skylar is a jewelry designer, an artist with a dreamy streak and a wicked sense of humor. She’s a free spirit, a trait that causes conflict with her family who are continually hoping she will choose a more conventional career path. Skylar is romantic but she doesn’t dream of weddings, she dreams of love.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>4. How do you decide which character to write about first?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’d had Emily’s story in my head for a while, and she was my starting point for the whole series. What I didn’t have was the setting or the other characters. I started to think about what had happened to her (finding herself guardian to her half sister’s child when she’d made a life decision never to have children) and how she’d react. Even though it was never her choice to have Lizzy, she is a very responsible person so I knew she’d do anything and everything within her power to keep the child safe. I’d already decided that she would have close friends, so I decided the three women would have somewhere they always went in times of trouble. Castaway Cottage is owned by Brittany, and all three women treat it as a sanctuary. Once I had the friends and the island, all I had to do was build a warm, wonderful community who would gradually ease Emily out of her shell. And populate it with hot men of course!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;5. What is the central theme of First Time in Forever?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> The central theme is courage. We all have a tendency to avoid the things that scare us, and that is what Emily has done. Her whole life has been constructed to avoid her biggest fears and suddenly she is forced to meet them head on. She is determined to protect herself and not make herself vulnerable so taking that leap with Ryan is huge for her. She’s known loss, so now she chooses to keep people at a safe distance. In the end Emily faces her fears and triumphs. Love and making yourself vulnerable, requires courage.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBykp_-jbIRJq7ZIbUCMonLcjYkfl9k4jbnBlxvjCTEPW_1egqDjj8uRs3zKGgYa1_te6vfayj_JY90eK2WkcnsBZic5XUqr8b1jAQB63p3JJvK-7pBlIYkPlGJcQct_-9uZKGEETBh3-i/s1600/puffin-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBykp_-jbIRJq7ZIbUCMonLcjYkfl9k4jbnBlxvjCTEPW_1egqDjj8uRs3zKGgYa1_te6vfayj_JY90eK2WkcnsBZic5XUqr8b1jAQB63p3JJvK-7pBlIYkPlGJcQct_-9uZKGEETBh3-i/s1600/puffin-image.jpg" height="200" width="182" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;6. What made you choose the Puffin as the island bird?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I spent a long time researching the various islands around Penobscot Bay, Maine. Although I prefer to have a fictitious setting, it’s important to me to make it as authentic as possible so I was focusing on the national park and the wildlife of the area. I discovered that although Puffins are not an endangered species, they are rare in Maine and there are projects to reintroduce them to the islands. I first saw Puffins in the north of England and they are the most amazing sea birds. As I was researching, one of the facts that stayed with me was that although they spend most of their lives at sea, they usually return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This fitted well with my idea that Puffin Island would be a sanctuary for the three friends. Emily, Brittany and Skylar each live busy independent lives but when they need a safe retreat, they return to the island. In the books, the Puffins actually live on Puffin Rock, which is a small rocky outcrop to the north of the island. They don’t like humans to get too close!<br /> <br /> <b>7. The names that you chose for the island and the cottage are so lovely - how do you come up with them?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;Picking the setting for a new series is very important because I’m going to be spending so much time there myself during the writing process. It has to be somewhere that captures my imagination, and I need to fall in love with it myself before I create a word that hopefully the reader will love too. I knew I wanted to set the series in Maine, but I am lucky enough to have readers all around the world, so the place I chose had to work for them too. As part of my research, I was looking at seabirds in the area and decided that calling it Puffin Island would work for readers all over the globe. The cottage is a sanctuary for all three women and I wanted the name to reflect that. It’s somewhere they can escape to when life is difficult, so ‘Castaway’ seemed like the perfect name. I wanted it to be secluded but also warm and welcoming and in the end I fell in love with the cottage. I’d move there tomorrow!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;8. Were you involved in the cover design process?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m very lucky because the team in the art department at HQN do a wonderful job with my covers. My editor and I make sure they have as much information about characters and setting as possible, to help them design a cover that reflects the feel and tone of the story. My agent and I do see early concepts, and feedback our ideas too. I love the cover for First Time in Forever. It conveys that warm, summery, beach feeling that matches the tone of the book.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;9. Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> That’s a tough question. I enjoyed writing the beach picnic scene because it represents a real challenge for Emily, but also for Ryan who is equally out of his comfort zone. A woman with a child isn’t on his wish list and this is the scene where he realizes he isn’t as in control of his feelings as he’d like to be.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;10. What first attracts Ryan to Emily and vice versa?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Ryan first meets Emily because he is asked by their friend Brittany to check on her. At first he is simply fulfilling a duty, but he senses that she has secrets and he’s intrigued. Ryan loves a mystery and, of course, he’s very attracted to her. Once he finds out more about her, he wants to help her. Ryan pushes her out of her comfort zone and with him she starts to do things she hasn’t done before. In helping her, he is forced to take a long hard look at his own life. Emily has been playing it safe for most of her life, but now she is right out of her comfort zone, not only because of the responsibility for Lizzy, but also because of her feelings for Ryan. He makes no secret of the way he feels about her. He is strong, persuasive and insanely hot! The relationship is very sexually charged, and she isn’t used to that. She doesn’t know how to handle it. At first she resists but gradually he nudges her out of her shell and persuades her to open up to him. Also, he has experience in the area she feels most vulnerable – caring for a child. It’s through his dealings with Lizzy that she sees his true character.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>11. Your character Emily has a terrible fear of the ocean. Why did you choose to include this in the book?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Overcoming fear is a theme of the book, and Emily’s fear of the ocean mirrors her fear of emotions. She is afraid of being swamped, of losing everything. She is torn because on the one hand Puffin Island is the perfect place to hide away, but it also means confronting her worst fears. When she visited the island with her friends she was able to stay indoors and inland and think only of herself, but now she has Lizzy, who wants to play in the sand and swim in the sea. She is forced out of her comfort zone and it’s difficult for her. I love challenging my characters and watching them grow, and that’s the case for Emily.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CPZG6bTf3fV9Kf6dFrkArbavGYC-etSjmiYArqfM7uBRlU_dPC7id7efuhzIEp4oFFOiaISNLciLQcb7hCZX9Pxmn61knT48bcrKiPAHneqdl-rijcZBTdaN4pp0X0FiKuyO_rXo4Sse/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-13+at+2.26.02+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CPZG6bTf3fV9Kf6dFrkArbavGYC-etSjmiYArqfM7uBRlU_dPC7id7efuhzIEp4oFFOiaISNLciLQcb7hCZX9Pxmn61knT48bcrKiPAHneqdl-rijcZBTdaN4pp0X0FiKuyO_rXo4Sse/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-13+at+2.26.02+AM.png" height="198" width="200" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>(Author Sarah Morgan)</b></span></div> <br /> <b>&nbsp;12. You have a strong connection to the ocean. What are your fondest seaside memories?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I love the ocean. I live close to London, so escaping to the sea is nothing more than a dream for most of the year. I have two sons and some of our happiest holidays have been spent by the beach. Every summer we hire a house near the ocean and like many families, we have our own routines and rituals that we often repeat each holiday. If we’re feeling energetic we brave the freezing waves to go body boarding and walk miles along the coast path. If we want a more leisurely day we explore the tide pools, delving beneath rocks and through fronds of seaweed to find hidden treasures. We build the most amazing sand sculptures and of course we eat! Beach picnics are always fun and sometimes we’ll take a fishing trip and cook what we catch. There’s nothing quite like the taste of freshly cooked fish eaten on the beach as the sun goes down. And no beach holiday would be complete without ice cream (my current favorite flavors are pistachio and vanilla). It’s no coincidence that ice cream plays a role in First Time in Forever. I had so much fun dreaming up Summer Scoop and the whole family (and my readers on facebook!) helped pick the flavors.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;13. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?</b><br /> <br /> I love spending time with family and friends. I’m a sociable person and people are the antidote to long hours spent in front of the computer. Having friends over is a favorite pastime, and I love cooking. I also try to spend time outdoors whenever I can. Writing is a mostly sedentary, indoor job so when I’m not tied to a deadline I like to walk and ride my mountain bike (but only in the summer I confess). When I want to flop, I read (of course!) and I’m addicted to various TV dramas (The Good Wife, Scandal, House of Cards, The Big Bang Theory are among my favorites).<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;14. Who would play Emily and Ryan in First Time in Forever, the movie?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Emily Blunt could be Emily, and Chris Pine would be Ryan.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;15. Are you a seat of your pants writer or do you plan out the story idea beforehand?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m definitely seat of my pants, but I do have a rough idea of where I'm going before I start. I know the characters and the conflict, but the detail evolves as I write. I do find it helps to think hard about the ending right at the beginning of the process. If you know where your characters are going to end up and how they will change over the story, it forces you to think hard about what decisions they might make, and lessons they might learn, to affect that change.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>16. What are you currently reading?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;Sarah Addison Allen’s First Frost. I love her work. One of my favorite books is The Peach Keeper.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>17. Are there any quirky rituals/habits you have during the writing process?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I use a lot of sticky notes and I don’t throw anything away until the book is finished. I make a playlist but I don’t usually write to it. Music is a wonderful way of evoking emotion, and finding exactly the right track can make a scene easier to write. It’s very personal. I’m not sure that a reader listening to a playlist would necessarily enjoy the music unless it was played in exactly the right place in the story, but it really helps the thinking process for me.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;18. Who are some of your favorite authors?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> This is such a difficult question because there are so many authors whose work I enjoy and I love discovering new authors. I read a lot. Among my top favorites would be Nora Roberts, Jill Shalvis and Sarah Addison Allen.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;19. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Read<br /> Write every day<br /> Stay off the internet<br /> When you’re stuck, keep going<br /> Read more<br /> Make your characters as human and real as possible<br /> Join a writing organization such as Romance Writers of America<br /> Put your work aside and don’t be afraid to revise. Revisions are part of writing.<br /> Read it aloud for rhythm<br /> Develop resilience.<br /> Find at least one good writing friend.<br /> Every time you’re knocked down, get up again.<br /> READ!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;20. What are you working on next?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m in the middle of the third book in the Puffin Island series, Skylar and Alec’s story, called Christmas Ever After. Sky is a really fun character to write and the tension with Alec is electric. It’s one of those stories where life keeps throwing boulders at the characters (a bit like real life!) and it’s interesting to see them fighting their way out. I love this couple. Their relationship borders on adversarial but they have off the scale chemistry and plenty of humor so it’s fun to write. And it’s a Holiday story, so there is all the extra frosty sparkle I always enjoy.<br /> <br /> <i>Thanks again to Sarah, Harlequin, and Meryl L. Moss for allowing me to be a part of this stellar tour. If you love contemporary romance with sexiness, friendship, community, and puffins, </i>First Time in Forever<i> is a worthy book to sink your teeth into next. Check again later in the day for a review if your interest is piqued; the book is on sale now in both e-book and print.&nbsp;</i>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2015/03/blog-tour-q-and-with-sarah-morgan-about.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-5306827696177900504Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:00:00 +00002014-08-13T12:00:01.434-04:005.0 reviewsassassinsfantasyHarper TeenLeah CypessmagicReview: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLqsUzVdnHYbekVN6C5VpWIMmYvr6pAjTWMoIR9UCz0JGl3-mCCLzOduu3J-9dRfSBCiCsYeYeEUHZp5jMqD6CGntFV5oyw9tUilDaUVIlBJab6tOmAlVgLoIftu7sU_beN6tf1YQYkzL/s1600/Cypess,+Leah_Death+Sworn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLqsUzVdnHYbekVN6C5VpWIMmYvr6pAjTWMoIR9UCz0JGl3-mCCLzOduu3J-9dRfSBCiCsYeYeEUHZp5jMqD6CGntFV5oyw9tUilDaUVIlBJab6tOmAlVgLoIftu7sU_beN6tf1YQYkzL/s1600/Cypess,+Leah_Death+Sworn.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Title:&nbsp; Death Sworn</span></span><br /> <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Author:&nbsp; Leah Cypess</span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Death Sworn #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leah Cypess has been a writer I’ve longed to read more of.&nbsp; I read and enjoyed her debut novel <i>Mistwood </i>for the intriguing voice that came through in the prose.&nbsp; Cypess has a knack for creating a world that manages to be romantic and tragic, political and magical.&nbsp; I haven’t read the companion to <i>Mistwood</i>, but <i>Death Sworn</i> is exactly what I’ve been looking to read lately. &nbsp; It’s a YA fantasy novel with a promising romantic arc, magic, and assassins.&nbsp; Assassins in particular seem to be en vogue in YA lately, but Cypess’s latest fantasy world gives us a new spin on the moral ambiguity of the assassin.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is a rough, beautiful fantasy that balances a satisfying slow-burn romance with the determination of a heroine who is coming to terms with the fact that her powers are dwindling in a situation where she is expected to be one of the most powerful sorceresses in recent history.&nbsp; In a cave full of training assassins, this means that every moment is about fighting for her right to survive. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ileni is a sorceress.&nbsp; Trained from her youth, she knows how to execute some of the most powerful magic possible.&nbsp; The manifestation of her powers heralded the possibility of her being one of the most gifted practitioners of magic in recent history.&nbsp; Those powers put her on track for some of the most intensive training, the expectations growing from year to year as she razored her skills to deadly points.&nbsp; Nothing prepared her for the inevitable fall that came with the slow dwindling of her powers.&nbsp; Despite the fact that they are rarely ever wrong about the potential within students of magic, Ileni becomes one of the few exceptions.&nbsp; She can still use the magic she was born and trained to use, but it comes at the cost of great exhaustion.&nbsp; The worst part is that it can’t replenish.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At some point, Ileni’s magic will run out. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s why she gets sent to the cave of the assassins.&nbsp; The Elders give her the mission as a last resort, as a way to get some return on her education; that is, until the assassins decide to kill her as they did the previous two sorcerers.&nbsp; Every assassin with the ability must learn magic; magic allows them to complete their tasks.&nbsp; Ileni is willing to do what she can on her mission, though her loyalty to the Elders is minimal with the knowledge that they basically expect her to die.&nbsp; Ileni decides to use her time in the cave to figure out the exact cause of death of the past two sorcerers.&nbsp; In the mean time, she knows that she can’t truly teach the assassins.&nbsp; The more magic they know, the more deadly they are to her and others. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorin is an assassin.&nbsp; Most of his life has been focused on the cave, the master of the assassins, and the duty of following his orders above all else.&nbsp; Sorin has been taught to always follow orders even if it meant destroying himself in the process.&nbsp; All of the assassins are told this upon entering the fold; Sorin’s obedience has always come with a hint of rebellion, but one that he’s shown only in the most subconscious of ways.&nbsp; Ileni’s appearance seems to draw out that rebellion in Sorin.&nbsp; This sorceress appears to be more than she proclaims, and her strength challenges him in ways that he never expects.&nbsp; When Ileni begins to uncover some of the secrets of the assassins and the deaths of the sorcerers, she’s led to question the larger role of sorcerers and assassins in the politics of the world.&nbsp; She’s also left to question right and wrong, and whether people like Sorin can be labeled as such in a world that seems impossibly in the middle. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Death Sworn</i> is the first in what I believe is a duology, and it sets up a world that has me weak at the knees as a reader (not in the other way - while the romance is hot, it’s not showing much super heated sexy times).&nbsp; Cypess has hit a mark with this book that I never would have expected with her previous work.&nbsp; It’s darker, it’s bolder, and it’s harsh.&nbsp; It also manages to subvert some aspects of the YA fantasy/paranormal genre that have long been absorbed by many YA writers.&nbsp; Not only does <i>Death Sworn</i> provide a great fantasy tale with a political edge hiding just beneath the surface, but it asks the question of what happens when someone really isn’t “the special one” anymore - when the YA heroine realizes that her special snowflake status gets revoked, shit gets real. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ileni is the perfect example of this.&nbsp; Because she was given expectations from birth to be one of the best, the decline of her magical powers is something that makes a large portion of her character.&nbsp; We see Ileni struggling with how her skills and her abilities can no longer perfectly coincide.&nbsp; There is artful skill but no power; with Sorin, there is power but not so much artistic skill.&nbsp; She becomes balanced by his presence in the narrative while also upset in other ways.&nbsp; Ileni’s story becomes one of survival, as well as one of self-acceptance.&nbsp; She has to learn to use her skills wisely as a teacher of assassins, as a spy, as a sorceress with a limited wellspring of magical gifts.&nbsp; It becomes a tale of how Ileni learns how to deceive in her own way while still remaining powerful. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s well done because Ileni is easy to relate to in these problems without necessarily being an easy person to like.&nbsp; She’s not a super unlikeable narrator, but she’s resilient and tough because of the way that she grew up.&nbsp; Sorin is similar.&nbsp; Ileni knows that she has to fend for herself and make decisions based on her survival as an individual, which means that trusting someone inside that helps her with those decisions is difficult.&nbsp; We see her blossom in how she begins to trust Sorin.&nbsp; We also see her grow as a person with how she learns to defend herself physically.&nbsp; Despite the moral quandaries she presents within the narrative on the subject of assassination as a profession, her need for survival allows her to be flexible and take on aspects of the assassins.&nbsp; She’s never soft and fragile, instead hiding her weaknesses, yet her method of character growth yields her to a feeling of sensitivity that the reader can hold onto and appreciate.&nbsp; Ileni manages to become inspirational in how strong she is in her survival skills.&nbsp; They may not make her a morally perfect Mary Sue, but they make her a character that has agency and goals even in the most subtle of operations. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorin was a worthy foil to Ileni, in ways that will make readers fascinated.&nbsp; His history with the assassins makes his characterization unexpectedly complicated.&nbsp; He’s not this dark, brooding, mysterious character without real purpose in keeping his life a secret.&nbsp; He broods because he is serious and loyal, deadly and (secretly) rebellious.&nbsp; Cypess explores the idea of being raised with the concept of assassination as a necessity; as something that isn’t morally right or wrong, but something that simply is a part of life.&nbsp; It creates a polarity between the two characters that explores the importance of assassination as a political mechanism as well as a way of life.&nbsp; Sorin doesn’t totally buy into his teachings, but he also doesn’t come around to a big “teaching moment” wherein he fully buys into a black-and-white viewpoint of assassination.&nbsp; Rather, he has active arguments with Ileni throughout the text that suggest moral ambiguity, complexity, and history to the act of assassination and how making a life out of it causes for a different lens on the matter.&nbsp; I also liked that Sorin’s story was about the way rebellion can be subtle; it made his past and his connection with Ileni all the more powerful in many ways.&nbsp; We can believe that he falls for Ileni because she represents things that he has never been able to do in large ways - and her mere existence rebels against the world in ways that Sorin can’t on his own. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cypess’s world as an entirety does feel very insular for most of the novel.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> doesn’t pretend to have a huge globe-trotting plot, and I think it works for what Cypess tries to do, but it does make the world feel like it has more to offer in the next book that readers won’t see directly.&nbsp; Cypess shows this in the way that the assassins occasionally interact with the outside world, whether for jobs or less approved purposes.&nbsp; Sorin and Ileni also mention past experiences on occasion that suggest the world’s larger breadth.&nbsp; Politically, I think Cypess foreshadows and hints at much to come with how and why Ileni and Sorin are in the cave of the assassins in the first place.&nbsp; What it all boils down to is that we get a fabulous image of a concentrated part of the world that Cypess has envisioned, and it leaves us wanting for the world at large in a way that will make the sequel one of immense potential.&nbsp; I did find myself wanting a bit more of the outside world of the fantasy that Cypess has created.&nbsp; Not because the world building was lacking, but because it was so fascinating. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world of <i>Death Sworn</i> also has really great construction in the way the world works in terms of the magic system.&nbsp; Not only does it work for Ileni as a character, but it works in that it provides a solid concept of checks and balances to itself without feeling overly complicated.&nbsp; Cypess creates a system that lives and breathes in the way that it presents itself in the potential power of those that wield magic.&nbsp; Some have more than others, and skill itself yields itself to separate but not always intertwined character traits.&nbsp; I think Cypess’s discussion of skill versus latent power, and power versus intelligence, makes the magic system more complicated without making it about all of the technical bits and bobs.&nbsp; Instead, it shows how magic is highly dependent on multiple variables with the user.&nbsp; These variables combined affect how the magic shapes the user and is used by the user.&nbsp; Ileni’s skill is so great that her waning power doesn’t totally diminish her; her intelligence also works to make up for where the power fades off.&nbsp; Sorin has good magical power but doesn’t have the skill or lifelong training.&nbsp; He has intelligence, but not inherent magical intelligence because of how it was introduced to him later in life.&nbsp; It creates a system where the characters wielding the magic matter just as much as the magic itself.&nbsp; It’s ingenious because it makes so much sense despite being deceptively simple in how it gets presented. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved <i>Death Sworn</i>.&nbsp; It’s an intelligent, dark fantasy that is embalmed with questions, resilience, and determination.&nbsp; Ileni is a female protagonist that truly kicks ass with how real she is.&nbsp; Sorin is a hero that is a wonderful match but never makes her feel incapable.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is a fantasy with a romantic storyline - it is not a story about a girl that needs a boy, but about a girl that needs to survive and a boy that gets challenged by her in the process.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is the type of fantasy that will have you waking up fearing a knife at your throat, a magical spell on the edge of your lips.&nbsp; This book is so, so worth it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I love this cover for the fact that it feels so ominous.&nbsp; Some of the detailing doesn’t work for me 100%, but I think it’s a great representation of the book without using cover models. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-death-sworn-by-leah-cypess.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-138806422127796883Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:12:00 +00002014-07-25T13:12:33.453-04:004.5 reviewsEmily Lloyd-JonesLittle Brownsupernatural powersthiefReview: Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2FXs42wmZ85c3GHHiVSd74f08wQ5gwAfq9cCt6sRSwmCBzGzh6uPjrF-SvlYeTX76jJpFIEtY-OvaTBxym0uvKFADkN36fr4lanSvHqSgiX-Amq7AHj6i1bIq4ePTfnze4WRxu1RmJzF/s1600/Lloyd-Jones,+Emily_Illusive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2FXs42wmZ85c3GHHiVSd74f08wQ5gwAfq9cCt6sRSwmCBzGzh6uPjrF-SvlYeTX76jJpFIEtY-OvaTBxym0uvKFADkN36fr4lanSvHqSgiX-Amq7AHj6i1bIq4ePTfnze4WRxu1RmJzF/s1600/Lloyd-Jones,+Emily_Illusive.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Illusive</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Emily Lloyd-Jones</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Little, Brown</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Illusive #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a secret love of novels featuring super heroes or characters with super powers.&nbsp; Comic books have made me appreciate the tropes and triumphs that come with the modern idea of what it means to be a&nbsp; “super hero”.&nbsp; I’ve also loved what it’s been able to do in areas of subversive young adult fiction, such as in Hayden Thorne’s Masks series or Perry Moore’s <i>Hero</i>.&nbsp; Illusive plays with the female super hero - or character with super powers - as well as other common themes in YA, like the thief protagonist and the dystopian/post-apocalyptic future.&nbsp; <i>Illusive</i> is utterly brilliant with its mixture of capers, superpowers, friendships, and secrets revealed (and kept hidden). &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ciere Giba is seventeen and a criminal.&nbsp; She is one of the few with powers that are beyond that of the average human, all thanks to a vaccine thrown out into the world after the onslaught of something known as the MK virus.&nbsp; Without proper testing and analysis, this vaccine had the downside of giving people these powers, or “immunities”.&nbsp; Ciere’s is the ability to create illusions.&nbsp; While far from perfect, Ciere can use her ability to disguise herself and to disguise areas around her if she tries.&nbsp; Her past experiences are what keep her from unlocking the true potential of her strength. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, Ciere has always had potential.&nbsp; It’s why she’s a criminal.&nbsp; She works under a mentor who has her doing jobs that give her the chance to use her immunities.&nbsp; Everything about Ciere Giba becomes an illusion.&nbsp; Her name is created, her past is locked away, and the life she lives in public is a lie.&nbsp; Which is why she sees nothing wrong with pulling a bank heist on the way back to her home base in Philadelphia with her best friend, Devon, which in turn sends her on a path where she owes a local organized crime group a substantial amount of money.&nbsp; She gets back to Philadelphia where her mentor, Kit, awaits and avoids telling him because she knows that she has to fix things herself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kit may be like a parent to her, but, in their world, getting left behind in order to survive is a reality.&nbsp; Criminals do not have the benefit of being endlessly compassionate.&nbsp; Ciere and Devon return to Philadelphia while evading police only to get plunged into a new job; they have to help Kit hand off undisclosed information that may or may not discuss harsh realities involving the world that they all know.&nbsp; It could mean uncovering new information regarding the MK vaccine and the family behind its inception.&nbsp; It also means Kit bringing in a new Immune recruit named Magnus, someone with a lot of power and a lot of unresolved history with Kit that boils underneath the mission.&nbsp; As the secrets and things left unsaid continue to build, Ciere realizes that Kit’s latest job is so much more. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The government and the resistance groups are only the beginning.&nbsp; Ciere, Kit, Devon, and Magnus enter into a situation that blows everything they knew out of the water.&nbsp; They are criminals who become more than the middlemen, and this job is the one that changes everything. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Illusive</i> is the first book in a series (not sure if it’s a duology, trilogy, or something else entirely) but reads perfectly well on its own.&nbsp; I fell in love with the way it defied my expectations.&nbsp; Illusive is the type of book that could easily fall into genre trappings because of how exciting its packaging is.&nbsp; The publisher’s comparison between it, X-Men, and Ocean’s Eleven made things rocky as well, as those types of comparisons are easily stretched in order to sell books to a reluctant audience.&nbsp;<i> Illusive</i> instead holds its own by doing things its own way.&nbsp; It features a wonderful female protagonist without a strong romantic arc that focuses both on her character development and her interactions as a highly capable criminal.&nbsp; Not only that, but it does it all in a world that is crafted with excellence and a writing style that manages to pull off a limited third-person view in present tense.&nbsp; Basically, <i>Illusive</i> does a lot of good shit you would never expect it to.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved Ciere from the moment she came on the page.&nbsp; She’s the type of heroine that I fall for in all the right ways.&nbsp; I admired her ability to play the game of being a criminal with the ability to create illusions; she’s not totally confident in her abilities on a larger scale, yet she continually pulls things off when she needs to and continues on with her mission despite her misgivings about herself.&nbsp; Her lack of confidence was real to me because it felt relative to how many girls feel about their abilities on a regular basis.&nbsp; Heck, I feel that way about myself all the time.&nbsp; What I loved about her was her ability to keep going and stay true to herself while not always being one hundred percent confident.&nbsp; It felt real despite the superpowers and the heists she was pulling off.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another big aspect was her friendship with Devon.&nbsp; Their dynamic is a solid friendship that puts Ciere in a place of knowing her own abilities and survival skills; Devon is a kid from a wealthy family whose parents expect him to be out of the country getting it on with girls in a ski chalet.&nbsp; Their dynamic is intriguing because it gives Ciere a chance to be the one that knows what she’s doing in regards to her abilities and her skills.&nbsp; Devon is a hacker, so he manages to bring his own skills to the story without coming across as being “superior” or the male savior.&nbsp; They have a relationship that swings between levels of potential romantic tension and solid friendship, and it develops in a way that has them working together and focusing on each other’s safety without everything being about the protection of the female character from dangerous things.&nbsp; I liked seeing a situation where the protection was a mutual act of friendship and not about keeping the “fragile female” safe.&nbsp; Illusive’s lack of alpha male bullshit endeared me to the character dynamics quickly. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Lloyd-Jones also succeeds at in characterization is the balance of secrets and undisclosed information.&nbsp; We’re told in one section of narration that, “{Ciere’s} mother called her name.&nbsp; It wasn’t ‘Ciere,’ because that wasn’t what she was called then” (Kindle Location 1670). &nbsp; The narration itself plays into the notion that some things are just unknown.&nbsp; This is woven into all of the characterization.&nbsp; With Ciere, it’s in her past relationship with her mother compared to her present friendships and pseudo-family relationships.&nbsp; With Kit, it’s the way he avoids talking about his missions and his past with Magnus.&nbsp; With Devon, it’s about the complexity of his feelings for Ciere.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones has mastered the art of showing the reader things by not saying them.&nbsp; We learn just as much from these characters by what they never explain as we do by what they explain directly.&nbsp; Even the observing narration has a limited perspective that prevents us from knowing the full truth.&nbsp; Not only does it give a sense of intrigue, but it plays perfectly into the larger themes of the story.&nbsp; I definitely wanted more from some of the character dynamics - Kit and Magnus were just fascinating, and I wanted to know more about what it was like for Devon, who is a character of color and doesn’t always get as much characterization as Ciere because of his “best friend” label.&nbsp; He doesn’t feel like a caricature, but he also doesn’t subvert anything directly in this book.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones’s narrative seems to suggest that there is more to come, but it’s difficult to tell until the next book comes out. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Illusive</i> also has a solid sense of pacing.&nbsp; Balance between a character-driven narrative and a plot that requires action, stealth, and heist-like scenarios is difficult.&nbsp; Heist novels often get overtaken with the plot.&nbsp; Illusive, being a futuristic novel regarding superpowers and science, has the added joy of adding world building to the list of things to balance in a big way.&nbsp; Illusive makes it all work in a way that feels harmonious.&nbsp; The reader gets dropped into the world in a way that allows for explanations that don’t feel like total info-dumps.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones writes using a style that keeps things effortlessly readable, yet it has a lot of tact behind the wording and the things that are observed within the exposition.&nbsp; The scientific reasoning behind the vaccines felt real without being over-explained, and the way that Lloyd-Jones built the political ramifications came across as real.&nbsp; It wasn’t a big “the government is pure evil and the rebels are pure good” scenario.&nbsp; Instead, it showed how everything was manipulated and given a level of political agenda.&nbsp; Even the criminals have things to fight for that may or may not fit with the philosophies of Ciere, Kit, and Devon, but they have to work within the world they stumble into or die.&nbsp; It allows for the plot to ask questions of its readers while providing action sequences, fights, and standoffs between various characters.&nbsp; I just love when a book has enough meat to it to keep me interested in action sequences, as they often feel unsatisfying when the author doesn’t seem to balance those aspects of the story.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones knows her stuff. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Readers will find a lot to enjoy about <i>Illusive</i>.&nbsp; Its tropes (teen thief, superpowers, future/dystopia) are all ones that sell well in today’s market and appeal to people on a commercial level, yet its execution is above the expected and works hard to make the story a balanced one that delivers on all of its promised aspects.&nbsp; I was enraptured by the story of Ciere Giba and the mission that changed her life, and I think a lot of readers will be the same and will clamor for another book in this world.&nbsp; While I think Lloyd-Jones can do more to flesh out her PoC characters and characters of other intersections, I think the world of Illusive is one that allows for subversion and intellect because of its abilities in character development along with the plot.&nbsp; Basically: this story works on many levels and has the potential to work even better, and it’s a great example of how popular tropes can be elevated and made exciting again.&nbsp; <i>Illusive</i> is <i>the </i>book you want on your shelf if you like stories about superpowers and teen criminals. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I actually really like this cover.&nbsp; I think it suggests a lot of dark action while still showcasing the strength of the female protagonist, and I like how it heralds to the criminal element of the plot. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div> http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-illusive-by-emily-lloyd-jones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8285365497791272947Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +00002014-07-08T11:20:54.156-04:005.0 reviewsartcontemporarygaylgbtmagazineSarah TregayReview: Fan Art by Sarah Tregay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8whDAG_rudb-yf-nj2ZPRTbtsuFEBblryPsh-P3tBt45M52eSf05jcJKMB5OS-prPt78i9fPeOxkNbSGyy4L_09U36ACFq0lV_FToFY_CPOtNzG44_lu6a_HVhwBsyR8761GGqyTW5Rj/s1600/Tregay,+Sarah_Fan+Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8whDAG_rudb-yf-nj2ZPRTbtsuFEBblryPsh-P3tBt45M52eSf05jcJKMB5OS-prPt78i9fPeOxkNbSGyy4L_09U36ACFq0lV_FToFY_CPOtNzG44_lu6a_HVhwBsyR8761GGqyTW5Rj/s1600/Tregay,+Sarah_Fan+Art.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:&nbsp; Fan Art</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Sarah Tregay</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Katharine Teagan Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; Love &amp; Leftovers</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sarah Tregay is the undiscovered gem of the YA contemporary world.&nbsp; Her debut novel, <i>Love &amp; Leftovers</i>, is a book written in poetry that follows a protagonist trying to deal with love, infidelity, and a father who has left her mother because he’s come out as gay.&nbsp; It was a book I loved because it wasn’t simple or expected, and the writing blew me away with how it connected me to the character’s emotional struggles.&nbsp; I was excited to read <i>Fan Art</i> when I realized it was Tregay’s newest book, but then I realized that this book could be The Book for me.&nbsp;<i> Fan Art</i> follows a main character who is in love with his male best friend.&nbsp; It’s a story about love, the complexities of coming out and fandom, and the importance of standing up for something when it’s not something easy to do. &nbsp; <i>Fan Art</i> is my favorite book of the year so far - my unabashed love for this book makes me unable to shut up about it.&nbsp; This book is a book that I needed. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the world of high school, senior year is the year that sparks change.&nbsp; It’s the year that tells people that something else is coming, so why not shift and shake your world in honor of your upcoming new life beyond K-12 education?&nbsp; Jamie Peterson’s senior year is one of editing the art in his high school’s literary magazine and being in love (secretly) with his best friend, Mason. &nbsp; Mason and Jamie have always been the kind of friends that have ignored the idea of being gay.&nbsp; That’s not what guys like Jamie and Mason are supposed to be - they’re supposed to like girls and go to parties and get wasted and play sports. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamie’s not supposed to love Mason as more than a friend.&nbsp; The guys at school have taken to saying, “I love you, man” in irony to each other.&nbsp; It’s friendly, it’s fun, but it’s decidedly not supposed to be that affectionate.&nbsp; Yet Jamie can’t help but say “I love you, man” to Mason with real feeling.&nbsp; He thinks that he can ignore it and move on to college where things will be safer, where he can figure out a way to deal with himself without ruining the best friendship he has.&nbsp; Jamie’s already out to his super supportive parents; it’s Mason that scares him.&nbsp; The one place Jamie can find a sense of calmness is within art: his art class and the literary magazine are the few spaces in school that make him feel relatively safe.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Art class yields an art submission to the magazine that changes everything.&nbsp; Challis, a well-known lesbian girl that’s always been popular with the art geeks, ends up submitting a graphic short about two boys that end up liking each other romantically.&nbsp; It’s cute, it’s simple, and it’s something that promises to say a lot without saying much at all.&nbsp; It’s also based on Challis’s observations of Jamie and Mason, but no one has to know that.&nbsp; This dalliance with Challis leads Jamie to become hesitant friends with Eden, another lesbian girl that reaches out to him for some kind of friendship.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One comic is apparently enough to shake up the world.&nbsp; Jamie decides he’s taking Eden to the prom in an effort to be like one of the guys, who all seem to be pressuring him to go.&nbsp; At the same time as prom is gearing up, Challis’s comic gets rejected because the other magazine editors believe it acts substance - with the undercurrent being that a gay romance doesn’t “fit” in their magazine.&nbsp; As Jamie struggles to accept this, he realizes that he wants to fight for this story.&nbsp; Whether it’s for Challis, for the story itself, or what it means to him is another matter entirely.&nbsp; Jamie has reasons to shake up the world: Challis’s graphic short and, more importantly, Mason. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sarah Tregay’s <i>Fan Art</i> is a book that sounds like it’s a regular coming out story and ends up becoming a true window into the world of being a queer cisgender kid in high school.&nbsp; It’s not the usual story about a narrator that keeps suppressing himself until the climax of the novel and then finally admits his sexuality, only to come out.&nbsp; It’s about a narrator who knows who he is, and who has accepted that enough to tell his family, but still struggles to reveal that part of himself to the person that he loves romantically (and therefore, the world at large.)&nbsp; It’s a story about coming out in multiple forms.&nbsp; What does it mean to come out again and again as a queer person?&nbsp; What does it mean to come out depending on the level of acceptance in your home environment? &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming out stories are necessary because they reflect the contradictory nature of being queer in a world that assumes otherwise.&nbsp; The coming out process is one that people still struggle to understand, and oftentimes it gets romanticized or stereotyped by straight people into being something that only can have a few limited outcomes depending on a few limited family stereotypes.&nbsp; <i>Fan Art</i> shows coming out in multiple ways by having several characters of different family backgrounds.&nbsp; We have Jamie, whose family is accepting to the point of discomfort with him (which reflects his discomfort with himself as a queer guy), and Challis, who seems comfortable with herself despite us never getting a major glimpse at her family.&nbsp; Eden’s family is very religious and would rather see her “cured” of her lesbian “urges”, and Mason’s family is one with a patriarchal father that continually puts Mason down and reinforces specific gender roles for him.&nbsp; These four queer characters react differently to being queer and coming out - or not, or maybe not being queer at all - and that allows the book to become more than the average coming out story.&nbsp; I also think it helps that it’s not about Jamie questioning if he does or does not find himself attracted to guys; it’s about Jamie deciding if he can feel comfortable with himself and safe in his environment to be vocal about his sexuality. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because of this, I loved the characterization.&nbsp; Jamie’s not a totally likable protagonist, but he’s understandable.&nbsp; He and Mason are openly expected to conform to gender roles in high school, which we see in how they get pressured to find dates to prom and ironically say “I love you” to other guys with implied “no homo” subtext, as awful as it is.&nbsp; We see how Jamie would be totally afraid to tell his best friend about his romantic love when they aren’t taught that it’s okay to be open with each other about their emotions and feelings, and that these gender roles indicate if someone is not heterosexual.&nbsp; As the story progresses, Tregay moves the narrative foreword both in terms of their friendship and in terms of the plot with Challis’s story in the magazine to show how those things we are taught to expect are harmful and wrong.&nbsp; Jamie doesn’t find it easy to tell Mason things, and he doesn’t find it easy to fight for Challis’s story despite how much he loves it.&nbsp; He’s a reluctant rebel until he finally becomes more comfortable with who he is.&nbsp; Even then, we continually see how Jamie’s status as a more active queer person leads to anxiety and potential alienation from his peers.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Basically, we see that shit isn’t easy.&nbsp; We see that it’s not like accepting yourself makes everything easier or simpler; we also see that coming out is a continual process.&nbsp; Advocating for this story means that Jamie would be more open about who he is with a ton of people over and over again, and that’s stressful and scary in an environment he doesn’t like.&nbsp; It also means that he becomes someone he’s not sure if he wants to be, because he’s taught that it’s safer to not say anything about his sexuality in order for it to be more acceptable.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mason is a great friend to Jamie; Eden is kind of desperate at first in her attempts to connect to Jamie, but she grows into someone that shows him how queerness is complicated when your family isn’t so willingly accepting.&nbsp; Even though Eden is out to some people and knows she likes girls, she can’t be who she is in many places and it makes her romanticize things that make Jamie uncomfortable.&nbsp; He learns to appreciate her friendship because he can be out to her even if he can’t be out to Mason, which is something that he had no idea he needed as a queer teenager that was so focused on passing as straight.&nbsp; Then we have a bunch of secondary characters, many with complex reactions and micro-aggressional reactions to Challis’s story that get shown rather than directly told.&nbsp; We see that homophobia doesn’t have to be direct to be in existence, and that it can also be very direct at the same time.&nbsp; Jamie’s parents are wonderfully supportive, to the point where it makes me cry thinking about it.&nbsp; As a queer kid growing up in a small town, my parents were never that supportive.&nbsp; I was told not to date (it would ruin the family reputation) and a host of other things that showed my parents as being unaccepting, even if they loved me.&nbsp; Jamie’s parents are characters that give readers like me the opportunity to realize that there are good parents out there when it comes to accepting their kids for being queer, even if they do come with their own complications.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also loved the depiction of being involved with a school magazine.&nbsp; Jamie is an art editor for Gumshoe, a literary and art magazine that features short stories, poems, and artwork from the students at his high school.&nbsp; As someone who is involved with his college’s literary magazine, it’s cool to read about magazine production and see it getting depicted with a level of reality.&nbsp; Jamie talks about using Adobe InDesign (which is something to experience and curse if you’ve ever used it, even just casually) and about the needs of editing, production meetings, and working with printers and magazine proofs.&nbsp; Tregay clearly knows what she is writing about.&nbsp; I loved that it was depicted with a casual expertise and sense of reality.&nbsp; We never feel overly inundated with information, yet we never feel like we’re reading a shallow depiction of a detailed activity. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tregay also shines a lens to fan culture, though it’s more subtle than one would anticipate with the marketing of the book.&nbsp; Challis’s graphic short is essentially image-based fan fiction.&nbsp; Fan comics and fan art are both popular online for a variety of fandoms (fan communities, for those unfamiliar with this terminology), and there are fandoms for people in real life as well as in media.&nbsp; Oftentimes there are fandoms for historical figures or celebrities within the music and film industries, though a fandom could theoretically crop up for anything.&nbsp; Tregay’s usage of fandom is seen both in the inspiration for Challis’s piece and the way she and her friends seem to “ship” Jamie with different guys in school.&nbsp; We see how it’s a positive force in the sense that it makes them comfortable with queer sexualities and gives Jamie a way to know that people won’t ostracize him if he comes out publicly, yet it also shows how fandom inherently fetishizes queer people who may not be out, and how that is damaging and can make someone acutely uncomfortable.&nbsp; Coming out is ultimately an individual’s decision - no one should come out for someone - and I think Tregay tackles that with her depiction of fandom in a way that works without being so direct about it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One thing I had trouble with was Jamie's way of discussing women in regards to how they acted. &nbsp;I think Tregay could have done more to show how Jamie's usage of gender stereotypes there was harmful - because Jamie himself often stereotypes girls in&nbsp;</span></span>this<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;book to reflect his ideas of women being "more emotional" and "fangirls" when it comes to how he acts. &nbsp;I think a lot of this got caught up in the thematic movement of the story and never got deconstructed the way it should have been, but I felt like there were attempts at addressing this more directly. &nbsp;It also comes with the character voice, which is admittedly unlikable and uses&nbsp;</span></span>stereotypes - some of which I didn't notice or read as being an attempt at pointing out the stereotyping of others. &nbsp;(For a counterpoint, I found this discussion-review that brings up some valid points about Jamie's voice with its subtle sexism and racial stereotyping. &nbsp;<a href="http://findingblissinbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/discussion-review-fan-art-by-sarah.html" target="_blank">Click here to look at it if you want a comparison</a>.) <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Fan Art</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is a book that I wish that I had in high school, and one I’m thankful to have gotten in college.&nbsp; It’s beautiful because it doesn’t make things simple.&nbsp; It’s hopeful and romantic, but it’s also about how things are difficult and not always easy to come to terms with.&nbsp; Tregay depicts her characters in ways that go beyond the usual stereotypes and caricatures.&nbsp; She creates a read that is about coming out, but also about what it means to be queer in a world that doesn’t accept that on both large and small scales.&nbsp; More than that, it’s a story that will get into your heart as you realize the difficulty that Jamie has with self-acceptance despite seeming to have it already.&nbsp; Mason and Jamie are a romance worth reading every page for, and everyone else along the way makes the romance that much better.&nbsp; </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Fan Art</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is a book that is as beautiful and rich as a freshly inked graphic novel.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span>There<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;are clearly problems&nbsp;</span></span>with<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;it that others have addressed - sadly,&nbsp;</span></span>problems that<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;are seen far too often in books narrated by male characters - and I can agree with, but when I read this book, all I could be was happy that someone chose to represent a coming out story that showed how difficult it could be even in the best of&nbsp;</span></span>circumstances. <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover is fucking adorable and I want to hug it.&nbsp; I think it will stand out on shelves beautifully and capture the feeling of the story’s romance perfectly.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars&nbsp; (Could it be anything else??) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) &nbsp;</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-fan-art-by-sarah-tregay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4706892073069661041Mon, 07 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +00002014-07-07T10:00:02.759-04:002.5 reviewscontemporaryCourtney C. StevensHarper TeenrapeReview: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcdaYrSHiAx1kEAkItc1U90cNvt3EJbV7Ibk8L34y_8OkRYdTrMNdP_6a-sk85EtItbkqaYdm_l4vy5pg8agj8fK4J2CuAXw5HmbyYUVEATi30ydOzd1HCJt0QtRJrxwTjS-E9WWdAW_f/s1600/Stephens,+Courtney+C._Faking+Normal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcdaYrSHiAx1kEAkItc1U90cNvt3EJbV7Ibk8L34y_8OkRYdTrMNdP_6a-sk85EtItbkqaYdm_l4vy5pg8agj8fK4J2CuAXw5HmbyYUVEATi30ydOzd1HCJt0QtRJrxwTjS-E9WWdAW_f/s1600/Stephens,+Courtney+C._Faking+Normal.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:&nbsp; Faking Normal</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Courtney C. Stevens</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Faking Normal</i> is a contemporary YA novel that promises to deal with some dark issues.&nbsp; Naturally, I wanted to read it because it got a fair amount of praise when it came out and seemed like (from the blurb and the general reception) a fresh take on a difficult topic covered in a lot of Young Adult and New Adult books in the past few years.&nbsp; I wanted to like this book with its southern background and the way it tackled the issues presented, but most of the time I felt bored and as if the characters were hollow.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal</i> is a book that will enchant readers looking for this type of story, but the overall construction didn’t strike me as doing anything new for the particular issues addressed in the story. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everything starts with a funeral.&nbsp; Alexi Littrell is dressed for mourning as she watches Bodee Lennox, the shy kid who dyes his hair with Kool-Aid, lose his mother all over again.&nbsp; There’s no going back in Bodee’s life.&nbsp; When he runs out of the funeral home, Alexi follows him because she knows.&nbsp; It’s not simple, and it’s not something that she tells him, but she knows.&nbsp; Looking at Bodee reminds Alexi of the way that she feels when she thinks about the past summer, the way that she feels when she scratches the back of her neck raw. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This connection gets intensified when Bodee comes to live with Alexi’s family.&nbsp; Bodee’s father is out of the picture because of how he destroyed Bodee’s mother; Alexi’s mother was friends with Bodee’s, as both were involved in a prayer group.&nbsp; The Christian thing to do - the friendly thing to do - was to offer him a place to stay.&nbsp; As Alexi gains a (temporary) new family member, she is also subjected to her sister Kayla’s controlling nature.&nbsp; Kayla finally becomes engaged to her longtime boyfriend, the guy she’s been dating since high school, and the impending wedding only seems to emphasize Kayla’s abrasive nature. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quiet, contemplative Bodee is an escape.&nbsp; Alexi’s friends seem determined to have her end up with a football player or someone similar.&nbsp; They want to see her dating someone again - someone who will be good for her.&nbsp; Out of the hallways, the piercing metal lockers and the friendships that seem to shudder in the school air conditioning, Alexi finds solace in Bodee because he understands.&nbsp; He observes her and knows that something is going on with her beneath the surface. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Bodee and Alexi become closer, she has to confront her past.&nbsp; She has to confront what makes her afraid of her sexual side.&nbsp; The memories that Alexi has suppressed lead to darker and darker truths.&nbsp; Alexi has no idea what will happen when she dusts off the memories she shoved away to survive; she has no idea if she’ll be able to handle it, or if she’ll lose herself (and Bodee) in the process. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Faking Normal</i> addresses the story of a girl who has a past that makes her afraid.&nbsp; She’s afraid of sexual contact in a way that makes it clear that something is up with her, and she references past events in a way that clearly shows something amiss.&nbsp; Alexi’s fear is coupled with an inability to speak up with things are happening, making her feel even worse because she can’t fight back the way that she believes (unfairly) that she should have to.&nbsp; Then we have Bodee, someone who rarely speaks up out of personality rather than fear, at least on the surface.&nbsp; These two create a story that’s centrally focused on romance and healing.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I found Alexi as a narrator to be good enough with her development and voice.&nbsp; Stevens’s writing style feels honest in its portrayal of a teenager’s mindset, although there are times wherein the book clearly feels censored (such as when a character calls another character a name over loud music) and it breaks the feeling of reality.&nbsp; That could be editorial, so it’s hard to pin that on Stevens specifically.&nbsp; Alexi also just has a general way of making her story seem accessible.&nbsp; My biggest problem with Alexi’s narration was the general feeling of aimlessness.&nbsp; I don’t think narration inherently needs a path or a pattern, but other than the chronological events, I never felt connected to what was going on in Alexi’s life.&nbsp; Several of the events felt extended, and the memories she slowly began to remember felt very convenient.&nbsp; It was hard to tell if she just never wanted to remember these things and repressed them, or if she just never thought of the idea that some of her fears could have roots in the past. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What annoyed me about this was that it felt too convenient.&nbsp; While it is fully possible for someone to do this on their own, it’s hard to accept that a character can do it on their own without thought of therapy, or about the ways to safely deal with repressed memories.&nbsp; It wasn’t so much Lexi as was the way I felt like Lexi’s past was more of a manipulated way to keep the mystery going rather than following a path that matched her mentality as a character.&nbsp; Lexi as a character seems aware to me - too aware to be so ignorant of these things until Bodee talks about them with her - and I think I would have liked deeper reasons for her repression of the memories because of how they seemed to feel disjointed with the rest of the narrative. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I did like how Lexi still participated in a lot of her life.&nbsp; The portrayal of her coping mechanisms, which were small to those outside but were deeply ingrained to her, felt realistic and more in-tune with her character.&nbsp; I also loved how many of her interactions with Bodee seemed to reflect these methods of comfort, as if they were constantly creating ways to share in each other’s pain until they could deal with it in a more healthy manner.&nbsp; Stevens also has a great plot with a secret admirer that seems to leave song lyrics for Alexi on a desk in one of her classes - and while the way it’s dealt with isn’t fairy-tale perfect, it’s also not surprising.&nbsp; I still liked the idea that Alexi would build up an image of someone that was unrealistic, even if the message felt very heavy-handed. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bodee didn’t feel that real to me, in all honesty.&nbsp; I liked the idea of his character; I liked that he was quiet and that he bonded with Alexi.&nbsp; On the surface, the idea of Bodee is fabulous for this story because he goes against the grain of the people who never notice what is really going on with Alexi.&nbsp; On the flip side, I felt like the actions he was shown doing never fully characterized him.&nbsp; I would have liked more insight into him as a person beyond his dark past, and I would have liked him to have more push and pull with Alexi.&nbsp; Their relationship struck me as so perfect despite both of their issues.&nbsp; It’s a situation wherein they needed each other, so some level of Bodee being the kind, caring one makes sense, yet it’s also a situation where the ease of their relationship didn’t seem to come with substance. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of the day, I just had trouble connecting with the story.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal </i>does many things right.&nbsp; It features characters listening to each other, paying attention to each other, and learning to battle their demons with love and care for themselves.&nbsp; The execution isn’t inherently problematic to me.&nbsp; Something about the writing of this story on the whole just didn’t sit well, and I can’t put my finger on it.&nbsp; Maybe it’s the names (which just don’t work for me, and it’s a shallow reason to find the book frustrating).&nbsp; Maybe it’s the religious culture the book presented - something in no way offensive, yet still felt insular to me to some degree.&nbsp; Maybe it was how Lexi still managed to call a character a bitch.&nbsp; I don’t know.&nbsp; The book has a lot of bright sides, such as the great twist towards the end.&nbsp; Stevens manages to leave a lot of clues that point to one thing, yet the way she uses them towards the end of the book is inventive and worth reading.&nbsp; That saved the book from being a total flatline for me.&nbsp; I also appreciated the nod towards familial love and togetherness towards the end in respecting Alexi, yet I also felt like it brushed a few things up a little too quickly with how people were characterized early on. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What it comes down to is this: <i>Faking Normal</i> is a perfectly adequate book and will have many readers that love it.&nbsp; Many of its elements are ones I love.&nbsp; Yet this time, the quiet relationship, the way the voice and the setting come across, the execution of the darker elements, and the characterization just didn’t work for me.&nbsp; They either bored me or felt like retreads of other books that dealt with similar issues.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal</i> is a great contemporary book for readers who need to read a book dealing with issues of sexual violence and its aftermath, but, for me, the book felt message-y in some of the subplots and expected in the main one.&nbsp; I’m just not the reader for this book. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I like the trees and the way they fade on the cover, as well as the smattering of freckles on the model.&nbsp; It makes the book feel less polished than some other covers.&nbsp; In a good way.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 2.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!)&nbsp;</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-faking-normal-by-courtney-c.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-7099419057205552102Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +00002014-06-27T10:00:04.345-04:003.5 reviewsdiversityJulie Anne PeterslesbianlgbtsecretsReview: Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgjyGw_a1A4chZ4hTMI7rOrmYU-wjvekrVFwEsZJTRWvLrQpK5OE-8q04vCFeOI_JJPBG2QcPGXk-lzOddykNJ3MjxQRqd8lwFB8INAYEZusuJyhelMjJ6mimYo8g8xnI_x9F3yubw-WK/s1600/Peters,+Julie+Anne_Lies+My+Girlfriend+Told+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgjyGw_a1A4chZ4hTMI7rOrmYU-wjvekrVFwEsZJTRWvLrQpK5OE-8q04vCFeOI_JJPBG2QcPGXk-lzOddykNJ3MjxQRqd8lwFB8INAYEZusuJyhelMjJ6mimYo8g8xnI_x9F3yubw-WK/s1600/Peters,+Julie+Anne_Lies+My+Girlfriend+Told+Me.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Lies My Girlfriend Told Me&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Julie Anne Peters &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Little, Brown</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; This is Our Prom (So Deal With It)</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My first introduction to Julie Anne Peters was with her book <i>This is Our Prom (So Deal With It)</i>.&nbsp; Peters is considered a staple in queer YA literature, specifically in regards to her stories featuring lesbian protagonists and her book<i> Luna</i>, which involves a character with a trans sibling.&nbsp; Despite finding my first attempt at her books to be mixed, I had wanted to try her as an author again because I felt like the book I tried was outside of her element.&nbsp; Peters’s most acclaimed books seemed to be more serious, and <i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> seemed to be in that nature - serious rather than light.&nbsp; I also liked the idea that it involved grief and deception that didn’t involve a character being in the closet.&nbsp; All of the presented queer characters are out in this book, and that was a huge reason for why I requested it.&nbsp; <i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> is a great example of a YA book that will resonate with teenagers and educators that need it, though a few of its elements weren’t as fleshed out as one would expect. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alix has found the girl of her dreams.&nbsp; Dating Swanee has given Alix a chance to breathe, a chance to think of herself while her parents focus on a new baby boy and a world of responsibilities.&nbsp; Nothing could break them apart.&nbsp; Swanee is perfect - consuming, adventurous, and every bit the free spirit that the rest of her family is, too.&nbsp; There is so much assurance in their relationship despite its fairly short time span.&nbsp; Alix already knows that she wants to plan on spending a long, long time with her girlfriend.&nbsp; One morning, Swanee is gone.&nbsp; Dropped dead in the middle of her morning run.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is no moving on.&nbsp; Alix’s parents try to reach her, but she’s sullen and loses all sense of time.&nbsp; She doesn’t see the point of being a part of her family, of caring for baby Evan (who probably hates her anyway), when life can’t move forward.&nbsp; She mourns Swanee with every cell in her body.&nbsp; After the funeral, she goes into Swanee’s room in order to find her again.&nbsp; Alix knows that Swanee is dead, yet there’s a strange sense of hope, even as Alix gathers up all of the possessions she lent to her dead girlfriend.&nbsp; The room search leads to uncovering Swanee’s cellphone.&nbsp; The phone itself isn’t unusual, but the slew of voicemails and missed phone calls following Swanee’s death are. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Snooping has a way of snowballing.&nbsp; Alix takes one look at Swanee’s phone and starts wondering - and wondering leads to reading those unanswered text messages.&nbsp; After digging and digging, Alix finds out that the person texting Swanee is more than a casual acquaintance.&nbsp; Her name is Liana, and she had been dating Alix.&nbsp; Liana’s relationship overlapped with Alix’s; between the two of them, they find a begrudging connection in their shared deceased girlfriend and her deceptions.&nbsp; Alix wants to learn more and more about Liana to piece together the truths and lies of Swanee.&nbsp; The more that she learns, the more that she finds herself falling for Liana. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It may be a revenge relationship.&nbsp; It may be true love.&nbsp; All Alix wants is to figure it out and feel something. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> is in parts unravelling and stitching things back together.&nbsp; Peters writes a novel that balances a heroine that first finds herself in a dark, low place and then brings her into a better understanding of the world because of that dark place.&nbsp; It showcases a character that is unlikable, self-centered, and hurt.&nbsp; It’s proof that there is definite value in sticking through a book with a narrator that isn’t the nicest person - but it also has some of the inevitable issues that come with that, and I think that’s what makes it a book worth thinking about. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our vision of Alix as a narrator is pretty mixed in sympathies.&nbsp; Swanee dies pretty early on - we get that from the blurb and from the construction of the book.&nbsp; This leaves her in a position where she’s extremely sensitive and feels alone.&nbsp; We also learn that she has slowly left her best friend, Betheny, due to Swanee’s advice on the uselessness of cheerleaders.&nbsp; So, from the beginning, there’s a clear sense that Alix hasn’t been a nice person because of her relationship, but that the relationship seemed to far outweigh any problematic elements.&nbsp; The narration continues through to the discovery of Swanee’s deception and Alix getting introduced to Liana, and it also contains various interactions with Alix and her parents.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The interactions between Alix and her parents have immense amounts of strain.&nbsp; The reader can tell that they have some aspects of restraint and expectation, and those get vocalized by Alix numerous times.&nbsp; Yet, there is also a strong dissent from Alix that is purposefully mean.&nbsp; We see it primarily within her reactions to responsibility, both towards her parents and towards her younger brother, Ethan.&nbsp; Ethan’s status as the family baby (and therefore, the family focus at times) brings a constant stream of negativity to Alix’s relationship with her family.&nbsp; For instance, here’s a scene where Alix is lying to her parents in order to get out of the house and investigate the stuff with Swanee’s secret life, and makes it impossible for her parents to leave the house without Ethan: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Nothing happened.”&nbsp; Swanee happened.&nbsp; I add, “We have to do it at her house because it’s on her desktop.”&nbsp; Where do I come up with this crap?&nbsp; Who uses a desktop anymore? &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Do you think Betheny would mind if you took Ethan with you?” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Mom, we wouldn’t get anything done.&nbsp; He’s a total distraction.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Her smile dissipates.&nbsp; “Fine.&nbsp; We won’t go.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Kindle Location 899</span></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> What proceeds is an explanation of how Alix, with Swanee, nearly had a disastrous babysitting venture with him.&nbsp; Alix blames herself to the point where she avoids any responsibility and projects a hatred of her onto her sibling that is clearly too young to hate her.&nbsp; This constant negativity bogs down the narrative despite its honesty.&nbsp; It’s a plausible thing with her character, yet it also presents her as someone with consistently flawed reasoning that doesn’t see the larger damage she’s doing to her relationship with her parents.&nbsp; The attitude that Alix gets around her family is just one that’s hard to stomach as a reader that can see where it can go wrong - yet it also speaks to a teenage perspective, especially one with a character that’s struggling with the stuff that Alix is in this narrative. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The narrative regarding Alix and Liana felt less troubling to me.&nbsp; In some ways, it feels too expected.&nbsp; It’s hard to tell if that’s apparent because of the way the characters both clearly need someone, or if it’s because it feels like they get paired up because they are both lesbian and don’t share that with many people in their lives or in their general areas.&nbsp; Either way, getting past that general feeling led me to appreciating how Peters grew the relationship and gave it a chance to go from obscurity and wariness to love.&nbsp; It happened fast, and I felt like Peters did that because these characters needed it instead of implying that it would be a forever-romance.&nbsp; Readers will probably still find it jarring. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While Peters has a great writing style, it’s sparse, concise, and relies more on the reader’s perceptions of the nuances than a lot of exposition.&nbsp; I think it serves to create a character voice that feels real, yet it also means that the story moves fast without adding in some internal monologue that would help flesh out the other characters and actions in the story.&nbsp; For instance, Liana is Latina and Catholic, and she doesn’t seem to progress much beyond having that as a background.&nbsp; We don’t learn much about her family life, her life at school - really, we just see her in relation to what she was with Swanee and the few things Alix learns about her early on.&nbsp; Swanee’s family is also classic “hippie family” stereotyped, complete with one child who is very Buddhist and one who “acts out” to seek her parents’s attention.&nbsp; I think that it created some conflicts worth exploring, but the narration and the length didn’t do much true exploration with them.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Open relationships are one thing that seem to come up a lot yet get only the surface treatment.&nbsp; Swanee’s parents have an open relationship, as Alix finds out towards the middle of the book, and that seems to get subconsciously attributed to Swanee’s behavior with Liana and Alix. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Jewell.”&nbsp; I twist in my seat.&nbsp; “Can I ask you a question?” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">She stops and checks her watch.&nbsp; “I have a hair appointment in twenty minutes.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Um, did you know Swanee was seeing another girl?”</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Jewell laughs.&nbsp; “Only one?”</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">I don’t laugh.&nbsp; She lifts her cup to her mouth, sips, and then licks foam from her upper lip.&nbsp; “I told Swanee she was too young to be serious about just one person.&nbsp; At her age, I had guys lined up.&nbsp; Girls, too.”&nbsp; She winks.</span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Kindle Location 1373</span></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s the consistent sense of connecting open relationships to Swanee’s behavior, as if all open relationships have this sense of distrust about them.&nbsp; I felt like Peters introduced this into the story without a more thoughtful examination about the importance of open relationships being consensual and discussed.&nbsp; What I sensed instead was that Swanee’s parents were supposed to be comparable to Swanee’s own actions, which felt misleading and like a result of Peters’s lack of further detail on the subject.&nbsp; Because there seemed to be an acceptance with these characters playing these expected roles and Alix “growing to learn who they really were”, I felt like they lacked dimension and instead served the purposes of the plot first and foremost. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the book also deal with very real attitudes regarding grief and the way that teenagers can seek out help in venues that aren’t with their family.&nbsp; It’s important, even if it’s frustrating, to show how family can feel like an angry place for a teenager.&nbsp; It’s also important to show that teenagers can find real relationships out of necessity - that people can do that in general, really.&nbsp; Peters knows how to convey emotional interactions in ways that hit the reader close to home without overblowing them in the excessiveness in the writing.&nbsp; I just think that the book needed more to it to bring the side themes and characters into a light that didn’t feel so stereotypical. These characters could have been jaw-droopingly amazing if they had more depth.&nbsp; This is the kind of queer YA book you see in libraries and classrooms a lot.&nbsp; It has some tough stuff, but the writing style and plot-based narrative work better with an audience that more directly relates to the situations and emotions of the first person narration.&nbsp;<i> Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> showed me why Peters has become a staple in the YA world, though I think that I expected more from it than I necessarily got. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover is angsty, and I think it goes with the book well.&nbsp; I also am in love with the typography - it’s beautiful and captures a wonderful mood.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Hachette/Little,Brown!)</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-lies-my-girlfriend-told-me-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-2783235107488865975Fri, 27 Jun 2014 03:59:00 +00002014-06-27T00:05:26.810-04:004.0 reviewsBlog TourHarlequin PresentsKate HewittrevengeBlog Tour: Expose Me by Kate Hewitt <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Y-i6Bwi2FCo9zdXmeuERgwaAx5AcS_DCPwMxqP61XavnsRw7Q809sD6GxcBiG5L7qV1rqMIgUXHintbmoD2_ytYdRWCQnQp1sVrvbRoZ59nvgMby29w4FiiLZay8GcHMNtfEQMwcja-C/s1600/Hewitt,+Kate_Expose+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Y-i6Bwi2FCo9zdXmeuERgwaAx5AcS_DCPwMxqP61XavnsRw7Q809sD6GxcBiG5L7qV1rqMIgUXHintbmoD2_ytYdRWCQnQp1sVrvbRoZ59nvgMby29w4FiiLZay8GcHMNtfEQMwcja-C/s1600/Hewitt,+Kate_Expose+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Expose Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Kate Hewitt&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #3</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Fifth Avenue trilogy is one that sets up a premise that makes it impossible not to read to its conclusion.&nbsp; While I enjoyed the first book more than the second, I was invested enough in the overarching plot of revenge against Jason Treffen to want to pick up the third and final book, <i>Expose Me</i>.&nbsp; While I think that the series won’t be as satisfying for readers who read out of order, the stories stand alone well enough and have their own individual romances that make little reference to the other relationships going on simultaneously.&nbsp; <i>Expose Me,</i> being the final book, does well in reinforcing an emotional climax for the external conflict while still creating a romance that works well.&nbsp; Kate Hewitt expertly ends a trilogy with a romance that manages to include a character completely unaware of the problems with Jason Treffen, creating a new relationship dynamic that will leave readers invested until the last page. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note:&nbsp; As for the reviews for the other two books in the series, I am using the publisher’s blurb.&nbsp; This is for the sake of convenience and for the sake of my brain, which cannot seem to write good blurbs for adult romance novels.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">The third and final step to revenge in the fifth avenue trilogy. Alex has the power…</span></span>&nbsp; </i><br /> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.</span></span>&nbsp; </i><br /> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">With ruthless determination, Alex Diaz has risen up from his deprived roots to become the head of a global media empire. But he has one last thing to achieve…avenge his friend by destroying the man responsible for her death, Jason Treffen. With stunning talk-show host Chelsea Maxwell about to interview Treffen live on TV, this is Alex’s chance.</span></span>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">He’ll use her show to exact a very public revenge—and seducing Chelsea, if needed, would certainly be no hardship. But he underestimates Chelsea and the attraction between them, and as their relationship deepens, Alex realizes that to annihilate Treffen could also shatter the life that Chelsea has built to protect herself….</span></span></i> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Expose Me</i> follows a couple tied to the media.&nbsp; Chelsea Maxwell is a talk show host extraordinaire whose fame has come from the way her charisma has broken (and redeemed) many a fallen celebrity.&nbsp; Alex Diaz is the magnate of a media empire that is known for the quality of its broadcast journalism.&nbsp; Alex was best friends with Sarah, the girl that Jason pushed towards dying of suicide ten years before, and thus knows all about Jason’s nefarious doings.&nbsp; While Chelsea, Alabama raised with her own secrets to hide, has no idea that Jason Treffen’s image and his person are completely different creatures.&nbsp; Chelsea respects him enough to covet the interview spot she’s gained with him on her talk show.&nbsp; For all of his charity work, Treffen is notorious for not being interviewed to protect that image. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Chelsea wants to believe that someone like Treffen is just, even though her past tells her to never trust anyone.&nbsp; Her romantic dynamic is emotionally removed and heavy on the hookups as a result.&nbsp; Funny enough, Alex Diaz has the same type of sexual dynamic - and he finds her attractive.&nbsp; What makes their romantic entanglement explosive from the beginning is this idea that they both want to act on their lust and assume it’s the end of the road for their relationship.&nbsp; Alex also wants to bring Chelsea in on the revenge scheme, but to do so he has to get close to her.&nbsp; That involves his sex drive being acknowledged. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Needless to say, Hewitt manages to make a couple with a great sexual play to them.&nbsp; It’s not quite as sensually involved as the first two books in the series, yet Hewitt’s sexual tension is well-written and feels organic to these two particular characters.&nbsp; It also provides a refreshing contrast to the first two books.&nbsp; I also liked how these characters were more removed from the key players in the Treffen revenge scheme - while Alex and Chelsea both have personal connections (though not necessarily by knowing people involved or being involved themselves), those connections aren’t super direct, and thus aren’t miring their emotional development to the plot quite as much.&nbsp; Hewitt takes advantage of this by making Alex and Chelsea both have more fleshed out back stories.&nbsp; Alex’s involves his life in the Bronx, and Chelsea’s involves the secrets that she’s keeping about her former life in Alabama. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What also worked for me in this romance was the way that Chelsea went about regarding her past.&nbsp; Because of the celebrity, she was constantly exercising the concept of control.&nbsp; That control pleased her because it allowed her to feel like she could maintain her image and effectively erase her past on the surface.&nbsp; I thought that Hewitt gave ample examples of that throughout the book and made her issues within the romantic relationship sensible to the character and enacted in ways that felt real as opposed to machinated.&nbsp; We see throughout the romance how Chelsea has built up threads and threads of a life she wishes she’s had, and how Alex threatens that life.&nbsp; While Alex also has control issues, his seem to be less intensive and come into play more towards the end whenever he has trouble being honest with Chelsea about his feelings.</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> My favorite part about this romance?&nbsp; Both characters respected that secrets came with the territory.&nbsp; They never made a stink each time the other person revealed a secret.&nbsp; It wasn’t a matter of these two people being honest or dishonest.&nbsp; Instead, it was about Alex and Chelsea realizing that relationships were new territory for the both of them - and that said territory came with unravelling over ten years of constructed stories and identities.&nbsp; I loved that Alex would simply hold Chelsea and understand when she would only reveal a bit of herself at a time.&nbsp; That’s a functional relationship, one that respects the heroine and her past, rather than one that shames her for not telling the hero right away.&nbsp; Hewitt got things so right with that aspect. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chelsea’s relationship with her sister was also an intriguing addition to the book.&nbsp; I felt like Hewitt did it in a way that gave the romance more depth.&nbsp; The past two books didn’t have the heroine interacting with many people outside of the hero.&nbsp; Hewitt’s makes a clear connection between Chelsea and another female character, and focuses on how that affects Chelsea’s reactions to herself as much as how her relationship with Alex changes her.&nbsp; Some of the sisterly removal seemed a bit ridiculous - their lack of communication following their separation seemed to be hand-waved away to me - but I liked that Hewitt focused just as much on Chelsea’s connection to someone outside of her romance as it did to her romance itself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other than that, I found Hewitt’s writing excellent and engrossing, and the plot excellent.&nbsp; The romance itself follows a path that feels a bit “traditional” for this type of story, mostly in how it feels very familiar and seems to follow a path that limits the internal complications between the couple.&nbsp; It felt very adult even when it was angsty, which was a nice change of pace, if one that didn’t quite reach the emotional highs and lows of the other two romances in the series.&nbsp; Hewitt’s story also crosses over with that of Caitlin Crews’s story, which makes a few scenes a bit less interesting.&nbsp; The ending to the book packs a solid punch and does the revenge ending justice. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Expose Me</i> ends the series with a bang over a whimper.&nbsp; It confirms that the revenge plot is something worth seeing through to the end, and features a romance that feels more adult, more understandable in how it goes through its emotional arc.&nbsp; Chelsea and Alex are perfect for each other.&nbsp; Moreover, Hewitt’s writing style is sexy while also feeling wonderfully comfortable, and it provides a great contrast to the more intensive previous books in the series.&nbsp; <i>Expose Me</i>, and the Fifth Avenue trilogy on the whole, is a winner.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; See my comments in previous reviews RE: the covers. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Amanda, Meryl L. Moss Media, and Harlequin!) &nbsp;</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-expose-me-by-kate-hewitt.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-1876929076382814055Wed, 25 Jun 2014 23:35:00 +00002014-06-27T00:07:21.772-04:003.5 reviewsbillionaireBlog TourCaitlin Crewscategory romanceHarlequin PresentsrevengeBlog Tour: Scandalize Me by Caitlin Crews <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtQs1XFRzxZa5E_h1AhDGLq-P0kOuOtoSrpt3JwCR8M2q5r1x6FDE8AFJkvfdRWlfvLhWn-YfYEWNssfGFeC65drbHjtQGTaNoMKRof57o1wStjP60XAeEUnXzpUyDVTwepQmp53bGcit/s1600/Crews,+Caitlin_Scandalize+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtQs1XFRzxZa5E_h1AhDGLq-P0kOuOtoSrpt3JwCR8M2q5r1x6FDE8AFJkvfdRWlfvLhWn-YfYEWNssfGFeC65drbHjtQGTaNoMKRof57o1wStjP60XAeEUnXzpUyDVTwepQmp53bGcit/s1600/Crews,+Caitlin_Scandalize+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Scandalize Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Caitlin Crews&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #2</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Books for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With my adoration of the first Fifth Avenue book, <i>Avenge Me</i>, I was eager to see what Caitlin Crews would provide in the second book, <i>Scandalize Me</i>.&nbsp; <i>Scandalize Me</i> features a football player hero whose reputation for rebellion has led him to being kicked out of the NFL and a PR genius heroine whose goal revolves around using the hero’s reputation to bring down Jason Treffen.&nbsp; Sound like fun?&nbsp; Yes, it does.&nbsp; While <i>Scandalize Me</i> took me longer to get into, it was a solid addition to the series and was more than worth picking up. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note:&nbsp; I’m including the blurbs for this series because A) I am bad at writing romance novel blurbs and B) I want to try and make things shorter - which usually doesn’t work, but whatever.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.</span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hunter Talbot Grant III, sports figure du jour, wealthy beyond measure and disreputable by choice, has cultivated a reputation that masks the shadows of his past. When the opportunity to ensure financial destruction for Jason Treffen arises, he can't refuse. But first he must shake off the woman sent to tame him!</span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zoe Brook, PR agent extraordinaire, never fails to transform a tarnished star. And Hunter's no different. Except there's a catch. Beneath their scorching mutual attraction, Zoe has a secret, she's also been on the wrong side of Jason Treffen, and she has as much of a taste for revenge as Hunter does!</span></span></i> <br /> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <br /></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crews sets up a dynamic in <i>Scandalize Me </i>that initially had my catnip alarms (to quote Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books) going off at full volume.&nbsp; I love a heroine like Zoe.&nbsp; Not only is she career oriented and cutthroat, but she actually wants to use the hero in this situation.&nbsp; Dynamics like that get me excited in romance because they provide great potential for the romance to show an intense heroine that doesn’t get undermined by the hero within the story.&nbsp; Hunter is still depicted as alpha from the get-go, but Crews gave readers a healthy potential for a story where Zoe could be the top dog in the relationship. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What <i>Scandalize Me</i> fails to do in the first half is establish a true sense of agency and motivation beyond the sense of revenge - and even the revenge motivator feels wandering and unsure of itself.&nbsp; We see Zoe attempt to dominate Hunter in order to push him away; we see her use her cunning to feed off of Hunter’s interest in her and present him with a plan to revamp his image.&nbsp; We see a lot going on, leading up to a sexual encounter towards the middle of the book that’s explosive, long, and emotionally impacting, yet the story seems to drag until that point and the encounter itself feels extended for the sake of the emotional impact.&nbsp; I found myself wondering what the point was of the story’s length up until this point - was it supposed to build up to this part?&nbsp; Why didn’t I feel connected to the couple enough to care as much as I did in the last book? &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Towards the second half, Crews seems to find a better balance in how the characters interact and present external/internal issues that work with the plot and their romantic entanglements.&nbsp; We see how Zoe wants to trust someone but also feels weighed down by her past as one of Trefen’s victims; we see how Hunter has played so far into his meathead, fuckup persona that it prevents him from seeing his true self and how that self can be with Zoe.&nbsp; I liked the idea that both of the characters put on personae that got them stuck, as it felt realistic and played into the notion that their created images ruled their lives more than they anticipated. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What I found less believable was the way in which both of the characters came about it.&nbsp; Zoe in particular is a character that seems to be varied in the skill of her execution.&nbsp; On one hand, I loved how she was upset with Hunter towards the end because his first reaction to her status as a victim was to pull away and not tell her why he was treating her as if she was just fragile despite her consent in the situation.&nbsp; It showed the narrative that many people ignore - that not all victims of sexual assault/sexual crimes want to pull away sexually.&nbsp; I did feel like there was a bit of a strange fetishization of how Hunter compared Zoe to Sarah, his ex, as he described how they were “different” because Zoe wasn’t a “victim” the way Sarah was.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Which bothered me to hell.&nbsp; The idea that Zoe was stronger than Sarah because she didn’t die of suicide - that has a lot of intensive implications about the nature of someone who dies of suicide, or who is victimized and then pushed to that method of death.&nbsp; It didn’t seem intentional, yet that connection felt like it was going towards the comparison in order to justify how Zoe was Hunter’s true love versus the passing love of Sarah.&nbsp; It also didn’t make sense to me considering how frequently characters in this series mention how Sarah was strong, how she was an advocate, and how she dealt with it silently because she wanted to protect others.&nbsp; To me, that proves her strength, and I don’t think that using descriptors like “victim” to describe someone as lesser is a smart way to go.&nbsp; Granted, it was probably a throwaway line, but it struck me viscerally because I didn’t think that it was a fair method of thought. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zoe’s idea of herself also struck me as skewed without much justification.&nbsp; I didn’t think that we saw enough of her viewpoint to understand how her history with Trefen seeped into her view of herself in a romantic setting.&nbsp; I think the idea that Zoe would worry about Hunter’s perceptions is valid, yet there just wasn't enough shown for me to think that was really an issue in the narrative.&nbsp; Rather, it felt like something used to extent the conflict for an extra twenty/thirty pages.&nbsp; I did like that the romance wasn’t a perfectly tied-up situation wherein Zoe was “cured” of those feelings.&nbsp; Crews instead showed how Zoe still felt insecure about her past and how Hunter and Zoe acknowledged those feelings in the relationship.&nbsp; That made sense; romance often implies that those issues aren’t consistent and long term within romantic relationships when they often are. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think a part of me was also disappointed that the beginning seemed to imply a heroine that was into dominating and a hero into submitting.&nbsp; Instead, Crews ultimately goes the more expected route of having Hunter be alpha and Zoe shy about expressing her desires beyond professional manipulation.&nbsp; The continual discussion of the importance of consent did intrigue me - consent culture is a complicated one, and one that often doesn’t get as much page time as I would like it to - although I would have liked more discussion about it on the whole and how it related to communication in a relationship, as well as how Zoe and Hunter may have different ideas about what consent entails in their relationship based on all of their past and present experiences with it.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ultimately, while I found <i>Scandalize Me</i> to be less solid as a romance overall, I enjoyed the heat level and the continuation of the plot regarding taking down Jason Trefen.&nbsp; Hunter and Zoe have dynamics that are worth exploring, yet they feel either rushed or meandering depending on the section of the narrative they get shown in.&nbsp; Crews has a great writing style in general, and I would try her books in the Presents line again, but I think this particular one just struggled to figure out where it was supposed to be heading and how the hero and heroine were connecting within their romance.&nbsp; <i>Scandalize Me</i> is enjoyable and explores some great concepts, but it doesn’t quite compare to the first book in the Fifth Avenue trilogy.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; Again, these covers are cool takeoffs of the initial Harlequin Presents line, but I think the increased price of the books is a bit of an eyebrow raiser for readers who may not like the authors within the series. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you Amanda, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, and Harlequin!!) &nbsp;</span></span></div> http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-scandalize-me-by-caitlin-crews.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-7532039015090797862Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:52:00 +00002014-06-27T00:08:10.007-04:004.5 reviewsBDSMbillionaireBlog Tourcategory romanceHarlequin PresentsMaisey YatesBlog Tour: Avenge Me by Maisey Yates <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnF8-PirXW_hDw6NdZTRpIzqnP6t4s54d9NVFvH1hgQaZqRAdmFk9I50pUyc49kjNv3H9QimONDH8xEYz-P8RKw55BfCncuK6ZNQCQuJ_N7lLFav1rbCD2tB7OF11D5CPi8JTNHz3hIcg/s1600/Yates,+Maisey_Avenge+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnF8-PirXW_hDw6NdZTRpIzqnP6t4s54d9NVFvH1hgQaZqRAdmFk9I50pUyc49kjNv3H9QimONDH8xEYz-P8RKw55BfCncuK6ZNQCQuJ_N7lLFav1rbCD2tB7OF11D5CPi8JTNHz3hIcg/s1600/Yates,+Maisey_Avenge+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Avenge Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Maisey Yates</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a big fan of Harlequin Presents (and Maisey Yates), I was thrilled to get a review request for the Fifth Avenue trilogy.&nbsp; Harlequin’s interconnected HQ Presents series are always fascinating and often have some of the best authors in the category line writing within it.&nbsp; Maisey’s books in particular have always worked for me, so I was excited to start with the beginning of the trilogy and see what I could make of it.&nbsp; <i>Avenge Me</i> is a book that perfectly captures the vein of the HQ Presents novel while also including some clear trends (the sense of BDSM tones to the relationship) and clear methods of subversion to some of the trends of privilege that we often see eroticized within the category line.&nbsp; <i>Avenge Me </i>is the perfect example of a category novel that is both subversive and accessible to those who want to take the category line at face value.&nbsp; Maisey Yates knows how to craft a brilliant romance.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note: for the Fifth Avenue books, I’m going to just include the regular back blurb and focus on the reviews - I think they capture the general premise, and am also making the reviews a bit shorter since I’ll be reviewing each of the three books in daily succession.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Austin Treffen was born into a world of privilege, but behind its gilded doors lies a corruption so sordid New York's elite would never believe it—especially as his infamous philanthropic father is at its core! With everything he believed in shattered, how can Austin take down his father—risking his family name and those he loves—without any proof?&nbsp;</span></i><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></i></span></div> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Until one earth-shattering night with Katy Michaels unlocks not only their deepest, most passionate desires but also the key to bringing Jason Treffen's reign to an end. But with an intense sexual attraction that combines a heady mix of exquisite pleasure and sublime pain, will they satiate their thirst for revenge and each other…or lose themselves forever in the darkness?</i></span> <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Avenge Me</i> uses the classic revenge tropes with the added bonus of the protective millionaire trope.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">The heroine of course, through circumstances and logic provided by the hero, must live with him in order to present the facade that they are in a relationship.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">This is set up so that the heroine can be “protected” by the hero, but also to further provide evidence for the “truth” of their general setup.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Yates makes this have interesting stakes by making both the hero and the heroine equal in their desire to enact revenge - but also in that both of them have a strong closeness to the people involved in the incident that caused the desire for revenge.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Because of this, there is a lot of doubt, concern, and potential backfiring within their budding relationship.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Neither the hero nor the heroine believe themselves able to hold a relationship together after they have been so focused on revenge and the brokenness of their lives. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;</span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They also get together via lust.&nbsp; Yates does this wonderfully.&nbsp; She showcases the connection instantly and then proceeds to entangle the hero and the heroine by presenting them with information that makes them take a second look at each other.&nbsp; It becomes a romance that entangles their need to be in a power play relationship and their very literal power play needed to destroy the hero’s father.&nbsp; It also contrasts elegantly with the privilege of the wealthy white male hero versus the lack of privilege of the poor female heroine. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Yates uses a lot of dialogue and sexual tension that contrasts with the analysis of privilege.&nbsp; Katy frequently comments on the way that she is expected to do specific things by Austin because he is used to getting what he wants; she also comments on how his “protection” is really just a way of using his privilege without understanding its consequences.&nbsp; She loses her job and her reputation within her job because of Austin’s protective interference; she also loses her apartment.&nbsp; The hero doesn’t see this because he is so focused on his revenge, and he doesn’t realize that, for the heroine, these opportunities are not ones easily obtained.&nbsp; I loved that Yates kept calling this out in the narrative.&nbsp; Katy even references specifically that it is the hero’s privilege.&nbsp; It’s a very clever way of creating conflict that derives from their views on life&nbsp; while simultaneously addressing the way that the billionaire hero uses his male privilege against the female heroine within these types of romances.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is also a way of addressing this from the hero’s perspective.&nbsp; While Austin has privilege, he also is aware that it can be misused.&nbsp; His father is known as an advocate for women, yet his father takes advantage of them and becomes a pimp of sorts that controls a high class ring of escorts - aka women that he builds up only to tear down if they don’t do his bidding with his selected clients.&nbsp; Austin is aware that his father’s desires to dominate and his misuse of his privilege is what allows this to keep occurring without people noticing.&nbsp; Sarah’s ultimate suicide is proof of this, because no one in her life seemed to notice that she was crying out for help. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This provides a great amount of grief with the hero - and I liked that the contrast between the hero’s grief and the heroine’s closed-off emotions drove the internal conflict of the romance.&nbsp; Austin believes that dominating makes him a monster because it reminds him of his father; Katy believes that submitting is the only safe option to keep her from being romantically involved.&nbsp; It makes the romance an act of telling the other person that they can be brave and honest about who they are, and that such honesty gives them the ability to have sexual relationships without guilt or limitation between them.&nbsp; I loved that it was about finding balance, and that it was also about being clear that many types of sex are valid in a romantic relationship because they meet different emotional and physical needs. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also really liked how Yates managed the balance of the internal conflict that was emotional and sexual and the external conflict that was tied to the internal conflict.&nbsp; The revenge plot didn’t feel tacked on and pointless; it also didn’t feel simple because of how much the heroine gave up to have revenge, and because of how much the hero had to give up his privilege in order to do what was right.&nbsp; I felt like Yates made it exciting without allowing it to overtake the romance.&nbsp; She used it to enhance the aspects of the romance instead, something that made this book feel richer in comparison to other category novels.&nbsp; I really felt like Yates made the effort to tie as much together as possible so it would leave the reader with a lot to unpack and think about after the reading experience was finished.&nbsp; This was all managed while making the romance satisfying and believable.&nbsp; By the end of Avenge Me, I felt like the hero and heroine were ready to be together, and that their relationship wasn’t tied up too neatly for all of the issues they dealt with together. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My one gripe was that I would have liked to see Katy more passionate about her job and career.&nbsp; I felt the revenge motivation was so emphasized that her career and life outside of it was almost non-existent.&nbsp; She gets pissed about losing her job, yet she doesn’t mention how she loved doing it - or how the revenge kept her from pursuing a career that she did want more than anything.&nbsp; I don’t think heroines have to be career focused, but it seemed strange that the heroine would build up a career just for revenge without much comment about whether or not she cared about that career, or any career.&nbsp; I would have found Katy’s anger about her job loss less believable in the long run because of that lack of vocalization about whether or not she liked that job/career and how that was affected. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, I think Yates created a category romance that had a lot of excellent elements.&nbsp; Subversion, wonderful sex scenes, effective tropes, and a romance that seemed to make sense and feed off of the external and internal conflicts of the characters.&nbsp; I think that Katy needed to be more fleshed out beyond her sexual and emotional sides, yet the word limitations on category novels probably influenced that to some extent, especially with the requirements of this book also setting up the next two in the series.&nbsp; Yates is one of contemporary romance’s best authors, and one of category romance’s best authors, and <i>Avenge Me </i>is a wonderful introduction to her work and the Fifth Avenue trilogy with its intelligence, wit, and sexiness. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I like the changeover from the usual Presents covers (although I kind of raise my eyebrows at the increased price of the physical book because of the marketed series).&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Amanda, Meryl L. Moss, and Harlequin!!) &nbsp;</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-avenge-me-by-maisey-yates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8517694672260589506Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-06-12T11:00:07.031-04:005.0 reviewscapitalismcontemporaryLauren Oliverpovertystand aloneReview: Panic by Lauren Oliver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTY1CI4ytNdGslc9NNwgM1PotI8y_SQl2EBo7n3VA43SJElWrMAME00Vefknyp9lskxda0-zquJHR91dwAHdm_yOqJCVbHG2kHYKd4DvhBXdVHlyPceHTxHsnsvGR7FdWDfz0Dz7enW1P/s1600/Oliver,+Lauren_Panic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTY1CI4ytNdGslc9NNwgM1PotI8y_SQl2EBo7n3VA43SJElWrMAME00Vefknyp9lskxda0-zquJHR91dwAHdm_yOqJCVbHG2kHYKd4DvhBXdVHlyPceHTxHsnsvGR7FdWDfz0Dz7enW1P/s1600/Oliver,+Lauren_Panic.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Panic<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Lauren Oliver<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harper<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Delirium; Pandemonium<br /> <br /> <br /> Lauren Oliver is someone that I fawn over in the publishing industry. Her prose is consistently brilliant, and her stories capture me. There is something within her works that strikes me, which is something that very few authors do consistently. Having enjoyed her Delirium trilogy, her debut single-title, and her first middle grade novel, it's safe to say that I have seen Oliver's writing do a range of genres and story types. Panic is a return to where Oliver started her young adult writing in some respects. Like her novel <i>Before I Fall</i>, it's a story about high school (or in this case, the aftermath of high school) and how teenagers are just as complicated as their adult counterparts. <i>Panic</i> asks some questions that hit in a different place, a personal place, and it's a story that I believe to be Oliver's best since her debut work. <br /> <br /> Graduation leads to Panic. It's not the worry about leaving Carp, a town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. It's not the fear of college or debt or working until the day you die, sixty years later, having never seen the outside world. Panic is a game. Panic is something that fires up every graduated high schooler that has lived in Carp. It is risk and reward, danger and deception - all for the chance at winning a pot over $50,000. The catch? Only one person makes it out a winner. Some may never make it out at all.<br /> <br /> The infamy of Panic isn't lost on Heather. She had no plans to join in the game until her boyfriend broke up with her. Something about the way he threw her out was enough to trigger something in Heather. After years of living with a drunken mother in a trailer, Heather is ready to leave. With fifty thousand dollars, Heather can take her little sister and drive far away. No lying, cheating boys. No falling for your best friend who seems to be secretive and into someone else. The only catch is that Heather's friend Natalie is just as determined to win Panic so she can move to L.A. to become an actress. They strike a bargain - if one of them wins, they split the pot and get the hell out of Carp.<br /> <br /> Dodge's story is a bit different. The money wouldn't hurt, but he doesn't want to play Panic just because of it. Dodge's sister played Panic several years before him. &nbsp;Because of it, she was physically disabled. Dodge now has to watch his sister adjust to life in a wheelchair. The guy that ruined her life won the pot and never looked back. That guy has a brother Dodge's age, also playing Panic, and that makes the game the perfect place for Dodge to enact revenge. No expectations exist for falling in love. Dodge's only expectation is to win at any cost.<br /> <br /> The creation of Panic is something to think about. I've read a few reviews that have addressed the idea of Panic being unrealistic, or the monetary amount being "not worth it". The book is pretty direct about how it acts as a commentary on poverty within small towns. Capitalism has helped to create a society in which everything is placed within an economic hierarchy. Small towns can often be the places where even the smallest amount of money can be life-changing. As someone who grew up in a small town and goes back to it frequently, this book struck a chord with me. Readers: $50,000 is a lot of money. I know many people who make less than this on a yearly salary. I know many people that this would be a year's salary for. This is around the median wage earned by someone in the United States. The reality? In many areas, this is considered a significantly high wage. The amount of $67,000, which the pot ends up being for Heather and Dodge's round of Panic, is approximately the amount of money my older brother paid for his first house in our small town - plus $25,000.<br /> <br /> As far as I'm concerned, <i>Panic</i> hit home. <i>Panic </i>is very possible. Even if it is over-dramatized in order to show those themes and create multiple points of theme within the narrative, it could happen. Classism and capital are things that we rarely think about if we are of the privileged many that consider ourselves comfortable within our financial spheres. It's true that very few people are content with their financial stability, but many are "comfortable". <i>Panic</i> challenges that. Heather lives in a trailer with a mother that drinks and does drugs; Dodge's house is a trailer as well, and on top of that his sister has a myriad of medical expenses to handle, along with spending time and energy finding medical help and the potential to get physical therapy. Both of these characters find the idea of that much money impossibly brilliant.<br /> <br /> So, what does this all mean? This means that the characters within this piece are highly motivated and living in oppressed conditions because of their economic position within their rigidly structured home town. Heather is willing to risk her life in a game she doesn't want to play. Dodge has such a need for revenge because the emotional pain along with the financial pain created by the game, by the desire for that one amount of money, has nearly killed people several times in its inception. This book isn't a dystopian; it is not <i>The Hunger Games</i>; it is not a book about an unrealistic regime, some underground rebellion, and a special girl that rises above it all. Panic is a book about people living in a small town in New York that feel entrapped by the socioeconomic model constructed by our society, and it is about everything they will do to attempt and break out of it. It is visceral, honest, heart-breaking, and brutally real even when it seems to be slow. <br /> <br /> What Oliver does in this book is create a scenario where both character focal points are wrapped up in their motivation and how that may (or may not) cloud their judgement in the world. Heather is seen as the gawky girl that fades into the background; Dodge is the kind of guy everyone ignored until he made his courage apparent. Both of these characters were used to blending in because it was easy, because the people in their life are forever more dramatic and intensive than they are. These are characters that use Panic as a way to jumpstart their actions and change their worlds. Because of this, the reader finds themselves immersed in a scenario where the motivations of Heather and Dodge evolve; their motivations are layered and complicated. Heather wants to protect herself and her younger sister while simultaneously searching for a level of stability. Dodge wants to protect his sister and stabilize his life as well. Oliver creates parallel scenarios where these two characters can do amazingly dangerous things and we believe that those things are worth it. Nearly getting killed in multiple Panic events gives both characters the chance to test the reader's belief in their determination. It also gives the reader a point of sympathy for when they do things that aren't black-and-white in morality. Dodge in particular is a wild card because of this. His thirst for revenge is one that could lead him into criminal territory, yet the reader is able to sympathize with the situation - the contrast with Heather's situation still puts it into a unique moral perspective, but the reader is more likely to understand Dodge than they would be otherwise.<br /> <br /> Connecting these threads is Oliver's writing, a writing which manages to stylistically ring true despite the variety of genres that Oliver has tackled in her writing career. &nbsp;<i>Panic</i> fits Oliver's style from previous YA books in regards to the lyricism it presents, yet there is a rawness to the imagery that feels finely tuned - as strange as it is, Oliver is deliberate even in the most chaotic moments of her stories. &nbsp;Panic also has the added affect of feeling extremely thematic, with some elements such as the tiger that gets presented feeling almost hyper-real, magical rather than grounded. &nbsp;Oliver pulls this off in the text by creating situations that are just as intense and very much possible. &nbsp;Somehow, the humanity of the characters is so honest that it makes the borders of the story feel realistic. &nbsp;The magic within the pages makes sense. &nbsp;Despite this, there are no easy answers or simple solutions. &nbsp;The ending of the story is satisfying, yet it leaves things out for some of the characters. &nbsp;It also doesn't make up for the loss that characters retained prior to the story's beginning, which I think is something important. &nbsp;Oliver sends a message of hope that gives a nod to the reality of this story; consequences and revenge can be had, but are they truly satisfying? &nbsp;What do you give up along the way to protecting yourself? &nbsp;The ending is much less philosophical than the conclusion of the <i>Delirium</i> trilogy, which is a strong choice for Oliver's writing style and the single-title nature of this narrative. &nbsp;Oliver has a tendency to take risks in her writing - this narrative was risky in other ways, so I think the conclusion didn't need to worry about being impressive or risky on its own to be satisfying. <br /> <br /> The way that Oliver's books come together for me really is a godsend. &nbsp;There's something about the combination of style and narrative method that makes books like <i>Panic</i> hit me where it hurts. &nbsp;Especially books like Panic. &nbsp;With my background and my firsthand experience with areas like the one in the book, the characters and situations came alive in ways that I didn't anticipate. &nbsp;Books like <i>Panic </i>are so much more than they seem; YA in the hands of authors like Lauren Oliver is mysterious and nuanced, and <i>Panic </i>takes her craft in a direction that is both familiar and new. &nbsp;What can I say - I loved the characters, the situations, and the way Oliver handled a look at what poverty and capitalism can make people do in a world that creates one via the institution of the other. &nbsp;This book is intelligent, emotionally raw, and will incite fear into your heart. &nbsp;Not because it's scary, but because it could be true. <br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;This cover feels overly generic to the genre. &nbsp;This book subverts a lot of tropes and ideas normally presented in YA - the cover is so oriented to commercial cover tropes that it misses that, I think.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;5.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!) http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-panic-by-lauren-oliver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-1966028550800065393Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-06-11T11:37:55.311-04:001.0 reviewsCammie McGoverncontemporary romancedisabilitydiversityepic failHarper TeenReview/Rant: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViKlpJxTpbf_c3yjQRIBxFWgey96tANvFAB0cVjDA7Tk_XQWxv_TjbE_PikBrUbDu8r94dC6QBvSxFG798LDfUzbq6sj25ikCGI72FIg3S6bxfjC2C3m1Ctm3mPVtkAxcu9FdZmuBbRnc/s1600/McGovern,+Cammie_Say+What+You+Will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViKlpJxTpbf_c3yjQRIBxFWgey96tANvFAB0cVjDA7Tk_XQWxv_TjbE_PikBrUbDu8r94dC6QBvSxFG798LDfUzbq6sj25ikCGI72FIg3S6bxfjC2C3m1Ctm3mPVtkAxcu9FdZmuBbRnc/s1600/McGovern,+Cammie_Say+What+You+Will.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Say What You Will</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Cammie McGovern</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Note that there will be quotations and spoilers for this so get your spoiler-hats on while reading beyond the fifth paragraph* &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wanted to like this book.&nbsp; Forget the horrible back cover copy of the ARC that proclaims it to be a mix of <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> (which is not my type of book at all) and <i>Eleanor and Park </i>(which I haven’t read yet), which is clearly a cheap marketing strategy.&nbsp; It features two protagonists living with disability - one mental, one physical - and how they fall in love.&nbsp; The premise itself has the potential to go horribly wrong, but it’s one that I want to work.&nbsp; I <i>wanted</i> it to work.&nbsp; It didn’t.&nbsp; At all.&nbsp; <i>Say What You Will</i> is a prime example of an able author writing a book about characters with disabilities that reeks of ableism and manipulation. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The summer before her senior year of high school, Amy decides that it’s time for a change.&nbsp; She lives with a physical disability that has her using a wheelchair.&nbsp; In high school, this has always meant having an adult walk with her to carry her books and help her out with various needs she can’t perform on her own in a school setting.&nbsp; A kid named Mathew that she’s known in passing gave her the brilliant idea to change the type of aid she receives, to hire a group of student aids instead of adults, so she can create a web of socialization.&nbsp; No matter that this idea came from him telling her that the adults were the reason she had no friends. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amy sends Mathew an email over the summer asking him to be one of those student helpers.&nbsp; Mathew takes her up on the offer, even though he’s scared.&nbsp; Even though he’s not really sure how he feels about Amy.&nbsp; She’s always been someone that’s seemed to wallow to him; she’s the girl that writes deep pieces for the literary magazine that seem to parallel her life in heartbreaking ways.&nbsp; To Mathew, Amy seems to allow herself to be trapped.&nbsp; He also finds himself daunted by the idea of having to be responsible for her.&nbsp; Responsibility comes with stress, and stress requires rules, and rules require a consistency and familiarity that Mathew does not have with Amy.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Senior year for the two becomes about more than an effort to get Amy friends.&nbsp; In reality, the only student volunteer Amy genuinely cares for is Mathew.&nbsp; She has a crush on him.&nbsp; He finds relief in being with her.&nbsp; Amy never forces Mathew to talk while walking between classes.&nbsp; She does challenge him once their friendship starts progressing, focusing on the way Mathew seems to exhibit the behavioral factors of someone living with OCD.&nbsp; Refusing to address this directly for the longest time, Mathew allows himself to be challenged by Amy.&nbsp; He allows himself to care for Amy.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They fall in love, but it’s far more complicated than either of them imagine.&nbsp; Amy and Mathew are struggling teenagers in a world that seems to force them into the roles of outsiders.&nbsp; Together, they no longer feel alone, though they realize that love (and friendship) present complications that being alone never gave them. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the end of this book, I could not stand what the romance between Amy and Mathew represented.&nbsp; McGovern created a story that could have presented a dialogue about what it meant to be living with disability in a world constructed for able people.&nbsp; It could have showed how these initial perceptions of disability - the idea of living as a loner, the concept of being “damaged” - are completely false and present the characters as people that are dehumanized or lesser.&nbsp; Instead, the entire romance seems to hinge on the notion that these characters are both “damaged” and therefore understand each other.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Could I believe that these two characters share an understanding with each other because they live with disability?&nbsp; Yes. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Should it be because they both think they’re damaged and want to be with someone they can take care of for once?&nbsp; No.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amy and Mathew both frequently cite this idea of being damaged.&nbsp; From their initial presentation to the final page, we get the sense that Amy and Mathew siphon off of the need to care for someone who is worse off than they are.&nbsp; Mathew has an able body and Amy has an able mind, so it’s presented as if the characters get their love from the idea that they are superior in either physical or mental ability and can use that to take care of someone else. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> That creates a narrative that screams ableism.&nbsp; It’s a book that tries to show that people with disability can have a love story, that they have their own lives and can encounter the issues able-bodied people do despite living with disability, yet it results in a messy combination of after-school special and pandering ableist viewpoint.&nbsp; We should not be expected to believe that these characters have a healthy surviving love story on the premise that they both are less-than.&nbsp; It also shouldn’t be presented in such a way that their lives with disability are the defining aspects of who they are as people.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For instance, Amy is portrayed as a total loner.&nbsp; Because she has an overly scientific mother, uses a wheelchair, and needs software to speak, we are to believe that she has made no friends.&nbsp; Absolutely no friends beyond a few adults.&nbsp; We are also led to believe that she makes no friends when she goes off to school, that the only friends she’s made within the narration involve people that were paid to be student aids for her during her senior year.&nbsp; The portrayal is a direct caricature, and then on top of that is put into such extremes that the reader is practically led to the notion that they should pity her, that Amy is a character to be pitied because of the fact that she lives with disability. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mathew is given a similar treatment.&nbsp; He’s also portrayed as a total loner, though we as readers are led to believe it is by behavioral choice (and, presumably, that it links directly to his OCD).&nbsp; By making both Mathew and Amy friendless, we get the impression that they are totally outside of the able-bodied world.&nbsp; We also get the impression that people that live with disability are sans friendships or relationships outside of their family.&nbsp; By making them alone, we are given a portrayal of them that makes them dehumanized from the beginning.&nbsp; It also means that our primary focus is their relationship with each other, which in itself stems from the viewpoint that they are together because they are lonely and “broken” because of their disabilities. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of this could stem from their viewpoints.&nbsp; They are teenagers.&nbsp; They don’t necessarily have to use people-first language; they aren’t expected to realize that words like “stupid”, “crazy”, “idiot”, and the like are ableist.&nbsp; But the fact remains that their viewpoints never seem to challenge these perceptions.&nbsp; Nor does the narrative.&nbsp; The narrative does put them in enough situations that could, on the surface, be seen as subverting the notion that people living disability can’t do specific things (such as have sex, things stemming from having sex, go to college).&nbsp; <i>Say What You Will </i>unfortunately presents these situations in ways that feel cardboard and cheesy, as if they are public service announcements about things like teen sexual activity, living with depression, being bullied, and a host of other big issue topics.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One example is towards the end of the narrative whenever Amy and Mathew have cut-off communications.&nbsp; She writes a series of emails to him, including one where she admits that she’s in love with him: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You are the fantasy man I’ve given myself in my wildest dreams of a happy adulthood - smart and funny <i>and challenged in some ways as seriously as I am</i>* (pg. 233). &nbsp;</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Emphasis mine</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s also an earlier note where Amy says that she feels Mathew “hides behind [his] OCD” that didn’t exactly make things sound better: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like you hide behind your OCD sometimes.&nbsp; You say, “I have no choice, my brain makes me stand in the bathroom for an hour,” but you d<i>o</i> have a choice.&nbsp; You were making a difference all summer long.&nbsp; Hanging out with me, going to work.&nbsp; As long as no one challenges you or behaves in any unexpected ways, oh, guess what!&nbsp; OCD cured!&nbsp; But if someone is a <i>person</i>, who admits to having made a mistake - you don’t stick around for <i>thirty seconds</i> to talk about it?&nbsp; Suddenly you’re all, where is the nearest bathroom (page 228)?</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is reason for this character to be upset when Mathew leaves her, even though he does leave her because of a legitimate issue that would cause a rift between anyone, but this letter in particular really gives the reader the impression that Amy is right.&nbsp; That OCD is something someone willingly takes on or takes off in order to make their life non-confrontational. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It ends up having an awful effect on the reader’s understanding of OCD.&nbsp; It’s not something Mathew can fix easily.&nbsp; Amy continually tries to “help” his OCD by challenging him, and though she doesn’t say she’s trying to fix him, we constantly get the impression that Mathew can be programmed out of his OCD by his love for Amy.&nbsp; The emphasis on the word “person” in the above quotes gives us the impression that living with disability means you cannot interact with people, that you are less than a person because you cannot conform to social norms. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mathew isn’t exactly free of speaking in ways that seem to suggest a level of ableism.&nbsp; He writes an email to Amy that’s fairly similar in that it’s all ruminating and thoughtful about their past. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I understand what you were trying to say, but I also have to say I don’t believe there’s such a thing as casual sex for people like you and me.&nbsp; How could there be?&nbsp; We don’t have casual relationships with our bodies.&nbsp; They’re unpredictable, humiliating things that have failed us so much it’s hard not to hate them, and impossible to imagine being naked with another person and relaxed at the same time (page 253). &nbsp;</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I do want to stress that we do need to stress that people are allowed to dislike their bodies.&nbsp; The counter-effect to current campaigns about loving your body is that they create the situation wherein people are not allowed to be angry at their bodies.&nbsp; People are allowed to dislike them, to hate them, to feel angry with them.&nbsp; People are allowed to feel what they want to.&nbsp; The problem with Mathew’s narrative is that he makes it seem like living with disability means that your body is not something you can ever like, or have sex with in a way that you would prefer. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When he says that he believes there is no such thing as “casual sex” between people who live with disability, he’s not just saying it to refer to himself and Amy.&nbsp; He’s saying it in reference to anyone living with a disability.&nbsp; “We don’t have casual relationships with our bodies” and “people like you and me” really strike that in particular.&nbsp; Again, an example of dehumanization and othering embedded in the narrative in such a strong, visceral way.&nbsp; A way that is never contested.</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> The worst thing about it all is that the narrative could have challenged these issues more.&nbsp; It could have addressed them and had these character show themselves to be more than the caricatures they have internalized.&nbsp; Instead, we are just led to believe that these images are it; these images are what we are lead to believe is the end-all for these characters, and that it’s all okay because they come out of it in love at the end. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some points do have to be given to McGovern for having a compelling writing voice.&nbsp; I’ll say that, on a voice level, you can’t stop reading even if the story makes you angry as fuck.&nbsp; The voice kind of falls apart towards the end as the story becomes something of a shitstorm of plot problems presented last-minute.&nbsp; Seriously, the last one hundred pages of this book bring out so many issues that come and get resolved with a few finger snaps.&nbsp; They really only serve to feel like tacked-on additions to the plot and reasons for Amy and Mathew to be away from each other longer. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a while, I felt like McGovern was basically giving teens a guidebook to everything that could go wrong just by having sex with someone.&nbsp; It was ridiculous, and I hated the constant impression that Amy would not ever have the chance for casual sex beyond a single post-prom encounter with someone willing and potentially drunk.&nbsp; Amy voices it a few times, and the narrative’s path after the sexual encounter only seems to support that it was a “bad decision” for her in more ways than just her relationship with Mathew.&nbsp; That just infuriated me, because it seemed like Amy would be a sexually positive depiction of someone living with disability, or at least like it would be one that was more subversive than it was direct. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Say What You Will</i> just falls apart when held up to analysis.&nbsp; As a reader, I felt like I was being asked to pity characters and treat them like lesser humans because of that being the basis of their love story.&nbsp; It felt like Amy and Mathew were caricatures of people living with disability, their entire love story revolving around wanting to care for someone “damaged” in the way they weren’t.&nbsp; I’m not sure about McGovern’s qualifications for writing these character viewpoints, but they felt manipulative and problematic more than fresh and honest.&nbsp; I was hoping this book would be one to provide a great, non-ableist view of characters living with disability.&nbsp; Unfortunately, <i>Say What You Will</i> just fails at it.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover caught my attention pretty early on.&nbsp; It's a little too cutesy for my perception of the story, but I would like it on any other sweet contemporary YA book. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 1.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!) &nbsp;</span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/reviewrant-say-what-you-will-by-cammie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4233025993803524213Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:00:00 +00002014-06-10T12:00:03.156-04:004.0 reviewsgargoylesHarlequin TeenJennifer L. Armentroutparanormal romanceReview: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gU_uz7o6_uSavhOvZGaGHIj1ovqG5IrnDmzd1s5UtV0DhLrKkruHMtDc3803SabjGEuKYzJDiVvuwDhcwln8ovBuenWrJ8e_oo2A_-e8TAp-5vnXAYhPF7N-qQXTELzpQUx8vvBK2tjo/s1600/Armentrout,+Jennifer+L_White+Hot+Kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gU_uz7o6_uSavhOvZGaGHIj1ovqG5IrnDmzd1s5UtV0DhLrKkruHMtDc3803SabjGEuKYzJDiVvuwDhcwln8ovBuenWrJ8e_oo2A_-e8TAp-5vnXAYhPF7N-qQXTELzpQUx8vvBK2tjo/s1600/Armentrout,+Jennifer+L_White+Hot+Kiss.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title:&nbsp; White Hot Kiss<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Jennifer L. Armentrout<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Dark Elements #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> To say that the teen book blogging world (that the teen book world in general) has fallen for Jennifer L. Armentrout is an understatement.&nbsp; Armentrout's books have been recommended to me countless times, especially <i>Obsidian</i> and its subsequent sequels.&nbsp; Readers seem to fall for her characters, especially her heroes, and I have finally caved in and had a sip of the Kool-Aid, courtesy of Harlequin Teen and <i>White Hot Kiss</i>.&nbsp; What made me cave was a few recommendations and the promise of gargoyles.&nbsp; You heard me right: gargoyles.&nbsp; Ever since I've read Paige Morgan's <i>The Beautiful and the Cursed</i>, I have been so in love with the idea of gargoyles as a paranormal mythology.&nbsp; Armentrout's gargoyles are in a modern setting, but they are just as swoon-worthy and thought provoking as Morgan's.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> is the teen paranormal novel that we've grown to see as a genre staple - Armentrout adds her own special touch that makes it something that stands out.&nbsp; <br /> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Since she was young, Layla has lived with the gargoyles.&nbsp; Zayne has always been her protector, her stand-in brother.&nbsp; Layla’s spent over seven years crushing on him as a result.&nbsp; The trouble is that, now seventeen, Layla knows just how futile her crush is considering her situation.&nbsp; She may go to school with humans and live with gargoyles, but Layla isn’t quite either of those things.&nbsp; Instead, she is half-gargoyle and half-demon.&nbsp; Her abilities, however, reflect neither of those realities.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With a single kiss, Layla can drain anyone with a soul.&nbsp; She lives with the Wardens - gargoyles charged with keeping humanity safe by hunting demons - in order to keep her abilities in check.&nbsp; Not only would she be completely ignored as an option for marriage in the world of the Wardens, but her kiss would drain any one of them, even someone as powerful as Zayne. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The introduction of Roth into her life only makes things more complicated.&nbsp; Roth is a demon; he is the very thing that the Wardens are charged with fighting.&nbsp; One of Layla’s abilities is to sense demons, and Roth exudes the power of an upper level demon.&nbsp; Demons like Roth are only to be fought by multiple Wardens.&nbsp; Demons like Roth are challenges for people like Zayne.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Layla knows she should stay away from him.&nbsp; As a demon, Roth has no soul.&nbsp; That makes it possible for Layla to kiss him.&nbsp; It’s not just the possibility of physical contact that makes him as attractive as he is dangerous.&nbsp; Roth seems to know things about Layla that she can only guess at; he also questions the world that she comes from, the world that seems to exclude her even as Zayne fiercely protects her.&nbsp; Layla’s past and her dangerous future collide as she struggles to find out who she is, and who she is truly in love with. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jennifer L. Armentrout knows how to write a story that is more than you expect, even if it doesn’t push the boundaries you would expect it to.&nbsp; The world that <i>White Hot Kiss</i> introduces us to (well, that and the prequel novella) is one that manages to be a world of a hierarchy and a mythology; it’s a mixture of contemporary high school and paranormal elements, which is not uncommon in YA, but done in a way that works.&nbsp; It contains elements of adult romance and YA romance.&nbsp; It’s a book that works because it definitely plays to the audience.&nbsp; Which is probably why I enjoyed it despite the concepts and themes it made me question.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Let’s start with the world: it’s an enjoyable idea, the notion of gargoyles protecting human beings and having shapeshifting abilities in order to blend in.&nbsp; Connecting gargoyles to the mythology of heaven and hell also works well.&nbsp; Both of these aspects can also be found in Paige Morgan’s YA gargoyle series, though the books are fundamentally very different beyond those similar mythological principles.&nbsp; Armentrout also uses the gargoyle concept as a way to construct a patriarchal community that resembles a lot of adult paranormal romance novels (think the Black Dagger Brotherhood books) in that it is clearly detrimental to females and promotes structured gender roles.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I found myself questioning what Armentrout was doing with this world.&nbsp; Was it subversive?&nbsp; Was I supposed to be questioning this world that Layla was part of?&nbsp; Is the reason that she falls in love with Roth about her freedom as a woman as much as her freedom as an individual?&nbsp; Or is it more likely just a tendency of popular fiction to create paranormal worlds that seem to conform to these standards. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think Armentrout’s world is a mixture of these two.&nbsp; On one hand, there was a serious tendency for the gargoyles to victim-blame Layla for getting into dangerous situations and protect her because of her being a female.&nbsp; The gargoyle world is also very focused on the idea of having babies and continuing the species, and how having babies means&nbsp; very strict binary relationships.&nbsp; I would like to think that Armentrout was addressing these things fairly based on the construction of the world and was trying to show how Layla fell in love outside of it for a reason - yet she also looks to this world as her home, and it felt like the narrative inherently agreed with and perpetuated these problematic behaviors because of how Layla seemed so complacent to just accept it rather than question it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because of the way that the book seemed to do this, I found myself going in and out with how engaged I was with the story.&nbsp; Most of the mythology outside of the need to procreate and marry within the Warden culture was really interesting.&nbsp; I loved the demonic vs. angelic concepts in particular, as it was a great way to make Roth’s involvement in the story surprising.&nbsp; I won’t say that his character was entirely unexpected, but I think Armentrout does a great job of making us think the story will go one way and then taking it in another direction entirely.&nbsp; A lot of that comes from her skill in creating romantic arcs. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Romantically, I think we see a great (if familiar) triangle between Layla, Zayne, and Roth.&nbsp; Zayne and Layla have a relationship that’s intimate but also one-sided throughout most of the story; his protectiveness makes him a very likely candidate for a love interest, and the way he seems to be pushed towards a Warden from another area adds on some conflict to the mix.&nbsp; Roth is the bad boy who is misunderstood and legitimately bad.&nbsp; He does work in Hell, after all.&nbsp; I liked that both guys cared about Layla and didn’t get too douchey.&nbsp; If anything, I’d say Roth was the better of the two in how he treated Layla because he treated her as an equal.&nbsp; Zayne’s placement in Warden culture makes him a little too patriarchal alpha-male, and while I can see the appeal of that in a fantasy setting, it didn’t feel right when Layla spent so much of the book finding herself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That time spent finding herself is what made the story fun.&nbsp; Armentrout does a great job of intermixing self-reflection, external action and plot, and combining the two with plots and subplots that reveal more of Layla’s character.&nbsp; Through how she deals with her romances and her past, we get a better picture of who Layla is and how she has grown up from the sheltered, reckless person that she was in the beginning.&nbsp; Layla’s a character that is likable and easy to cheer for. While I would have liked her to be a bit more complicated (and maybe less directly likable), she worked for the type of story that this was.&nbsp; The plot itself had enough demon extermination and big reveals to be engaging; I felt like Armentrout only showed us the thinnest layer of the world and its potential, but it was a great way to enter and will appeal to a lot of readers who like their romance stories with a healthy dose of paranormal action. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>White Hot Kiss</i> is the perfect story to sit down with in the summer sun at the beach.&nbsp; While it follows a few tried and true lines of YA paranormal romance (love triangles, protagonist with clearly relative and likable personality traits, plot that takes a while to start up), it also has some smart writing behind it that makes the story feel fresh.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> was just plain fun for me.&nbsp; Not fluffy fun, and not always perfect, but fun none the less.&nbsp; Layla and her narrative captured me and kept me invested; the gargoyle element also worked well and made me curious about future books.&nbsp; This isn’t the book to give to someone if they dislike the paranormal YA field.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> is a sexy paranormal story with a world made for wonderful escapism and a love triangle that will keep you reeling. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Cover:&nbsp; Not the most shocking cover, but I love the color contrast.&nbsp; The physical book also has a wonderful feel to it.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!) <span style="font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span></span></span>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-white-hot-kiss-by-jennifer-l_10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-7164847620207589408Mon, 09 Jun 2014 16:00:00 +00002014-06-09T12:00:01.919-04:004.0 reviewscheatingcontemporaryCorey Ann HayduHarper Collinssecret societysecretsReview: Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71O4fFRxID0B8pQpSmz3K3T0S3f38I5Ytc9Z-UR6_OaOsWc_klvnQ7zsb_OFTvQpxXdLgpiM3uNM4xzt1-7Y_DvKJQGi7XcbtijHiB7A-rq2UmAyT8fXhvuAhbRjtVtRYn4af01tyY3QQ/s1600/Haydu,+Corey+Ann_Life+By+Committee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71O4fFRxID0B8pQpSmz3K3T0S3f38I5Ytc9Z-UR6_OaOsWc_klvnQ7zsb_OFTvQpxXdLgpiM3uNM4xzt1-7Y_DvKJQGi7XcbtijHiB7A-rq2UmAyT8fXhvuAhbRjtVtRYn4af01tyY3QQ/s1600/Haydu,+Corey+Ann_Life+By+Committee.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Life by Committee<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Corey Ann Haydu<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Katharine Teagan Books<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;Standalone<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;None<br /> <br /> <br /> Difficult books can be both rewarding and frustrating. &nbsp;YA contemporary novels have a tendency to be difficult in ways that don't challenge the reader too broadly. &nbsp;Issues are presented that are dark and defiant, yet the characters are all too sympathetic or simple. &nbsp;YA often sees the world in black-and-white with its characters tending towards being the most sympathetic heroes and its villains (even if they are presented as issues as opposed to characters) to be the most dastardly villains. &nbsp;So what happens when an author turns those ideas around and presents a scenario with deconstructed aspects of that black-and-white mentality? &nbsp;That friend that strays away and becomes pretty and boy crazy - what if she's more than misguided and searching for popularity? &nbsp;What if there is more to her than meets the eye, and what if it's less about right and wrong than it is about decisions, choices, and emotions. &nbsp;Corey Ann Haydu explores these themes in <i>Life by Committee</i>, which is a contemporary YA novel that seeks to take the common theme of a girl becoming beautiful and/or popular and question what lies beyond it. <br /> <br /> Getting hot is supposed to signify new friends, new romances, and new popularity - right? &nbsp;Tabitha's high school career has led to her becoming hot. &nbsp;Somewhere in the past year, she has grown breasts and curves, highlighted her hair, and started wearing sexier clothes. &nbsp;Her best friends said they were "concerned" about her, that she was taking a troubling path to her life. &nbsp;All because one of them had a brother who was interested in her all of a sudden. &nbsp;Tabitha went from comrade to slut in what seemed like an instant, all because of her physical appearance. &nbsp;Her friends dropped her and left her alone. &nbsp;Her saving grace is Joe.<br /> <br /> Joe is popular. &nbsp;He's not super popular: the group of athletes at their crunchy-granola private school have managed to rise to the top, but athletes like Joe just lack the charisma to be at the top of the top. He's more of a sidekick than a ring leader. &nbsp;He also has a girlfriend by the name of Sasha. &nbsp;Sasha is the type of girl that reads 19th century poetry while in a pool of vintage black lace. &nbsp;People say they're in love; Joe says that he loves her, that he's obligated to be with her because of her living with panic attacks. &nbsp;Sasha needs Joe. &nbsp;Yet, somehow Joe needs a refuge, and that refuge becomes his online flirtations with Tab. <br /> <br /> The start of the next school year means something new for their flirtation. &nbsp;Tab's only friend at school is Elise, a closeted lesbian who doesn't take any of Tab's bullshit. &nbsp;She finds that she keeps the intensity of her relationship with Joe to herself. &nbsp;A secret. &nbsp;She even keeps it from her parents, the hippie couple that had her at sixteen and own a hip tea/coffee shop in their small Vermont town. &nbsp;Tab feels that she has to bottle up her emotions, until she reads a copy of <i>The Secret Garden</i> that is marked up with margin notes that reflect her situation perfectly. &nbsp;The end of the book has a link to a website - Life by Committee - which professes to be an outlet for your deepest secrets. &nbsp;You post a secret at least once a week and the website's head assigns you a task to complete in order to better your life. &nbsp;The catch? &nbsp;If you fail, the secrets get leaked.<br /> <br /> Tab posts a secret about kissing Joe, "someone else's boyfriend." &nbsp;The members of the site immediately post about it to support her. &nbsp;Zed, the website's mastermind, gives her an assignment: kiss him again. <br /> <br /> <i>Life by Committee</i> is hard to pin down. &nbsp;On the surface, the idea will put off a lot of people. &nbsp;The main character does desire a boy that is taken by someone else. &nbsp;(I believe Susan Colasanti also wrote a book like this in a different tone.) &nbsp;There is a lot of hope in the beginning that circumstances will make this story the black-and-white YA it could be. &nbsp;Joe could be amazing and Sasha manipulative; Tab could have been misunderstood; her old friends could have just been mean, stupid, and shallow. &nbsp;So many aspects of this book could have been written in a way that was cliche and meant to reinforce the traditional moral binary of YA. &nbsp;Haydu takes a different route, which is what makes the story interesting even when it's not always easy to empathize with.<br /> <br /> First of all, Tabitha is a character who is very much focused on her romance. &nbsp;She continually confronts characters that reflect this issue with her. &nbsp;Her former best friends are worried about her being "boy crazy", her guidance counselor calls her into the office for "exploring her adulthood", and the narrative consistently shows how she turns to Joe and his flirtations (online and later offline) as a way of feeling fulfilled and socially whole. &nbsp;Tabitha denies what this obsession with Joe means to her. &nbsp;Haydu makes a unique difference here in that Tabitha is never truly pictured as wrong for wanting something with a guy. &nbsp;As much as the narrative shows her to be confused and morally in the gray because of what she does, she's never one to say that the way that she looks, dresses, or acts makes her an inherently awful person at the end of the day. &nbsp;The narrative occasionally walks the line of slut-shaming because of how Tabitha seems to acquiesce to some of these issues by the end of the book, as if some of these judgements about her were valid in how they were presented, but the story is so complicated that it doesn't really come across that way when put into context. <br /> <br /> There's also the matter of the romance. &nbsp;<i>Life by Committee</i> is not a romance. &nbsp;Not even close. &nbsp;The book follows a narrative arc that heavily suggests a romance. &nbsp;Most readers will probably suspect that something will come around early on to indicate that Joe will be the one for Tab, or that Tab will fall for another character that appears soon after and becomes more important and kinder. &nbsp;While some of that does occur, it never becomes a major part of the narrative. &nbsp;<i>Life by Committee</i> focuses more on what all of this means in Tab's life at large. &nbsp;What does revealing secrets about herself mean in regards to her life? &nbsp;What does she give up in the name of "growing" whenever she continues her flirtations? &nbsp;Is it good or bad if she lets others decide how to view her life? &nbsp;It looks at her relationship with her parents, her friends, and her peers. &nbsp;It asks if the girl who loves to read the notes others write in novels is the same girl that wants to kiss the stoner athlete dating someone else. &nbsp;Tab's voice may be specifically geared to her worries about Joe, but the narrative on the whole really does look at many facets of her life and how they are affected by the secrets she keeps. <br /> <br /> Secrets lead to a lot of intriguing themes and twists throughout the book. &nbsp;Some twists at the end are expected, yet the way they are tied into the theme of secrecy is intriguing. &nbsp;Haydu doesn't approach things head on. &nbsp;Much like my creative writing professor said to me, she approaches them "from a side door." &nbsp;Even if the reader knows what is going to happen in general, there is a lot about the narrative leading up the reveal that leads the reader away from the twist. &nbsp;I think the focus on Tab's parents and how her emotional distance from them is a huge plus as well. &nbsp;Between Tab's parents and Elise, we see &nbsp;how secret keeping is a consistent theme that leads her to joining the LBC. &nbsp;LBC then becomes another secret she has to keep on top of her other ones. &nbsp;As she reveals them, she makes new ones, and she has no idea what will get her out of that spiral when it becomes too much for her. <br /> <br /> I think the secret keeping can make her frustrating. &nbsp;Readers who want a narrator that is pretty objective about their life should not expect that in this novel. &nbsp;If anything, Tab's lack of reliability on her emotional state is the biggest selling point of her voice as a character. &nbsp;Readers know that the experience will be real and innovative in a way that most YA first person narration may lack. &nbsp;However, this means that her obsession with Joe and her constant back-and-forth about her life is displayed prominently. &nbsp;It means that readers have to bear through aspects of Tab's life that aren't enjoyable to read about frequently. &nbsp;They have to watch her make many mistakes and be so, so unsure about the people in her life. &nbsp;They also have to come to the realization that nothing is going to end perfectly despite what Tab learns throughout her story. &nbsp;What I most loved about LBC, even as it frustrated me, was the way that it left me questioning which characters were "right". &nbsp;You never really know if Tabitha cares about Elise as much as she used to care for her old friends. &nbsp;You never know if Sasha and Joe are in love-love, or if Tab's parents are making changes to their parenting style that will be good in the long run. &nbsp;There are many open-ended questions to this narrative, and I liked that. <br /> <br /> All of that being said, I do think that the narrative suffers in some areas because of all of these complexities. &nbsp;The story moves at a slow pace because of Tab's deep point of view. &nbsp;Her narrative voice is so strong and so invested in a few particular aspects of her life that it can be overwhelming. &nbsp;I also would have liked more characterization in a few background characters. &nbsp;Those outside of Tabitha's immediate worries are so sidelined in that department that they get lost in the dust. &nbsp;It fits her point of view, yet it still makes the narrative seem less complex on the whole. &nbsp;I also felt as though the ending tacked on a romantic arc that was a little too predictable and underdeveloped to be believable to me. &nbsp;While Haydu suggests it and doesn't timeline it to a specific amount of time following the book's closing, it does still give a sense of being "too soon". &nbsp;In some ways, I would have loved to see Tab going without a romance at the end and focusing more on her sense of self and what it means to begin reclaiming friendship. &nbsp;I think Haydu took a copout with that section of the story that devolved it from the complex, challenging narrative it was for most of the book.<br /> <br /> <i>Life by Committee</i> is not something one can categorize. &nbsp;It deconstructs a lot of things that YA books in general have a tendency to perpetuate in regards to character morality and like ability, yet it also ends up using a trope or two at its end that devalues the unique experience the narrative started off as. &nbsp;The narrator is someone that is worth reading about even if she isn't always easy to read about in-voice. &nbsp;Needless to say, it's a challenging text that asks a lot of questions and leaves the reader with even more. &nbsp;I think people looking for a contemporary YA that does more than expected will be thrilled with this one, even if it doesn't aways succeed in what it sets out to do. &nbsp;I will certainly be reading more from Haydu as an author after this experience.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;I love the cover of this. &nbsp;Not only does it relate to the plot of the text, but the coloring and image aren't too trope-oriented. &nbsp;They actually stand out on the shelf.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;4.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!) http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-life-by-committee-by-corey-ann.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4601263331236657441Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-02-05T10:00:06.581-05:003.0 reviewsableismdiseasefuturisticpseudo-scienceseriesSophie JordanReview: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9oJ0QgVkX95eBDQlY2LsNpIPiuLwPOKjBf4Eu84wZYS9E24lPHjuLaTLSdlGUgcWqc0xIbw25xNALgFS-9HGZO78qzzx27C9idDCm4jlHqmAOV7iWqrgtKB84ddpf5-sE4oFexnfkPdA/s1600/Jordan,+Sophie+-+Uninvited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9oJ0QgVkX95eBDQlY2LsNpIPiuLwPOKjBf4Eu84wZYS9E24lPHjuLaTLSdlGUgcWqc0xIbw25xNALgFS-9HGZO78qzzx27C9idDCm4jlHqmAOV7iWqrgtKB84ddpf5-sE4oFexnfkPdA/s1600/Jordan,+Sophie+-+Uninvited.jpg" height="320" width="217" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Uninvited<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Sophie Jordan<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harper Teen<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;Uninvited #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Firelight; Vanish; Hidden; Foreplay<br /> <br /> <br /> I am a Sophie Jordan fanboy. &nbsp;After loving her Firelight trilogy and her first foray into the New Adult genre (<i>Foreplay</i>), I was more than up for giving her new young adult series a chance. &nbsp;Uninvited is perfectly on-trend with the current market of YA books that explore scientific (or pseudo-scientific) concepts in a context that feels modern or futuristic to some degree. &nbsp;It's very much an off-shoot of the dystopian and post-apocalyptic sub genres that are winding down in popularity. &nbsp;Jordan is very good at writing stories that work well with genre trends, and I don't think Uninvited is any different. &nbsp;While I didn't love it as much as her New Adult book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it for the escapism, the romance, and the action. &nbsp;<i>Uninvited</i> is a book that readers who love fast-paced stories will devour. <br /> <br /> Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS) has recently been discovered. &nbsp;The United States is scrambling to figure out what this means for the population on the whole. &nbsp;One thing seems to be consistent with gathered data: the increase in tested-HTS cases directly correlates to an increase in violent crimes. &nbsp;Something within the body of humans is manifesting itself in violent tendencies that often result in incidents of individual, or even mass, violence. &nbsp;According to the government, measurements have to be taken in order to make sure that HTS doesn't result in a generation of killers because the general people deserve their safety. <br /> <br /> Privileged seventeen year-old prodigy Davy Hamilton never expected to test positive for HTS. &nbsp;She has a fabulous boyfriend that she thinks she's in love with; she can sing like an angel and play several instruments; she has gotten into Julliard. &nbsp;Everything about Davy's life is perfect - certainly nothing has related to violence. &nbsp;The testing sends Davy into a spiral. &nbsp;She's expelled from her private school and sent to a public school system where the few HTS-positive students are kept in a classroom called The Cage. &nbsp;Davy now has a caseworker, the chance of being reported and marked if she exhibits violent behavior, and will never attend Julliard. <br /> <br /> The Cage puts Davy's life into a little more perspective. &nbsp;With the only other girl deadly quiet and all but one of the boys showing some level of aggression, it's clear that Davy's prim-and-proper attitude will need some adjusting if she'll survive among those infected with HTS. &nbsp;The predatory teacher assigned to watch them doesn't make things any easier. &nbsp;Davy's only hopes are a scrawny kid with more brains than brawn and Sean, a tough, silent type that seems to be the defender of the group. &nbsp;Davy's time with HTS makes her question even her longest-running relationships as friendships fall apart and romances break up. &nbsp;In a world where the only people to trust are those labelled with the same supposedly destructive disease, can Davy survive? &nbsp;Can she remain the same person that she always was, or is she destined to become a killer? <br /> <br /> <b>Confession #1: &nbsp;The scientific premise of this book is illogical.</b><br /> <b><br /></b> <b>Confession #2: &nbsp;This book addresses an extremely privileged character without much context, and is not a good representation of a character understanding their privilege or checking it. </b><br /> <b><br /></b> <b>Confession #3: &nbsp;I still really enjoyed reading it, but not because of #1 or #2. </b><br /> <br /> So, let's start with #1. &nbsp;It's pretty obvious that a disease that makes a group of people "killers" is illogical. &nbsp;On top of that, Jordan's world is not built to make this premise truly understandable within the context of the idea. &nbsp;It's the epitome of a "high concept" book that doesn't necessarily transition that concept into something that works on a minute detailed scale. &nbsp;We are never told where this disease stems from; we are never told how one is tested for it or where it originates; we are never told why this disease was discovered in the first place, how it supposedly effects those that have it, or how the disease manages to just make people more prone to violence. &nbsp;Turning it into a disease also has severe implications in other regards. &nbsp;It is supposedly recessive and passed from both parents, but because it's supposedly linked to genetics, does that imply that it's mental. &nbsp;And if so, why is immediately vilified as a disease and why are the people that are infected with it demonized? &nbsp;It could have potentially been commentary on how mentally able people are prejudiced against those with mental differences to the point where they assume that they are more likely to be violent, but it didn't have enough support in the writing or the world building to back up that potential outcome. &nbsp;I found myself wondering exactly how I was expected to believe that this was logical when the potential for the concept was set aside in favor of more conventional YA world-building tropes. <br /> <br /> On to #2! &nbsp;Davy is a character with a voice that is reasonably distressed, confused, sad - everything one would expect in this situation - and it's easy to read in the sense that the pacing of the narration and the internal monologue vs. external action is perfect. &nbsp;Sophie Jordan's narrators are always interesting and engaging when it comes to their style of narration, with just enough description of emotions to make the story personally connective. &nbsp;I liked reading about Davy when it came to those aspects. &nbsp;I also felt that Davy gained some sense of self throughout the story, though she tended to be reactive versus proactive (for instance: she doesn't have the escape plans, she doesn't fight back save for when she's emotionally beaten down). &nbsp;There's one scene where she does take the lead despite some sexist assumptions from a random secondary character. &nbsp;I appreciated that nod towards her being intelligent and able, though it doesn't happen enough in the story for her to be overwhelmingly strong as a female character. <br /> <br /> But, more to the point of #2, Davy is privileged. &nbsp;Her family is wealthy enough to bribe someone once before she's infected with HTS, and she has enough natural talent in music to get into Julliard. &nbsp;She's gone to private school in an upper-class neighborhood, has many internalized class privileges she doesn't acknowledge, and never encounters a non-white/heterosexual/cisgendered character throughout her journey. &nbsp;Even when she's presented with the conflicts of being labeled with a disease or when she meets people of different classes, Davy is called out for being different and doesn't realize that it's total bullshit that she's different because she's more "prim and proper" because of her upbringing. &nbsp;There's also the simple fact that a musical prodigy such as Davy would be much more active in music if she would retain her ability. &nbsp;We never get scenes of her practicing until later on in the story, and even then it's not frequent or described with much detail. &nbsp;Someone good enough to get into Julliard would reasonably have an intensive practice schedule or at least an intensive understanding of the weight of musical practice and devotion. &nbsp;Davy's narration puts her into a position where it seems to just come naturally to her, and that comes across as both unrealistic and privileged. &nbsp;I enjoyed reading Davy's narration a lot, but these problems stuck out after I finished reading in an unpleasant way. <br /> <br /> #3 is where it gets confusing. &nbsp;Despite the above issues, I really did love reading <i>Uninvited</i> at the time. &nbsp;Jordan's writing is easy to fall into. &nbsp;Her romance writing is excellent - Sean is legitimately a solid love interest, and his love story with Davy is pretty balanced along with the action sequence. &nbsp;All of the action sequences coupled with the tragic events hit the market demand in ways that were appealing, tropeish, but still original. &nbsp;I still want to read the second book a lot to find out what happens afterwords. &nbsp;In a lot of ways, I think the writing within this book has grown substantially from that of the first Firelight book. &nbsp;The addition of the questionable world-building and themes of privilege is what disconnects me from truly adoring this book on a constructive level. &nbsp;On a level of pure enjoyment it's grand, but acknowledging the issues within the narrative leads me to being less enthusiastic about the book than I was when I had just finished it. <br /> <br /> Do I think every reader will love this book? &nbsp;No. &nbsp;I would go so far as to say that readers tired reading about privileged characters who tend towards being "special snowflakes" will want to stay away from this book, as well as readers that would find the HTS science to be offensive (because of its lack of depth or because of its potentially negative themes). &nbsp;Readers that want an engrossing story, that enjoy Jordan's style and may not notice or agree with the above statements will probably adore it. &nbsp;It's simply a matter of which type of reader you are. &nbsp;Me? &nbsp;I'm squarely in the middle because I find both issues important, and I am going to have to grade the book lower and hope that the second book addresses some of my issues with the world. &nbsp;It's such a great book in theory - I just wish that it held up under critical analysis. <br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;Eh. &nbsp;I love the shine in her hair, but it doesn't really capture me or make me think "wow". &nbsp;The color scheme is also extremely similar to Lauren Oliver's cover for Panic, which is funny considering how close the release dates are (and that the publisher is the same).<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;3.0 Stars &nbsp;(Because of the issues of privilege and the world, I had to lower the book's grade a few notches.) <br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) <br /> <br />http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-uninvited-by-sophie-jordan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-5859686921602855885Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-31T10:00:01.902-05:004.0 reviewsGena ShowalterHarlequin TeenserieszombiesReview: Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaaenNnANLaHY3-A9CHwJ1EuR_FC0TUlsJoP56KIGqIsZsINVi_Dy97f8QuETvRtE7JvUy-Ks_Bg_MGuiyHUcyAkJ8cmvKFkTdqrlHFAYi1-397u6zOwhaBvicUhEDDyUTZs6SMYrlrMD/s1600/Showalter%252C+Gena+-+Through+the+Zombie+Glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaaenNnANLaHY3-A9CHwJ1EuR_FC0TUlsJoP56KIGqIsZsINVi_Dy97f8QuETvRtE7JvUy-Ks_Bg_MGuiyHUcyAkJ8cmvKFkTdqrlHFAYi1-397u6zOwhaBvicUhEDDyUTZs6SMYrlrMD/s1600/Showalter%252C+Gena+-+Through+the+Zombie+Glass.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Through the Zombie Glass<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Gena Showalter<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;White Rabbit Chronicles #2<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Intertwined; Unravelled; Alice in Zombieland<br /> <br /> <br /> I've talked before about my love of the first book in this series. &nbsp;When you take a shot of the Gena Showalter whiskey, you have to come back for another one (or two, or three...) I went from thinking her work needed improvement to adoring her YA novels. &nbsp;Her adult novels are perhaps even better, but <i>Alice in Zombieland</i> was a brilliant YA paranormal novel with a main character that kicked butt, had a great romance, and appealed to me with her loyalty to her friends and family. &nbsp;<i>Through the Zombie Glass </i>is a sequel I've anticipated reading since I read the first book, and I'm happy to have finally taken the time to revisit Ali and her zombie-hunting friends. &nbsp;While this book is a little less perfect than the first one, it still recreates the magic of the first book (and the kissing - oh, the kissing). <br /> <br /> Ali has overcome the death of her parents and has embraced the zombie hunting abilities inherited from both. &nbsp;With her little sister Emma lingering on the fringes of Ali's life as a guardian angel, she has the ability to move forward. &nbsp;Her newfound love with Cole and the strengthened friendships she's made after learning to defend herself even more has made Ali into a strong, capable girl ready to fight. &nbsp;She still finds it hard to deal with sometimes, the thoughts of living life without her family, but she knows that they are in a better place and that she is happy.<br /> <br /> The addition of two new people to the team, one being Cole's ex, puts unnecessary stress on the situation as Ali begins to wonder who is worth trusting. &nbsp;A stray zombie bite also manages to inject venom into Ali's system, causing her to experience moments where she feels as though she has two hearts. &nbsp;A hearty dose of the antidote seems like it does the job - until Ali starts hearing a voice in her head and seeing a zombie-version of herself in the mirror. &nbsp;This self never goes away. &nbsp;This self is a lot like Ali.<br /> <br /> Except this self is a zombie. &nbsp;It wants to hurt the people that Ali loves. &nbsp;Just as she realizes that she is becoming a danger to herself, Cole distances himself from her and strains their relationship. &nbsp;Ali feels abandoned just when she needs someone most; to protect the people she loves, she has to start finding out a way to fix things. She can't go to anyone in her group about it at the risk of being removed because of her condition. &nbsp;The only opportunity to cure herself may lie with the enemy. &nbsp;As the rabbit clouds begin to appear in the sky more frequently, zombie attacks increase, and Ali finds herself racing against the clock to save herself and the people she loves from falling prey to a deadlier threat than they could have ever imagined.<br /> <br /> A story inspired by Alice in Wonderland with zombies. &nbsp;That initial premise of this series captured me and still has in its second installment. &nbsp;There's something inherently interesting about it. &nbsp;Showalter has some unique ideas for her paranormal worlds, but this one is by far the most unique in terms of its inception, and I think that she explores the possibilities in this installment in regards to the zombie aspects specifically. &nbsp;The story in many ways combines elements of Showalter's adult series (a group of badass, sometimes morally questionable or slightly sexist guys and occasionally girls) with elements of her YA series (focus on romantic issues that expand beyond a single book), and I think the combination works well. &nbsp;This installment struggles a bit more with balancing these things, but it brings some new conflicts to the table that promise good things for a future book(s) in the series. <br /> <br /> Ali is a character that I've enjoyed because of her ability to fight. &nbsp;There's something very nice about a female character depicted as physically capable, a female character that goes against her boyfriend if it means doing what she thinks is best. &nbsp;There's a tendency for Ali to carry a depiction of naiveté in the narrative that I don't always enjoy, but she usually comes across as strong and capable. &nbsp;I think that said characterization is strengthened in this book because of Cole's distancing issue. &nbsp;Some of Ali's narrative is a bit too focused on wanting Cole back or being jealous of Cole (though it is fairly realistic internal dialogue for a teenager in love), but she is also consistently forced to focus on other matters as she deals with this second zombie self growing inside of her and consistently manifesting. She never backs down and she never lets herself succumb to the evil without a fight. &nbsp;There's a sense of strong morality in Ali that grows within this book as she fights this dark self that appears. &nbsp;Morality tends to be a big part of this series, and I think this time around the theme is a little more subtle and flows better with Ali's character overall. &nbsp;Two things that bothered me included Ali's tendency to slut-shame, which I have to deduct points for because it was seen as completely acceptable and never questioned/challenged, and the lack of swearing. &nbsp;I know that Cole's character doesn't want to "corrupt" Ali, but it's starting to feel very forced in terms of the overall narrative. &nbsp;I'm all for Ali wanting to have sex and building up to that internally, but the hypocrisy and problematic thoughts in other areas kind of negated the sex-positivity Ali was gaining in terms of her own body.<br /> <br /> Of the other characters, it was a strong mixture between interesting and consistent (which is good) but not exciting. &nbsp;Cole is still just as dark/brooding/gorgeous/broken as ever, but this time around he comes across as less kind and aware of Ali's needs as he did in the previous book. &nbsp;As a reader, I understood his motivation to some extent, but it turned into a situation where Cole was being blatantly immature in keeping secrets from Ali. &nbsp;I think that Showalter does it well in regards to showing how that breeds mistrust within a relationship after the basis of honesty has been established, but it still got to the point where I was less of a fan of Cole. &nbsp;I think that the additional team members and Ali's friendships are both featured well - not as much as they should be, but it was helpful that Cole's issues were able to bring in the possibility of Ali having other relationships. &nbsp;I liked that she continued to be sassy and peppy towards the other zombie hunters; her personality was at its strongest when she was forced to confront her friends while struggling to save them from the monster within her. &nbsp;Ali's grandmother is also the sweetest character in the history of sweet supportive characters - it may not be the most realistic, but I wish my grandmother could be counted on to be supportive of me if I was from a dual lineage of zombie hunters. &nbsp;It's not something you may want your grandparent to be right away, but Ali's grandmother proves that it's a good skill to have.<br /> <br /> <i>Through the Zombie Glass</i> is just as exciting as its predecessor, but the first two hundred pages have more introspection and setup than one would hope for a series that's pretty solid in its action novel tendencies. &nbsp;I liked getting back into the groove of Ali's voice and narrative style, but it got a little hard to handle when the first book ended with such a good bang. &nbsp;The narrative also starts off with a more romance-centered approach, which, as stated above, isn't the book's strong suit in terms of creating a situation that feels balanced (even if it is also accurate). &nbsp;The second half poses many more questions and concerns in regards to the world and what the zombies are really doing there; it also doesn't focus as much on the blatant good versus evil dichotomy of the zombies and the zombie slayers, which help the story to feel more organic and less based on a moral code. &nbsp;The story ends with a solid punch that will leave readers wanting to know more. &nbsp;Showalter has enough material for at least one other book in the series. &nbsp;Ali's narrative is also too juicy to ignore, so I look forward to seeing what further conflicts arise within the various characters as the zombie/world building questions come to a climax within the series arc. <br /> <br /> Overall, while <i>Through the Zombie Glass </i>doesn't quite live up to the totally-awesome, addictive quality of the first book, it does more than a fair job at maintaining the momentum of the action sequences and the interesting main character. &nbsp;Some of the book's pitfalls hit some of my issue buttons (mainly the slut-shaming and similar elements there), while others got better as the story went on (the pacing and the romantic issues with Cole). &nbsp;Readers will be more than satisfied by this installment. &nbsp;Showalter has a good stride with her YA writing, and she doesn't skip the heat or the passion in her romantic arcs, so I'm more than confident that the next book will be worth the wait.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;I don't like the cover model on this one as much (she looks a little off), but the design and the creepiness of the cover is gorgeous.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;4.0 &nbsp;Stars <br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!)http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-through-zombie-glass-by-gena.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6081478257383635591Tue, 28 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-28T10:00:02.730-05:005.0 reviewsdebut novelfairy talefantasyretellingRosamund HodgeReview: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqBS9QZBFC5eVPi_mZ8gy4h0XmA3VQhfvUeYgVDSqhDxOJJuZK1xwQXJ8yVRgzRq-jyixvgVf_D9J7Tm3CGmNppE43A8cfHgT0FrnIvGY07YfRnDmWjhBRl-x5qsFDLDfgIvlM0LEs10P/s1600/Hodge,+Rosamund+-+Cruel+Beauty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqBS9QZBFC5eVPi_mZ8gy4h0XmA3VQhfvUeYgVDSqhDxOJJuZK1xwQXJ8yVRgzRq-jyixvgVf_D9J7Tm3CGmNppE43A8cfHgT0FrnIvGY07YfRnDmWjhBRl-x5qsFDLDfgIvlM0LEs10P/s1600/Hodge,+Rosamund+-+Cruel+Beauty.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title:&nbsp; Cruel Beauty<br /> <br /> Author: Rosamund Hodge<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Balzar &amp; Bray<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> I don't do gif reviews, but I would for this book.<br /> <br /> I had no idea that I would read a book that I would clearly designate as one of my favorites of the year so far this early on, especially with how my reading has been going lately.&nbsp; <i>Cruel Beauty </i>promises to be many things based on the marketing; its cover is gorgeous and melodramatic with its endless staircase entwined with the insides of a bloody rose, and the back cover copy uses short, powerful statements in order to make the story seem mysterious.&nbsp; The entire thing suggests a YA paranormal romance.&nbsp; Let me tell you a secret, readers: this book is so much more.<br /> <br /> So.&nbsp; Much.&nbsp; More.<br /> <br /> This book made my heart ache because it was so much more than I expected.&nbsp; Believe me when I tell you that there is something about this story that is special.&nbsp; It's not just the 'Beauty and the Beast' tale retold; it's a timeless tale all its own, inspired by stories of fantasy and gods.&nbsp; <i>Cruel Beauty</i> is an earthquake.<br /> <br /> A demonic prince reigns over a land that was once a part of a larger world. &nbsp;A parchment sky is in place, looming over the villages that fear the prince. &nbsp;He is known for granting favors; they always come with a price. &nbsp;Once upon a time, a man and his wife wanted children, but the wife was unable to bear them. &nbsp;The man went to the demonic prince with the hopes of having a favor granted - compromise would be made so the children and his wife would be safe from unjust consequences. &nbsp;The prince granted the man's wish, and the wife was overjoyed when she became pregnant with twins. &nbsp;As with most fairytales, the birth of the girls was unsettled due to inevitable tragedy: their mother died.<br /> <br /> Nyx was one of those twins. &nbsp;She has been trained from a young age to incite her father's revenge in the completion of his half of the compromise. &nbsp;In order for Nyx's father to complete the requirements for his bargain, one of his daughters is required to marry the demon prince. &nbsp;Nyx is the daughter destined for this. &nbsp;Unlike her sister, there is an ever-present darkness in her heart because of the resentment of this marriage. &nbsp;Nyx can never fall in love; she can never go to school to study the magic that makes up her world. &nbsp;Nyx is destined to marry, and therefore she is trained to kill.<br /> <br /> She is taken there at seventeen - a sweeping castle that is both archaic and timeless, a dark place where the prince, known as The Gentle Lord to his people, lives untouched by death. &nbsp;Nyx is prepared with a dagger gifted to her by her sister with the hopes that the old tale of a "virgin with a virgin blade" would have some truth to it. &nbsp;Entering the castle presents her with a world much darker than she ever anticipated. &nbsp;Ignifex, The Gentle Lord himself, is a being with strands of evil corseting his heart, yet he doesn't force himself upon Nyx. &nbsp;His shadow servant also appears to be more than a demon in disguise. &nbsp;Nyx finds herself stuck in a world where the darkness and the light within it vie for her attention, her heart, and her vengeance. &nbsp;She will find that evil cannot go unloved, and that revenge must be enacted.<br /> <br /> There is nothing more interesting than a take on an old story that fleshes it out into something totally different. &nbsp;<i>Cruel Beauty</i> is that; it is 'Beauty and the Beast' but with more magic and nuance. &nbsp;The first fifty pages of the book are also vastly different from the rest of it. &nbsp;The narration of the story is from a character prone to describing everything, a character who is emotional and extremely frustrated with the dark parts of herself. &nbsp;The first fifty pages thus serve primarily as the backstory/character voice-dump of the story. &nbsp;Moving beyond that is where the story gets true life. &nbsp;It's a deep Italian opera with songs of a pinnacled bass and an airy soprano. &nbsp;The book finds itself exploring the depths of what it means to be good and evil. &nbsp;'Beauty and the Beast' as a fairytale is one that develops on the polarization of this theme, whereas <i>Cruel Beauty </i>takes this polarization and asks what it means to have nuances. &nbsp;Beauty has as much evil in her as she does good. &nbsp;Beast is evil but with kindness somewhere within the evil. &nbsp;He has his own set of morals. &nbsp;Evil is not total, and neither is good.<br /> <br /> I think that Nyx's narration grew on me because she learned to embrace her anger. &nbsp;This fairytale retelling stands out because the female character learns to be angry; she learns that she should not hate herself for thinking bad thoughts, but she should learn to balance those with positive thoughts. &nbsp;It's about learning that being a self-serving person doesn't destroy her as a human being. &nbsp;In some ways, Nyx is a better person for thinking about herself because she is able to focus on her survival and her own happiness. &nbsp;She was never happy as a martyr character because it was never voluntary; Nyx was not given the chance to choose, nor was she given the opportunity to live with complete freedom prior to her " choice". &nbsp;Because of this, she is a forced martyr, and she is forced to put everyone ahead of herself without any true reason. &nbsp;This makes her resentment and anger understandable; it also makes her attraction to Ignifex and his shadow servant make sense. &nbsp;They represent the polarized good and evil, light and dark, shadow and substance. &nbsp;Nyx constantly finds herself learning new things that tip the scales out of balance as she realizes that the perceived morality around her wasn't as black-and-white as she initially interpreted it. &nbsp;I think Nyx's struggles with understanding revenge, fate, and deception were excellent. &nbsp;There was never a time when I thought that she was a character that did something without thinking; there was also never a time when I felt like she only presented a situation in a boring, predictable, one-sided way. &nbsp;Nyx has the ability to perceive things in ways that challenge a reader's preconceptions as to how her romantic story arc will go down. &nbsp;In many ways, her kick-assery as a heroine is perfect because it involves her learning to eschew expectations and embrace the harder decisions found within the darkness of her soul.<br /> <br /> I thought that the usage of Ignifex and his shadow servant was excellent because of this breakdown of polarization. &nbsp;There's something brilliantly thematic about using these two prongs of a "love triangle" to explain the ways in which light and shadow work in the human soul. &nbsp;Ignifex stole my heart because he was blatantly evil, yet he respected Nyx when it came to her body. &nbsp;He never practiced the idea of having sex with her just because they were married. &nbsp;He never forced himself on her physically. &nbsp;He still had the darkness of being the one in charge within the captivity fantasy (although we as readers soon learn that his situation is much more complicated than that), but he has good qualities about himself. &nbsp;We also see Ignifex as a character who feels trapped, whose self-doubt and attempts at forgetting the bigger issues in his life make him vulnerable and sensitive beneath his snarky angst. &nbsp;The shadow character, Shade, is interesting as well because he is the character that is presented as the "insta-luv" option, but he quickly becomes something different as Nyx learns more about him and the house. &nbsp;I felt that these two characters balanced each other well with their connections, their ties to each other, and the way they foil each other in Nyx's quest to save herself and the world around her.<br /> <br /> Hodge's world is one that is lush, brilliant, and filled with monsters. &nbsp;Shadows and sorcery bleed together in a world inspired by the Greek myths; the inspiration is far more complex and subtle at times than one would think, and it is integrated in a way that seeps into the core of the narrative itself. &nbsp;Fables and stories are themes that come in at every interval - from the library with blackened holes in the pages of its books to the way that myths are retold (both the myths of Hodge's world and the myths of the Greeks). &nbsp;It also asks the questions of who the true causes behind the myths are. &nbsp;What beings are pushing the hands of fate, and why do they desire everything to be filled with consequences and impossible riddles? &nbsp;How is one able to understand these things that make everyone into pawns? &nbsp;Is our world real, or is it one of fantasy, fable, and village songs? &nbsp;The house itself becomes a character as its tricks weave into Nyx's narrative. &nbsp;In many ways, this story is reminiscent of fantasy tales in how it presents its lead character with periodic trials and puzzles to overcome. &nbsp;Fans of role-playing video games may notice a similarity in how these puzzles work; it also has a slight throwback to an anime, too, because of how the characters are presented with such layered polarity within the framework of a quest and puzzles. <br /> <br /> Magic works in a system that fits the world as well. &nbsp;It's based on the idea of connecting the four elements, and the connections often are imbued within "hearts", at least in regards to the castle. &nbsp;There isn't as much of the magic in the middle of the book, but it is used often enough to give the reader a solid idea of what the magic needs in order to function and what limitations it has. &nbsp;It's a different way to go about creating a magical system based on elemental affinities and connectivity, and I loved that about it. &nbsp;I find myself wishing that Hodge would have explored the magic more. &nbsp;She's the kind of writer that has unlimited potential within her ideas; readers will undoubtedly love that nothing in this story feels familiar after the pages start turning. &nbsp;In that respect, the plot does take a good fifty or sixty pages to get into because of the voice and the initial set-up, but the story is utter magic once things get rolling. &nbsp;It is fire, earth, water, air; it is the very essence of what a fantasy story should be. &nbsp;There are consequences and tragedies and decisions made by people who have to do the best that they can based on the people that they have become. &nbsp;Hodge has created a world that lives beyond the stained ink on her printed page. <br /> <br /> Cruel Beauty is not a damsel that faints into the arms of a beast simply because it has a good heart that matches hers. &nbsp;It is a damsel with a torn dress that knows how to kill; it is a woman that embraces that she does not need to be the moral center of every situation because the world wants her to be; it is Nyx, someone who is more than a martyr or a bride or a daughter. &nbsp;Cruel Beauty is about Nyx becoming herself and, in the process, falling in love with a demon that allows her to look at said self in a new light. &nbsp;It is a book with pitted pages and watermarks, one that will be bent from your tense grip and stained with the tears you'll shed at the final pages. &nbsp;This book is brilliant, unexpected, and one that I will return to throughout the year in thought. &nbsp;Cruel Beauty is the dark side of the tale as old as time.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;This cover is gorgeous because of how it connects the rose and the spiral staircase as images. I think it regulates the story to being interpreted as explicitly romantic, but it captures a strong sense of the atmosphere of the story.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;5.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!) http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-cruel-beauty-by-rosamund-hodge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8500972809901016677Sat, 18 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-18T10:00:04.489-05:004.0 reviewsalternate historydebut novelfantasynecromancerRobin BridgesRussiaseriesvampireReview: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7NrSSSoiyPUKRDul-hWJrTSAVH05A5h-9L5N1UpQ7QPyvNTg9rcS10uQYvpNfFFSNqXXsPxWBvuQK8wjToo0J06LXc-72-4VldVlBjylr0iKs70nP2oTx5Gr-zSs78OHlUY7PzSehC_K/s1600/The+Gathering+Storm+by+Robin+Bridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7NrSSSoiyPUKRDul-hWJrTSAVH05A5h-9L5N1UpQ7QPyvNTg9rcS10uQYvpNfFFSNqXXsPxWBvuQK8wjToo0J06LXc-72-4VldVlBjylr0iKs70nP2oTx5Gr-zSs78OHlUY7PzSehC_K/s1600/The+Gathering+Storm+by+Robin+Bridges.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Gathering Storm<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Robin Bridges<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Delacorte Press<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Katarina Trilogy #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Sometimes you need your Russian royalty tainted with the blood of necromancy.&nbsp; Er...well, in your books, anyway.&nbsp; I've discussed my love of the history of the Russian royal family on a few occasions - as early back as my review of Anastasia's Secret - and to put that in a fantasy YA novel with romance and vampires and necromancers and werewolves and intrigue?&nbsp; I had to read this series at some point.&nbsp; I finally caved in when the third book came to me a month or two ago and I had no more excuses.&nbsp; The Gathering Storm has made it clear that I'll be reading the other two books soon.&nbsp; This wasn't a perfect debut effort by any means, but sometimes it's so easy to overlook storytelling flaws when you realize that the book can be enjoyed anyway. This is a book to be enjoyed.<br /> <br /> Katarina Alexandrovna is a Duchess of Oldenburg, a girl of a privilege because of her distant connection to the royal Russian bloodline, and a girl expected to marry and continue her station in life.&nbsp; She hates it.&nbsp; More than anything, Katarina wants to go to school and become a doctor.&nbsp; Her father's interest in medical research has given her the courage to fight for her right to become more educated after she completes finishing school - which, while an education, is an education aimed at upper-class women who are not expected to become medical professionals.&nbsp; She knows that this goal will go against the expectations her mother has set on her, but Katarina refuses to give up her dreams of changing the world via medicine.<br /> <br /> There's one more roadblock to Katarina's happiness: necromancy.&nbsp; At a young age, Katiya accidentally resurrected an animal and became aware of the powers she held. It's common knowledge that the Light and Dark faerie courts are intertwined into Russian aristocratic society, but supernatural powers of Katiya's type are considered to be forces that few want around.&nbsp; They're dark powers.&nbsp; The wrong hands could use them to turn the Russian courts into places of dreaded evil.&nbsp; She's always tried to hide her gifts because of this.&nbsp; Katiya's life at school introduces her to several girls that are members of a royal family known for their dabbling in darker magic - only, unlike Katiya, these family members are said to embrace their gifts with devilish excitement.<br /> <br /> An aristocratic function sets Katiya's journey in motion as people from this infamous family take note of her gifts, just as Katiya takes note of attempts at manipulating the Russian royal family.&nbsp; Katiya's gift leads several people of high ranking to show interest in her: an older woman known for eccentricities that discusses the existence of "blood drinkers" within the courts, a man by the name of Prince Danillo whose family is that of the dreaded rumors, and George Alexandrovich, the middle son of the Tsar himself.&nbsp; One tries to warn Katiya, one tries to seduce her, and one suspects her of attempted conspiracy with her necromancy.&nbsp; The interlaced relationships, suspicions, betrayals, and magical ties become a web of unimaginable danger as Katiya comes into her powers as a necromancer and is forced to embrace said powers, or die.<br /> <br /> As you can tell, the alternative history created in The Gathering Storm is not one that limits itself to a singular supernatural concept.&nbsp; It's an epic story that encompasses the idea of faerie courts, vampires, werewolves, necromancers, and other types of magic that seem to exist in the background that highlights the overall narrative.&nbsp; A book like this is not meant to be contained in a singular volume, but it was a delightful read on its own despite the knowledge that it is intended to be a larger series.&nbsp; What I found most interesting about this book is that its flaws are also a part of its strengths as a work, thereby making it able to be enjoyed despite some of the issues presented within the writing.<br /> <br /> Readers will more than like Katiya.&nbsp; If you have a predisposed like of heroines that enjoy science or math, you'll find her engaging and fun.&nbsp; Her love of medical science peppers the text with consistent points of knowledge, a medical fact or a scene where she butts in and expresses her dislike of the "old" superstitious medical practices in place of the more modern ones being developed by revolutionary researchers and scientists.&nbsp; This conflict occurs a lot, and while it isn't the only present conflict in her character, it's one that Bridges incorporates into the book enough that it becomes more than a background character trait.&nbsp; Katiya's love of medical science is an integral part of her characterization that allows her to become something more than a girl with something special about her.&nbsp; I think readers will also enjoy seeing her growth as a character with powers that hold great responsibility; she doesn't want to be great because of magic, but because of her mind, and that struggle is one that Katiya grapples with even after the last page is turned.&nbsp; She is constantly coming across issues with her magic that require her to learn more about it, yet she also hates being defined by those around her in regards to her powers.&nbsp; At times, it feels as though her desire to avoid all necromancy-related knowledge is more of an authorial device to incite more external conflict, but it usually seems to be an organic reaction from Katiya as a character.&nbsp; I think allowing Katiya to embrace herself as a magical being earlier in the narrative would have provided a cleaner and stronger character arc in this first installment; that's really the only place that I struggled with her.<br /> <br /> A huge bonus to all of this: the romance in this story is not the focal point.&nbsp; Katiya learns very early on that Prince Danillo is someone with the ability to manipulate her emotions.&nbsp; She doesn't like getting close to him.&nbsp; There are a few times she seems pushed into making a stupid decision that will cause her to have more conflict with him, but she's usually pretty aware that he's creepy as all get-out.&nbsp; I liked that he wasn't portrayed as particularly sexy even when Katiya wasn't interested in him.&nbsp; It felt more real, in that way, and it helped Katiya seem more level-headed.&nbsp; He's mostly evil, though.&nbsp; Danillo isn't a character that's super fleshed out.&nbsp; His family in general is very creepy, and I have to hand it to Bridges for creating a grouping of characters that squicked me out throughout the narrative without question.&nbsp; I'm usually not a fan of villains; I was more than a fan of these characters making things bad, as they were enjoyably devious.&nbsp; George and Katiya are more spatty than they are romantic.&nbsp; The characters really don't warm up to each other until later in the narrative, and there's a certain sense of rush to their affections for each other, but I liked that Katiya was confident in her place as his equal.&nbsp; It never felt like she was supposed to just be this ugly, gooey mess around George because he was brooding, kind of a douchebag, but smart and attractive.&nbsp;&nbsp; Bridges managed to make the romance palatable despite how it initially came off as being another rendition of a tired YA trope.&nbsp; I liked that, and I liked that the romance fit into the plot as a whole rather than transforming into the only plot the book was taking the time to exhibit.<br /> <br /> The world of Robin Bridges' Katarina series is one that I would love to visit and study, yet I dread being asked about the mechanics after reading the first book.&nbsp; It's a situation where the promise of the different aspects is great, but putting them together requires a bit more finesse than the author has at the time of writing.&nbsp; Readers are thrust into the world (which is a good thing in order to create a reading experience where it feels organic) but things are not given internal sense in regards to the narrative.&nbsp; The aspects of the faerie courts, the vampires, the magic all kind of get lost in the narrative as the story barrels forward.&nbsp; Transitions between chapters sometimes feel jarring as Bridges goes between one supernatural aspect and another; the world also doesn't feel as aware of the supernatural as Katiya does, yet she speaks as though several things are common knowledge.&nbsp; The world would have been developed better if these supernatural aspects had been more integrated in the world as a whole rather than specific sections of it.&nbsp; In that respect, the narration would have been able to move forward with a stronger sense of believability.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Bridges clearly has an excitement for what she writes; this allowed the book to be enjoyable despite the world building issues. Katiya's voice feels authentic as a teenaged narrator with its shift of topics and priorities.&nbsp; The headstrong, fearless, occasionally rash decision-making in particular is written with a sense of understanding in regards to teenagers.&nbsp; Katiya comes into her knowledge and knows that she can save everyone.&nbsp; Because of this, she tries to do it to assert her independence when she really wants to assert it by becoming a doctor and going against expectations from every end (the end of her mother, the end of society, and the end of those who know of her power).&nbsp; Bridges writes her emotional themes well and is great at integrated them throughout the entirety of the text.&nbsp; There's also a feeling of excitement in the action scenes, suspense in the scenes that require it - I may have been able to anticipate some twists and turns, but Bridges made all of them thrilling.&nbsp; The strength in the writing lies in that energy and humor in the world.&nbsp; It's always something fun to read even if it doesn't feel entirely explained or textually supported.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The overall impression that I got from The Gathering Storm was one of a book that fit me well.&nbsp; It's not as romantic as I usually go, but it still does the romantic arcs with some good flavor and has a world full of many things I enjoy reading about.&nbsp; Its main character is a hoot, her love interest is rude, the other one is evil (and damn good at it), and the world doesn't always make total sense.&nbsp; It's basically a situation where the whole is greater than the individual parts, and I'm fine with that.&nbsp; Katiya's story is one of a girl striving for independence when she's someone of intelligence and drive.&nbsp; I can always get behind that, and I will be behind that for the other two books in the trilogy.&nbsp; (And that means I'm going to read them soon.&nbsp; Which I never do anymore.)&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I love the ferocity of the cover model, the swirling snow, the font, and the way that she simply looks fierce.&nbsp; All of the Katarina covers have that in common - a fierce cover model - and I think it says a lot that Random House markets these books based on that.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-gathering-storm-by-robin-bridges.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-3262248352731647130Thu, 16 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-16T10:00:06.705-05:003.5 reviewsbad boyscontemporarydual PoVRobin ConstantineReview: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcsSrGNuMjGH-M8PEsEiS6_uW3ICQeIlR2DKh1oZQvoeHirrB_VRj9I2x9K6GJ9Mg66bII4KLXw0zuS8g8X3m3PWDT2IXpQG-pZ1v7jezQkTA66vARmat3eSBa3b3X8HHHNOFy0PQMdt/s1600/Constantine,+Robin+-+The+Promise+of+Amazing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcsSrGNuMjGH-M8PEsEiS6_uW3ICQeIlR2DKh1oZQvoeHirrB_VRj9I2x9K6GJ9Mg66bII4KLXw0zuS8g8X3m3PWDT2IXpQG-pZ1v7jezQkTA66vARmat3eSBa3b3X8HHHNOFy0PQMdt/s320/Constantine,+Robin+-+The+Promise+of+Amazing.jpg" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Promise of Amazing<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Robin Constantine<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Balzar &amp; Bray<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Balzar and Bray always puts out novels that have me curious.&nbsp; As a publishing imprint, I've come to associate it with high-quality stories that usually have something unique about them, whereas the other Harper Collins imprints for teens tend to vary because their visions are a little less emotional and a little more genre-based (Harper Teen is more commercial, Greenwillow is more fantasy-oriented, Harper has more crossover appeal).&nbsp; <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> piqued my interest because of the imprint quality and the cuteness of the cover.&nbsp; A contemporary romantic comedy is always up my alley, and I think the idea of one that promises a level of angsty conflict along with the cute romance was exactly what I needed when I read this book.&nbsp; It's a debut novel that has more to it than meets the eye, even if it's not as polished as one would hope it to be.<br /> <br /> The middle is a place that Wren knows well.&nbsp; For being at an all-girl's school with stellar academics, competition to spare, and students that aim for the top, she's squarely in the middle.&nbsp; She got rejected from the Honor society because she was smart but quiet.&nbsp; Too quiet.&nbsp; Wren has started to believe that she really is just average.&nbsp; It doesn't help that the world around her seems to fit in with this idea.&nbsp; Compared to her playful older brother and her successful older sister, she views herself as the child destined to end up running the family's Arthurian-themed catering company.&nbsp; What a life.<br /> <br /> Wren's work at the catering company leads her to working a wedding one fateful night when the sexy Grayson Barrett chokes on a mini-hotdog.&nbsp; She saves his life; they can't forget each other.&nbsp; Grayson is instantly intrigued by Wren, the girl that tries to fade into the background despite being adorable and different from everyone else around her.&nbsp; Grayson knows that he's the stereotypical bad boy; he goes to the local public school because he was kicked out of the all-boys private school for running a term paper operation.&nbsp; Add that to his family problems and Grayson is the brooding guy girls dream of.&nbsp; He knows that he could get anyone, so why does his mind go back to Wren?<br /> <br /> Grayson does what it takes to put himself in Wren's path.&nbsp; There's something intriguing about taking the plunge and getting involved with the guy that choked on a mini-hotdog, but it's not long before Grayson's blunt honesty about his past scares Wren away.&nbsp; Even then she can't stop thinking about him.&nbsp; The two teenagers begin to deal with problems of self, family, and friends as they get to know each other and look for the reason behind their intrigue and attraction.&nbsp; They know it's not just physical; the question is - what exactly is it, and will they be able to overcome their issues in order to make it work?<br /> <br /> The opening of <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> seems to provide exactly what the title hopes it to.&nbsp; Constantine's voice is brimming with possibility and poise as it opens a contemporary romance where the girl really does seem invisible and the boy really does seem bad.&nbsp; As the story moves on, the book seems to stumble and trip as it struggles to put all of Constantine's excellent ideas into action.&nbsp; A debut novel like this makes it very clear that a debut novelist's skills with narrative construction can really make or break the success of the book.&nbsp; I loved this book at it's best, yet its best wasn't enough to put it into the territory of "It's amazing, go purchase it right now."&nbsp; Forgive me for the play on words, but while <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> certainly promised a lot, what it delivered wasn't quite as amazing as one would hope.<br /> <br /> Readers will identify with Wren if they've ever felt invisible; she plays that card well, folks, and when she narrates the story you really feel like she lives up to the label.&nbsp; Wren doesn't know what her passions are or what she wants to do.&nbsp; She looks to her friends that are super passionate for excitement, or constantly working for her family business if she has to.&nbsp; Wren's inability to step out of her comfort zone becomes a huge issues for her character early on.&nbsp; Grayson provides an easy way for Wren to do it, and that becomes the primary reason that Wren is fascinated with him beyond his hot body.&nbsp; Sure, there's the fact that he reads philosophy and drinks black coffee, but the bad boy personae is the perfect escape for Wren as a character.&nbsp; She has a spunk and snark to her narration that makes her feel like a unique character despite this issue she faces - that helps tremendously in feeling empathy for her despite her being "boring".&nbsp; She does grow into a character that becomes more aware of her agency in the world, yet there's always a sense of it never being quite enough to make her into a character that feels independent.&nbsp; So much of Wren's story is tied to her romance with Grayson that it feels as though her primary "uniqueness" is falling in love with him.&nbsp; This argument can be made in a lot of YA stories, but I find that usually the heroine undersells herself when she is clearly something more early on in the story.&nbsp; In this case, while I think Wren is indeed "something more" than a middle-of-the-road Boring Bettie, I don't think that's shown beyond her witty remarks and her romance with Grayson.&nbsp; That became a niggle throughout the story that never quite went away.<br /> <br /> Then we have Grayson.&nbsp; Grayson is surprisingly a well-done bad boy.&nbsp; Adding in his narration to the story gives it a cool twist, and it's odd in that Grayson is the one that falls for Wren more readily than she falls for him.&nbsp; Both characters fall fast, but it's more about them exploring each other and seeing if the falling is real or not.&nbsp; Grayson's story makes him seem troubled; not evil, but troubled.&nbsp; Adding in his narration gave the reader the ability to empathize with his hardships in a way that Wren couldn't directly.&nbsp; I think it was an overall smart decision to make.&nbsp; As the story progresses, though, the reader finds out that Grayson is involved in some less-than-cool activities that directly disengage the trust he builds up with Wren.&nbsp; There was at least one instance where I think the only thing he could have done was tell Wren about it and avoid getting caught up in the mess, even if it meant a hard situation for him.&nbsp; By the end of the book you still like Grayson, but I never quite felt like he made up for the trust that he broke in Wren.&nbsp; Seeing it from his end felt like a way of manipulating the reader into empathizing with it, but it didn't help me.&nbsp; It almost made me angry because I felt like it was trying to get me to see the situation in a biased light.&nbsp; Grayson is a bad boy and he feels damaged.&nbsp; I can get behind that.&nbsp; But that doesn't mean that I want him to screw up his relationship when he knows about it and then try to get away with it because of his past history.&nbsp; There's a fine line with bad boys - they can do morally questionable things so long as they do not hurt their love interest in a way that they can predict or understand.&nbsp; The issue with Grayson is that he is highly aware of how he will hurt Wren and the consequences for going against expectations to keep her safe are never great enough to make his choice to hurt her instead acceptable.&nbsp; That's just me, though, and I could see many readers being Team Grayson until kingdom come.&nbsp; He is super attractive.<br /> <br /> Constantine constructs a world where the romance makes a lot of sense.&nbsp; These two come together in unconventional ways because they are interested in each other; it's not quite insta-love, but it's insta-interest.&nbsp; I think Constantine expressed how people get stuck in your head and don't let go; how it's easy to fixate on someone because they connect with you in a way that you haven't quite experienced or understood before.&nbsp; This love story is one about people who are very different - truly different - discovering their ability to connect as human beings with shared tragedies and shitty pasts.&nbsp; The other characters in the story provide good drama and the occasional comedic situation to balance the sheer amount of snarky angst that the two protagonists bring to the table.&nbsp; As for plot construction, the story tends to feel longer than it should.&nbsp; It could be the dual narration or just the amount of issues Constantine tries to cover, but the story feels like it could have been fifty pages shorter and been the perfect length.&nbsp; I think a lot of it just derives from the character back-and-forth and the occasional lull in conflict between them.&nbsp; Wren and Grayson have conflict, but not all the time, and there is outer conflict that comes and goes.&nbsp; It would have helped for the conflict to have been sensible and continuous so as to feel organic, but that doesn't quite work out, and sometimes different issues fade out for a while in order to make room for others.&nbsp; Overall, there was just a lot to fit into a story of this type, and the sheer amount of dialogue overrides the internal characterization to the point where some of the conflict takes longer than necessary to understand and dissect.&nbsp; I'm all for showing instead of telling, but with two characters with a shit ton of stuff going on, internal dialogue can really help clarify a character's thought process and add a sense of importance to the issues being explored.&nbsp; That would be the biggest flaw in the debut novel from a stylistic standpoint, because the character voices were so on-point for teenagers going through these experiences.<br /> <br /> I'm not quite sure how to put my feelings for this book into a grade.&nbsp; On one hand, <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> never feels like it hits the balance it needs to be a stellar book.&nbsp; Trust me, it has that potential.&nbsp; On the other hand, there is a strong sense of character voice that can't be ignored and an understanding of what it means to be interested in someone, leading to falling in love.&nbsp; I still can't quite figure it out.&nbsp; Constantine may have tried a bit too much in this novel - yet when it got it right, it got it really right, and it did it in a way that was subtle and surprising.&nbsp; I have to give this book props overall.&nbsp; I may not have gotten a totally polished experience, but Robin Constantine taps into things that ring as true as can be.&nbsp; That's something worth lauding in a debut novel that manages to be both serious and funny but always romantic.<br /> <br /> Cover: This cover is adorable.&nbsp; Perhaps not the most original cover (it reminds me of several contemporary YA romance covers from last year), but it gives a good idea of what the story covers.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 3.5 Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!)&nbsp; http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-promise-of-amazing-by-robin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6538511944083587370Wed, 15 Jan 2014 05:48:00 +00002014-01-15T00:48:49.639-05:004.5 reviewsalternate historyparanormal romanceseriesVictoria LambwitchReview: Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLc9pMms3V7LbOScH5rRrFdI9tbtDoSQvvVUgq2l3YLXs0E1S-2QlwiyRRPGyqW9WhufnRS5cHNqbxyLm0lkhIxUJHmZRfqLqryPiYFEWGLTz2u_zJ-1FCaO3C9nNilC08K9B0xDC_noL/s1600/Witchstruck+by+Victoria+Lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLc9pMms3V7LbOScH5rRrFdI9tbtDoSQvvVUgq2l3YLXs0E1S-2QlwiyRRPGyqW9WhufnRS5cHNqbxyLm0lkhIxUJHmZRfqLqryPiYFEWGLTz2u_zJ-1FCaO3C9nNilC08K9B0xDC_noL/s320/Witchstruck+by+Victoria+Lamb.jpg" width="208" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; Witchstruck<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Victoria Lamb<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Tudor Witch Trilogy #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Things I Love:&nbsp; witches, Tudor England, romance, religious conflict, and Harlequin Teen.&nbsp; What better than a novel that combines all of those aspects?&nbsp; Victoria Lam also has the added bonus of being the daughter of Charlotte Lamb, a category romance novelist whose Harlequin Presents novels are famous (and sometimes infamous) for the quality of their writing and genre-bending relationships.&nbsp; (I read one about step-siblings falling in love, y'all - you cannot do that without talent, even if it still comes out weird.)&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> was a trilogy-opener that managed to convey exactly what it wanted to; the drama, the romance, and the peril of a time when witches were hunted.&nbsp; Only this time, they're real.<br /> <br /> 1554, England.&nbsp; Queen Mary is on the throne and is readying to marry the prince of Spain.&nbsp; Protestantism is vilified to the point of people being imprisoned, even murdered, because of her staunch Catholicism and the religious genocide going on in Spain.&nbsp; Mary's sister Elizabeth is currently waiting out her sister's angry reign in the Woodstock Palace.&nbsp; The country knows that Elizabeth is next in line if Mary cannot provide an heir to the throne and perishes, so she's kept at a safe distance in the hopes that Mary will be able to secure her place in the English monarchy.<br /> <br /> Meg Lytton serves princess Elizabeth at Woodstock.&nbsp; A girl from a family with a different kind of power, Meg has inherited the ability to perform witchcraft - just as her Aunt Jane and her late mother both inherited from their lineage, and so on.&nbsp; Princess Elizabeth is aware that Meg and Aunt Jane have these abilities and hopes to use them to see into the future.&nbsp; At a time so pivotal in England's life, Elizabeth has no other way of knowing if she'll inherit the throne before the Protestants are slaughtered...or if Mary will have her killed for treason.&nbsp; Danger is just as present for Meg and Aunt Jane, though in their case it is because of their gifts.<br /> <br /> The local witch hunter has become attracted to Meg and hopes to eventually ask for her hand in marriage.&nbsp; It's Meg's luck that she was swept into the service of the princess before the horrid Marcus Dent could force her into a marriage of submission and secrets.&nbsp; There is also the question of a young Spanish priest in training, Alejandro de Castillo, and his superior.&nbsp; They are initially sent to watch over princess Elizabeth and her devotion to Catholicism, but Alejandro takes a special interest in Meg.&nbsp; Rebellion from the Protestants looms in the clinking of glasses at nearby taverns with Meg's brother at the heart.&nbsp; There are too many ways in which Meg and her family can be found out and destroyed.&nbsp; Adding in Meg's growing attraction to a man she can never love only makes things worse.&nbsp; The country is ready to explode as Meg learns the depth of her craft and how she can use it to protect the princess in the hopes of the crown changing hands.&nbsp; Meg may find great reward in her position, if she can survive.<br /> <br /> Stories like this are like velvet cake.&nbsp; They aren't really that much different from chocolate cake, yet something about their makeup is inexplicably luxurious.&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> is a trilogy opener that is the velvet cake of YA historical novels and YA paranormal novels.&nbsp; While it may not be as complex and constructionally awe-inspiring as some other works (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy kind of wins that round, always, but it's not this book's fault), it has a sense of drama that works well with the paranormal aspects it presents within the story.&nbsp; It also uses tropes that some readers may get tired of.&nbsp; Let's face it: if a trope is done well in YA and it's one that doesn't involve a male protagonist, I'll probably be on board with it immediately.&nbsp; I think Victoria Lamb created a book that is exactly what I needed with the drama, the tropes, and the writing.&nbsp; She crafted a damn good story out of parts that I've seen used before, and I have to admire that.<br /> <br /> The narration style Lamb uses is perceptive and descriptive in a way that straddles evocative and overly expository.&nbsp; Meg's voice is one that is enmeshed in the world around her; it can't help but describe the politics, the magic, the way things feel.&nbsp; I think Lamb understands the need to create the world without getting too lost in the history.&nbsp; I felt like Lamb's attention to the political situation paralleling the witch hunt was a particular highlight of Meg's voice.&nbsp; I felt like Meg truly understood that the world around her was doing that.&nbsp; As for Meg as a person - she is emotive but reserved; a character that goes through the predictable cycles of love, lust, denial, and self-blame for various events (and a stupid decision or two), but feels legitimately angry at herself for what she's done.&nbsp; It doesn't feel like Meg wallows in herself as a person throughout the story, which is the tendency for characters going through problems such as this.&nbsp; She's pretty quick to find solutions and make amends for her mistakes.&nbsp; I also think that her intelligence shows through even when she does something that isn't super logical.&nbsp; I never felt like Meg was heralded as a superior protagonist that then went against what was being told to the reader.&nbsp; Meg's actions line up with her idea of herself, and it helps that Meg doesn't focus on herself as much as the usual first-person protagonist.&nbsp; I think it could have the negative of making readers less immediately empathetic with Meg, but it allows the story to feel larger while still getting to know her as a character.<br /> <br /> As one would imagine, the other character to steal the attention is Alejandro.&nbsp; There's something so sexy about a man that goes against his religion to be attracted to someone.&nbsp; (I'm weird - don't ask me why this is sexy.&nbsp; It just is.)&nbsp; Granted, we as readers know pretty early on that it's not impossible for him to be with Meg according to the laws of his priesthood, but dammit if it isn't still dramatic because of Meg's witchcraft.&nbsp; What I love is that he gets into discussions with her about religion and witchcraft.&nbsp; Alejandro doesn't get as much page time as I would like for a love interest, as a lot of the story involves Meg going between him, Elizabeth, and the rebels to continue the plot's steady pacing, but but when he's around...things get hot.&nbsp; Smoking hot.&nbsp; Sometimes I just need to be into a romance for the sake of enjoying the idea of the love interest at their most basic level, and I think Alejandro hits that mark for me.&nbsp; His declarations of eventual love are expected and not as fully-formed as one would like them to be, but it's far from an insta-love scenario.&nbsp; Lamb has the potential to really strengthen his relationship with Meg throughout the series.&nbsp; I would love to see them getting into more debates about religion, witchcraft, and what it means to fall in love with someone with such different beliefs (both of which have direct magical manifestations in this alternative universe).&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Let's just get this elephant in the room out of the way while we're at it: the history in this book is subjectively good.&nbsp; What do I mean by that?&nbsp; Well, it's fairly easy to imagine the surroundings and the events going on that don't relate to the witchcraft are very much based on reality.&nbsp; If there are authorial tweaks, they're done with the intent of making the story work and don't feel totally invasive to someone with (very casual) knowledge of the time period.&nbsp; The Protestant vs. Catholic thing has always intrigued me, and it's nice to see how it was something that actually destroyed lives because of the bigotry.&nbsp; I won't get into Christian bigotry in here, but it's something worth commending as a historical aspect.&nbsp; That being said - actual witchcraft obviously wasn't a part of these historical events, so a lot of the story does focus on that and a witch hunter that aren't directly involved in every historical event at this time.&nbsp; I think readers that enjoy paranormal that takes a lot of historical elements will like it, but readers that are history buffs may want something a little more detailed and period-enriched.&nbsp; The book feels true to the time in the narrative tone in a way that many other modern paranormal historical novels don't, but I can't speak for major history buffs.<br /> <br /> Victoria Lamb proves that her writing style creates a story that works, not just in the blend of history and paranormal witchcraft.&nbsp; There really isn't a "love triangle", although the witch hunter expresses interest in Meg, because the witch hunter is repulsive as hell and clearly is not someone Meg wants in her life.&nbsp; Plus, it's his job to kill her and he likes it.&nbsp; So Lamb takes the idea of the triangle and makes it something that threatens Meg's life and, because of the sexism of the time, something she can't escape from so easily.&nbsp; The whole rebellion thing also worked well in this context.&nbsp; It was nice to read about a rebellion and action in historical context rather than in another dystopian/post-apocalyptic context.&nbsp; Seriously readers, you have no idea how nice it is to picture the rebels in period clothing.&nbsp; The magic, the romance with the dramatic conflict that keeps the love interests from being together for good in book one...it all falls under traditional YA ideas, yet Lamb's version just uses them all well.&nbsp; There's a sense of excitement, adventure, and mystery as the magical aspects of the novel get explored more.&nbsp; Meg's growing relationship with princess Elizabeth also helps things.&nbsp; I think Lamb makes Elizabeth a side character that's interesting, useful in being a historical cookie to the story, but Elizabeth doesn't feel as though she overtakes anything despite being a well-known figure that is awesome.&nbsp; I do wish to see more of her, but Lamb doesn't make her too close to Meg for some obvious reasons - both in terms of Elizabeth's need to keep herself from getting charged for treason/withcraft/etc. and in terms of the relationship between a royal and her lady's maid.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Does this story have appeal to every YA reader?&nbsp; Probably not.&nbsp; There are some tropes that we've read in YA many times and a romance that gets equal to slightly-greater footing compared to the plot.&nbsp; That alone will deter readers who want something more non-traditional for YA.&nbsp; However, if readers are looking for something that is fun and uses the tropes in a way that can be respected (even if it's not subversive), they'll adore this book.&nbsp; I loved everything about the history, the magic, the romance, and the action.&nbsp; It's exactly what I expected it to be and delivered on every front.&nbsp; Not to mention the writing is good; it's better than a lot of its competition, actually, and I can't wait to see what Lamb does in the next two books in this trilogy.&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> is a gem, the kind that would look perfect on the neck of Elizabeth I herself.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I know this cover has the girl's face and the castle and what-not...but I love the coloring and the font.&nbsp; It suggests all of the plot elements well and is gorgeous to look at in paperback.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!) http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-witchstruck-by-victoria-lamb.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6807001760144402594Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-14T10:00:04.621-05:003.5 reviewsAimee CarterGreek mythologyHarlequin TeenseriesReview: The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazRbCppIGgDuZK1M6s69vs5xg3vcUUNmBWrSWyPp7a8uQrTO4UDqK0gNUrBthWDCxTuL8Tur2QSeAweLQJz_I0H1iNoYDm35jym4h4ylxwWyE3dFctrogBY1WTE0YF1kSgua4tVQWvG8I/s1600/The+Goddess+Inheritance+by+Aimee+Carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazRbCppIGgDuZK1M6s69vs5xg3vcUUNmBWrSWyPp7a8uQrTO4UDqK0gNUrBthWDCxTuL8Tur2QSeAweLQJz_I0H1iNoYDm35jym4h4ylxwWyE3dFctrogBY1WTE0YF1kSgua4tVQWvG8I/s1600/The+Goddess+Inheritance+by+Aimee+Carter.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Goddess Inheritance<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Aimee Carter<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Goddess Test #3<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; The Goddess Test;&nbsp; Goddess Interrupted<br /> <br /> <br /> The Goddess Test series is one that I've come to really enjoy upon my reading.&nbsp; Despite the fact that some of its themes are less-than-perfect, I really love Aimee Carter's authorial voice and have found her ability to create complex romantic relationships one to be appreciated.&nbsp; This led to me waiting a good while to finally read the concluding volume of the trilogy, <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i>.&nbsp; <i>Goddess Interrupted</i> ended on a major cliffhanger that had me excited and wary of the direction of the final storyline.&nbsp; It provided a major source of conflict, but it was also something that made me think...huh...this may not be going where I hoped it would.&nbsp; Having finished the series, I can safely say that I still really enjoy Aimee Carter's writing, but I think the direction of the narrative veered to a place that made me uncomfortable in some spots as a reader.<br /> <br /> <b>*Note:&nbsp; Spoilers for the first two books will be very present from here on out.&nbsp; Enter at your own risk.&nbsp; Keep all people with weak constitutions away from the spoilers.*&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> There's something about Kate Winters...and it's not just her position as a goddess, or as the wife of Hades.&nbsp; It's the pregnancy; it's her closest friend among the gods that has since become a traitor; it's the separation from Hades as Cronus holds her captive under threat of harming the people that she loves. Kate's life is far from charmed when she factors in all of the heartache and, frankly, the utter shit that she has to go through.&nbsp; The life of humanity as a whole has become endangered because of this tiff between the gods an the king of the Titans himself.&nbsp; In some ways, Kate has to accept that her place within the realm of the gods helped the danger along.<br /> <br /> Yet Kate is also the only one with a chance at saving humanity.&nbsp; She was the only one that showed Cronus an ounce of kindness, back when she explored the Underworld and first learned of his imprisonment.&nbsp; She treated Cronus like someone with emotions.&nbsp; Screwed up emotions that involved damaging parenting and dictatorship, maybe, but emotions none the less.&nbsp; It left an impression that made her the only thing he cared about taking for himself that wasn't entirely about revenge.&nbsp; Sure, Cronus wants Kate at his side because it would be a betrayal to all of the gods aligned with Zeus - but it's also because some part of him just wants <i>her</i>.<br /> <br /> This sparks Kate into action.&nbsp; She has no love for Cronus, but she is aware that he holds the life of her child in the balance.&nbsp; He holds the lives of the world in balance.&nbsp; Even if she escapes from his clutches, she still needs to use her slight influence on him to find out necessary information.&nbsp; The final battle between the gods and the recovering Titan is destined to end in loss and destruction.&nbsp; Kate knows it's dangerous, but the true consequences of saving the world could mean the loss of everything she hopes to live for.&nbsp; The love of her husband, her child, and her family.<br /> <br /> I think that my love of this series and the way that the second book grappled with complicated relationships had me hoping that this installment would tie it all together with an epic struggle that really spoke to what the themes were in the series.&nbsp; Aimee Carter was never perfect with each book, yet I enjoyed the hell out of them and found them to be really special in their presentation of a myth that YA has been retelling a lot over the past three or four years.&nbsp; The Goddess Inheritance was a satisfactory way to end Kate's story and romance, but I think that Carter suffered from some issues in her usage of conflict and character throughout the story.<br /> <br /> What I've always loved about Kate as a character is her ability to survive and pull through things.&nbsp; Occasionally she feels a little too introspective in her character voice and makes you remember every complicated and sad emotion involved with a situation, but she comes across as a character that feels real and very much what she is: a teenage girl who is thrust into a world of power that she is only beginning to understand as everyone else around her plays a game that's centuries old.&nbsp; Seriously, Kate has a lot of strength within her despite falling into many traditional guidelines of YA romance.&nbsp; I found the second book to really showcase how Kate was able to explore her power as a character after being regulated to a role in the world that was important but effectively powerless compared to her totally immortal peers.&nbsp; Her voice grew and she learned to stand up for herself in her relationship, as well as explored the world around her while it rumbled of scary events to come.&nbsp; I think The Goddess Inheritance loses some of the character momentum as Kate reverts back to some older thought cycles.&nbsp; She constantly questions herself and her placement in the world - understandable, but hard to handle when people are dying all over the world at the hands of a Titan.&nbsp; She also takes to calling Calliope a bitch - a lot - because of Calliope's betrayal.&nbsp; Calliope's need to become a surrogate mother to Kate's child is mainly behind Kate's rage.<br /> <br /> I think this is where I really lost Kate.&nbsp; While I don't find Carter's series to be the most feminist one in YA, there's certainly an argument to be had for putting a female character in an expected power and seeing how she handles that as she enters a world that is ancient and patriarchal by nature.&nbsp; It's not intended to be feminist, nor would I say it fits the criteria enough for me to argue for it, but I could see how a reader could find it empowering in that respect if they identify with Kate's particular situation.&nbsp; The "bitch" thing bugged me for two reasons.&nbsp; 1.)&nbsp; It's frequency in the text was much higher than I anticipated, and the word in general is extremely negative because of its connotations towards females in general.&nbsp; When a female calls another female a bitch, it feels as though she feeds into the idea that women of power and control are by nature "bitchy".&nbsp; 2.)&nbsp; The context of the name-calling made sense, but it didn't feel like it justified the frequency.&nbsp; I could understand how any character, male or female, that tried to take Kate's child away would be met with hatred and anger.&nbsp; The issue was that Cronus was portrayed as evil but in an accepted context; even though he is just as much of a threat to Kate's life and family and personhood, Calliope's threat is the one that incites name-calling throughout the text.&nbsp; I think it also turned me off because I felt like introducing motherhood to Kate as a character felt a little bit too Old Skool romance novel - like how the ending/epilogues would usually contain babies or pregnancy.&nbsp; Not that this is the epilogue of the story, but in the sense that Kate as a character wasn't free to be able to enjoy her romance without the pressure of traditional womanhood, even if there wasn't a direct narrative push for her to go that route.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> It's important to note that this all made sense for Kate's character at the time - I just think that the direction Kate took as a character on the whole bugged me because it felt like she gave up her feelings of empowerment more than I thought she would.&nbsp; Seeing that in her insecurities and her fears towards Calliope just didn't help my comfort level with her character.&nbsp; That being said, I felt like she got better at the end of the story when she started to realize that she did have power despite not being as measurably strong as the other gods.&nbsp; The end of the story also feels like an attempt at compensating for previous issues by making Kate align herself with several female characters in a way that seemed very positive.&nbsp; I don't think it quite worked out in the end, but it helped me to feel better about Kate as a character, to the point where I still had a positive opinion of her throughout the series.<br /> <br /> Plot-wise, the story felt like it had a lot of interesting things going on.&nbsp; The first half was confusing because of the emotional focus, yet it tied together towards the end as Carter began building up to the climax of the story.&nbsp; A lot of the leading events to said climax had a tendency of repetition because of the nature of the infiltration and Kate's internal struggles, so it was nice to see that Carter still knew how to end the story with a bang.&nbsp; <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i> ends on an emotional high that is hard to match.&nbsp; Carter knows how to make you feel everything when she wants you to.&nbsp; You know something tragic will happen.&nbsp; Carter just rolls in and proves that it can still be surprising, sad, and traumatic.&nbsp; I think the series really plays well on the drama of the large situations.&nbsp; In some ways, it's a lot like Josephine Angelini's Greek myth series Starcrossed because of the dramatic high notes, though it's much more internal and focused on the dynamics of the protagonist's self-perception.&nbsp; I think Carter ultimately does a stellar job with the plot as things finish up, but the beginning stutters in a way that will have some readers wondering if the series should have gone the direction that it did.&nbsp; It's not until the end that the reader realizes that Carter is aware of the consequences of this kind of world-ending conflict, and that realization really shifts how one reads this book and the series as a whole.<br /> <br /> <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i> is a solid series finale that summarizes the emotional impact of Aimee Carter's writing.&nbsp; The Goddess Test series is one that I'll keep on my shelf and probably return to in a few years when I want something that is readable, emotional, and romantic, but it doesn't quite live up to the skill in plot and characterization that the first two books of the series put out there.&nbsp; Some of the less-polished parts of the narrative came out as the author began to prepare to wrap up the plot; it showed a little too much before Carter regained footing in the narrative.&nbsp; That being said, readers of the series will be satisfied by the book's romance and the overall conclusion of the storyline as things are completed.&nbsp; Love and loss come together and make it all work, even if some of the story's parts feel like they strayed from the intended path. <br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I love the covers of this series.&nbsp; This one isn't quite as good for me as the second, but I love the closeup of the girl, her bright pigmentation, and the title font.&nbsp; ALWAYS the font.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin!!)http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-goddess-inheritance-by-aimee.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-3233306657817411457Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:00:00 +00002014-01-13T12:00:00.938-05:00Monica's Momentpersonal craprandom thoughtsA Quick PlugAttention blog readers!&nbsp; <br /> <br /> You may recall that, on occasion, a good friend of mine by the name of Monica does reviews here under the blog post titles "Monica's Moment".&nbsp; Well, she's always wanted to start a blog of her own and get into it from an independent standpoint, and she's recently debut her blog <a href="http://monicathenovelista.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>The Novelista</b></a> where she'll be posting reviews of books, movies, and other pop culture happenings.&nbsp; If you want a fashionable college student's opinions on YA novels, movies, or television shows, she is the person to go to.&nbsp; She'll still have reviews up here, but she'll also be doing ones on her own blog.&nbsp; Stop on by if you have the time and maybe give her a follow or two.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;I'll be working hard to get content up more consistently as well; winter break may be coming to a close, but this blog is going to be given new life.&nbsp; (Mostly because I don't have two English-heavy courses this semester.&nbsp; Not the best idea if you want to read for fun, folks.)&nbsp; <br /> <br /> *scurries back into my internet hole with a book and tons of coffee*&nbsp; <br /> <br />http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-quick-plug.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-9023980171155311042Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-13T10:00:06.300-05:004.0 reviewsdebut novelKathleen Halemysterysmall townReview: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nfJWOapXNC-bQkzBjvj5b3W3sMI3Bt0vRZJyqqU-CcTOFLR7nJMPeMWdNj9-K0wxZZVJ8iHVPZPVkkMmbb-ohugf4tU-l5rfBN9pqSg9IkNtDHlG6WoD-_kkSZPiIzdeY7gahMPydDg-/s1600/No+One+Else+Can+Have+You+by+Kathleen+Hale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nfJWOapXNC-bQkzBjvj5b3W3sMI3Bt0vRZJyqqU-CcTOFLR7nJMPeMWdNj9-K0wxZZVJ8iHVPZPVkkMmbb-ohugf4tU-l5rfBN9pqSg9IkNtDHlG6WoD-_kkSZPiIzdeY7gahMPydDg-/s1600/No+One+Else+Can+Have+You+by+Kathleen+Hale.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; No One Else Can Have You<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Kathleen Hale<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Books like this are off-the-wall.&nbsp; They are not for the reader that takes things literally.&nbsp; They are not for the reader who wants a mystery story that's seriously about the mystery.&nbsp;<i> No One Else Can Have You</i> has gotten polarized critical reception for a reason - readers either like it or they don't.&nbsp; They either love the satire or get too frustrated with the presentation of the satire.&nbsp; There's no middle ground here.&nbsp; Because some of my reading this year has been varied in quality, I was worried I would be one of those readers that just hated this book and wanted it to stop.&nbsp; I tried it anyway because people said it was jacked up.<br /> <br /> <i>No One Else Can Have You</i> is the strangest concoction of satire, mystery, and a quirky narrator, and I loved it.&nbsp; I.&nbsp; Loved.&nbsp; It.&nbsp; Maybe I'll be the only reader to love it, but I will damn well own my enjoyment of this book, because No One Else Can Have You is the most brilliant kind of messed up.<br /> <br /> A small town like Friendship, Wisconsin is not ready for another traumatic death.&nbsp; Its 689 residents are perfectly content to go about their small lives with their heavy accents, their love of hunting deer, and their constant use of phrases like "don'tcha know".&nbsp; Kippy Bushman is a sixteen year-old girl who has dealt with loss herself - the loss of her mother and seeing her second-best friend, Ralph, go through the death of his own parents.&nbsp; A town like Friendship is too small to understand what it takes to work through that kind of loss.&nbsp; Kippy can attest to it.<br /> <br /> Nothing can prepare Kippy, or Friendship, for what happens when Kippy's best friend Ruth Fried is found hanging from a tree in the cornfield near Kippy's house.&nbsp; Ruth didn't hang herself; she was stuffed with straw, sexually handled against her will with her mouth sewn shut with bright red thread.&nbsp; It's not much of a surprise when Ruth's boyfriend, a boy well-known for being a vaguely psychotic asshole, is arrested and the case is dismissed.&nbsp; Kippy is happy to believe it; it fits with what she observed throughout her friendship with Ruth.&nbsp; When Ruth's mother gives Kippy Ruth's diary in order to read it and censor out the "sexy parts", Kippy begins to truly understand Ruth's life.<br /> <br /> Friendship was not what Kippy thought it to be.&nbsp; Ruth's voice is not always nice.&nbsp; As Kippy begins to ruminate on her friendship, Ruth's older brother Davey convinces Kippy that something is up.&nbsp; Colt, Ruth's boyfriend, may have been an asshole throughout his life, but he was missing what it took to be a killer.&nbsp; Kippy secretly believes that Davey's PTSD is the cause of his misgivings, but a few basic questions to the right people quickly leads her to the conclusion that Davey is right.&nbsp; Colt has an alibi for the exact time Ruth was murdered.&nbsp; The town's chief of police seems hell-bent on ignoring that fact in order to keep things calm in Friendship.&nbsp; As Kippy takes on the role of amateur sleuth, she realizes just how dangerous the ignorance of Friendship, WI is.<br /> <br /> This book sounds dark and serious, but the reality is that Kathleen Hale's debut novel is very aware of what it is trying to do as a narrative.&nbsp; The satirical nature of the work is rooted in the misgivings of small towns.&nbsp; Friendship, WI is a place where people hang bloodied deer from their basketball hoops during hunting season and everyone has a pro-hunting bumper sticker.&nbsp; Everyone speaks with an accent.&nbsp; Things are swallowed up by the few authority figures in town because it makes things easier.&nbsp; No one questions it because they believe it is simply how the ecosystem functions.&nbsp; Hale, in creating this town and putting a narrator like Kippy Bushman in charge of describing it, creates a situation where the reader realizes just how strange everything is.<br /> <br /> I have never read a voice quite like Kippy Bushman.&nbsp; She uses very cutesy words in some instances - not because she wants to, but because her environment literally teaches her to use slang words from the 1950's.&nbsp; She's naive and all over the place in her thought process, yet she's observant, intelligent, and a thinker that is in many ways beyond the town that she lives in.&nbsp; Kippy also has a history of trauma that has caused her to adopt strange social behaviors, go to therapy for said behaviors, and then shift them to less-destructive activities.&nbsp; Kippy is far from together, yet it ostracizes her socially in a way that allows her to be objective about the world that she lives in.&nbsp; Because of this, Kippy has the ability to deny the more complicated aspects of her life because she's so aware of things that everyone else is ignorant about.&nbsp; Her father Dom, a middle school counselor that uses his knowledge of psychology for harmless and cutesy purposes, manages to fall into the trap of Friendship-ignorance, so Kippy's used to being the only one that knows what's going on.&nbsp; Her narration is interesting because it's never entirely clear how accurate it is.&nbsp; Kippy has her own biases from her past that come into her narration, yet her voice is the too-much-information kind of honest that immediately causes you as the reader to trust her.&nbsp; Or at the very least, you trust her more than you trust all of the other characters that are blatantly ignoring the obvious.<br /> <br /> At large, the plot is a giant attempt at showing just how deeply the issues of small town mentality go, at least in regards to the general awareness of people's well-being.&nbsp; The mystery is not too difficult to figure out, or at least guess intelligently on, which felt very purposeful in terms of its place in the narrative.&nbsp; Kippy is not expected to be the best sleuth on the planet.&nbsp; Her actions being amateurish at best are best compared with the turning-of-cheeks that the authority and legal figures in her life do when confronted with contrary evidence and issues.&nbsp; I loved how the mystery was enjoyable because of how it pointed out the various issues with how this kind of thing becomes easily corrupted and biased within a small town setting.&nbsp; The plot is inherently zany, and there are a few sporadic diary entries from Ruth that are entertaining in just how awful they are.&nbsp; Friendship, WI is full of a lot of people that really aren't nice at all; removing that facade of pleasantry and happiness becomes humorous as the story goes on, even though it provides a pretty solid level of social commentary on that idealistic view of small towns.<br /> <br /> Some of the plot aspects weren't well-done.&nbsp; I didn't notice them as much in my own reading, but this <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/703727760" target="_blank">1 star review</a> explains them in much better detail.&nbsp; A good portion of the second half of the book involves a mental hospital and a support group for individuals with violent tendencies.&nbsp; In both cases, I perceived the author to be attempting a satirical look at how people react to those that are violent and those that are treated in mental hospitals, but those parts of the novel aren't crafted as well in a satirical way.&nbsp; Basically, the portrayals can very well be viewed as ableist and offensive because of the usage of both as a source of humor throughout the novel.&nbsp; While the novel is humorous throughout, the humor found in those sections is much more event and secondary-character based, deriving often from the issues the characters have.&nbsp; In that respect, the book fails and inherently shows a level of prejudice in regards to differently-abled individuals.&nbsp; I can't say that I picked up on that issue while I was reading the book, but it's one that none the less needs to be addressed before telling anyone to read it.<br /> <br /> I think that <i>No One Else Can Have You</i> is the kind of read that's very much based on how into the experience you get early on.&nbsp; It's not a story that's for every reader, and even at its best interpretation it has its issues, but it's a story that impacts you with its cleverness if you get to that point.&nbsp; I found myself laughing at so many points in the book.&nbsp; Not so much the points that other reviewers have pointed out to be ableist, but the points where Kippy would be describing the general townspeople: the popular girl who can't say "Oh my God" and who uses Ruth's death as a way to pad her college applications, the father who is totally unaware of the real world but tries his hardest anyway, the very popular dude whose asshole behavior is known, understood, and still perpetuated.&nbsp; Hale also really gets into Kippy's weirdness.&nbsp; Yet within that weirdness is a writing style that can be really beautiful, too.&nbsp; Sometimes phrases jump out within the narrative as just being utterly perfect in what they are describing, something that you don't expect in this type of story.<br /> <br /> The downside is that there is a large audience of readers who will find Kippy to be way too silly, the story predictable or just plain dumb.&nbsp; None of that is inaccurate, but I think the story's awareness of these aspects and how it pokes fun at them is what makes the book exceptional.&nbsp; I have to take off points for the issues the book presented, but I do think it's an excellent read that is unlike anything else on the shelves right now.&nbsp; If you're the kind of reader who likes off-the-wall books with strange humor, interesting female narrators, and a good swath of dark undertones to everything it presents, then this book may be your unexpected hit of the year. <br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; This cover is SO GREAT.&nbsp; No sexualized cover model.&nbsp; Just a cover that looks like a sweater with a hanging moose.&nbsp; You cannot get more morbid or weird than that, and I think it fits this book perfectly.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars (It would have been a 4.5 or a 5 without the ableist issues)<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)&nbsp; http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-no-one-else-can-have-you-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-9010079032727936714Tue, 07 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +00002014-01-07T10:00:04.923-05:002.0 reviewsdebut novelEmil Ostrovskiliterary YAmale narratorReview: The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKirHczSSPlcN-3lJquQqLNkUT2DXka7B4jwC1FH104SjWvRnTr28HLkSYs37LB50iL1IVY_xffw-OEZBpIZ3w-qLES2_JbL0f8sVWMBhh1xMCk0xFPrzkHA80D47zGCQnP85iKgb2Ie19/s1600/The+Paradox+of+Vertical+Flight+by+Emil+Ostrovski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKirHczSSPlcN-3lJquQqLNkUT2DXka7B4jwC1FH104SjWvRnTr28HLkSYs37LB50iL1IVY_xffw-OEZBpIZ3w-qLES2_JbL0f8sVWMBhh1xMCk0xFPrzkHA80D47zGCQnP85iKgb2Ie19/s1600/The+Paradox+of+Vertical+Flight+by+Emil+Ostrovski.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Paradox of Vertical Flight<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Emil Ostrovski<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Sometimes books look like they would be so what you need and then...they aren't.&nbsp; At all.&nbsp; <i>The Paradox of Vertical Flight</i> is a book that I should have loved because it was precisely what I was looking for on the surface.&nbsp; A friend of mine highly enjoyed it, it was short but with brilliant prose, and it involved weird themes that aren't often explored in YA literature (or adult literature, at least in this way.)&nbsp; I was also going into winter break when I started it, so I was predisposed to enjoy it because I was reading an actual book for fun (!!!) since finals were over and done with.&nbsp; <i>So </i>over and done with.&nbsp; The actual reading experienced was another story.&nbsp; Philosophy, a road trip, and teenage fatherhood make this a book unlike any other released in the past year.&nbsp; (As far as my knowledge goes, anyway.)<br /> <br /> Philosophy is Jack's purpose in life.&nbsp; He's the teenage boy that gets drunk and discusses more than just how the room is spinning.&nbsp; He's the type of person to discuss how people go about life as if they are drunk and the room is spinning, and how that lifestyle relates to the reality of the human experience.&nbsp; He's the type of boy that wakes up on his eighteenth birthday, sees all of the posts on his Facebook wall, and thinks about killing himself.&nbsp; Jack is far from normal.&nbsp; Unhinged, unprepared, he's barely able to pull himself away from the pill bottle he takes out - let alone able to become a teenage father.<br /> <br /> He got his college-aged girlfriend Jess pregnant nine months prior.&nbsp; He would go to parties with her, get drunk, and discuss philosophy while they fell in love.&nbsp; All Jack could think of when Jess announced her pregnancy was the potential abortion, and that was enough to cause Jess to want him out of her life forever.&nbsp; So, nine months later, it comes as a surprise when he gets a call about Jess having the baby in the hospital.&nbsp; She doesn't want him there.&nbsp; She doesn't want him, period.&nbsp; Seeing his son changes Jack's life.&nbsp; Mentally, he names his baby Socrates.<br /> <br /> It's at the hospital that Jack finds out the hard part of the situation.&nbsp; Jess is giving the baby up for adoption without his consent.&nbsp; She didn't put a father down on the birth certificate.&nbsp; As far as the hospital and the law are concerned, there is no way for Jack to be considered the father of Socrates without DNA testing and a lot of extra hoop-jumping.&nbsp; With the baby about to be adopted, there's no time for that.&nbsp; Jack simply plucks Socrates out of the hospital and decides to take him on one trip - a trip to Jack's grandmother, a woman whose memory is on its last leg.&nbsp; This road trip will change the course of Jack's life forever as he finally has to confront the meaning of his life, not just the meaning of life in general.<br /> <br /> Books like this always have a way of intriguing me.&nbsp; I don't read a lot of male protagonists, specifically first-person narrators, so it takes a lot for me to pick up a book narrated by a male.&nbsp; The Paradox of Vertical Flight initially felt like it would be more than just a book aimed at creating a very specific ideal of the intellectual but still-male male, but some sections of it feel like they try so very hard.&nbsp; This is a case where I think the author's youth and credits (Philosophy major from Vassar, going to Columbia for an MFA in creative writing) inevitably caused this book to be something that tried much harder than it should have for the story it was telling.<br /> <br /> While Jack's narration is interesting and intelligent, it quickly becomes apparent that it's heavily based on philosophy, self-reflection, and the kind of stupid-but-meaningful scenarios that one expects from a literary roadtrip novel from the male gaze.&nbsp; Jack's reactions to Jess's pregnancy were beautiful (he explains them all in relation to the colors of M&amp;Ms) until they revealed this idea that he had a right to discussing what happened to the baby after it was had when Jess had no desire for him to be in her life.&nbsp; It was intriguing, really, because I think it could have been a well-done scenario if it didn't ultimately give the impression that Jess was a bitchy character for not wanting Jack in her life at that moment.&nbsp; I could see how Jack could interpret it that way, but the viewpoint supported an interpretation of events that made the female character seem petty and lesser in relation to the male character's more-important needs.&nbsp; Jack grows as a person and eventually gains more self awareness, realizing that pregnancy and a failing relationship were hard on Jess as well, yet he never truly understands the impact of it on her the way he understands his loss - and he never really accepts that he had more privilege in his situation, which really got annoying.&nbsp; A lot of the epiphanies also come around when the characters get very drunk towards the end of the story.&nbsp; It felt realistic to a point but raised the concern of exactly how much character growth there was in the story.<br /> <br /> Jess, and Jack's friend that also joins the road trip, are both drawn well to some extent but occasionally feel limited in their purpose.&nbsp; I had trouble connecting to any of the characters on a personal level because the novel's intellectualism felt like it got in the way.&nbsp; Sometimes the characters had breakthroughs I understood - Jack's relationship with his grandmother is so amazingly sad, and the way that his friend Tommy is dealing with enlisting in the armed forces and Jess is dealing with her own issues are very meaningful in powerful ways throughout the narrative.&nbsp; Jack's narration just kind of overtakes those points, and they are separated by periodic situations that are meant to be purposeful, funny, and thematic but kind of end up feeling a little too contrived simply because they don't seem one hundred percent organic to the story.<br /> <br /> Can I also say that the narrator talks a lot to Socrates in his head mentally, and that the lines between reality and his mental state are blurred in those moments?&nbsp; That technique got old in this narrative.&nbsp; I wasn't sure how to handle it, and after a while I felt like it got more annoying than genius.&nbsp; It felt like a writing technique that wasn't polished enough for the storyline; even if it was, I don't know if it necessarily fit.<br /> <br /> I will say that Ostrovski's writing is amazing save for the occasional weird choice of technique.&nbsp; His words can be very powerful.&nbsp; The humor is spot-on when it doesn't feel too embedded in the narrator's philosophical musings, and the story feels original even though the literary roadtrip book from the male gaze isn't exactly a new concept.&nbsp; There's a lot in this book that should be lauded, especially from a young talent in the writing world, and it's clear that Ostrovski has a voice that the writing world hasn't seen before.&nbsp; The book itself may feel like it's drowning in too many attempts at being literary, smart, and philosophical, but the core ideas and themes have something special to their execution.&nbsp; I didn't regret reading the book because of the writing.&nbsp; In fact, the writing makes me want to read another book of Ostrovski's.&nbsp; When the writing is in a good space, the book manages to impress.<br /> <br /> <i>The Paradox of Vertical Flight</i> is a debut attempt that, for the right reader, will blow their minds.&nbsp; Readers that love road trip novels with male protagonists and/or books that heavily discuss philosophy as it relates to today's modern teenager will adore the narrative.&nbsp; For other readers, the book's feelings of technical dysfunction and character limitations will probably override the solid quality to the writing.&nbsp; Emil Ostrovski has a bright future in writing, but I think he needs to focus more on the characters in his stories rather than the need for the story's elements to be literary and impressive.&nbsp; If this book hadn't tried so hard to impress me, I may very well have liked it.<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; This cover is gorgeous.&nbsp; I love the abstract nature of it, the oddity and the colors.&nbsp; It's really catchy.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 2.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!)&nbsp; http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-paradox-of-vertical-flight-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8871176545038185529Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:00:00 +00002013-12-30T10:00:07.931-05:005.0 reviewsepic fantasymagicPoCRae CarsonseriesReview: The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTVDCnmZAldtKyeN-sF085yollx0QcOHIT4VTXpqZ6K0zGQHN4bToFZtdVXKwtby2o3tUoyZGltNb8lEuwqDlkTdSkhNxL0240HoJxroJ0yw3HLd4xuy8LYd5c8vd5kBnMd22n05c1Eyw/s1600/The+Bitter+Kingdom+by+Rae+Carson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTVDCnmZAldtKyeN-sF085yollx0QcOHIT4VTXpqZ6K0zGQHN4bToFZtdVXKwtby2o3tUoyZGltNb8lEuwqDlkTdSkhNxL0240HoJxroJ0yw3HLd4xuy8LYd5c8vd5kBnMd22n05c1Eyw/s320/The+Bitter+Kingdom+by+Rae+Carson.jpg" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Bitter Kingdom<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Rae Carson<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Girl of Fire and Thorns #3<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; The Girl of Fire and Thorns<br /> <br /> <br /> This book is me, unraveling.<br /> <br /> I never got the guts to review <i>The Crown of Embers</i> when it came out - it blew me away and reminded me of everything that I loved about this series, but I think a large part of me practiced the idea of denial.&nbsp; If I pretended that the third book was going to be ages in coming, I would never have to experience the end.&nbsp; I would never have to judge it and compare it.&nbsp; I knew I would love it, but I wasn't sure why.&nbsp; I wasn't sure what I would go through in order to reach the final pages of this trilogy.<br /> <br /> I have read it; I am undone.<br /> <br /> Note that this review will contain <b>major plot spoilers</b> for this series.&nbsp; Just go out and read <i>The Girl of Fire and Thorns</i> and <i>The Crown of Embers</i>, because you might as well get hooked too.<br /> <br /> Elisa is a queen with access to an unimaginable amount of magical power through her Godstone and a new connection to the earth itself.&nbsp; She has escaped death and proven herself to be more than the puppet of religious prophecy.&nbsp; Slowly, Elisa has proven herself a force to be reckoned with by her calculations, her cunning, and her power.&nbsp; With her new knowledge of where the power of the Godstones comes from, she begins her final journey with her companions as they go off to the enemy country of Invierne in order to rescue the love of her life and hopefully stop a siege on the surrounding countries.<br /> <br /> The power of the Godstone that Elisa possesses begins to change as she navigates the new magical connection she has made.&nbsp; Storm, the outcast Invierno who has made a tie of loyalty to Elisa, also finds a renewed sense of magical gifts because of the connection.&nbsp; Their magical training puts them in the artful position of having powerful magic at their disposal.&nbsp; At the same time, there is also the question of whether or not the party will find Hector alive, as he is captive to a band of traveling Inviernos using him for the sole purpose of luring Elisa to the capital city.&nbsp; There, Elisa will be used as a living sacrifice in order to keep the Invierno magic alive.<br /> <br /> Sacrifice is more than what Elisa has planned for herself.&nbsp; Training herself to become more powerful only leads her to more questions.&nbsp; Even if she reunites with Hector and manages to get into the Invierno city, Elisa knows that things will become complicated.&nbsp; Meanwhile, her kingdom of Joya d'Arena is under siege with the heir to her throne in hiding with the other leaders still on her side, and her friend Cosme, now queen of Basajuan, is facing her own threats of siege by the Invierno leaders due to the continual issues between the relatively new kingdoms and Inviene, a kingdom standing centuries before the settlers of its adversaries appeared in the deserts.&nbsp; Elisa has a long road ahead of her as she faces sacrifice, political machinations, countless armies, and potential betrayal at every turn.&nbsp; Survival is never guaranteed.<br /> <br /> I refused to give out anything major in there.&nbsp; I promise.&nbsp; This summary does not begin to cover the 400+ pages of perfection that is <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i>.&nbsp; Elisa is not a narrator that skimps on details or complexity, and Carson is not an author that will let her readers get off with a basic plot and theme.&nbsp; With this series, you are in for so much more than you ever bargained for.&nbsp; Wrapping it all up is an accomplishment - this book pulls it off well, and not without some heartache.&nbsp; Okay, a lot of heartache.&nbsp; Carson might not be as cruel as some other fantasy authors out there, but her world is real.&nbsp; You can reach your hand through the pages and enter it at your own risk, folks. <br /> <br /> What allows Elisa's voice to ring true for all three books is the way her thought process works.&nbsp; Elisa isn't a character that goes into things without thought.&nbsp; On the contrary, her expertise as a narrator has been the continual usage of thought rather than instinct in order to get ahead as a ruler.&nbsp; Her character arc represents what it means to learn how to rule a country.&nbsp; <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> in particular expresses many instances in Elisa's narrative where she has to choose between a situation that would be instinctual and one that would realistically benefit her country and her cause.&nbsp; It's never enough for Elisa to just make a decision - she has to make a smart one.&nbsp; Carson explores this idea of a ruler being more than just passionate, making it feel like it goes above the usual fantasy novel and the usual YA novel.&nbsp; Elisa not only learns to be more than impulsive, but she also learns to be emotional and to balance her life.&nbsp; This connection allows her to find uses for her emotions on a broader scale.&nbsp; Her love for Hector isn't just love in this installment; it's something that can become an advantageous marriage and political alliance within her kingdom if she succeeds.&nbsp; There's grief, tough decisions, and moments where Elisa is unsure of herself.&nbsp; Nothing comes easily and nothing comes without a price.&nbsp; Carson continually puts Elisa in these positions because it would be realistic.&nbsp; There's a strong sense that navigating this world is like this all the time.&nbsp; Every day may not be one of life-and-death scenarios, but Elisa will always have to think about her kingdom, her companions, and herself.&nbsp; Always.<br /> <br /> This is why Elisa strong, why it's admirable when she finds strength in her friends and makes blatant attempts at using her power to put other women she believes in in positions such as hers.&nbsp; Elisa is powerful heroine because her actions and her thoughts prove her strength and stability. This trilogy is about her learning that her power comes from herself and that she can use that to better her position in life and those that are also in similar positions.&nbsp; She has privilege and she becomes aware of that.&nbsp; Elisa is truly worthy of the mantle of a character that could be labeled feminist (if you prescribe to that label being legitimate).&nbsp; On top of that, she is a person of color and a person who has gone through size-ism and understands what those mean as well.&nbsp; Carson made her an amazing character by giving her the opportunity to understand these intersectional points, though in Elisa's case her heritage puts her at a better social position than the Inviernos within her kingdom, which provides some interesting food for thought as the rest of the story unfolds.&nbsp; Elisa is the manifestation of a world that is bold and challenging, a world that is aware that it is problematic and only beginning to realize it.&nbsp; (Can you tell I've been involved in learning about these issues at college?&nbsp; Totally not what I anticipated when I started reading this book.&nbsp; Series can survive you growing more cynical!&nbsp; It's a revolutionary concept!)<br /> <br /> I could spend another two long paragraphs detailing the great characterization of the other characters, but I'll limit it to one for the sake of constraint.&nbsp; Hector is a gorgeous hero who gets a chance to save Elisa once or twice throughout the book, yet I loved how it was obvious that she saved herself more.&nbsp; Their romantic relationship is brilliant; they discuss how she can put him on an "equal" level to hers politically, and he blatantly states that he's fine with Elisa having more political power than he does.&nbsp; Hector is a true hero because he allows Elisa to become a stronger person without making her dependent on him to survive.&nbsp; In allowing her to better herself for herself, he really proves his heroism without overtaking Elisa's story or her exploits.&nbsp; Hector is a foil character - a really well-crafted, three-dimensional foil character - and Carson nails that.&nbsp; She really does.&nbsp; And this romance?&nbsp; Smoking.&nbsp; Hot.&nbsp; It was so satisfying that I cheered when they finally got the chance to do all of the smexy things they wanted to do.&nbsp; I have not read such a satisfying scene like that in ages.<br /> <br /> (Okay, two paragraphs on this - will you kill me readers?)&nbsp; I also loved Storm in this installment.&nbsp; Loved loved loved.&nbsp; He was humorous and opened up, creating this great new friendship for Elisa to consider.&nbsp; He provided some cultural understanding for her as well that was desperately needed.&nbsp; I wished there was more about the Invierno culture in the text, as I think Carson only scratched the surface as to the long history of colonization and how it changed the cultures and how they coexisted throughout the series, but Storm was a good start and provided a viewpoint that was needed in the series.&nbsp; Mara and Elisa also get even closer in this book; I love how Elisa as a character can pull from all of these other strong females in her life.&nbsp; Mara, Cosme, and even Alodia (Elisa's sister) get shining moments in this installment that show the readership their strength.&nbsp; Women coming together and forcing political change?&nbsp; Totally my kind of read, and I admire how Carson is able to show how the politics complicates the friendship between them, yet how it also gives them all the ability to work as hard as they can for their people as rulers.&nbsp; There's also an inclusion of what the romance community calls a Plot Moppet, a girl who is part-Invierno and therefore considered of a low class in the free towns close to Invierne.&nbsp; She mostly brings more themes of what the internal prejudices mean for the world, but she actually becomes a vital part of the plot and even shows herself to be just as intelligent and brave as Elisa and the others.&nbsp; I liked that Carson didn't underestimate her character by just making her ostentatious and prideful; the character becomes something more, and therefore becomes more empathetic and endearing than annoying.<br /> <br /> The way that Carson writes this world is just amazing.&nbsp; <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> shows the far-reaching world building that Carson has established throughout the series, and I think readers will find themselves shocked at how much more there is to it after the final pages are turned.&nbsp; The Invierno capital comes alive in brief descriptions; the magic of the world is unveiled just a little bit more, even as the religious aspects become more confusing and personal than ever before.&nbsp; Each journey and adventure creates new drama.&nbsp; The things that Carson showcases in<i> The Bitter Kingdom </i>are more dangerous than I remembered in previous books.&nbsp; Fans of fantasy fiction, even anime and manga, will delight in the different beasts and twists that Carson pulls throughout the story.&nbsp; Everything connects in a way that fits into the larger scheme of the world, so it doesn't come across as being invented just to create outer conflict in the plot.&nbsp; Her reveal as to the history of the Invierne and their culture is particularly illuminating in this installment.&nbsp; It's probably not enough for the larger themes at work - I think Carson addressed it as best as possible by forcing Elisa into a situation where she had to act on the present circumstances to save her people, but it would be really interesting to read a later volume that explored the growing knowledge of the history of the Inviernos and the people descended from the (relatively) more recent settlers and how that effected the world.&nbsp; Carson just made the world come to life to the point where I wanted to know everything.&nbsp; I already wanted to know everything about this world, but <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> made me prepared to do a whole lot of begging for it.<br /> <br /> <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> is a masterpiece.&nbsp; Truly, the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece.&nbsp; Rae Carson has a writing style that perfectly balances characterization, plot, and description.&nbsp; Her world is a sentient organism that grows with its page count.&nbsp; Nothing here feels overdone, trite, or cliche.&nbsp; She uses fantasy tropes well when she pulls them out, but does so in a way that feels original and inspired.&nbsp; The romance is amazing; Elisa is a narrator worth heralding as one of the best teen female fantasy characters of our generation.&nbsp; I want to give this series to everyone who loves fantasy and say, "This is how it's done."&nbsp; My love for this series will remain even though it's over.&nbsp; After I devour the novellas and am out of fresh material, I'll wait patiently for Carson to write something else - a new world - and make the time in the next year or two to reread this trilogy again and remind myself of everything it's done for me.&nbsp; It's been a great ride, and <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> is a series finale worth every ounce of your time that it eats up.&nbsp; You will not put it down once you start; you will not be able to handle it; it will be okay, because it's worth it.<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; The covers of this series are mixed for me.&nbsp; I think they have a great beauty to them but don't capture the epic, powerful nature of Elisa's narration - and they don't show that she is a woman of color, either, which is a huge deal considering the desert world the series takes place in.&nbsp; It would have helped to have that representation visually.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars&nbsp; <br /><br />Series Rating (because why not?):&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)&nbsp; http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/review-bitter-kingdom-by-rae-carson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)1
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<title>Dreaming In Books</title>
<description>A blog for readers of YA, Romance, and Paranormal books.</description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2015 05:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2015-05-22T01:10:58.543-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blog Tour</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">historical romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">interview</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Julia London</category>
<title>Blog Tour: Julia London's The Scoundrel and the Debutante Q & A </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0wANS9MrhcYTfKhgqfBzTkTT5JdhZz3xbfHAWULhu6MMecUq1ye8pDBzuLEq0tkr-TW_zCx8ecEVnbY4itvcHHOcayXbeVPwti70yoZS1vL0Erl0KYsKlngh_qS5FQQSCmBXUL8g5N2e/s1600/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0wANS9MrhcYTfKhgqfBzTkTT5JdhZz3xbfHAWULhu6MMecUq1ye8pDBzuLEq0tkr-TW_zCx8ecEVnbY4itvcHHOcayXbeVPwti70yoZS1vL0Erl0KYsKlngh_qS5FQQSCmBXUL8g5N2e/s320/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Hi everyone! This month showcased the release of Julia London's third book in her Cabot sisters series: <i>The Scoundrel and the Debutante</i>. I just finished reading it, and it's a wonderful road trip romance gone awry with a solid amount of tension and heat to it. In honor of the book's release and the blog tour, I got the opportunity to share some questions &amp; answers from the author herself on the blog today!<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="color: purple;">1. Can you tell us a little more about the Cabot sisters?</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: #0b5394;">The Cabot sisters are four young women born into privilege and wealth in Regency England. They’ve been raised with the standard education of debutantes: Basic reading, writing and geography, and some unmarketable skills in embroidery, music and gossip. When hardship falls, their sheltered life has not given them enough experience in a world in which men are kings and women are legally and socially helpless. They don’t know what to do, but the Cabots are what we’d call street-smart today, and they are determined to control their fates. However, because they’ve been so sheltered, they make some terrible decisions that have far-reaching ramifications. Honor and Grace, Prudence’s older sisters, have already caused enough scandal to last a lifetime. Their younger sisters have felt the consequences, too—now, no one wants to marry into their family.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: purple;">&nbsp;2. If you could live during any time period from the past, when would it be and why?&nbsp;</span><br /> <br /> <span style="color: #0b5394;">I guess it’s obvious that I would have to try living in the Regency era. But I would have to be among the wealthy. I wouldn’t want to be crammed into any tight living quarters with a lot of people and maybe even some animals. I would need one of those big Georgian mansions, a butler, a ladies’ maid, and a very handsome and rich husband. Oh, and the gowns. I would need a lot of those beautiful gowns. I have always been a student and fan of history, but, in the end, knowing what I know, I like the creature comforts of the twenty-first century.</span><br /> <br /> <br /> I agree with Julia on a number of things - especially the Georgian mansion and the gowns. Check back on the blog for a review of <i>The Scoundrel and the Debutante</i> towards the end of the month. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading this historical road trip romance with a dash of kismet, the book is available at all major e-retailers and in bookstores.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOusRN6Q389hNeT0bQeIJiHNrfXnWIZI6DEPpf86aAwD_2d8xiFZ1ABiU-e0CEux_4hSdsDZ_1XB5maYd6-4E7ZFQDW4mBxoP20-Et-oTigD8BhlEWWJ8RxVtfND3UlMj4zYTHTJkCgmM-/s1600/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOusRN6Q389hNeT0bQeIJiHNrfXnWIZI6DEPpf86aAwD_2d8xiFZ1ABiU-e0CEux_4hSdsDZ_1XB5maYd6-4E7ZFQDW4mBxoP20-Et-oTigD8BhlEWWJ8RxVtfND3UlMj4zYTHTJkCgmM-/s320/Blog+Tour_JuliaLondon_Image2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> A big thanks to Meryl L. Moss Media Relations for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour, and to Harlequin and Julia London for making this book and series a worthwhile read!</description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2015/05/blog-tour-julia-londons-scoundrel-and.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2015-03-13T09:00:10.941-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blog Tour</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">interview</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Sarah Morgan</category>
<title>Blog Tour: Q and A with Sarah Morgan about First Time in Forever </title>
<description><i>Hey all! Thanks to the lovely folks at Meryl L. Moss, Harlequin, and Sarah Morgan, I have a Q&amp;A with Sarah about her latest book, </i>First Time in Forever<i>, to share with you as a part of the blog tour today. Later today will be a review of the book (spoiler alert: it's one of her best). I adore Sarah and the work she brings into the romance field, so I hope you enjoy this Q&amp;A as much as I did!&nbsp;</i><br /> <i><br /></i> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0tc9Lowm-OXUDqJrc2JgJfTdHEYz7MduHL-8HnEo5ZcJqV9qnblqr8FrEnqKYk2i3XI6FQg3rXHAYwV-E2nS9sXUFcEvBP6dsX-aGTKddCysTxSq5o2TpuaNA7nZG-a7tXDcUW-slKxl/s1600/Morgan,+Sarah_First+Time+in+Forever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0tc9Lowm-OXUDqJrc2JgJfTdHEYz7MduHL-8HnEo5ZcJqV9qnblqr8FrEnqKYk2i3XI6FQg3rXHAYwV-E2nS9sXUFcEvBP6dsX-aGTKddCysTxSq5o2TpuaNA7nZG-a7tXDcUW-slKxl/s1600/Morgan,+Sarah_First+Time+in+Forever.jpg" height="320" width="202" /></a></div> <i><br /></i> <br /> <b>1. First Time in Forever is the opening book in your brand new Puffin Island series. What inspired you to write this series?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;I knew from the start that I wanted the link between the characters and stories to be a strong friendship. I write romance, but I also love exploring the other relationships in my characters’ lives, including family and friends. I had finished my O’Neil Brothers series, which was set in the beautiful mountains of Vermont, and I wanted a completely different setting for my new series. I decided on an island, a coastal retreat where three friends could escape when life was hard. I want readers to dive in, breathe in the sea air, taste the fresh blueberries and the smooth chill of ice cream and take a beach holiday while they read.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;2. What is the title in reference to?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> The title was chosen by my publisher but it’s perfect for the story because for my heroine, Emily, it is a summer of firsts. Like many of us, she lives her life well within her comfort zone. She thinks she has control of everything but life has a way of shaking up that theory and overnight her life changes. Suddenly she’s forced to do all the things she has been avoiding and by pushing herself she discovers she is capable of more than she thought. For Emily, it really is ‘First Time in Forever’.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;3. Can you tell us a little about best friends Emily, Brittany and Skylar?</b><br /> <br /> I love these characters, and their friendship is a constant theme flowing through all three books. They met in college and formed an instant bond that has deepened over the years. Theirs is a deep, authentic friendship. They know each other, accept each other without judgment and they’re always there for one another. In a crisis, they’ll be on the phone – they may not always agree, but they always support. They encourage, laugh, listen and forgive. They share history, secrets, and they always want the best for each other. All three girls are very different. Emily is the more cautious of the three. She’s guarded, but very loyal to her friends. After a difficult childhood, she protects herself emotionally by keeping tight control over her life. She lives well within her comfort zone, avoiding responsibility for anyone but herself. When she finds herself responsible for a child, everything changes for her. Brittany is an archaeologist, a cross between Lara Croft and Indiana Jones (but nothing annoys her more than being asked if she owns a whip!). She is smart, adventurous and given to impulse. At the age of eighteen she married island bad boy, Zachary Flynn. It lasted all of ten days. Since then she has travelled the world and put that relationship behind her. Brittany’s story, Some Kind of Wonderful, will be out in September in the US, but readers who would like to meet her early can find her in Playing by the Greek’s Rules, a story I wrote for Harlequin Presents, which is out now. Skylar is a jewelry designer, an artist with a dreamy streak and a wicked sense of humor. She’s a free spirit, a trait that causes conflict with her family who are continually hoping she will choose a more conventional career path. Skylar is romantic but she doesn’t dream of weddings, she dreams of love.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>4. How do you decide which character to write about first?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’d had Emily’s story in my head for a while, and she was my starting point for the whole series. What I didn’t have was the setting or the other characters. I started to think about what had happened to her (finding herself guardian to her half sister’s child when she’d made a life decision never to have children) and how she’d react. Even though it was never her choice to have Lizzy, she is a very responsible person so I knew she’d do anything and everything within her power to keep the child safe. I’d already decided that she would have close friends, so I decided the three women would have somewhere they always went in times of trouble. Castaway Cottage is owned by Brittany, and all three women treat it as a sanctuary. Once I had the friends and the island, all I had to do was build a warm, wonderful community who would gradually ease Emily out of her shell. And populate it with hot men of course!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;5. What is the central theme of First Time in Forever?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> The central theme is courage. We all have a tendency to avoid the things that scare us, and that is what Emily has done. Her whole life has been constructed to avoid her biggest fears and suddenly she is forced to meet them head on. She is determined to protect herself and not make herself vulnerable so taking that leap with Ryan is huge for her. She’s known loss, so now she chooses to keep people at a safe distance. In the end Emily faces her fears and triumphs. Love and making yourself vulnerable, requires courage.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBykp_-jbIRJq7ZIbUCMonLcjYkfl9k4jbnBlxvjCTEPW_1egqDjj8uRs3zKGgYa1_te6vfayj_JY90eK2WkcnsBZic5XUqr8b1jAQB63p3JJvK-7pBlIYkPlGJcQct_-9uZKGEETBh3-i/s1600/puffin-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBykp_-jbIRJq7ZIbUCMonLcjYkfl9k4jbnBlxvjCTEPW_1egqDjj8uRs3zKGgYa1_te6vfayj_JY90eK2WkcnsBZic5XUqr8b1jAQB63p3JJvK-7pBlIYkPlGJcQct_-9uZKGEETBh3-i/s1600/puffin-image.jpg" height="200" width="182" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;6. What made you choose the Puffin as the island bird?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I spent a long time researching the various islands around Penobscot Bay, Maine. Although I prefer to have a fictitious setting, it’s important to me to make it as authentic as possible so I was focusing on the national park and the wildlife of the area. I discovered that although Puffins are not an endangered species, they are rare in Maine and there are projects to reintroduce them to the islands. I first saw Puffins in the north of England and they are the most amazing sea birds. As I was researching, one of the facts that stayed with me was that although they spend most of their lives at sea, they usually return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This fitted well with my idea that Puffin Island would be a sanctuary for the three friends. Emily, Brittany and Skylar each live busy independent lives but when they need a safe retreat, they return to the island. In the books, the Puffins actually live on Puffin Rock, which is a small rocky outcrop to the north of the island. They don’t like humans to get too close!<br /> <br /> <b>7. The names that you chose for the island and the cottage are so lovely - how do you come up with them?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;Picking the setting for a new series is very important because I’m going to be spending so much time there myself during the writing process. It has to be somewhere that captures my imagination, and I need to fall in love with it myself before I create a word that hopefully the reader will love too. I knew I wanted to set the series in Maine, but I am lucky enough to have readers all around the world, so the place I chose had to work for them too. As part of my research, I was looking at seabirds in the area and decided that calling it Puffin Island would work for readers all over the globe. The cottage is a sanctuary for all three women and I wanted the name to reflect that. It’s somewhere they can escape to when life is difficult, so ‘Castaway’ seemed like the perfect name. I wanted it to be secluded but also warm and welcoming and in the end I fell in love with the cottage. I’d move there tomorrow!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;8. Were you involved in the cover design process?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m very lucky because the team in the art department at HQN do a wonderful job with my covers. My editor and I make sure they have as much information about characters and setting as possible, to help them design a cover that reflects the feel and tone of the story. My agent and I do see early concepts, and feedback our ideas too. I love the cover for First Time in Forever. It conveys that warm, summery, beach feeling that matches the tone of the book.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;9. Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> That’s a tough question. I enjoyed writing the beach picnic scene because it represents a real challenge for Emily, but also for Ryan who is equally out of his comfort zone. A woman with a child isn’t on his wish list and this is the scene where he realizes he isn’t as in control of his feelings as he’d like to be.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;10. What first attracts Ryan to Emily and vice versa?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Ryan first meets Emily because he is asked by their friend Brittany to check on her. At first he is simply fulfilling a duty, but he senses that she has secrets and he’s intrigued. Ryan loves a mystery and, of course, he’s very attracted to her. Once he finds out more about her, he wants to help her. Ryan pushes her out of her comfort zone and with him she starts to do things she hasn’t done before. In helping her, he is forced to take a long hard look at his own life. Emily has been playing it safe for most of her life, but now she is right out of her comfort zone, not only because of the responsibility for Lizzy, but also because of her feelings for Ryan. He makes no secret of the way he feels about her. He is strong, persuasive and insanely hot! The relationship is very sexually charged, and she isn’t used to that. She doesn’t know how to handle it. At first she resists but gradually he nudges her out of her shell and persuades her to open up to him. Also, he has experience in the area she feels most vulnerable – caring for a child. It’s through his dealings with Lizzy that she sees his true character.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>11. Your character Emily has a terrible fear of the ocean. Why did you choose to include this in the book?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Overcoming fear is a theme of the book, and Emily’s fear of the ocean mirrors her fear of emotions. She is afraid of being swamped, of losing everything. She is torn because on the one hand Puffin Island is the perfect place to hide away, but it also means confronting her worst fears. When she visited the island with her friends she was able to stay indoors and inland and think only of herself, but now she has Lizzy, who wants to play in the sand and swim in the sea. She is forced out of her comfort zone and it’s difficult for her. I love challenging my characters and watching them grow, and that’s the case for Emily.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CPZG6bTf3fV9Kf6dFrkArbavGYC-etSjmiYArqfM7uBRlU_dPC7id7efuhzIEp4oFFOiaISNLciLQcb7hCZX9Pxmn61knT48bcrKiPAHneqdl-rijcZBTdaN4pp0X0FiKuyO_rXo4Sse/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-13+at+2.26.02+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CPZG6bTf3fV9Kf6dFrkArbavGYC-etSjmiYArqfM7uBRlU_dPC7id7efuhzIEp4oFFOiaISNLciLQcb7hCZX9Pxmn61knT48bcrKiPAHneqdl-rijcZBTdaN4pp0X0FiKuyO_rXo4Sse/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-03-13+at+2.26.02+AM.png" height="198" width="200" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>(Author Sarah Morgan)</b></span></div> <br /> <b>&nbsp;12. You have a strong connection to the ocean. What are your fondest seaside memories?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I love the ocean. I live close to London, so escaping to the sea is nothing more than a dream for most of the year. I have two sons and some of our happiest holidays have been spent by the beach. Every summer we hire a house near the ocean and like many families, we have our own routines and rituals that we often repeat each holiday. If we’re feeling energetic we brave the freezing waves to go body boarding and walk miles along the coast path. If we want a more leisurely day we explore the tide pools, delving beneath rocks and through fronds of seaweed to find hidden treasures. We build the most amazing sand sculptures and of course we eat! Beach picnics are always fun and sometimes we’ll take a fishing trip and cook what we catch. There’s nothing quite like the taste of freshly cooked fish eaten on the beach as the sun goes down. And no beach holiday would be complete without ice cream (my current favorite flavors are pistachio and vanilla). It’s no coincidence that ice cream plays a role in First Time in Forever. I had so much fun dreaming up Summer Scoop and the whole family (and my readers on facebook!) helped pick the flavors.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;13. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?</b><br /> <br /> I love spending time with family and friends. I’m a sociable person and people are the antidote to long hours spent in front of the computer. Having friends over is a favorite pastime, and I love cooking. I also try to spend time outdoors whenever I can. Writing is a mostly sedentary, indoor job so when I’m not tied to a deadline I like to walk and ride my mountain bike (but only in the summer I confess). When I want to flop, I read (of course!) and I’m addicted to various TV dramas (The Good Wife, Scandal, House of Cards, The Big Bang Theory are among my favorites).<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;14. Who would play Emily and Ryan in First Time in Forever, the movie?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Emily Blunt could be Emily, and Chris Pine would be Ryan.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;15. Are you a seat of your pants writer or do you plan out the story idea beforehand?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m definitely seat of my pants, but I do have a rough idea of where I'm going before I start. I know the characters and the conflict, but the detail evolves as I write. I do find it helps to think hard about the ending right at the beginning of the process. If you know where your characters are going to end up and how they will change over the story, it forces you to think hard about what decisions they might make, and lessons they might learn, to affect that change.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>16. What are you currently reading?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> &nbsp;Sarah Addison Allen’s First Frost. I love her work. One of my favorite books is The Peach Keeper.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> <b>17. Are there any quirky rituals/habits you have during the writing process?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I use a lot of sticky notes and I don’t throw anything away until the book is finished. I make a playlist but I don’t usually write to it. Music is a wonderful way of evoking emotion, and finding exactly the right track can make a scene easier to write. It’s very personal. I’m not sure that a reader listening to a playlist would necessarily enjoy the music unless it was played in exactly the right place in the story, but it really helps the thinking process for me.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;18. Who are some of your favorite authors?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> This is such a difficult question because there are so many authors whose work I enjoy and I love discovering new authors. I read a lot. Among my top favorites would be Nora Roberts, Jill Shalvis and Sarah Addison Allen.<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;19. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> Read<br /> Write every day<br /> Stay off the internet<br /> When you’re stuck, keep going<br /> Read more<br /> Make your characters as human and real as possible<br /> Join a writing organization such as Romance Writers of America<br /> Put your work aside and don’t be afraid to revise. Revisions are part of writing.<br /> Read it aloud for rhythm<br /> Develop resilience.<br /> Find at least one good writing friend.<br /> Every time you’re knocked down, get up again.<br /> READ!<br /> <br /> <b>&nbsp;20. What are you working on next?&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> I’m in the middle of the third book in the Puffin Island series, Skylar and Alec’s story, called Christmas Ever After. Sky is a really fun character to write and the tension with Alec is electric. It’s one of those stories where life keeps throwing boulders at the characters (a bit like real life!) and it’s interesting to see them fighting their way out. I love this couple. Their relationship borders on adversarial but they have off the scale chemistry and plenty of humor so it’s fun to write. And it’s a Holiday story, so there is all the extra frosty sparkle I always enjoy.<br /> <br /> <i>Thanks again to Sarah, Harlequin, and Meryl L. Moss for allowing me to be a part of this stellar tour. If you love contemporary romance with sexiness, friendship, community, and puffins, </i>First Time in Forever<i> is a worthy book to sink your teeth into next. Check again later in the day for a review if your interest is piqued; the book is on sale now in both e-book and print.&nbsp;</i></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2015/03/blog-tour-q-and-with-sarah-morgan-about.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<atom:updated>2014-08-13T12:00:01.434-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">5.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">assassins</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fantasy</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harper Teen</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Leah Cypess</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">magic</category>
<title>Review: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLqsUzVdnHYbekVN6C5VpWIMmYvr6pAjTWMoIR9UCz0JGl3-mCCLzOduu3J-9dRfSBCiCsYeYeEUHZp5jMqD6CGntFV5oyw9tUilDaUVIlBJab6tOmAlVgLoIftu7sU_beN6tf1YQYkzL/s1600/Cypess,+Leah_Death+Sworn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLqsUzVdnHYbekVN6C5VpWIMmYvr6pAjTWMoIR9UCz0JGl3-mCCLzOduu3J-9dRfSBCiCsYeYeEUHZp5jMqD6CGntFV5oyw9tUilDaUVIlBJab6tOmAlVgLoIftu7sU_beN6tf1YQYkzL/s1600/Cypess,+Leah_Death+Sworn.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Title:&nbsp; Death Sworn</span></span><br /> <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Author:&nbsp; Leah Cypess</span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Death Sworn #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leah Cypess has been a writer I’ve longed to read more of.&nbsp; I read and enjoyed her debut novel <i>Mistwood </i>for the intriguing voice that came through in the prose.&nbsp; Cypess has a knack for creating a world that manages to be romantic and tragic, political and magical.&nbsp; I haven’t read the companion to <i>Mistwood</i>, but <i>Death Sworn</i> is exactly what I’ve been looking to read lately. &nbsp; It’s a YA fantasy novel with a promising romantic arc, magic, and assassins.&nbsp; Assassins in particular seem to be en vogue in YA lately, but Cypess’s latest fantasy world gives us a new spin on the moral ambiguity of the assassin.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is a rough, beautiful fantasy that balances a satisfying slow-burn romance with the determination of a heroine who is coming to terms with the fact that her powers are dwindling in a situation where she is expected to be one of the most powerful sorceresses in recent history.&nbsp; In a cave full of training assassins, this means that every moment is about fighting for her right to survive. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ileni is a sorceress.&nbsp; Trained from her youth, she knows how to execute some of the most powerful magic possible.&nbsp; The manifestation of her powers heralded the possibility of her being one of the most gifted practitioners of magic in recent history.&nbsp; Those powers put her on track for some of the most intensive training, the expectations growing from year to year as she razored her skills to deadly points.&nbsp; Nothing prepared her for the inevitable fall that came with the slow dwindling of her powers.&nbsp; Despite the fact that they are rarely ever wrong about the potential within students of magic, Ileni becomes one of the few exceptions.&nbsp; She can still use the magic she was born and trained to use, but it comes at the cost of great exhaustion.&nbsp; The worst part is that it can’t replenish.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At some point, Ileni’s magic will run out. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s why she gets sent to the cave of the assassins.&nbsp; The Elders give her the mission as a last resort, as a way to get some return on her education; that is, until the assassins decide to kill her as they did the previous two sorcerers.&nbsp; Every assassin with the ability must learn magic; magic allows them to complete their tasks.&nbsp; Ileni is willing to do what she can on her mission, though her loyalty to the Elders is minimal with the knowledge that they basically expect her to die.&nbsp; Ileni decides to use her time in the cave to figure out the exact cause of death of the past two sorcerers.&nbsp; In the mean time, she knows that she can’t truly teach the assassins.&nbsp; The more magic they know, the more deadly they are to her and others. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorin is an assassin.&nbsp; Most of his life has been focused on the cave, the master of the assassins, and the duty of following his orders above all else.&nbsp; Sorin has been taught to always follow orders even if it meant destroying himself in the process.&nbsp; All of the assassins are told this upon entering the fold; Sorin’s obedience has always come with a hint of rebellion, but one that he’s shown only in the most subconscious of ways.&nbsp; Ileni’s appearance seems to draw out that rebellion in Sorin.&nbsp; This sorceress appears to be more than she proclaims, and her strength challenges him in ways that he never expects.&nbsp; When Ileni begins to uncover some of the secrets of the assassins and the deaths of the sorcerers, she’s led to question the larger role of sorcerers and assassins in the politics of the world.&nbsp; She’s also left to question right and wrong, and whether people like Sorin can be labeled as such in a world that seems impossibly in the middle. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Death Sworn</i> is the first in what I believe is a duology, and it sets up a world that has me weak at the knees as a reader (not in the other way - while the romance is hot, it’s not showing much super heated sexy times).&nbsp; Cypess has hit a mark with this book that I never would have expected with her previous work.&nbsp; It’s darker, it’s bolder, and it’s harsh.&nbsp; It also manages to subvert some aspects of the YA fantasy/paranormal genre that have long been absorbed by many YA writers.&nbsp; Not only does <i>Death Sworn</i> provide a great fantasy tale with a political edge hiding just beneath the surface, but it asks the question of what happens when someone really isn’t “the special one” anymore - when the YA heroine realizes that her special snowflake status gets revoked, shit gets real. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ileni is the perfect example of this.&nbsp; Because she was given expectations from birth to be one of the best, the decline of her magical powers is something that makes a large portion of her character.&nbsp; We see Ileni struggling with how her skills and her abilities can no longer perfectly coincide.&nbsp; There is artful skill but no power; with Sorin, there is power but not so much artistic skill.&nbsp; She becomes balanced by his presence in the narrative while also upset in other ways.&nbsp; Ileni’s story becomes one of survival, as well as one of self-acceptance.&nbsp; She has to learn to use her skills wisely as a teacher of assassins, as a spy, as a sorceress with a limited wellspring of magical gifts.&nbsp; It becomes a tale of how Ileni learns how to deceive in her own way while still remaining powerful. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s well done because Ileni is easy to relate to in these problems without necessarily being an easy person to like.&nbsp; She’s not a super unlikeable narrator, but she’s resilient and tough because of the way that she grew up.&nbsp; Sorin is similar.&nbsp; Ileni knows that she has to fend for herself and make decisions based on her survival as an individual, which means that trusting someone inside that helps her with those decisions is difficult.&nbsp; We see her blossom in how she begins to trust Sorin.&nbsp; We also see her grow as a person with how she learns to defend herself physically.&nbsp; Despite the moral quandaries she presents within the narrative on the subject of assassination as a profession, her need for survival allows her to be flexible and take on aspects of the assassins.&nbsp; She’s never soft and fragile, instead hiding her weaknesses, yet her method of character growth yields her to a feeling of sensitivity that the reader can hold onto and appreciate.&nbsp; Ileni manages to become inspirational in how strong she is in her survival skills.&nbsp; They may not make her a morally perfect Mary Sue, but they make her a character that has agency and goals even in the most subtle of operations. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorin was a worthy foil to Ileni, in ways that will make readers fascinated.&nbsp; His history with the assassins makes his characterization unexpectedly complicated.&nbsp; He’s not this dark, brooding, mysterious character without real purpose in keeping his life a secret.&nbsp; He broods because he is serious and loyal, deadly and (secretly) rebellious.&nbsp; Cypess explores the idea of being raised with the concept of assassination as a necessity; as something that isn’t morally right or wrong, but something that simply is a part of life.&nbsp; It creates a polarity between the two characters that explores the importance of assassination as a political mechanism as well as a way of life.&nbsp; Sorin doesn’t totally buy into his teachings, but he also doesn’t come around to a big “teaching moment” wherein he fully buys into a black-and-white viewpoint of assassination.&nbsp; Rather, he has active arguments with Ileni throughout the text that suggest moral ambiguity, complexity, and history to the act of assassination and how making a life out of it causes for a different lens on the matter.&nbsp; I also liked that Sorin’s story was about the way rebellion can be subtle; it made his past and his connection with Ileni all the more powerful in many ways.&nbsp; We can believe that he falls for Ileni because she represents things that he has never been able to do in large ways - and her mere existence rebels against the world in ways that Sorin can’t on his own. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cypess’s world as an entirety does feel very insular for most of the novel.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> doesn’t pretend to have a huge globe-trotting plot, and I think it works for what Cypess tries to do, but it does make the world feel like it has more to offer in the next book that readers won’t see directly.&nbsp; Cypess shows this in the way that the assassins occasionally interact with the outside world, whether for jobs or less approved purposes.&nbsp; Sorin and Ileni also mention past experiences on occasion that suggest the world’s larger breadth.&nbsp; Politically, I think Cypess foreshadows and hints at much to come with how and why Ileni and Sorin are in the cave of the assassins in the first place.&nbsp; What it all boils down to is that we get a fabulous image of a concentrated part of the world that Cypess has envisioned, and it leaves us wanting for the world at large in a way that will make the sequel one of immense potential.&nbsp; I did find myself wanting a bit more of the outside world of the fantasy that Cypess has created.&nbsp; Not because the world building was lacking, but because it was so fascinating. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world of <i>Death Sworn</i> also has really great construction in the way the world works in terms of the magic system.&nbsp; Not only does it work for Ileni as a character, but it works in that it provides a solid concept of checks and balances to itself without feeling overly complicated.&nbsp; Cypess creates a system that lives and breathes in the way that it presents itself in the potential power of those that wield magic.&nbsp; Some have more than others, and skill itself yields itself to separate but not always intertwined character traits.&nbsp; I think Cypess’s discussion of skill versus latent power, and power versus intelligence, makes the magic system more complicated without making it about all of the technical bits and bobs.&nbsp; Instead, it shows how magic is highly dependent on multiple variables with the user.&nbsp; These variables combined affect how the magic shapes the user and is used by the user.&nbsp; Ileni’s skill is so great that her waning power doesn’t totally diminish her; her intelligence also works to make up for where the power fades off.&nbsp; Sorin has good magical power but doesn’t have the skill or lifelong training.&nbsp; He has intelligence, but not inherent magical intelligence because of how it was introduced to him later in life.&nbsp; It creates a system where the characters wielding the magic matter just as much as the magic itself.&nbsp; It’s ingenious because it makes so much sense despite being deceptively simple in how it gets presented. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved <i>Death Sworn</i>.&nbsp; It’s an intelligent, dark fantasy that is embalmed with questions, resilience, and determination.&nbsp; Ileni is a female protagonist that truly kicks ass with how real she is.&nbsp; Sorin is a hero that is a wonderful match but never makes her feel incapable.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is a fantasy with a romantic storyline - it is not a story about a girl that needs a boy, but about a girl that needs to survive and a boy that gets challenged by her in the process.&nbsp; <i>Death Sworn</i> is the type of fantasy that will have you waking up fearing a knife at your throat, a magical spell on the edge of your lips.&nbsp; This book is so, so worth it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I love this cover for the fact that it feels so ominous.&nbsp; Some of the detailing doesn’t work for me 100%, but I think it’s a great representation of the book without using cover models. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-death-sworn-by-leah-cypess.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLqsUzVdnHYbekVN6C5VpWIMmYvr6pAjTWMoIR9UCz0JGl3-mCCLzOduu3J-9dRfSBCiCsYeYeEUHZp5jMqD6CGntFV5oyw9tUilDaUVIlBJab6tOmAlVgLoIftu7sU_beN6tf1YQYkzL/s72-c/Cypess,+Leah_Death+Sworn.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-138806422127796883</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:12:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-07-25T13:12:33.453-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Emily Lloyd-Jones</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Little Brown</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">supernatural powers</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">thief</category>
<title>Review: Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2FXs42wmZ85c3GHHiVSd74f08wQ5gwAfq9cCt6sRSwmCBzGzh6uPjrF-SvlYeTX76jJpFIEtY-OvaTBxym0uvKFADkN36fr4lanSvHqSgiX-Amq7AHj6i1bIq4ePTfnze4WRxu1RmJzF/s1600/Lloyd-Jones,+Emily_Illusive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2FXs42wmZ85c3GHHiVSd74f08wQ5gwAfq9cCt6sRSwmCBzGzh6uPjrF-SvlYeTX76jJpFIEtY-OvaTBxym0uvKFADkN36fr4lanSvHqSgiX-Amq7AHj6i1bIq4ePTfnze4WRxu1RmJzF/s1600/Lloyd-Jones,+Emily_Illusive.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Illusive</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Emily Lloyd-Jones</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Little, Brown</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Illusive #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a secret love of novels featuring super heroes or characters with super powers.&nbsp; Comic books have made me appreciate the tropes and triumphs that come with the modern idea of what it means to be a&nbsp; “super hero”.&nbsp; I’ve also loved what it’s been able to do in areas of subversive young adult fiction, such as in Hayden Thorne’s Masks series or Perry Moore’s <i>Hero</i>.&nbsp; Illusive plays with the female super hero - or character with super powers - as well as other common themes in YA, like the thief protagonist and the dystopian/post-apocalyptic future.&nbsp; <i>Illusive</i> is utterly brilliant with its mixture of capers, superpowers, friendships, and secrets revealed (and kept hidden). &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ciere Giba is seventeen and a criminal.&nbsp; She is one of the few with powers that are beyond that of the average human, all thanks to a vaccine thrown out into the world after the onslaught of something known as the MK virus.&nbsp; Without proper testing and analysis, this vaccine had the downside of giving people these powers, or “immunities”.&nbsp; Ciere’s is the ability to create illusions.&nbsp; While far from perfect, Ciere can use her ability to disguise herself and to disguise areas around her if she tries.&nbsp; Her past experiences are what keep her from unlocking the true potential of her strength. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, Ciere has always had potential.&nbsp; It’s why she’s a criminal.&nbsp; She works under a mentor who has her doing jobs that give her the chance to use her immunities.&nbsp; Everything about Ciere Giba becomes an illusion.&nbsp; Her name is created, her past is locked away, and the life she lives in public is a lie.&nbsp; Which is why she sees nothing wrong with pulling a bank heist on the way back to her home base in Philadelphia with her best friend, Devon, which in turn sends her on a path where she owes a local organized crime group a substantial amount of money.&nbsp; She gets back to Philadelphia where her mentor, Kit, awaits and avoids telling him because she knows that she has to fix things herself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kit may be like a parent to her, but, in their world, getting left behind in order to survive is a reality.&nbsp; Criminals do not have the benefit of being endlessly compassionate.&nbsp; Ciere and Devon return to Philadelphia while evading police only to get plunged into a new job; they have to help Kit hand off undisclosed information that may or may not discuss harsh realities involving the world that they all know.&nbsp; It could mean uncovering new information regarding the MK vaccine and the family behind its inception.&nbsp; It also means Kit bringing in a new Immune recruit named Magnus, someone with a lot of power and a lot of unresolved history with Kit that boils underneath the mission.&nbsp; As the secrets and things left unsaid continue to build, Ciere realizes that Kit’s latest job is so much more. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The government and the resistance groups are only the beginning.&nbsp; Ciere, Kit, Devon, and Magnus enter into a situation that blows everything they knew out of the water.&nbsp; They are criminals who become more than the middlemen, and this job is the one that changes everything. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Illusive</i> is the first book in a series (not sure if it’s a duology, trilogy, or something else entirely) but reads perfectly well on its own.&nbsp; I fell in love with the way it defied my expectations.&nbsp; Illusive is the type of book that could easily fall into genre trappings because of how exciting its packaging is.&nbsp; The publisher’s comparison between it, X-Men, and Ocean’s Eleven made things rocky as well, as those types of comparisons are easily stretched in order to sell books to a reluctant audience.&nbsp;<i> Illusive</i> instead holds its own by doing things its own way.&nbsp; It features a wonderful female protagonist without a strong romantic arc that focuses both on her character development and her interactions as a highly capable criminal.&nbsp; Not only that, but it does it all in a world that is crafted with excellence and a writing style that manages to pull off a limited third-person view in present tense.&nbsp; Basically, <i>Illusive</i> does a lot of good shit you would never expect it to.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved Ciere from the moment she came on the page.&nbsp; She’s the type of heroine that I fall for in all the right ways.&nbsp; I admired her ability to play the game of being a criminal with the ability to create illusions; she’s not totally confident in her abilities on a larger scale, yet she continually pulls things off when she needs to and continues on with her mission despite her misgivings about herself.&nbsp; Her lack of confidence was real to me because it felt relative to how many girls feel about their abilities on a regular basis.&nbsp; Heck, I feel that way about myself all the time.&nbsp; What I loved about her was her ability to keep going and stay true to herself while not always being one hundred percent confident.&nbsp; It felt real despite the superpowers and the heists she was pulling off.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another big aspect was her friendship with Devon.&nbsp; Their dynamic is a solid friendship that puts Ciere in a place of knowing her own abilities and survival skills; Devon is a kid from a wealthy family whose parents expect him to be out of the country getting it on with girls in a ski chalet.&nbsp; Their dynamic is intriguing because it gives Ciere a chance to be the one that knows what she’s doing in regards to her abilities and her skills.&nbsp; Devon is a hacker, so he manages to bring his own skills to the story without coming across as being “superior” or the male savior.&nbsp; They have a relationship that swings between levels of potential romantic tension and solid friendship, and it develops in a way that has them working together and focusing on each other’s safety without everything being about the protection of the female character from dangerous things.&nbsp; I liked seeing a situation where the protection was a mutual act of friendship and not about keeping the “fragile female” safe.&nbsp; Illusive’s lack of alpha male bullshit endeared me to the character dynamics quickly. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Lloyd-Jones also succeeds at in characterization is the balance of secrets and undisclosed information.&nbsp; We’re told in one section of narration that, “{Ciere’s} mother called her name.&nbsp; It wasn’t ‘Ciere,’ because that wasn’t what she was called then” (Kindle Location 1670). &nbsp; The narration itself plays into the notion that some things are just unknown.&nbsp; This is woven into all of the characterization.&nbsp; With Ciere, it’s in her past relationship with her mother compared to her present friendships and pseudo-family relationships.&nbsp; With Kit, it’s the way he avoids talking about his missions and his past with Magnus.&nbsp; With Devon, it’s about the complexity of his feelings for Ciere.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones has mastered the art of showing the reader things by not saying them.&nbsp; We learn just as much from these characters by what they never explain as we do by what they explain directly.&nbsp; Even the observing narration has a limited perspective that prevents us from knowing the full truth.&nbsp; Not only does it give a sense of intrigue, but it plays perfectly into the larger themes of the story.&nbsp; I definitely wanted more from some of the character dynamics - Kit and Magnus were just fascinating, and I wanted to know more about what it was like for Devon, who is a character of color and doesn’t always get as much characterization as Ciere because of his “best friend” label.&nbsp; He doesn’t feel like a caricature, but he also doesn’t subvert anything directly in this book.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones’s narrative seems to suggest that there is more to come, but it’s difficult to tell until the next book comes out. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Illusive</i> also has a solid sense of pacing.&nbsp; Balance between a character-driven narrative and a plot that requires action, stealth, and heist-like scenarios is difficult.&nbsp; Heist novels often get overtaken with the plot.&nbsp; Illusive, being a futuristic novel regarding superpowers and science, has the added joy of adding world building to the list of things to balance in a big way.&nbsp; Illusive makes it all work in a way that feels harmonious.&nbsp; The reader gets dropped into the world in a way that allows for explanations that don’t feel like total info-dumps.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones writes using a style that keeps things effortlessly readable, yet it has a lot of tact behind the wording and the things that are observed within the exposition.&nbsp; The scientific reasoning behind the vaccines felt real without being over-explained, and the way that Lloyd-Jones built the political ramifications came across as real.&nbsp; It wasn’t a big “the government is pure evil and the rebels are pure good” scenario.&nbsp; Instead, it showed how everything was manipulated and given a level of political agenda.&nbsp; Even the criminals have things to fight for that may or may not fit with the philosophies of Ciere, Kit, and Devon, but they have to work within the world they stumble into or die.&nbsp; It allows for the plot to ask questions of its readers while providing action sequences, fights, and standoffs between various characters.&nbsp; I just love when a book has enough meat to it to keep me interested in action sequences, as they often feel unsatisfying when the author doesn’t seem to balance those aspects of the story.&nbsp; Lloyd-Jones knows her stuff. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Readers will find a lot to enjoy about <i>Illusive</i>.&nbsp; Its tropes (teen thief, superpowers, future/dystopia) are all ones that sell well in today’s market and appeal to people on a commercial level, yet its execution is above the expected and works hard to make the story a balanced one that delivers on all of its promised aspects.&nbsp; I was enraptured by the story of Ciere Giba and the mission that changed her life, and I think a lot of readers will be the same and will clamor for another book in this world.&nbsp; While I think Lloyd-Jones can do more to flesh out her PoC characters and characters of other intersections, I think the world of Illusive is one that allows for subversion and intellect because of its abilities in character development along with the plot.&nbsp; Basically: this story works on many levels and has the potential to work even better, and it’s a great example of how popular tropes can be elevated and made exciting again.&nbsp; <i>Illusive</i> is <i>the </i>book you want on your shelf if you like stories about superpowers and teen criminals. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I actually really like this cover.&nbsp; I think it suggests a lot of dark action while still showcasing the strength of the female protagonist, and I like how it heralds to the criminal element of the plot. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div> </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-illusive-by-emily-lloyd-jones.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8285365497791272947</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-07-08T11:20:54.156-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">5.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">gay</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lgbt</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">magazine</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Sarah Tregay</category>
<title>Review: Fan Art by Sarah Tregay</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8whDAG_rudb-yf-nj2ZPRTbtsuFEBblryPsh-P3tBt45M52eSf05jcJKMB5OS-prPt78i9fPeOxkNbSGyy4L_09U36ACFq0lV_FToFY_CPOtNzG44_lu6a_HVhwBsyR8761GGqyTW5Rj/s1600/Tregay,+Sarah_Fan+Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8whDAG_rudb-yf-nj2ZPRTbtsuFEBblryPsh-P3tBt45M52eSf05jcJKMB5OS-prPt78i9fPeOxkNbSGyy4L_09U36ACFq0lV_FToFY_CPOtNzG44_lu6a_HVhwBsyR8761GGqyTW5Rj/s1600/Tregay,+Sarah_Fan+Art.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:&nbsp; Fan Art</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Sarah Tregay</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Katharine Teagan Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; Love &amp; Leftovers</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sarah Tregay is the undiscovered gem of the YA contemporary world.&nbsp; Her debut novel, <i>Love &amp; Leftovers</i>, is a book written in poetry that follows a protagonist trying to deal with love, infidelity, and a father who has left her mother because he’s come out as gay.&nbsp; It was a book I loved because it wasn’t simple or expected, and the writing blew me away with how it connected me to the character’s emotional struggles.&nbsp; I was excited to read <i>Fan Art</i> when I realized it was Tregay’s newest book, but then I realized that this book could be The Book for me.&nbsp;<i> Fan Art</i> follows a main character who is in love with his male best friend.&nbsp; It’s a story about love, the complexities of coming out and fandom, and the importance of standing up for something when it’s not something easy to do. &nbsp; <i>Fan Art</i> is my favorite book of the year so far - my unabashed love for this book makes me unable to shut up about it.&nbsp; This book is a book that I needed. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the world of high school, senior year is the year that sparks change.&nbsp; It’s the year that tells people that something else is coming, so why not shift and shake your world in honor of your upcoming new life beyond K-12 education?&nbsp; Jamie Peterson’s senior year is one of editing the art in his high school’s literary magazine and being in love (secretly) with his best friend, Mason. &nbsp; Mason and Jamie have always been the kind of friends that have ignored the idea of being gay.&nbsp; That’s not what guys like Jamie and Mason are supposed to be - they’re supposed to like girls and go to parties and get wasted and play sports. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamie’s not supposed to love Mason as more than a friend.&nbsp; The guys at school have taken to saying, “I love you, man” in irony to each other.&nbsp; It’s friendly, it’s fun, but it’s decidedly not supposed to be that affectionate.&nbsp; Yet Jamie can’t help but say “I love you, man” to Mason with real feeling.&nbsp; He thinks that he can ignore it and move on to college where things will be safer, where he can figure out a way to deal with himself without ruining the best friendship he has.&nbsp; Jamie’s already out to his super supportive parents; it’s Mason that scares him.&nbsp; The one place Jamie can find a sense of calmness is within art: his art class and the literary magazine are the few spaces in school that make him feel relatively safe.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Art class yields an art submission to the magazine that changes everything.&nbsp; Challis, a well-known lesbian girl that’s always been popular with the art geeks, ends up submitting a graphic short about two boys that end up liking each other romantically.&nbsp; It’s cute, it’s simple, and it’s something that promises to say a lot without saying much at all.&nbsp; It’s also based on Challis’s observations of Jamie and Mason, but no one has to know that.&nbsp; This dalliance with Challis leads Jamie to become hesitant friends with Eden, another lesbian girl that reaches out to him for some kind of friendship.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One comic is apparently enough to shake up the world.&nbsp; Jamie decides he’s taking Eden to the prom in an effort to be like one of the guys, who all seem to be pressuring him to go.&nbsp; At the same time as prom is gearing up, Challis’s comic gets rejected because the other magazine editors believe it acts substance - with the undercurrent being that a gay romance doesn’t “fit” in their magazine.&nbsp; As Jamie struggles to accept this, he realizes that he wants to fight for this story.&nbsp; Whether it’s for Challis, for the story itself, or what it means to him is another matter entirely.&nbsp; Jamie has reasons to shake up the world: Challis’s graphic short and, more importantly, Mason. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sarah Tregay’s <i>Fan Art</i> is a book that sounds like it’s a regular coming out story and ends up becoming a true window into the world of being a queer cisgender kid in high school.&nbsp; It’s not the usual story about a narrator that keeps suppressing himself until the climax of the novel and then finally admits his sexuality, only to come out.&nbsp; It’s about a narrator who knows who he is, and who has accepted that enough to tell his family, but still struggles to reveal that part of himself to the person that he loves romantically (and therefore, the world at large.)&nbsp; It’s a story about coming out in multiple forms.&nbsp; What does it mean to come out again and again as a queer person?&nbsp; What does it mean to come out depending on the level of acceptance in your home environment? &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coming out stories are necessary because they reflect the contradictory nature of being queer in a world that assumes otherwise.&nbsp; The coming out process is one that people still struggle to understand, and oftentimes it gets romanticized or stereotyped by straight people into being something that only can have a few limited outcomes depending on a few limited family stereotypes.&nbsp; <i>Fan Art</i> shows coming out in multiple ways by having several characters of different family backgrounds.&nbsp; We have Jamie, whose family is accepting to the point of discomfort with him (which reflects his discomfort with himself as a queer guy), and Challis, who seems comfortable with herself despite us never getting a major glimpse at her family.&nbsp; Eden’s family is very religious and would rather see her “cured” of her lesbian “urges”, and Mason’s family is one with a patriarchal father that continually puts Mason down and reinforces specific gender roles for him.&nbsp; These four queer characters react differently to being queer and coming out - or not, or maybe not being queer at all - and that allows the book to become more than the average coming out story.&nbsp; I also think it helps that it’s not about Jamie questioning if he does or does not find himself attracted to guys; it’s about Jamie deciding if he can feel comfortable with himself and safe in his environment to be vocal about his sexuality. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Because of this, I loved the characterization.&nbsp; Jamie’s not a totally likable protagonist, but he’s understandable.&nbsp; He and Mason are openly expected to conform to gender roles in high school, which we see in how they get pressured to find dates to prom and ironically say “I love you” to other guys with implied “no homo” subtext, as awful as it is.&nbsp; We see how Jamie would be totally afraid to tell his best friend about his romantic love when they aren’t taught that it’s okay to be open with each other about their emotions and feelings, and that these gender roles indicate if someone is not heterosexual.&nbsp; As the story progresses, Tregay moves the narrative foreword both in terms of their friendship and in terms of the plot with Challis’s story in the magazine to show how those things we are taught to expect are harmful and wrong.&nbsp; Jamie doesn’t find it easy to tell Mason things, and he doesn’t find it easy to fight for Challis’s story despite how much he loves it.&nbsp; He’s a reluctant rebel until he finally becomes more comfortable with who he is.&nbsp; Even then, we continually see how Jamie’s status as a more active queer person leads to anxiety and potential alienation from his peers.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Basically, we see that shit isn’t easy.&nbsp; We see that it’s not like accepting yourself makes everything easier or simpler; we also see that coming out is a continual process.&nbsp; Advocating for this story means that Jamie would be more open about who he is with a ton of people over and over again, and that’s stressful and scary in an environment he doesn’t like.&nbsp; It also means that he becomes someone he’s not sure if he wants to be, because he’s taught that it’s safer to not say anything about his sexuality in order for it to be more acceptable.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mason is a great friend to Jamie; Eden is kind of desperate at first in her attempts to connect to Jamie, but she grows into someone that shows him how queerness is complicated when your family isn’t so willingly accepting.&nbsp; Even though Eden is out to some people and knows she likes girls, she can’t be who she is in many places and it makes her romanticize things that make Jamie uncomfortable.&nbsp; He learns to appreciate her friendship because he can be out to her even if he can’t be out to Mason, which is something that he had no idea he needed as a queer teenager that was so focused on passing as straight.&nbsp; Then we have a bunch of secondary characters, many with complex reactions and micro-aggressional reactions to Challis’s story that get shown rather than directly told.&nbsp; We see that homophobia doesn’t have to be direct to be in existence, and that it can also be very direct at the same time.&nbsp; Jamie’s parents are wonderfully supportive, to the point where it makes me cry thinking about it.&nbsp; As a queer kid growing up in a small town, my parents were never that supportive.&nbsp; I was told not to date (it would ruin the family reputation) and a host of other things that showed my parents as being unaccepting, even if they loved me.&nbsp; Jamie’s parents are characters that give readers like me the opportunity to realize that there are good parents out there when it comes to accepting their kids for being queer, even if they do come with their own complications.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also loved the depiction of being involved with a school magazine.&nbsp; Jamie is an art editor for Gumshoe, a literary and art magazine that features short stories, poems, and artwork from the students at his high school.&nbsp; As someone who is involved with his college’s literary magazine, it’s cool to read about magazine production and see it getting depicted with a level of reality.&nbsp; Jamie talks about using Adobe InDesign (which is something to experience and curse if you’ve ever used it, even just casually) and about the needs of editing, production meetings, and working with printers and magazine proofs.&nbsp; Tregay clearly knows what she is writing about.&nbsp; I loved that it was depicted with a casual expertise and sense of reality.&nbsp; We never feel overly inundated with information, yet we never feel like we’re reading a shallow depiction of a detailed activity. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tregay also shines a lens to fan culture, though it’s more subtle than one would anticipate with the marketing of the book.&nbsp; Challis’s graphic short is essentially image-based fan fiction.&nbsp; Fan comics and fan art are both popular online for a variety of fandoms (fan communities, for those unfamiliar with this terminology), and there are fandoms for people in real life as well as in media.&nbsp; Oftentimes there are fandoms for historical figures or celebrities within the music and film industries, though a fandom could theoretically crop up for anything.&nbsp; Tregay’s usage of fandom is seen both in the inspiration for Challis’s piece and the way she and her friends seem to “ship” Jamie with different guys in school.&nbsp; We see how it’s a positive force in the sense that it makes them comfortable with queer sexualities and gives Jamie a way to know that people won’t ostracize him if he comes out publicly, yet it also shows how fandom inherently fetishizes queer people who may not be out, and how that is damaging and can make someone acutely uncomfortable.&nbsp; Coming out is ultimately an individual’s decision - no one should come out for someone - and I think Tregay tackles that with her depiction of fandom in a way that works without being so direct about it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One thing I had trouble with was Jamie's way of discussing women in regards to how they acted. &nbsp;I think Tregay could have done more to show how Jamie's usage of gender stereotypes there was harmful - because Jamie himself often stereotypes girls in&nbsp;</span></span>this<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;book to reflect his ideas of women being "more emotional" and "fangirls" when it comes to how he acts. &nbsp;I think a lot of this got caught up in the thematic movement of the story and never got deconstructed the way it should have been, but I felt like there were attempts at addressing this more directly. &nbsp;It also comes with the character voice, which is admittedly unlikable and uses&nbsp;</span></span>stereotypes - some of which I didn't notice or read as being an attempt at pointing out the stereotyping of others. &nbsp;(For a counterpoint, I found this discussion-review that brings up some valid points about Jamie's voice with its subtle sexism and racial stereotyping. &nbsp;<a href="http://findingblissinbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/discussion-review-fan-art-by-sarah.html" target="_blank">Click here to look at it if you want a comparison</a>.) <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Fan Art</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is a book that I wish that I had in high school, and one I’m thankful to have gotten in college.&nbsp; It’s beautiful because it doesn’t make things simple.&nbsp; It’s hopeful and romantic, but it’s also about how things are difficult and not always easy to come to terms with.&nbsp; Tregay depicts her characters in ways that go beyond the usual stereotypes and caricatures.&nbsp; She creates a read that is about coming out, but also about what it means to be queer in a world that doesn’t accept that on both large and small scales.&nbsp; More than that, it’s a story that will get into your heart as you realize the difficulty that Jamie has with self-acceptance despite seeming to have it already.&nbsp; Mason and Jamie are a romance worth reading every page for, and everyone else along the way makes the romance that much better.&nbsp; </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Fan Art</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is a book that is as beautiful and rich as a freshly inked graphic novel.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span>There<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;are clearly problems&nbsp;</span></span>with<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;it that others have addressed - sadly,&nbsp;</span></span>problems that<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;are seen far too often in books narrated by male characters - and I can agree with, but when I read this book, all I could be was happy that someone chose to represent a coming out story that showed how difficult it could be even in the best of&nbsp;</span></span>circumstances. <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover is fucking adorable and I want to hug it.&nbsp; I think it will stand out on shelves beautifully and capture the feeling of the story’s romance perfectly.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars&nbsp; (Could it be anything else??) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) &nbsp;</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-fan-art-by-sarah-tregay.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx8whDAG_rudb-yf-nj2ZPRTbtsuFEBblryPsh-P3tBt45M52eSf05jcJKMB5OS-prPt78i9fPeOxkNbSGyy4L_09U36ACFq0lV_FToFY_CPOtNzG44_lu6a_HVhwBsyR8761GGqyTW5Rj/s72-c/Tregay,+Sarah_Fan+Art.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4706892073069661041</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2014 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-07-07T10:00:02.759-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">2.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Courtney C. Stevens</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harper Teen</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">rape</category>
<title>Review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcdaYrSHiAx1kEAkItc1U90cNvt3EJbV7Ibk8L34y_8OkRYdTrMNdP_6a-sk85EtItbkqaYdm_l4vy5pg8agj8fK4J2CuAXw5HmbyYUVEATi30ydOzd1HCJt0QtRJrxwTjS-E9WWdAW_f/s1600/Stephens,+Courtney+C._Faking+Normal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRcdaYrSHiAx1kEAkItc1U90cNvt3EJbV7Ibk8L34y_8OkRYdTrMNdP_6a-sk85EtItbkqaYdm_l4vy5pg8agj8fK4J2CuAXw5HmbyYUVEATi30ydOzd1HCJt0QtRJrxwTjS-E9WWdAW_f/s1600/Stephens,+Courtney+C._Faking+Normal.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Review:&nbsp; Faking Normal</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Courtney C. Stevens</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Faking Normal</i> is a contemporary YA novel that promises to deal with some dark issues.&nbsp; Naturally, I wanted to read it because it got a fair amount of praise when it came out and seemed like (from the blurb and the general reception) a fresh take on a difficult topic covered in a lot of Young Adult and New Adult books in the past few years.&nbsp; I wanted to like this book with its southern background and the way it tackled the issues presented, but most of the time I felt bored and as if the characters were hollow.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal</i> is a book that will enchant readers looking for this type of story, but the overall construction didn’t strike me as doing anything new for the particular issues addressed in the story. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everything starts with a funeral.&nbsp; Alexi Littrell is dressed for mourning as she watches Bodee Lennox, the shy kid who dyes his hair with Kool-Aid, lose his mother all over again.&nbsp; There’s no going back in Bodee’s life.&nbsp; When he runs out of the funeral home, Alexi follows him because she knows.&nbsp; It’s not simple, and it’s not something that she tells him, but she knows.&nbsp; Looking at Bodee reminds Alexi of the way that she feels when she thinks about the past summer, the way that she feels when she scratches the back of her neck raw. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This connection gets intensified when Bodee comes to live with Alexi’s family.&nbsp; Bodee’s father is out of the picture because of how he destroyed Bodee’s mother; Alexi’s mother was friends with Bodee’s, as both were involved in a prayer group.&nbsp; The Christian thing to do - the friendly thing to do - was to offer him a place to stay.&nbsp; As Alexi gains a (temporary) new family member, she is also subjected to her sister Kayla’s controlling nature.&nbsp; Kayla finally becomes engaged to her longtime boyfriend, the guy she’s been dating since high school, and the impending wedding only seems to emphasize Kayla’s abrasive nature. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Quiet, contemplative Bodee is an escape.&nbsp; Alexi’s friends seem determined to have her end up with a football player or someone similar.&nbsp; They want to see her dating someone again - someone who will be good for her.&nbsp; Out of the hallways, the piercing metal lockers and the friendships that seem to shudder in the school air conditioning, Alexi finds solace in Bodee because he understands.&nbsp; He observes her and knows that something is going on with her beneath the surface. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Bodee and Alexi become closer, she has to confront her past.&nbsp; She has to confront what makes her afraid of her sexual side.&nbsp; The memories that Alexi has suppressed lead to darker and darker truths.&nbsp; Alexi has no idea what will happen when she dusts off the memories she shoved away to survive; she has no idea if she’ll be able to handle it, or if she’ll lose herself (and Bodee) in the process. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Faking Normal</i> addresses the story of a girl who has a past that makes her afraid.&nbsp; She’s afraid of sexual contact in a way that makes it clear that something is up with her, and she references past events in a way that clearly shows something amiss.&nbsp; Alexi’s fear is coupled with an inability to speak up with things are happening, making her feel even worse because she can’t fight back the way that she believes (unfairly) that she should have to.&nbsp; Then we have Bodee, someone who rarely speaks up out of personality rather than fear, at least on the surface.&nbsp; These two create a story that’s centrally focused on romance and healing.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I found Alexi as a narrator to be good enough with her development and voice.&nbsp; Stevens’s writing style feels honest in its portrayal of a teenager’s mindset, although there are times wherein the book clearly feels censored (such as when a character calls another character a name over loud music) and it breaks the feeling of reality.&nbsp; That could be editorial, so it’s hard to pin that on Stevens specifically.&nbsp; Alexi also just has a general way of making her story seem accessible.&nbsp; My biggest problem with Alexi’s narration was the general feeling of aimlessness.&nbsp; I don’t think narration inherently needs a path or a pattern, but other than the chronological events, I never felt connected to what was going on in Alexi’s life.&nbsp; Several of the events felt extended, and the memories she slowly began to remember felt very convenient.&nbsp; It was hard to tell if she just never wanted to remember these things and repressed them, or if she just never thought of the idea that some of her fears could have roots in the past. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What annoyed me about this was that it felt too convenient.&nbsp; While it is fully possible for someone to do this on their own, it’s hard to accept that a character can do it on their own without thought of therapy, or about the ways to safely deal with repressed memories.&nbsp; It wasn’t so much Lexi as was the way I felt like Lexi’s past was more of a manipulated way to keep the mystery going rather than following a path that matched her mentality as a character.&nbsp; Lexi as a character seems aware to me - too aware to be so ignorant of these things until Bodee talks about them with her - and I think I would have liked deeper reasons for her repression of the memories because of how they seemed to feel disjointed with the rest of the narrative. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I did like how Lexi still participated in a lot of her life.&nbsp; The portrayal of her coping mechanisms, which were small to those outside but were deeply ingrained to her, felt realistic and more in-tune with her character.&nbsp; I also loved how many of her interactions with Bodee seemed to reflect these methods of comfort, as if they were constantly creating ways to share in each other’s pain until they could deal with it in a more healthy manner.&nbsp; Stevens also has a great plot with a secret admirer that seems to leave song lyrics for Alexi on a desk in one of her classes - and while the way it’s dealt with isn’t fairy-tale perfect, it’s also not surprising.&nbsp; I still liked the idea that Alexi would build up an image of someone that was unrealistic, even if the message felt very heavy-handed. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bodee didn’t feel that real to me, in all honesty.&nbsp; I liked the idea of his character; I liked that he was quiet and that he bonded with Alexi.&nbsp; On the surface, the idea of Bodee is fabulous for this story because he goes against the grain of the people who never notice what is really going on with Alexi.&nbsp; On the flip side, I felt like the actions he was shown doing never fully characterized him.&nbsp; I would have liked more insight into him as a person beyond his dark past, and I would have liked him to have more push and pull with Alexi.&nbsp; Their relationship struck me as so perfect despite both of their issues.&nbsp; It’s a situation wherein they needed each other, so some level of Bodee being the kind, caring one makes sense, yet it’s also a situation where the ease of their relationship didn’t seem to come with substance. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the end of the day, I just had trouble connecting with the story.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal </i>does many things right.&nbsp; It features characters listening to each other, paying attention to each other, and learning to battle their demons with love and care for themselves.&nbsp; The execution isn’t inherently problematic to me.&nbsp; Something about the writing of this story on the whole just didn’t sit well, and I can’t put my finger on it.&nbsp; Maybe it’s the names (which just don’t work for me, and it’s a shallow reason to find the book frustrating).&nbsp; Maybe it’s the religious culture the book presented - something in no way offensive, yet still felt insular to me to some degree.&nbsp; Maybe it was how Lexi still managed to call a character a bitch.&nbsp; I don’t know.&nbsp; The book has a lot of bright sides, such as the great twist towards the end.&nbsp; Stevens manages to leave a lot of clues that point to one thing, yet the way she uses them towards the end of the book is inventive and worth reading.&nbsp; That saved the book from being a total flatline for me.&nbsp; I also appreciated the nod towards familial love and togetherness towards the end in respecting Alexi, yet I also felt like it brushed a few things up a little too quickly with how people were characterized early on. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What it comes down to is this: <i>Faking Normal</i> is a perfectly adequate book and will have many readers that love it.&nbsp; Many of its elements are ones I love.&nbsp; Yet this time, the quiet relationship, the way the voice and the setting come across, the execution of the darker elements, and the characterization just didn’t work for me.&nbsp; They either bored me or felt like retreads of other books that dealt with similar issues.&nbsp; <i>Faking Normal</i> is a great contemporary book for readers who need to read a book dealing with issues of sexual violence and its aftermath, but, for me, the book felt message-y in some of the subplots and expected in the main one.&nbsp; I’m just not the reader for this book. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I like the trees and the way they fade on the cover, as well as the smattering of freckles on the model.&nbsp; It makes the book feel less polished than some other covers.&nbsp; In a good way.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 2.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!)&nbsp;</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-faking-normal-by-courtney-c.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-27T10:00:04.345-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">diversity</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Julie Anne Peters</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lesbian</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lgbt</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">secrets</category>
<title>Review: Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgjyGw_a1A4chZ4hTMI7rOrmYU-wjvekrVFwEsZJTRWvLrQpK5OE-8q04vCFeOI_JJPBG2QcPGXk-lzOddykNJ3MjxQRqd8lwFB8INAYEZusuJyhelMjJ6mimYo8g8xnI_x9F3yubw-WK/s1600/Peters,+Julie+Anne_Lies+My+Girlfriend+Told+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgjyGw_a1A4chZ4hTMI7rOrmYU-wjvekrVFwEsZJTRWvLrQpK5OE-8q04vCFeOI_JJPBG2QcPGXk-lzOddykNJ3MjxQRqd8lwFB8INAYEZusuJyhelMjJ6mimYo8g8xnI_x9F3yubw-WK/s1600/Peters,+Julie+Anne_Lies+My+Girlfriend+Told+Me.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Lies My Girlfriend Told Me&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Julie Anne Peters &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Little, Brown</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; This is Our Prom (So Deal With It)</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My first introduction to Julie Anne Peters was with her book <i>This is Our Prom (So Deal With It)</i>.&nbsp; Peters is considered a staple in queer YA literature, specifically in regards to her stories featuring lesbian protagonists and her book<i> Luna</i>, which involves a character with a trans sibling.&nbsp; Despite finding my first attempt at her books to be mixed, I had wanted to try her as an author again because I felt like the book I tried was outside of her element.&nbsp; Peters’s most acclaimed books seemed to be more serious, and <i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> seemed to be in that nature - serious rather than light.&nbsp; I also liked the idea that it involved grief and deception that didn’t involve a character being in the closet.&nbsp; All of the presented queer characters are out in this book, and that was a huge reason for why I requested it.&nbsp; <i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> is a great example of a YA book that will resonate with teenagers and educators that need it, though a few of its elements weren’t as fleshed out as one would expect. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alix has found the girl of her dreams.&nbsp; Dating Swanee has given Alix a chance to breathe, a chance to think of herself while her parents focus on a new baby boy and a world of responsibilities.&nbsp; Nothing could break them apart.&nbsp; Swanee is perfect - consuming, adventurous, and every bit the free spirit that the rest of her family is, too.&nbsp; There is so much assurance in their relationship despite its fairly short time span.&nbsp; Alix already knows that she wants to plan on spending a long, long time with her girlfriend.&nbsp; One morning, Swanee is gone.&nbsp; Dropped dead in the middle of her morning run.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is no moving on.&nbsp; Alix’s parents try to reach her, but she’s sullen and loses all sense of time.&nbsp; She doesn’t see the point of being a part of her family, of caring for baby Evan (who probably hates her anyway), when life can’t move forward.&nbsp; She mourns Swanee with every cell in her body.&nbsp; After the funeral, she goes into Swanee’s room in order to find her again.&nbsp; Alix knows that Swanee is dead, yet there’s a strange sense of hope, even as Alix gathers up all of the possessions she lent to her dead girlfriend.&nbsp; The room search leads to uncovering Swanee’s cellphone.&nbsp; The phone itself isn’t unusual, but the slew of voicemails and missed phone calls following Swanee’s death are. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Snooping has a way of snowballing.&nbsp; Alix takes one look at Swanee’s phone and starts wondering - and wondering leads to reading those unanswered text messages.&nbsp; After digging and digging, Alix finds out that the person texting Swanee is more than a casual acquaintance.&nbsp; Her name is Liana, and she had been dating Alix.&nbsp; Liana’s relationship overlapped with Alix’s; between the two of them, they find a begrudging connection in their shared deceased girlfriend and her deceptions.&nbsp; Alix wants to learn more and more about Liana to piece together the truths and lies of Swanee.&nbsp; The more that she learns, the more that she finds herself falling for Liana. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It may be a revenge relationship.&nbsp; It may be true love.&nbsp; All Alix wants is to figure it out and feel something. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> is in parts unravelling and stitching things back together.&nbsp; Peters writes a novel that balances a heroine that first finds herself in a dark, low place and then brings her into a better understanding of the world because of that dark place.&nbsp; It showcases a character that is unlikable, self-centered, and hurt.&nbsp; It’s proof that there is definite value in sticking through a book with a narrator that isn’t the nicest person - but it also has some of the inevitable issues that come with that, and I think that’s what makes it a book worth thinking about. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our vision of Alix as a narrator is pretty mixed in sympathies.&nbsp; Swanee dies pretty early on - we get that from the blurb and from the construction of the book.&nbsp; This leaves her in a position where she’s extremely sensitive and feels alone.&nbsp; We also learn that she has slowly left her best friend, Betheny, due to Swanee’s advice on the uselessness of cheerleaders.&nbsp; So, from the beginning, there’s a clear sense that Alix hasn’t been a nice person because of her relationship, but that the relationship seemed to far outweigh any problematic elements.&nbsp; The narration continues through to the discovery of Swanee’s deception and Alix getting introduced to Liana, and it also contains various interactions with Alix and her parents.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The interactions between Alix and her parents have immense amounts of strain.&nbsp; The reader can tell that they have some aspects of restraint and expectation, and those get vocalized by Alix numerous times.&nbsp; Yet, there is also a strong dissent from Alix that is purposefully mean.&nbsp; We see it primarily within her reactions to responsibility, both towards her parents and towards her younger brother, Ethan.&nbsp; Ethan’s status as the family baby (and therefore, the family focus at times) brings a constant stream of negativity to Alix’s relationship with her family.&nbsp; For instance, here’s a scene where Alix is lying to her parents in order to get out of the house and investigate the stuff with Swanee’s secret life, and makes it impossible for her parents to leave the house without Ethan: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Nothing happened.”&nbsp; Swanee happened.&nbsp; I add, “We have to do it at her house because it’s on her desktop.”&nbsp; Where do I come up with this crap?&nbsp; Who uses a desktop anymore? &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Do you think Betheny would mind if you took Ethan with you?” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Mom, we wouldn’t get anything done.&nbsp; He’s a total distraction.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Her smile dissipates.&nbsp; “Fine.&nbsp; We won’t go.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Kindle Location 899</span></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> What proceeds is an explanation of how Alix, with Swanee, nearly had a disastrous babysitting venture with him.&nbsp; Alix blames herself to the point where she avoids any responsibility and projects a hatred of her onto her sibling that is clearly too young to hate her.&nbsp; This constant negativity bogs down the narrative despite its honesty.&nbsp; It’s a plausible thing with her character, yet it also presents her as someone with consistently flawed reasoning that doesn’t see the larger damage she’s doing to her relationship with her parents.&nbsp; The attitude that Alix gets around her family is just one that’s hard to stomach as a reader that can see where it can go wrong - yet it also speaks to a teenage perspective, especially one with a character that’s struggling with the stuff that Alix is in this narrative. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The narrative regarding Alix and Liana felt less troubling to me.&nbsp; In some ways, it feels too expected.&nbsp; It’s hard to tell if that’s apparent because of the way the characters both clearly need someone, or if it’s because it feels like they get paired up because they are both lesbian and don’t share that with many people in their lives or in their general areas.&nbsp; Either way, getting past that general feeling led me to appreciating how Peters grew the relationship and gave it a chance to go from obscurity and wariness to love.&nbsp; It happened fast, and I felt like Peters did that because these characters needed it instead of implying that it would be a forever-romance.&nbsp; Readers will probably still find it jarring. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While Peters has a great writing style, it’s sparse, concise, and relies more on the reader’s perceptions of the nuances than a lot of exposition.&nbsp; I think it serves to create a character voice that feels real, yet it also means that the story moves fast without adding in some internal monologue that would help flesh out the other characters and actions in the story.&nbsp; For instance, Liana is Latina and Catholic, and she doesn’t seem to progress much beyond having that as a background.&nbsp; We don’t learn much about her family life, her life at school - really, we just see her in relation to what she was with Swanee and the few things Alix learns about her early on.&nbsp; Swanee’s family is also classic “hippie family” stereotyped, complete with one child who is very Buddhist and one who “acts out” to seek her parents’s attention.&nbsp; I think that it created some conflicts worth exploring, but the narration and the length didn’t do much true exploration with them.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Open relationships are one thing that seem to come up a lot yet get only the surface treatment.&nbsp; Swanee’s parents have an open relationship, as Alix finds out towards the middle of the book, and that seems to get subconsciously attributed to Swanee’s behavior with Liana and Alix. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Jewell.”&nbsp; I twist in my seat.&nbsp; “Can I ask you a question?” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">She stops and checks her watch.&nbsp; “I have a hair appointment in twenty minutes.” &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">“Um, did you know Swanee was seeing another girl?”</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Jewell laughs.&nbsp; “Only one?”</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">I don’t laugh.&nbsp; She lifts her cup to her mouth, sips, and then licks foam from her upper lip.&nbsp; “I told Swanee she was too young to be serious about just one person.&nbsp; At her age, I had guys lined up.&nbsp; Girls, too.”&nbsp; She winks.</span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: right;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: inherit;">Kindle Location 1373</span></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s the consistent sense of connecting open relationships to Swanee’s behavior, as if all open relationships have this sense of distrust about them.&nbsp; I felt like Peters introduced this into the story without a more thoughtful examination about the importance of open relationships being consensual and discussed.&nbsp; What I sensed instead was that Swanee’s parents were supposed to be comparable to Swanee’s own actions, which felt misleading and like a result of Peters’s lack of further detail on the subject.&nbsp; Because there seemed to be an acceptance with these characters playing these expected roles and Alix “growing to learn who they really were”, I felt like they lacked dimension and instead served the purposes of the plot first and foremost. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the book also deal with very real attitudes regarding grief and the way that teenagers can seek out help in venues that aren’t with their family.&nbsp; It’s important, even if it’s frustrating, to show how family can feel like an angry place for a teenager.&nbsp; It’s also important to show that teenagers can find real relationships out of necessity - that people can do that in general, really.&nbsp; Peters knows how to convey emotional interactions in ways that hit the reader close to home without overblowing them in the excessiveness in the writing.&nbsp; I just think that the book needed more to it to bring the side themes and characters into a light that didn’t feel so stereotypical. These characters could have been jaw-droopingly amazing if they had more depth.&nbsp; This is the kind of queer YA book you see in libraries and classrooms a lot.&nbsp; It has some tough stuff, but the writing style and plot-based narrative work better with an audience that more directly relates to the situations and emotions of the first person narration.&nbsp;<i> Lies My Girlfriend Told Me</i> showed me why Peters has become a staple in the YA world, though I think that I expected more from it than I necessarily got. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover is angsty, and I think it goes with the book well.&nbsp; I also am in love with the typography - it’s beautiful and captures a wonderful mood.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Hachette/Little,Brown!)</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-lies-my-girlfriend-told-me-by.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgjyGw_a1A4chZ4hTMI7rOrmYU-wjvekrVFwEsZJTRWvLrQpK5OE-8q04vCFeOI_JJPBG2QcPGXk-lzOddykNJ3MjxQRqd8lwFB8INAYEZusuJyhelMjJ6mimYo8g8xnI_x9F3yubw-WK/s72-c/Peters,+Julie+Anne_Lies+My+Girlfriend+Told+Me.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-2783235107488865975</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 03:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-27T00:05:26.810-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blog Tour</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Presents</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Kate Hewitt</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">revenge</category>
<title>Blog Tour: Expose Me by Kate Hewitt </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Y-i6Bwi2FCo9zdXmeuERgwaAx5AcS_DCPwMxqP61XavnsRw7Q809sD6GxcBiG5L7qV1rqMIgUXHintbmoD2_ytYdRWCQnQp1sVrvbRoZ59nvgMby29w4FiiLZay8GcHMNtfEQMwcja-C/s1600/Hewitt,+Kate_Expose+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Y-i6Bwi2FCo9zdXmeuERgwaAx5AcS_DCPwMxqP61XavnsRw7Q809sD6GxcBiG5L7qV1rqMIgUXHintbmoD2_ytYdRWCQnQp1sVrvbRoZ59nvgMby29w4FiiLZay8GcHMNtfEQMwcja-C/s1600/Hewitt,+Kate_Expose+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Expose Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Kate Hewitt&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #3</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Fifth Avenue trilogy is one that sets up a premise that makes it impossible not to read to its conclusion.&nbsp; While I enjoyed the first book more than the second, I was invested enough in the overarching plot of revenge against Jason Treffen to want to pick up the third and final book, <i>Expose Me</i>.&nbsp; While I think that the series won’t be as satisfying for readers who read out of order, the stories stand alone well enough and have their own individual romances that make little reference to the other relationships going on simultaneously.&nbsp; <i>Expose Me,</i> being the final book, does well in reinforcing an emotional climax for the external conflict while still creating a romance that works well.&nbsp; Kate Hewitt expertly ends a trilogy with a romance that manages to include a character completely unaware of the problems with Jason Treffen, creating a new relationship dynamic that will leave readers invested until the last page. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note:&nbsp; As for the reviews for the other two books in the series, I am using the publisher’s blurb.&nbsp; This is for the sake of convenience and for the sake of my brain, which cannot seem to write good blurbs for adult romance novels.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">The third and final step to revenge in the fifth avenue trilogy. Alex has the power…</span></span>&nbsp; </i><br /> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.</span></span>&nbsp; </i><br /> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">With ruthless determination, Alex Diaz has risen up from his deprived roots to become the head of a global media empire. But he has one last thing to achieve…avenge his friend by destroying the man responsible for her death, Jason Treffen. With stunning talk-show host Chelsea Maxwell about to interview Treffen live on TV, this is Alex’s chance.</span></span>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;"></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px;">He’ll use her show to exact a very public revenge—and seducing Chelsea, if needed, would certainly be no hardship. But he underestimates Chelsea and the attraction between them, and as their relationship deepens, Alex realizes that to annihilate Treffen could also shatter the life that Chelsea has built to protect herself….</span></span></i> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Expose Me</i> follows a couple tied to the media.&nbsp; Chelsea Maxwell is a talk show host extraordinaire whose fame has come from the way her charisma has broken (and redeemed) many a fallen celebrity.&nbsp; Alex Diaz is the magnate of a media empire that is known for the quality of its broadcast journalism.&nbsp; Alex was best friends with Sarah, the girl that Jason pushed towards dying of suicide ten years before, and thus knows all about Jason’s nefarious doings.&nbsp; While Chelsea, Alabama raised with her own secrets to hide, has no idea that Jason Treffen’s image and his person are completely different creatures.&nbsp; Chelsea respects him enough to covet the interview spot she’s gained with him on her talk show.&nbsp; For all of his charity work, Treffen is notorious for not being interviewed to protect that image. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Chelsea wants to believe that someone like Treffen is just, even though her past tells her to never trust anyone.&nbsp; Her romantic dynamic is emotionally removed and heavy on the hookups as a result.&nbsp; Funny enough, Alex Diaz has the same type of sexual dynamic - and he finds her attractive.&nbsp; What makes their romantic entanglement explosive from the beginning is this idea that they both want to act on their lust and assume it’s the end of the road for their relationship.&nbsp; Alex also wants to bring Chelsea in on the revenge scheme, but to do so he has to get close to her.&nbsp; That involves his sex drive being acknowledged. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Needless to say, Hewitt manages to make a couple with a great sexual play to them.&nbsp; It’s not quite as sensually involved as the first two books in the series, yet Hewitt’s sexual tension is well-written and feels organic to these two particular characters.&nbsp; It also provides a refreshing contrast to the first two books.&nbsp; I also liked how these characters were more removed from the key players in the Treffen revenge scheme - while Alex and Chelsea both have personal connections (though not necessarily by knowing people involved or being involved themselves), those connections aren’t super direct, and thus aren’t miring their emotional development to the plot quite as much.&nbsp; Hewitt takes advantage of this by making Alex and Chelsea both have more fleshed out back stories.&nbsp; Alex’s involves his life in the Bronx, and Chelsea’s involves the secrets that she’s keeping about her former life in Alabama. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What also worked for me in this romance was the way that Chelsea went about regarding her past.&nbsp; Because of the celebrity, she was constantly exercising the concept of control.&nbsp; That control pleased her because it allowed her to feel like she could maintain her image and effectively erase her past on the surface.&nbsp; I thought that Hewitt gave ample examples of that throughout the book and made her issues within the romantic relationship sensible to the character and enacted in ways that felt real as opposed to machinated.&nbsp; We see throughout the romance how Chelsea has built up threads and threads of a life she wishes she’s had, and how Alex threatens that life.&nbsp; While Alex also has control issues, his seem to be less intensive and come into play more towards the end whenever he has trouble being honest with Chelsea about his feelings.</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> My favorite part about this romance?&nbsp; Both characters respected that secrets came with the territory.&nbsp; They never made a stink each time the other person revealed a secret.&nbsp; It wasn’t a matter of these two people being honest or dishonest.&nbsp; Instead, it was about Alex and Chelsea realizing that relationships were new territory for the both of them - and that said territory came with unravelling over ten years of constructed stories and identities.&nbsp; I loved that Alex would simply hold Chelsea and understand when she would only reveal a bit of herself at a time.&nbsp; That’s a functional relationship, one that respects the heroine and her past, rather than one that shames her for not telling the hero right away.&nbsp; Hewitt got things so right with that aspect. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chelsea’s relationship with her sister was also an intriguing addition to the book.&nbsp; I felt like Hewitt did it in a way that gave the romance more depth.&nbsp; The past two books didn’t have the heroine interacting with many people outside of the hero.&nbsp; Hewitt’s makes a clear connection between Chelsea and another female character, and focuses on how that affects Chelsea’s reactions to herself as much as how her relationship with Alex changes her.&nbsp; Some of the sisterly removal seemed a bit ridiculous - their lack of communication following their separation seemed to be hand-waved away to me - but I liked that Hewitt focused just as much on Chelsea’s connection to someone outside of her romance as it did to her romance itself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other than that, I found Hewitt’s writing excellent and engrossing, and the plot excellent.&nbsp; The romance itself follows a path that feels a bit “traditional” for this type of story, mostly in how it feels very familiar and seems to follow a path that limits the internal complications between the couple.&nbsp; It felt very adult even when it was angsty, which was a nice change of pace, if one that didn’t quite reach the emotional highs and lows of the other two romances in the series.&nbsp; Hewitt’s story also crosses over with that of Caitlin Crews’s story, which makes a few scenes a bit less interesting.&nbsp; The ending to the book packs a solid punch and does the revenge ending justice. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Expose Me</i> ends the series with a bang over a whimper.&nbsp; It confirms that the revenge plot is something worth seeing through to the end, and features a romance that feels more adult, more understandable in how it goes through its emotional arc.&nbsp; Chelsea and Alex are perfect for each other.&nbsp; Moreover, Hewitt’s writing style is sexy while also feeling wonderfully comfortable, and it provides a great contrast to the more intensive previous books in the series.&nbsp; <i>Expose Me</i>, and the Fifth Avenue trilogy on the whole, is a winner.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; See my comments in previous reviews RE: the covers. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Amanda, Meryl L. Moss Media, and Harlequin!) &nbsp;</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-expose-me-by-kate-hewitt.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Y-i6Bwi2FCo9zdXmeuERgwaAx5AcS_DCPwMxqP61XavnsRw7Q809sD6GxcBiG5L7qV1rqMIgUXHintbmoD2_ytYdRWCQnQp1sVrvbRoZ59nvgMby29w4FiiLZay8GcHMNtfEQMwcja-C/s72-c/Hewitt,+Kate_Expose+Me.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-1876929076382814055</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2014 23:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-27T00:07:21.772-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">billionaire</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blog Tour</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Caitlin Crews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">category romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Presents</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">revenge</category>
<title>Blog Tour: Scandalize Me by Caitlin Crews </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtQs1XFRzxZa5E_h1AhDGLq-P0kOuOtoSrpt3JwCR8M2q5r1x6FDE8AFJkvfdRWlfvLhWn-YfYEWNssfGFeC65drbHjtQGTaNoMKRof57o1wStjP60XAeEUnXzpUyDVTwepQmp53bGcit/s1600/Crews,+Caitlin_Scandalize+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtQs1XFRzxZa5E_h1AhDGLq-P0kOuOtoSrpt3JwCR8M2q5r1x6FDE8AFJkvfdRWlfvLhWn-YfYEWNssfGFeC65drbHjtQGTaNoMKRof57o1wStjP60XAeEUnXzpUyDVTwepQmp53bGcit/s1600/Crews,+Caitlin_Scandalize+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Scandalize Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Caitlin Crews&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #2</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Books for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With my adoration of the first Fifth Avenue book, <i>Avenge Me</i>, I was eager to see what Caitlin Crews would provide in the second book, <i>Scandalize Me</i>.&nbsp; <i>Scandalize Me</i> features a football player hero whose reputation for rebellion has led him to being kicked out of the NFL and a PR genius heroine whose goal revolves around using the hero’s reputation to bring down Jason Treffen.&nbsp; Sound like fun?&nbsp; Yes, it does.&nbsp; While <i>Scandalize Me</i> took me longer to get into, it was a solid addition to the series and was more than worth picking up. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note:&nbsp; I’m including the blurbs for this series because A) I am bad at writing romance novel blurbs and B) I want to try and make things shorter - which usually doesn’t work, but whatever.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.</span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hunter Talbot Grant III, sports figure du jour, wealthy beyond measure and disreputable by choice, has cultivated a reputation that masks the shadows of his past. When the opportunity to ensure financial destruction for Jason Treffen arises, he can't refuse. But first he must shake off the woman sent to tame him!</span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zoe Brook, PR agent extraordinaire, never fails to transform a tarnished star. And Hunter's no different. Except there's a catch. Beneath their scorching mutual attraction, Zoe has a secret, she's also been on the wrong side of Jason Treffen, and she has as much of a taste for revenge as Hunter does!</span></span></i> <br /> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <br /></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crews sets up a dynamic in <i>Scandalize Me </i>that initially had my catnip alarms (to quote Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books) going off at full volume.&nbsp; I love a heroine like Zoe.&nbsp; Not only is she career oriented and cutthroat, but she actually wants to use the hero in this situation.&nbsp; Dynamics like that get me excited in romance because they provide great potential for the romance to show an intense heroine that doesn’t get undermined by the hero within the story.&nbsp; Hunter is still depicted as alpha from the get-go, but Crews gave readers a healthy potential for a story where Zoe could be the top dog in the relationship. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What <i>Scandalize Me</i> fails to do in the first half is establish a true sense of agency and motivation beyond the sense of revenge - and even the revenge motivator feels wandering and unsure of itself.&nbsp; We see Zoe attempt to dominate Hunter in order to push him away; we see her use her cunning to feed off of Hunter’s interest in her and present him with a plan to revamp his image.&nbsp; We see a lot going on, leading up to a sexual encounter towards the middle of the book that’s explosive, long, and emotionally impacting, yet the story seems to drag until that point and the encounter itself feels extended for the sake of the emotional impact.&nbsp; I found myself wondering what the point was of the story’s length up until this point - was it supposed to build up to this part?&nbsp; Why didn’t I feel connected to the couple enough to care as much as I did in the last book? &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Towards the second half, Crews seems to find a better balance in how the characters interact and present external/internal issues that work with the plot and their romantic entanglements.&nbsp; We see how Zoe wants to trust someone but also feels weighed down by her past as one of Trefen’s victims; we see how Hunter has played so far into his meathead, fuckup persona that it prevents him from seeing his true self and how that self can be with Zoe.&nbsp; I liked the idea that both of the characters put on personae that got them stuck, as it felt realistic and played into the notion that their created images ruled their lives more than they anticipated. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What I found less believable was the way in which both of the characters came about it.&nbsp; Zoe in particular is a character that seems to be varied in the skill of her execution.&nbsp; On one hand, I loved how she was upset with Hunter towards the end because his first reaction to her status as a victim was to pull away and not tell her why he was treating her as if she was just fragile despite her consent in the situation.&nbsp; It showed the narrative that many people ignore - that not all victims of sexual assault/sexual crimes want to pull away sexually.&nbsp; I did feel like there was a bit of a strange fetishization of how Hunter compared Zoe to Sarah, his ex, as he described how they were “different” because Zoe wasn’t a “victim” the way Sarah was.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Which bothered me to hell.&nbsp; The idea that Zoe was stronger than Sarah because she didn’t die of suicide - that has a lot of intensive implications about the nature of someone who dies of suicide, or who is victimized and then pushed to that method of death.&nbsp; It didn’t seem intentional, yet that connection felt like it was going towards the comparison in order to justify how Zoe was Hunter’s true love versus the passing love of Sarah.&nbsp; It also didn’t make sense to me considering how frequently characters in this series mention how Sarah was strong, how she was an advocate, and how she dealt with it silently because she wanted to protect others.&nbsp; To me, that proves her strength, and I don’t think that using descriptors like “victim” to describe someone as lesser is a smart way to go.&nbsp; Granted, it was probably a throwaway line, but it struck me viscerally because I didn’t think that it was a fair method of thought. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zoe’s idea of herself also struck me as skewed without much justification.&nbsp; I didn’t think that we saw enough of her viewpoint to understand how her history with Trefen seeped into her view of herself in a romantic setting.&nbsp; I think the idea that Zoe would worry about Hunter’s perceptions is valid, yet there just wasn't enough shown for me to think that was really an issue in the narrative.&nbsp; Rather, it felt like something used to extent the conflict for an extra twenty/thirty pages.&nbsp; I did like that the romance wasn’t a perfectly tied-up situation wherein Zoe was “cured” of those feelings.&nbsp; Crews instead showed how Zoe still felt insecure about her past and how Hunter and Zoe acknowledged those feelings in the relationship.&nbsp; That made sense; romance often implies that those issues aren’t consistent and long term within romantic relationships when they often are. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think a part of me was also disappointed that the beginning seemed to imply a heroine that was into dominating and a hero into submitting.&nbsp; Instead, Crews ultimately goes the more expected route of having Hunter be alpha and Zoe shy about expressing her desires beyond professional manipulation.&nbsp; The continual discussion of the importance of consent did intrigue me - consent culture is a complicated one, and one that often doesn’t get as much page time as I would like it to - although I would have liked more discussion about it on the whole and how it related to communication in a relationship, as well as how Zoe and Hunter may have different ideas about what consent entails in their relationship based on all of their past and present experiences with it.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ultimately, while I found <i>Scandalize Me</i> to be less solid as a romance overall, I enjoyed the heat level and the continuation of the plot regarding taking down Jason Trefen.&nbsp; Hunter and Zoe have dynamics that are worth exploring, yet they feel either rushed or meandering depending on the section of the narrative they get shown in.&nbsp; Crews has a great writing style in general, and I would try her books in the Presents line again, but I think this particular one just struggled to figure out where it was supposed to be heading and how the hero and heroine were connecting within their romance.&nbsp; <i>Scandalize Me</i> is enjoyable and explores some great concepts, but it doesn’t quite compare to the first book in the Fifth Avenue trilogy.</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; Again, these covers are cool takeoffs of the initial Harlequin Presents line, but I think the increased price of the books is a bit of an eyebrow raiser for readers who may not like the authors within the series. &nbsp;</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span></div> <div style="color: #181818; min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <div style="color: #181818;"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you Amanda, Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, and Harlequin!!) &nbsp;</span></span></div> </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-scandalize-me-by-caitlin-crews.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtQs1XFRzxZa5E_h1AhDGLq-P0kOuOtoSrpt3JwCR8M2q5r1x6FDE8AFJkvfdRWlfvLhWn-YfYEWNssfGFeC65drbHjtQGTaNoMKRof57o1wStjP60XAeEUnXzpUyDVTwepQmp53bGcit/s72-c/Crews,+Caitlin_Scandalize+Me.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-7532039015090797862</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-27T00:08:10.007-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">BDSM</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">billionaire</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blog Tour</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">category romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Presents</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Maisey Yates</category>
<title>Blog Tour: Avenge Me by Maisey Yates </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnF8-PirXW_hDw6NdZTRpIzqnP6t4s54d9NVFvH1hgQaZqRAdmFk9I50pUyc49kjNv3H9QimONDH8xEYz-P8RKw55BfCncuK6ZNQCQuJ_N7lLFav1rbCD2tB7OF11D5CPi8JTNHz3hIcg/s1600/Yates,+Maisey_Avenge+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnF8-PirXW_hDw6NdZTRpIzqnP6t4s54d9NVFvH1hgQaZqRAdmFk9I50pUyc49kjNv3H9QimONDH8xEYz-P8RKw55BfCncuK6ZNQCQuJ_N7lLFav1rbCD2tB7OF11D5CPi8JTNHz3hIcg/s1600/Yates,+Maisey_Avenge+Me.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Avenge Me</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Maisey Yates</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Books</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; Fifth Avenue #1</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a big fan of Harlequin Presents (and Maisey Yates), I was thrilled to get a review request for the Fifth Avenue trilogy.&nbsp; Harlequin’s interconnected HQ Presents series are always fascinating and often have some of the best authors in the category line writing within it.&nbsp; Maisey’s books in particular have always worked for me, so I was excited to start with the beginning of the trilogy and see what I could make of it.&nbsp; <i>Avenge Me</i> is a book that perfectly captures the vein of the HQ Presents novel while also including some clear trends (the sense of BDSM tones to the relationship) and clear methods of subversion to some of the trends of privilege that we often see eroticized within the category line.&nbsp; <i>Avenge Me </i>is the perfect example of a category novel that is both subversive and accessible to those who want to take the category line at face value.&nbsp; Maisey Yates knows how to craft a brilliant romance.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Note: for the Fifth Avenue books, I’m going to just include the regular back blurb and focus on the reviews - I think they capture the general premise, and am also making the reviews a bit shorter since I’ll be reviewing each of the three books in daily succession.) &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;">TEN YEARS AGO ONE DEVASTATING NIGHT CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR AUSTIN, HUNTER AND ALEX. NOW THEY MUST EACH PLAY THEIR PART IN THE REVENGE AGAINST THE ONE MAN WHO RUINED IT ALL.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><br /> <i>&nbsp; <span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Austin Treffen was born into a world of privilege, but behind its gilded doors lies a corruption so sordid New York's elite would never believe it—especially as his infamous philanthropic father is at its core! With everything he believed in shattered, how can Austin take down his father—risking his family name and those he loves—without any proof?&nbsp;</span></i><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></i></span></div> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Until one earth-shattering night with Katy Michaels unlocks not only their deepest, most passionate desires but also the key to bringing Jason Treffen's reign to an end. But with an intense sexual attraction that combines a heady mix of exquisite pleasure and sublime pain, will they satiate their thirst for revenge and each other…or lose themselves forever in the darkness?</i></span> <br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>Avenge Me</i> uses the classic revenge tropes with the added bonus of the protective millionaire trope.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">The heroine of course, through circumstances and logic provided by the hero, must live with him in order to present the facade that they are in a relationship.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">This is set up so that the heroine can be “protected” by the hero, but also to further provide evidence for the “truth” of their general setup.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Yates makes this have interesting stakes by making both the hero and the heroine equal in their desire to enact revenge - but also in that both of them have a strong closeness to the people involved in the incident that caused the desire for revenge.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Because of this, there is a lot of doubt, concern, and potential backfiring within their budding relationship.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Neither the hero nor the heroine believe themselves able to hold a relationship together after they have been so focused on revenge and the brokenness of their lives. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;</span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They also get together via lust.&nbsp; Yates does this wonderfully.&nbsp; She showcases the connection instantly and then proceeds to entangle the hero and the heroine by presenting them with information that makes them take a second look at each other.&nbsp; It becomes a romance that entangles their need to be in a power play relationship and their very literal power play needed to destroy the hero’s father.&nbsp; It also contrasts elegantly with the privilege of the wealthy white male hero versus the lack of privilege of the poor female heroine. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> Yates uses a lot of dialogue and sexual tension that contrasts with the analysis of privilege.&nbsp; Katy frequently comments on the way that she is expected to do specific things by Austin because he is used to getting what he wants; she also comments on how his “protection” is really just a way of using his privilege without understanding its consequences.&nbsp; She loses her job and her reputation within her job because of Austin’s protective interference; she also loses her apartment.&nbsp; The hero doesn’t see this because he is so focused on his revenge, and he doesn’t realize that, for the heroine, these opportunities are not ones easily obtained.&nbsp; I loved that Yates kept calling this out in the narrative.&nbsp; Katy even references specifically that it is the hero’s privilege.&nbsp; It’s a very clever way of creating conflict that derives from their views on life&nbsp; while simultaneously addressing the way that the billionaire hero uses his male privilege against the female heroine within these types of romances.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is also a way of addressing this from the hero’s perspective.&nbsp; While Austin has privilege, he also is aware that it can be misused.&nbsp; His father is known as an advocate for women, yet his father takes advantage of them and becomes a pimp of sorts that controls a high class ring of escorts - aka women that he builds up only to tear down if they don’t do his bidding with his selected clients.&nbsp; Austin is aware that his father’s desires to dominate and his misuse of his privilege is what allows this to keep occurring without people noticing.&nbsp; Sarah’s ultimate suicide is proof of this, because no one in her life seemed to notice that she was crying out for help. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This provides a great amount of grief with the hero - and I liked that the contrast between the hero’s grief and the heroine’s closed-off emotions drove the internal conflict of the romance.&nbsp; Austin believes that dominating makes him a monster because it reminds him of his father; Katy believes that submitting is the only safe option to keep her from being romantically involved.&nbsp; It makes the romance an act of telling the other person that they can be brave and honest about who they are, and that such honesty gives them the ability to have sexual relationships without guilt or limitation between them.&nbsp; I loved that it was about finding balance, and that it was also about being clear that many types of sex are valid in a romantic relationship because they meet different emotional and physical needs. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also really liked how Yates managed the balance of the internal conflict that was emotional and sexual and the external conflict that was tied to the internal conflict.&nbsp; The revenge plot didn’t feel tacked on and pointless; it also didn’t feel simple because of how much the heroine gave up to have revenge, and because of how much the hero had to give up his privilege in order to do what was right.&nbsp; I felt like Yates made it exciting without allowing it to overtake the romance.&nbsp; She used it to enhance the aspects of the romance instead, something that made this book feel richer in comparison to other category novels.&nbsp; I really felt like Yates made the effort to tie as much together as possible so it would leave the reader with a lot to unpack and think about after the reading experience was finished.&nbsp; This was all managed while making the romance satisfying and believable.&nbsp; By the end of Avenge Me, I felt like the hero and heroine were ready to be together, and that their relationship wasn’t tied up too neatly for all of the issues they dealt with together. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My one gripe was that I would have liked to see Katy more passionate about her job and career.&nbsp; I felt the revenge motivation was so emphasized that her career and life outside of it was almost non-existent.&nbsp; She gets pissed about losing her job, yet she doesn’t mention how she loved doing it - or how the revenge kept her from pursuing a career that she did want more than anything.&nbsp; I don’t think heroines have to be career focused, but it seemed strange that the heroine would build up a career just for revenge without much comment about whether or not she cared about that career, or any career.&nbsp; I would have found Katy’s anger about her job loss less believable in the long run because of that lack of vocalization about whether or not she liked that job/career and how that was affected. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overall, I think Yates created a category romance that had a lot of excellent elements.&nbsp; Subversion, wonderful sex scenes, effective tropes, and a romance that seemed to make sense and feed off of the external and internal conflicts of the characters.&nbsp; I think that Katy needed to be more fleshed out beyond her sexual and emotional sides, yet the word limitations on category novels probably influenced that to some extent, especially with the requirements of this book also setting up the next two in the series.&nbsp; Yates is one of contemporary romance’s best authors, and one of category romance’s best authors, and <i>Avenge Me </i>is a wonderful introduction to her work and the Fifth Avenue trilogy with its intelligence, wit, and sexiness. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; I like the changeover from the usual Presents covers (although I kind of raise my eyebrows at the increased price of the physical book because of the marketed series).&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Amanda, Meryl L. Moss, and Harlequin!!) &nbsp;</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-tour-avenge-me-by-maisey-yates.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnF8-PirXW_hDw6NdZTRpIzqnP6t4s54d9NVFvH1hgQaZqRAdmFk9I50pUyc49kjNv3H9QimONDH8xEYz-P8RKw55BfCncuK6ZNQCQuJ_N7lLFav1rbCD2tB7OF11D5CPi8JTNHz3hIcg/s72-c/Yates,+Maisey_Avenge+Me.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8517694672260589506</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-12T11:00:07.031-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">5.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">capitalism</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Lauren Oliver</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">poverty</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">stand alone</category>
<title>Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTY1CI4ytNdGslc9NNwgM1PotI8y_SQl2EBo7n3VA43SJElWrMAME00Vefknyp9lskxda0-zquJHR91dwAHdm_yOqJCVbHG2kHYKd4DvhBXdVHlyPceHTxHsnsvGR7FdWDfz0Dz7enW1P/s1600/Oliver,+Lauren_Panic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTY1CI4ytNdGslc9NNwgM1PotI8y_SQl2EBo7n3VA43SJElWrMAME00Vefknyp9lskxda0-zquJHR91dwAHdm_yOqJCVbHG2kHYKd4DvhBXdVHlyPceHTxHsnsvGR7FdWDfz0Dz7enW1P/s1600/Oliver,+Lauren_Panic.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Panic<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Lauren Oliver<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harper<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Delirium; Pandemonium<br /> <br /> <br /> Lauren Oliver is someone that I fawn over in the publishing industry. Her prose is consistently brilliant, and her stories capture me. There is something within her works that strikes me, which is something that very few authors do consistently. Having enjoyed her Delirium trilogy, her debut single-title, and her first middle grade novel, it's safe to say that I have seen Oliver's writing do a range of genres and story types. Panic is a return to where Oliver started her young adult writing in some respects. Like her novel <i>Before I Fall</i>, it's a story about high school (or in this case, the aftermath of high school) and how teenagers are just as complicated as their adult counterparts. <i>Panic</i> asks some questions that hit in a different place, a personal place, and it's a story that I believe to be Oliver's best since her debut work. <br /> <br /> Graduation leads to Panic. It's not the worry about leaving Carp, a town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. It's not the fear of college or debt or working until the day you die, sixty years later, having never seen the outside world. Panic is a game. Panic is something that fires up every graduated high schooler that has lived in Carp. It is risk and reward, danger and deception - all for the chance at winning a pot over $50,000. The catch? Only one person makes it out a winner. Some may never make it out at all.<br /> <br /> The infamy of Panic isn't lost on Heather. She had no plans to join in the game until her boyfriend broke up with her. Something about the way he threw her out was enough to trigger something in Heather. After years of living with a drunken mother in a trailer, Heather is ready to leave. With fifty thousand dollars, Heather can take her little sister and drive far away. No lying, cheating boys. No falling for your best friend who seems to be secretive and into someone else. The only catch is that Heather's friend Natalie is just as determined to win Panic so she can move to L.A. to become an actress. They strike a bargain - if one of them wins, they split the pot and get the hell out of Carp.<br /> <br /> Dodge's story is a bit different. The money wouldn't hurt, but he doesn't want to play Panic just because of it. Dodge's sister played Panic several years before him. &nbsp;Because of it, she was physically disabled. Dodge now has to watch his sister adjust to life in a wheelchair. The guy that ruined her life won the pot and never looked back. That guy has a brother Dodge's age, also playing Panic, and that makes the game the perfect place for Dodge to enact revenge. No expectations exist for falling in love. Dodge's only expectation is to win at any cost.<br /> <br /> The creation of Panic is something to think about. I've read a few reviews that have addressed the idea of Panic being unrealistic, or the monetary amount being "not worth it". The book is pretty direct about how it acts as a commentary on poverty within small towns. Capitalism has helped to create a society in which everything is placed within an economic hierarchy. Small towns can often be the places where even the smallest amount of money can be life-changing. As someone who grew up in a small town and goes back to it frequently, this book struck a chord with me. Readers: $50,000 is a lot of money. I know many people who make less than this on a yearly salary. I know many people that this would be a year's salary for. This is around the median wage earned by someone in the United States. The reality? In many areas, this is considered a significantly high wage. The amount of $67,000, which the pot ends up being for Heather and Dodge's round of Panic, is approximately the amount of money my older brother paid for his first house in our small town - plus $25,000.<br /> <br /> As far as I'm concerned, <i>Panic</i> hit home. <i>Panic </i>is very possible. Even if it is over-dramatized in order to show those themes and create multiple points of theme within the narrative, it could happen. Classism and capital are things that we rarely think about if we are of the privileged many that consider ourselves comfortable within our financial spheres. It's true that very few people are content with their financial stability, but many are "comfortable". <i>Panic</i> challenges that. Heather lives in a trailer with a mother that drinks and does drugs; Dodge's house is a trailer as well, and on top of that his sister has a myriad of medical expenses to handle, along with spending time and energy finding medical help and the potential to get physical therapy. Both of these characters find the idea of that much money impossibly brilliant.<br /> <br /> So, what does this all mean? This means that the characters within this piece are highly motivated and living in oppressed conditions because of their economic position within their rigidly structured home town. Heather is willing to risk her life in a game she doesn't want to play. Dodge has such a need for revenge because the emotional pain along with the financial pain created by the game, by the desire for that one amount of money, has nearly killed people several times in its inception. This book isn't a dystopian; it is not <i>The Hunger Games</i>; it is not a book about an unrealistic regime, some underground rebellion, and a special girl that rises above it all. Panic is a book about people living in a small town in New York that feel entrapped by the socioeconomic model constructed by our society, and it is about everything they will do to attempt and break out of it. It is visceral, honest, heart-breaking, and brutally real even when it seems to be slow. <br /> <br /> What Oliver does in this book is create a scenario where both character focal points are wrapped up in their motivation and how that may (or may not) cloud their judgement in the world. Heather is seen as the gawky girl that fades into the background; Dodge is the kind of guy everyone ignored until he made his courage apparent. Both of these characters were used to blending in because it was easy, because the people in their life are forever more dramatic and intensive than they are. These are characters that use Panic as a way to jumpstart their actions and change their worlds. Because of this, the reader finds themselves immersed in a scenario where the motivations of Heather and Dodge evolve; their motivations are layered and complicated. Heather wants to protect herself and her younger sister while simultaneously searching for a level of stability. Dodge wants to protect his sister and stabilize his life as well. Oliver creates parallel scenarios where these two characters can do amazingly dangerous things and we believe that those things are worth it. Nearly getting killed in multiple Panic events gives both characters the chance to test the reader's belief in their determination. It also gives the reader a point of sympathy for when they do things that aren't black-and-white in morality. Dodge in particular is a wild card because of this. His thirst for revenge is one that could lead him into criminal territory, yet the reader is able to sympathize with the situation - the contrast with Heather's situation still puts it into a unique moral perspective, but the reader is more likely to understand Dodge than they would be otherwise.<br /> <br /> Connecting these threads is Oliver's writing, a writing which manages to stylistically ring true despite the variety of genres that Oliver has tackled in her writing career. &nbsp;<i>Panic</i> fits Oliver's style from previous YA books in regards to the lyricism it presents, yet there is a rawness to the imagery that feels finely tuned - as strange as it is, Oliver is deliberate even in the most chaotic moments of her stories. &nbsp;Panic also has the added affect of feeling extremely thematic, with some elements such as the tiger that gets presented feeling almost hyper-real, magical rather than grounded. &nbsp;Oliver pulls this off in the text by creating situations that are just as intense and very much possible. &nbsp;Somehow, the humanity of the characters is so honest that it makes the borders of the story feel realistic. &nbsp;The magic within the pages makes sense. &nbsp;Despite this, there are no easy answers or simple solutions. &nbsp;The ending of the story is satisfying, yet it leaves things out for some of the characters. &nbsp;It also doesn't make up for the loss that characters retained prior to the story's beginning, which I think is something important. &nbsp;Oliver sends a message of hope that gives a nod to the reality of this story; consequences and revenge can be had, but are they truly satisfying? &nbsp;What do you give up along the way to protecting yourself? &nbsp;The ending is much less philosophical than the conclusion of the <i>Delirium</i> trilogy, which is a strong choice for Oliver's writing style and the single-title nature of this narrative. &nbsp;Oliver has a tendency to take risks in her writing - this narrative was risky in other ways, so I think the conclusion didn't need to worry about being impressive or risky on its own to be satisfying. <br /> <br /> The way that Oliver's books come together for me really is a godsend. &nbsp;There's something about the combination of style and narrative method that makes books like <i>Panic</i> hit me where it hurts. &nbsp;Especially books like Panic. &nbsp;With my background and my firsthand experience with areas like the one in the book, the characters and situations came alive in ways that I didn't anticipate. &nbsp;Books like <i>Panic </i>are so much more than they seem; YA in the hands of authors like Lauren Oliver is mysterious and nuanced, and <i>Panic </i>takes her craft in a direction that is both familiar and new. &nbsp;What can I say - I loved the characters, the situations, and the way Oliver handled a look at what poverty and capitalism can make people do in a world that creates one via the institution of the other. &nbsp;This book is intelligent, emotionally raw, and will incite fear into your heart. &nbsp;Not because it's scary, but because it could be true. <br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;This cover feels overly generic to the genre. &nbsp;This book subverts a lot of tropes and ideas normally presented in YA - the cover is so oriented to commercial cover tropes that it misses that, I think.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;5.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!) </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-panic-by-lauren-oliver.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-11T11:37:55.311-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">1.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Cammie McGovern</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">disability</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">diversity</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">epic fail</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harper Teen</category>
<title>Review/Rant: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViKlpJxTpbf_c3yjQRIBxFWgey96tANvFAB0cVjDA7Tk_XQWxv_TjbE_PikBrUbDu8r94dC6QBvSxFG798LDfUzbq6sj25ikCGI72FIg3S6bxfjC2C3m1Ctm3mPVtkAxcu9FdZmuBbRnc/s1600/McGovern,+Cammie_Say+What+You+Will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViKlpJxTpbf_c3yjQRIBxFWgey96tANvFAB0cVjDA7Tk_XQWxv_TjbE_PikBrUbDu8r94dC6QBvSxFG798LDfUzbq6sj25ikCGI72FIg3S6bxfjC2C3m1Ctm3mPVtkAxcu9FdZmuBbRnc/s1600/McGovern,+Cammie_Say+What+You+Will.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:&nbsp; Say What You Will</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Author:&nbsp; Cammie McGovern</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Note that there will be quotations and spoilers for this so get your spoiler-hats on while reading beyond the fifth paragraph* &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wanted to like this book.&nbsp; Forget the horrible back cover copy of the ARC that proclaims it to be a mix of <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> (which is not my type of book at all) and <i>Eleanor and Park </i>(which I haven’t read yet), which is clearly a cheap marketing strategy.&nbsp; It features two protagonists living with disability - one mental, one physical - and how they fall in love.&nbsp; The premise itself has the potential to go horribly wrong, but it’s one that I want to work.&nbsp; I <i>wanted</i> it to work.&nbsp; It didn’t.&nbsp; At all.&nbsp; <i>Say What You Will</i> is a prime example of an able author writing a book about characters with disabilities that reeks of ableism and manipulation. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The summer before her senior year of high school, Amy decides that it’s time for a change.&nbsp; She lives with a physical disability that has her using a wheelchair.&nbsp; In high school, this has always meant having an adult walk with her to carry her books and help her out with various needs she can’t perform on her own in a school setting.&nbsp; A kid named Mathew that she’s known in passing gave her the brilliant idea to change the type of aid she receives, to hire a group of student aids instead of adults, so she can create a web of socialization.&nbsp; No matter that this idea came from him telling her that the adults were the reason she had no friends. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amy sends Mathew an email over the summer asking him to be one of those student helpers.&nbsp; Mathew takes her up on the offer, even though he’s scared.&nbsp; Even though he’s not really sure how he feels about Amy.&nbsp; She’s always been someone that’s seemed to wallow to him; she’s the girl that writes deep pieces for the literary magazine that seem to parallel her life in heartbreaking ways.&nbsp; To Mathew, Amy seems to allow herself to be trapped.&nbsp; He also finds himself daunted by the idea of having to be responsible for her.&nbsp; Responsibility comes with stress, and stress requires rules, and rules require a consistency and familiarity that Mathew does not have with Amy.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Senior year for the two becomes about more than an effort to get Amy friends.&nbsp; In reality, the only student volunteer Amy genuinely cares for is Mathew.&nbsp; She has a crush on him.&nbsp; He finds relief in being with her.&nbsp; Amy never forces Mathew to talk while walking between classes.&nbsp; She does challenge him once their friendship starts progressing, focusing on the way Mathew seems to exhibit the behavioral factors of someone living with OCD.&nbsp; Refusing to address this directly for the longest time, Mathew allows himself to be challenged by Amy.&nbsp; He allows himself to care for Amy.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They fall in love, but it’s far more complicated than either of them imagine.&nbsp; Amy and Mathew are struggling teenagers in a world that seems to force them into the roles of outsiders.&nbsp; Together, they no longer feel alone, though they realize that love (and friendship) present complications that being alone never gave them. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the end of this book, I could not stand what the romance between Amy and Mathew represented.&nbsp; McGovern created a story that could have presented a dialogue about what it meant to be living with disability in a world constructed for able people.&nbsp; It could have showed how these initial perceptions of disability - the idea of living as a loner, the concept of being “damaged” - are completely false and present the characters as people that are dehumanized or lesser.&nbsp; Instead, the entire romance seems to hinge on the notion that these characters are both “damaged” and therefore understand each other.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Could I believe that these two characters share an understanding with each other because they live with disability?&nbsp; Yes. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Should it be because they both think they’re damaged and want to be with someone they can take care of for once?&nbsp; No.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amy and Mathew both frequently cite this idea of being damaged.&nbsp; From their initial presentation to the final page, we get the sense that Amy and Mathew siphon off of the need to care for someone who is worse off than they are.&nbsp; Mathew has an able body and Amy has an able mind, so it’s presented as if the characters get their love from the idea that they are superior in either physical or mental ability and can use that to take care of someone else. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> That creates a narrative that screams ableism.&nbsp; It’s a book that tries to show that people with disability can have a love story, that they have their own lives and can encounter the issues able-bodied people do despite living with disability, yet it results in a messy combination of after-school special and pandering ableist viewpoint.&nbsp; We should not be expected to believe that these characters have a healthy surviving love story on the premise that they both are less-than.&nbsp; It also shouldn’t be presented in such a way that their lives with disability are the defining aspects of who they are as people.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For instance, Amy is portrayed as a total loner.&nbsp; Because she has an overly scientific mother, uses a wheelchair, and needs software to speak, we are to believe that she has made no friends.&nbsp; Absolutely no friends beyond a few adults.&nbsp; We are also led to believe that she makes no friends when she goes off to school, that the only friends she’s made within the narration involve people that were paid to be student aids for her during her senior year.&nbsp; The portrayal is a direct caricature, and then on top of that is put into such extremes that the reader is practically led to the notion that they should pity her, that Amy is a character to be pitied because of the fact that she lives with disability. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mathew is given a similar treatment.&nbsp; He’s also portrayed as a total loner, though we as readers are led to believe it is by behavioral choice (and, presumably, that it links directly to his OCD).&nbsp; By making both Mathew and Amy friendless, we get the impression that they are totally outside of the able-bodied world.&nbsp; We also get the impression that people that live with disability are sans friendships or relationships outside of their family.&nbsp; By making them alone, we are given a portrayal of them that makes them dehumanized from the beginning.&nbsp; It also means that our primary focus is their relationship with each other, which in itself stems from the viewpoint that they are together because they are lonely and “broken” because of their disabilities. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of this could stem from their viewpoints.&nbsp; They are teenagers.&nbsp; They don’t necessarily have to use people-first language; they aren’t expected to realize that words like “stupid”, “crazy”, “idiot”, and the like are ableist.&nbsp; But the fact remains that their viewpoints never seem to challenge these perceptions.&nbsp; Nor does the narrative.&nbsp; The narrative does put them in enough situations that could, on the surface, be seen as subverting the notion that people living disability can’t do specific things (such as have sex, things stemming from having sex, go to college).&nbsp; <i>Say What You Will </i>unfortunately presents these situations in ways that feel cardboard and cheesy, as if they are public service announcements about things like teen sexual activity, living with depression, being bullied, and a host of other big issue topics.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One example is towards the end of the narrative whenever Amy and Mathew have cut-off communications.&nbsp; She writes a series of emails to him, including one where she admits that she’s in love with him: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You are the fantasy man I’ve given myself in my wildest dreams of a happy adulthood - smart and funny <i>and challenged in some ways as seriously as I am</i>* (pg. 233). &nbsp;</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*Emphasis mine</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s also an earlier note where Amy says that she feels Mathew “hides behind [his] OCD” that didn’t exactly make things sound better: &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like you hide behind your OCD sometimes.&nbsp; You say, “I have no choice, my brain makes me stand in the bathroom for an hour,” but you d<i>o</i> have a choice.&nbsp; You were making a difference all summer long.&nbsp; Hanging out with me, going to work.&nbsp; As long as no one challenges you or behaves in any unexpected ways, oh, guess what!&nbsp; OCD cured!&nbsp; But if someone is a <i>person</i>, who admits to having made a mistake - you don’t stick around for <i>thirty seconds</i> to talk about it?&nbsp; Suddenly you’re all, where is the nearest bathroom (page 228)?</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is reason for this character to be upset when Mathew leaves her, even though he does leave her because of a legitimate issue that would cause a rift between anyone, but this letter in particular really gives the reader the impression that Amy is right.&nbsp; That OCD is something someone willingly takes on or takes off in order to make their life non-confrontational. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It ends up having an awful effect on the reader’s understanding of OCD.&nbsp; It’s not something Mathew can fix easily.&nbsp; Amy continually tries to “help” his OCD by challenging him, and though she doesn’t say she’s trying to fix him, we constantly get the impression that Mathew can be programmed out of his OCD by his love for Amy.&nbsp; The emphasis on the word “person” in the above quotes gives us the impression that living with disability means you cannot interact with people, that you are less than a person because you cannot conform to social norms. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mathew isn’t exactly free of speaking in ways that seem to suggest a level of ableism.&nbsp; He writes an email to Amy that’s fairly similar in that it’s all ruminating and thoughtful about their past. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I understand what you were trying to say, but I also have to say I don’t believe there’s such a thing as casual sex for people like you and me.&nbsp; How could there be?&nbsp; We don’t have casual relationships with our bodies.&nbsp; They’re unpredictable, humiliating things that have failed us so much it’s hard not to hate them, and impossible to imagine being naked with another person and relaxed at the same time (page 253). &nbsp;</span></span></blockquote> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I do want to stress that we do need to stress that people are allowed to dislike their bodies.&nbsp; The counter-effect to current campaigns about loving your body is that they create the situation wherein people are not allowed to be angry at their bodies.&nbsp; People are allowed to dislike them, to hate them, to feel angry with them.&nbsp; People are allowed to feel what they want to.&nbsp; The problem with Mathew’s narrative is that he makes it seem like living with disability means that your body is not something you can ever like, or have sex with in a way that you would prefer. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When he says that he believes there is no such thing as “casual sex” between people who live with disability, he’s not just saying it to refer to himself and Amy.&nbsp; He’s saying it in reference to anyone living with a disability.&nbsp; “We don’t have casual relationships with our bodies” and “people like you and me” really strike that in particular.&nbsp; Again, an example of dehumanization and othering embedded in the narrative in such a strong, visceral way.&nbsp; A way that is never contested.</span></span><br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /> The worst thing about it all is that the narrative could have challenged these issues more.&nbsp; It could have addressed them and had these character show themselves to be more than the caricatures they have internalized.&nbsp; Instead, we are just led to believe that these images are it; these images are what we are lead to believe is the end-all for these characters, and that it’s all okay because they come out of it in love at the end. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some points do have to be given to McGovern for having a compelling writing voice.&nbsp; I’ll say that, on a voice level, you can’t stop reading even if the story makes you angry as fuck.&nbsp; The voice kind of falls apart towards the end as the story becomes something of a shitstorm of plot problems presented last-minute.&nbsp; Seriously, the last one hundred pages of this book bring out so many issues that come and get resolved with a few finger snaps.&nbsp; They really only serve to feel like tacked-on additions to the plot and reasons for Amy and Mathew to be away from each other longer. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a while, I felt like McGovern was basically giving teens a guidebook to everything that could go wrong just by having sex with someone.&nbsp; It was ridiculous, and I hated the constant impression that Amy would not ever have the chance for casual sex beyond a single post-prom encounter with someone willing and potentially drunk.&nbsp; Amy voices it a few times, and the narrative’s path after the sexual encounter only seems to support that it was a “bad decision” for her in more ways than just her relationship with Mathew.&nbsp; That just infuriated me, because it seemed like Amy would be a sexually positive depiction of someone living with disability, or at least like it would be one that was more subversive than it was direct. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Say What You Will</i> just falls apart when held up to analysis.&nbsp; As a reader, I felt like I was being asked to pity characters and treat them like lesser humans because of that being the basis of their love story.&nbsp; It felt like Amy and Mathew were caricatures of people living with disability, their entire love story revolving around wanting to care for someone “damaged” in the way they weren’t.&nbsp; I’m not sure about McGovern’s qualifications for writing these character viewpoints, but they felt manipulative and problematic more than fresh and honest.&nbsp; I was hoping this book would be one to provide a great, non-ableist view of characters living with disability.&nbsp; Unfortunately, <i>Say What You Will</i> just fails at it.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cover:&nbsp; This cover caught my attention pretty early on.&nbsp; It's a little too cutesy for my perception of the story, but I would like it on any other sweet contemporary YA book. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rating:&nbsp; 1.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!) &nbsp;</span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/reviewrant-say-what-you-will-by-cammie.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiViKlpJxTpbf_c3yjQRIBxFWgey96tANvFAB0cVjDA7Tk_XQWxv_TjbE_PikBrUbDu8r94dC6QBvSxFG798LDfUzbq6sj25ikCGI72FIg3S6bxfjC2C3m1Ctm3mPVtkAxcu9FdZmuBbRnc/s72-c/McGovern,+Cammie_Say+What+You+Will.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4233025993803524213</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-10T12:00:03.156-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">gargoyles</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Teen</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Jennifer L. Armentrout</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">paranormal romance</category>
<title>Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout </title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gU_uz7o6_uSavhOvZGaGHIj1ovqG5IrnDmzd1s5UtV0DhLrKkruHMtDc3803SabjGEuKYzJDiVvuwDhcwln8ovBuenWrJ8e_oo2A_-e8TAp-5vnXAYhPF7N-qQXTELzpQUx8vvBK2tjo/s1600/Armentrout,+Jennifer+L_White+Hot+Kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gU_uz7o6_uSavhOvZGaGHIj1ovqG5IrnDmzd1s5UtV0DhLrKkruHMtDc3803SabjGEuKYzJDiVvuwDhcwln8ovBuenWrJ8e_oo2A_-e8TAp-5vnXAYhPF7N-qQXTELzpQUx8vvBK2tjo/s1600/Armentrout,+Jennifer+L_White+Hot+Kiss.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title:&nbsp; White Hot Kiss<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Jennifer L. Armentrout<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Dark Elements #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> To say that the teen book blogging world (that the teen book world in general) has fallen for Jennifer L. Armentrout is an understatement.&nbsp; Armentrout's books have been recommended to me countless times, especially <i>Obsidian</i> and its subsequent sequels.&nbsp; Readers seem to fall for her characters, especially her heroes, and I have finally caved in and had a sip of the Kool-Aid, courtesy of Harlequin Teen and <i>White Hot Kiss</i>.&nbsp; What made me cave was a few recommendations and the promise of gargoyles.&nbsp; You heard me right: gargoyles.&nbsp; Ever since I've read Paige Morgan's <i>The Beautiful and the Cursed</i>, I have been so in love with the idea of gargoyles as a paranormal mythology.&nbsp; Armentrout's gargoyles are in a modern setting, but they are just as swoon-worthy and thought provoking as Morgan's.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> is the teen paranormal novel that we've grown to see as a genre staple - Armentrout adds her own special touch that makes it something that stands out.&nbsp; <br /> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Since she was young, Layla has lived with the gargoyles.&nbsp; Zayne has always been her protector, her stand-in brother.&nbsp; Layla’s spent over seven years crushing on him as a result.&nbsp; The trouble is that, now seventeen, Layla knows just how futile her crush is considering her situation.&nbsp; She may go to school with humans and live with gargoyles, but Layla isn’t quite either of those things.&nbsp; Instead, she is half-gargoyle and half-demon.&nbsp; Her abilities, however, reflect neither of those realities.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With a single kiss, Layla can drain anyone with a soul.&nbsp; She lives with the Wardens - gargoyles charged with keeping humanity safe by hunting demons - in order to keep her abilities in check.&nbsp; Not only would she be completely ignored as an option for marriage in the world of the Wardens, but her kiss would drain any one of them, even someone as powerful as Zayne. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The introduction of Roth into her life only makes things more complicated.&nbsp; Roth is a demon; he is the very thing that the Wardens are charged with fighting.&nbsp; One of Layla’s abilities is to sense demons, and Roth exudes the power of an upper level demon.&nbsp; Demons like Roth are only to be fought by multiple Wardens.&nbsp; Demons like Roth are challenges for people like Zayne.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Layla knows she should stay away from him.&nbsp; As a demon, Roth has no soul.&nbsp; That makes it possible for Layla to kiss him.&nbsp; It’s not just the possibility of physical contact that makes him as attractive as he is dangerous.&nbsp; Roth seems to know things about Layla that she can only guess at; he also questions the world that she comes from, the world that seems to exclude her even as Zayne fiercely protects her.&nbsp; Layla’s past and her dangerous future collide as she struggles to find out who she is, and who she is truly in love with. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jennifer L. Armentrout knows how to write a story that is more than you expect, even if it doesn’t push the boundaries you would expect it to.&nbsp; The world that <i>White Hot Kiss</i> introduces us to (well, that and the prequel novella) is one that manages to be a world of a hierarchy and a mythology; it’s a mixture of contemporary high school and paranormal elements, which is not uncommon in YA, but done in a way that works.&nbsp; It contains elements of adult romance and YA romance.&nbsp; It’s a book that works because it definitely plays to the audience.&nbsp; Which is probably why I enjoyed it despite the concepts and themes it made me question.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Let’s start with the world: it’s an enjoyable idea, the notion of gargoyles protecting human beings and having shapeshifting abilities in order to blend in.&nbsp; Connecting gargoyles to the mythology of heaven and hell also works well.&nbsp; Both of these aspects can also be found in Paige Morgan’s YA gargoyle series, though the books are fundamentally very different beyond those similar mythological principles.&nbsp; Armentrout also uses the gargoyle concept as a way to construct a patriarchal community that resembles a lot of adult paranormal romance novels (think the Black Dagger Brotherhood books) in that it is clearly detrimental to females and promotes structured gender roles.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I found myself questioning what Armentrout was doing with this world.&nbsp; Was it subversive?&nbsp; Was I supposed to be questioning this world that Layla was part of?&nbsp; Is the reason that she falls in love with Roth about her freedom as a woman as much as her freedom as an individual?&nbsp; Or is it more likely just a tendency of popular fiction to create paranormal worlds that seem to conform to these standards. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think Armentrout’s world is a mixture of these two.&nbsp; On one hand, there was a serious tendency for the gargoyles to victim-blame Layla for getting into dangerous situations and protect her because of her being a female.&nbsp; The gargoyle world is also very focused on the idea of having babies and continuing the species, and how having babies means&nbsp; very strict binary relationships.&nbsp; I would like to think that Armentrout was addressing these things fairly based on the construction of the world and was trying to show how Layla fell in love outside of it for a reason - yet she also looks to this world as her home, and it felt like the narrative inherently agreed with and perpetuated these problematic behaviors because of how Layla seemed so complacent to just accept it rather than question it. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because of the way that the book seemed to do this, I found myself going in and out with how engaged I was with the story.&nbsp; Most of the mythology outside of the need to procreate and marry within the Warden culture was really interesting.&nbsp; I loved the demonic vs. angelic concepts in particular, as it was a great way to make Roth’s involvement in the story surprising.&nbsp; I won’t say that his character was entirely unexpected, but I think Armentrout does a great job of making us think the story will go one way and then taking it in another direction entirely.&nbsp; A lot of that comes from her skill in creating romantic arcs. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Romantically, I think we see a great (if familiar) triangle between Layla, Zayne, and Roth.&nbsp; Zayne and Layla have a relationship that’s intimate but also one-sided throughout most of the story; his protectiveness makes him a very likely candidate for a love interest, and the way he seems to be pushed towards a Warden from another area adds on some conflict to the mix.&nbsp; Roth is the bad boy who is misunderstood and legitimately bad.&nbsp; He does work in Hell, after all.&nbsp; I liked that both guys cared about Layla and didn’t get too douchey.&nbsp; If anything, I’d say Roth was the better of the two in how he treated Layla because he treated her as an equal.&nbsp; Zayne’s placement in Warden culture makes him a little too patriarchal alpha-male, and while I can see the appeal of that in a fantasy setting, it didn’t feel right when Layla spent so much of the book finding herself.</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That time spent finding herself is what made the story fun.&nbsp; Armentrout does a great job of intermixing self-reflection, external action and plot, and combining the two with plots and subplots that reveal more of Layla’s character.&nbsp; Through how she deals with her romances and her past, we get a better picture of who Layla is and how she has grown up from the sheltered, reckless person that she was in the beginning.&nbsp; Layla’s a character that is likable and easy to cheer for. While I would have liked her to be a bit more complicated (and maybe less directly likable), she worked for the type of story that this was.&nbsp; The plot itself had enough demon extermination and big reveals to be engaging; I felt like Armentrout only showed us the thinnest layer of the world and its potential, but it was a great way to enter and will appeal to a lot of readers who like their romance stories with a healthy dose of paranormal action. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>White Hot Kiss</i> is the perfect story to sit down with in the summer sun at the beach.&nbsp; While it follows a few tried and true lines of YA paranormal romance (love triangles, protagonist with clearly relative and likable personality traits, plot that takes a while to start up), it also has some smart writing behind it that makes the story feel fresh.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> was just plain fun for me.&nbsp; Not fluffy fun, and not always perfect, but fun none the less.&nbsp; Layla and her narrative captured me and kept me invested; the gargoyle element also worked well and made me curious about future books.&nbsp; This isn’t the book to give to someone if they dislike the paranormal YA field.&nbsp; <i>White Hot Kiss</i> is a sexy paranormal story with a world made for wonderful escapism and a love triangle that will keep you reeling. &nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Cover:&nbsp; Not the most shocking cover, but I love the color contrast.&nbsp; The physical book also has a wonderful feel to it.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars</span></span><br /> <div style="min-height: 13px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div> <br /> <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!) <span style="font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-white-hot-kiss-by-jennifer-l_10.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gU_uz7o6_uSavhOvZGaGHIj1ovqG5IrnDmzd1s5UtV0DhLrKkruHMtDc3803SabjGEuKYzJDiVvuwDhcwln8ovBuenWrJ8e_oo2A_-e8TAp-5vnXAYhPF7N-qQXTELzpQUx8vvBK2tjo/s72-c/Armentrout,+Jennifer+L_White+Hot+Kiss.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-7164847620207589408</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jun 2014 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-06-09T12:00:01.919-04:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cheating</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Corey Ann Haydu</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harper Collins</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">secret society</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">secrets</category>
<title>Review: Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71O4fFRxID0B8pQpSmz3K3T0S3f38I5Ytc9Z-UR6_OaOsWc_klvnQ7zsb_OFTvQpxXdLgpiM3uNM4xzt1-7Y_DvKJQGi7XcbtijHiB7A-rq2UmAyT8fXhvuAhbRjtVtRYn4af01tyY3QQ/s1600/Haydu,+Corey+Ann_Life+By+Committee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71O4fFRxID0B8pQpSmz3K3T0S3f38I5Ytc9Z-UR6_OaOsWc_klvnQ7zsb_OFTvQpxXdLgpiM3uNM4xzt1-7Y_DvKJQGi7XcbtijHiB7A-rq2UmAyT8fXhvuAhbRjtVtRYn4af01tyY3QQ/s1600/Haydu,+Corey+Ann_Life+By+Committee.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Life by Committee<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Corey Ann Haydu<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Katharine Teagan Books<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;Standalone<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;None<br /> <br /> <br /> Difficult books can be both rewarding and frustrating. &nbsp;YA contemporary novels have a tendency to be difficult in ways that don't challenge the reader too broadly. &nbsp;Issues are presented that are dark and defiant, yet the characters are all too sympathetic or simple. &nbsp;YA often sees the world in black-and-white with its characters tending towards being the most sympathetic heroes and its villains (even if they are presented as issues as opposed to characters) to be the most dastardly villains. &nbsp;So what happens when an author turns those ideas around and presents a scenario with deconstructed aspects of that black-and-white mentality? &nbsp;That friend that strays away and becomes pretty and boy crazy - what if she's more than misguided and searching for popularity? &nbsp;What if there is more to her than meets the eye, and what if it's less about right and wrong than it is about decisions, choices, and emotions. &nbsp;Corey Ann Haydu explores these themes in <i>Life by Committee</i>, which is a contemporary YA novel that seeks to take the common theme of a girl becoming beautiful and/or popular and question what lies beyond it. <br /> <br /> Getting hot is supposed to signify new friends, new romances, and new popularity - right? &nbsp;Tabitha's high school career has led to her becoming hot. &nbsp;Somewhere in the past year, she has grown breasts and curves, highlighted her hair, and started wearing sexier clothes. &nbsp;Her best friends said they were "concerned" about her, that she was taking a troubling path to her life. &nbsp;All because one of them had a brother who was interested in her all of a sudden. &nbsp;Tabitha went from comrade to slut in what seemed like an instant, all because of her physical appearance. &nbsp;Her friends dropped her and left her alone. &nbsp;Her saving grace is Joe.<br /> <br /> Joe is popular. &nbsp;He's not super popular: the group of athletes at their crunchy-granola private school have managed to rise to the top, but athletes like Joe just lack the charisma to be at the top of the top. He's more of a sidekick than a ring leader. &nbsp;He also has a girlfriend by the name of Sasha. &nbsp;Sasha is the type of girl that reads 19th century poetry while in a pool of vintage black lace. &nbsp;People say they're in love; Joe says that he loves her, that he's obligated to be with her because of her living with panic attacks. &nbsp;Sasha needs Joe. &nbsp;Yet, somehow Joe needs a refuge, and that refuge becomes his online flirtations with Tab. <br /> <br /> The start of the next school year means something new for their flirtation. &nbsp;Tab's only friend at school is Elise, a closeted lesbian who doesn't take any of Tab's bullshit. &nbsp;She finds that she keeps the intensity of her relationship with Joe to herself. &nbsp;A secret. &nbsp;She even keeps it from her parents, the hippie couple that had her at sixteen and own a hip tea/coffee shop in their small Vermont town. &nbsp;Tab feels that she has to bottle up her emotions, until she reads a copy of <i>The Secret Garden</i> that is marked up with margin notes that reflect her situation perfectly. &nbsp;The end of the book has a link to a website - Life by Committee - which professes to be an outlet for your deepest secrets. &nbsp;You post a secret at least once a week and the website's head assigns you a task to complete in order to better your life. &nbsp;The catch? &nbsp;If you fail, the secrets get leaked.<br /> <br /> Tab posts a secret about kissing Joe, "someone else's boyfriend." &nbsp;The members of the site immediately post about it to support her. &nbsp;Zed, the website's mastermind, gives her an assignment: kiss him again. <br /> <br /> <i>Life by Committee</i> is hard to pin down. &nbsp;On the surface, the idea will put off a lot of people. &nbsp;The main character does desire a boy that is taken by someone else. &nbsp;(I believe Susan Colasanti also wrote a book like this in a different tone.) &nbsp;There is a lot of hope in the beginning that circumstances will make this story the black-and-white YA it could be. &nbsp;Joe could be amazing and Sasha manipulative; Tab could have been misunderstood; her old friends could have just been mean, stupid, and shallow. &nbsp;So many aspects of this book could have been written in a way that was cliche and meant to reinforce the traditional moral binary of YA. &nbsp;Haydu takes a different route, which is what makes the story interesting even when it's not always easy to empathize with.<br /> <br /> First of all, Tabitha is a character who is very much focused on her romance. &nbsp;She continually confronts characters that reflect this issue with her. &nbsp;Her former best friends are worried about her being "boy crazy", her guidance counselor calls her into the office for "exploring her adulthood", and the narrative consistently shows how she turns to Joe and his flirtations (online and later offline) as a way of feeling fulfilled and socially whole. &nbsp;Tabitha denies what this obsession with Joe means to her. &nbsp;Haydu makes a unique difference here in that Tabitha is never truly pictured as wrong for wanting something with a guy. &nbsp;As much as the narrative shows her to be confused and morally in the gray because of what she does, she's never one to say that the way that she looks, dresses, or acts makes her an inherently awful person at the end of the day. &nbsp;The narrative occasionally walks the line of slut-shaming because of how Tabitha seems to acquiesce to some of these issues by the end of the book, as if some of these judgements about her were valid in how they were presented, but the story is so complicated that it doesn't really come across that way when put into context. <br /> <br /> There's also the matter of the romance. &nbsp;<i>Life by Committee</i> is not a romance. &nbsp;Not even close. &nbsp;The book follows a narrative arc that heavily suggests a romance. &nbsp;Most readers will probably suspect that something will come around early on to indicate that Joe will be the one for Tab, or that Tab will fall for another character that appears soon after and becomes more important and kinder. &nbsp;While some of that does occur, it never becomes a major part of the narrative. &nbsp;<i>Life by Committee</i> focuses more on what all of this means in Tab's life at large. &nbsp;What does revealing secrets about herself mean in regards to her life? &nbsp;What does she give up in the name of "growing" whenever she continues her flirtations? &nbsp;Is it good or bad if she lets others decide how to view her life? &nbsp;It looks at her relationship with her parents, her friends, and her peers. &nbsp;It asks if the girl who loves to read the notes others write in novels is the same girl that wants to kiss the stoner athlete dating someone else. &nbsp;Tab's voice may be specifically geared to her worries about Joe, but the narrative on the whole really does look at many facets of her life and how they are affected by the secrets she keeps. <br /> <br /> Secrets lead to a lot of intriguing themes and twists throughout the book. &nbsp;Some twists at the end are expected, yet the way they are tied into the theme of secrecy is intriguing. &nbsp;Haydu doesn't approach things head on. &nbsp;Much like my creative writing professor said to me, she approaches them "from a side door." &nbsp;Even if the reader knows what is going to happen in general, there is a lot about the narrative leading up the reveal that leads the reader away from the twist. &nbsp;I think the focus on Tab's parents and how her emotional distance from them is a huge plus as well. &nbsp;Between Tab's parents and Elise, we see &nbsp;how secret keeping is a consistent theme that leads her to joining the LBC. &nbsp;LBC then becomes another secret she has to keep on top of her other ones. &nbsp;As she reveals them, she makes new ones, and she has no idea what will get her out of that spiral when it becomes too much for her. <br /> <br /> I think the secret keeping can make her frustrating. &nbsp;Readers who want a narrator that is pretty objective about their life should not expect that in this novel. &nbsp;If anything, Tab's lack of reliability on her emotional state is the biggest selling point of her voice as a character. &nbsp;Readers know that the experience will be real and innovative in a way that most YA first person narration may lack. &nbsp;However, this means that her obsession with Joe and her constant back-and-forth about her life is displayed prominently. &nbsp;It means that readers have to bear through aspects of Tab's life that aren't enjoyable to read about frequently. &nbsp;They have to watch her make many mistakes and be so, so unsure about the people in her life. &nbsp;They also have to come to the realization that nothing is going to end perfectly despite what Tab learns throughout her story. &nbsp;What I most loved about LBC, even as it frustrated me, was the way that it left me questioning which characters were "right". &nbsp;You never really know if Tabitha cares about Elise as much as she used to care for her old friends. &nbsp;You never know if Sasha and Joe are in love-love, or if Tab's parents are making changes to their parenting style that will be good in the long run. &nbsp;There are many open-ended questions to this narrative, and I liked that. <br /> <br /> All of that being said, I do think that the narrative suffers in some areas because of all of these complexities. &nbsp;The story moves at a slow pace because of Tab's deep point of view. &nbsp;Her narrative voice is so strong and so invested in a few particular aspects of her life that it can be overwhelming. &nbsp;I also would have liked more characterization in a few background characters. &nbsp;Those outside of Tabitha's immediate worries are so sidelined in that department that they get lost in the dust. &nbsp;It fits her point of view, yet it still makes the narrative seem less complex on the whole. &nbsp;I also felt as though the ending tacked on a romantic arc that was a little too predictable and underdeveloped to be believable to me. &nbsp;While Haydu suggests it and doesn't timeline it to a specific amount of time following the book's closing, it does still give a sense of being "too soon". &nbsp;In some ways, I would have loved to see Tab going without a romance at the end and focusing more on her sense of self and what it means to begin reclaiming friendship. &nbsp;I think Haydu took a copout with that section of the story that devolved it from the complex, challenging narrative it was for most of the book.<br /> <br /> <i>Life by Committee</i> is not something one can categorize. &nbsp;It deconstructs a lot of things that YA books in general have a tendency to perpetuate in regards to character morality and like ability, yet it also ends up using a trope or two at its end that devalues the unique experience the narrative started off as. &nbsp;The narrator is someone that is worth reading about even if she isn't always easy to read about in-voice. &nbsp;Needless to say, it's a challenging text that asks a lot of questions and leaves the reader with even more. &nbsp;I think people looking for a contemporary YA that does more than expected will be thrilled with this one, even if it doesn't aways succeed in what it sets out to do. &nbsp;I will certainly be reading more from Haydu as an author after this experience.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;I love the cover of this. &nbsp;Not only does it relate to the plot of the text, but the coloring and image aren't too trope-oriented. &nbsp;They actually stand out on the shelf.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;4.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!) </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-life-by-committee-by-corey-ann.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71O4fFRxID0B8pQpSmz3K3T0S3f38I5Ytc9Z-UR6_OaOsWc_klvnQ7zsb_OFTvQpxXdLgpiM3uNM4xzt1-7Y_DvKJQGi7XcbtijHiB7A-rq2UmAyT8fXhvuAhbRjtVtRYn4af01tyY3QQ/s72-c/Haydu,+Corey+Ann_Life+By+Committee.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-4601263331236657441</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-02-05T10:00:06.581-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">ableism</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">disease</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">futuristic</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">pseudo-science</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Sophie Jordan</category>
<title>Review: Uninvited by Sophie Jordan</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9oJ0QgVkX95eBDQlY2LsNpIPiuLwPOKjBf4Eu84wZYS9E24lPHjuLaTLSdlGUgcWqc0xIbw25xNALgFS-9HGZO78qzzx27C9idDCm4jlHqmAOV7iWqrgtKB84ddpf5-sE4oFexnfkPdA/s1600/Jordan,+Sophie+-+Uninvited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9oJ0QgVkX95eBDQlY2LsNpIPiuLwPOKjBf4Eu84wZYS9E24lPHjuLaTLSdlGUgcWqc0xIbw25xNALgFS-9HGZO78qzzx27C9idDCm4jlHqmAOV7iWqrgtKB84ddpf5-sE4oFexnfkPdA/s1600/Jordan,+Sophie+-+Uninvited.jpg" height="320" width="217" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Uninvited<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Sophie Jordan<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harper Teen<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;Uninvited #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Firelight; Vanish; Hidden; Foreplay<br /> <br /> <br /> I am a Sophie Jordan fanboy. &nbsp;After loving her Firelight trilogy and her first foray into the New Adult genre (<i>Foreplay</i>), I was more than up for giving her new young adult series a chance. &nbsp;Uninvited is perfectly on-trend with the current market of YA books that explore scientific (or pseudo-scientific) concepts in a context that feels modern or futuristic to some degree. &nbsp;It's very much an off-shoot of the dystopian and post-apocalyptic sub genres that are winding down in popularity. &nbsp;Jordan is very good at writing stories that work well with genre trends, and I don't think Uninvited is any different. &nbsp;While I didn't love it as much as her New Adult book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it for the escapism, the romance, and the action. &nbsp;<i>Uninvited</i> is a book that readers who love fast-paced stories will devour. <br /> <br /> Homicidal Tendency Syndrome (HTS) has recently been discovered. &nbsp;The United States is scrambling to figure out what this means for the population on the whole. &nbsp;One thing seems to be consistent with gathered data: the increase in tested-HTS cases directly correlates to an increase in violent crimes. &nbsp;Something within the body of humans is manifesting itself in violent tendencies that often result in incidents of individual, or even mass, violence. &nbsp;According to the government, measurements have to be taken in order to make sure that HTS doesn't result in a generation of killers because the general people deserve their safety. <br /> <br /> Privileged seventeen year-old prodigy Davy Hamilton never expected to test positive for HTS. &nbsp;She has a fabulous boyfriend that she thinks she's in love with; she can sing like an angel and play several instruments; she has gotten into Julliard. &nbsp;Everything about Davy's life is perfect - certainly nothing has related to violence. &nbsp;The testing sends Davy into a spiral. &nbsp;She's expelled from her private school and sent to a public school system where the few HTS-positive students are kept in a classroom called The Cage. &nbsp;Davy now has a caseworker, the chance of being reported and marked if she exhibits violent behavior, and will never attend Julliard. <br /> <br /> The Cage puts Davy's life into a little more perspective. &nbsp;With the only other girl deadly quiet and all but one of the boys showing some level of aggression, it's clear that Davy's prim-and-proper attitude will need some adjusting if she'll survive among those infected with HTS. &nbsp;The predatory teacher assigned to watch them doesn't make things any easier. &nbsp;Davy's only hopes are a scrawny kid with more brains than brawn and Sean, a tough, silent type that seems to be the defender of the group. &nbsp;Davy's time with HTS makes her question even her longest-running relationships as friendships fall apart and romances break up. &nbsp;In a world where the only people to trust are those labelled with the same supposedly destructive disease, can Davy survive? &nbsp;Can she remain the same person that she always was, or is she destined to become a killer? <br /> <br /> <b>Confession #1: &nbsp;The scientific premise of this book is illogical.</b><br /> <b><br /></b> <b>Confession #2: &nbsp;This book addresses an extremely privileged character without much context, and is not a good representation of a character understanding their privilege or checking it. </b><br /> <b><br /></b> <b>Confession #3: &nbsp;I still really enjoyed reading it, but not because of #1 or #2. </b><br /> <br /> So, let's start with #1. &nbsp;It's pretty obvious that a disease that makes a group of people "killers" is illogical. &nbsp;On top of that, Jordan's world is not built to make this premise truly understandable within the context of the idea. &nbsp;It's the epitome of a "high concept" book that doesn't necessarily transition that concept into something that works on a minute detailed scale. &nbsp;We are never told where this disease stems from; we are never told how one is tested for it or where it originates; we are never told why this disease was discovered in the first place, how it supposedly effects those that have it, or how the disease manages to just make people more prone to violence. &nbsp;Turning it into a disease also has severe implications in other regards. &nbsp;It is supposedly recessive and passed from both parents, but because it's supposedly linked to genetics, does that imply that it's mental. &nbsp;And if so, why is immediately vilified as a disease and why are the people that are infected with it demonized? &nbsp;It could have potentially been commentary on how mentally able people are prejudiced against those with mental differences to the point where they assume that they are more likely to be violent, but it didn't have enough support in the writing or the world building to back up that potential outcome. &nbsp;I found myself wondering exactly how I was expected to believe that this was logical when the potential for the concept was set aside in favor of more conventional YA world-building tropes. <br /> <br /> On to #2! &nbsp;Davy is a character with a voice that is reasonably distressed, confused, sad - everything one would expect in this situation - and it's easy to read in the sense that the pacing of the narration and the internal monologue vs. external action is perfect. &nbsp;Sophie Jordan's narrators are always interesting and engaging when it comes to their style of narration, with just enough description of emotions to make the story personally connective. &nbsp;I liked reading about Davy when it came to those aspects. &nbsp;I also felt that Davy gained some sense of self throughout the story, though she tended to be reactive versus proactive (for instance: she doesn't have the escape plans, she doesn't fight back save for when she's emotionally beaten down). &nbsp;There's one scene where she does take the lead despite some sexist assumptions from a random secondary character. &nbsp;I appreciated that nod towards her being intelligent and able, though it doesn't happen enough in the story for her to be overwhelmingly strong as a female character. <br /> <br /> But, more to the point of #2, Davy is privileged. &nbsp;Her family is wealthy enough to bribe someone once before she's infected with HTS, and she has enough natural talent in music to get into Julliard. &nbsp;She's gone to private school in an upper-class neighborhood, has many internalized class privileges she doesn't acknowledge, and never encounters a non-white/heterosexual/cisgendered character throughout her journey. &nbsp;Even when she's presented with the conflicts of being labeled with a disease or when she meets people of different classes, Davy is called out for being different and doesn't realize that it's total bullshit that she's different because she's more "prim and proper" because of her upbringing. &nbsp;There's also the simple fact that a musical prodigy such as Davy would be much more active in music if she would retain her ability. &nbsp;We never get scenes of her practicing until later on in the story, and even then it's not frequent or described with much detail. &nbsp;Someone good enough to get into Julliard would reasonably have an intensive practice schedule or at least an intensive understanding of the weight of musical practice and devotion. &nbsp;Davy's narration puts her into a position where it seems to just come naturally to her, and that comes across as both unrealistic and privileged. &nbsp;I enjoyed reading Davy's narration a lot, but these problems stuck out after I finished reading in an unpleasant way. <br /> <br /> #3 is where it gets confusing. &nbsp;Despite the above issues, I really did love reading <i>Uninvited</i> at the time. &nbsp;Jordan's writing is easy to fall into. &nbsp;Her romance writing is excellent - Sean is legitimately a solid love interest, and his love story with Davy is pretty balanced along with the action sequence. &nbsp;All of the action sequences coupled with the tragic events hit the market demand in ways that were appealing, tropeish, but still original. &nbsp;I still want to read the second book a lot to find out what happens afterwords. &nbsp;In a lot of ways, I think the writing within this book has grown substantially from that of the first Firelight book. &nbsp;The addition of the questionable world-building and themes of privilege is what disconnects me from truly adoring this book on a constructive level. &nbsp;On a level of pure enjoyment it's grand, but acknowledging the issues within the narrative leads me to being less enthusiastic about the book than I was when I had just finished it. <br /> <br /> Do I think every reader will love this book? &nbsp;No. &nbsp;I would go so far as to say that readers tired reading about privileged characters who tend towards being "special snowflakes" will want to stay away from this book, as well as readers that would find the HTS science to be offensive (because of its lack of depth or because of its potentially negative themes). &nbsp;Readers that want an engrossing story, that enjoy Jordan's style and may not notice or agree with the above statements will probably adore it. &nbsp;It's simply a matter of which type of reader you are. &nbsp;Me? &nbsp;I'm squarely in the middle because I find both issues important, and I am going to have to grade the book lower and hope that the second book addresses some of my issues with the world. &nbsp;It's such a great book in theory - I just wish that it held up under critical analysis. <br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;Eh. &nbsp;I love the shine in her hair, but it doesn't really capture me or make me think "wow". &nbsp;The color scheme is also extremely similar to Lauren Oliver's cover for Panic, which is funny considering how close the release dates are (and that the publisher is the same).<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;3.0 Stars &nbsp;(Because of the issues of privilege and the world, I had to lower the book's grade a few notches.) <br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) <br /> <br /></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-uninvited-by-sophie-jordan.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9oJ0QgVkX95eBDQlY2LsNpIPiuLwPOKjBf4Eu84wZYS9E24lPHjuLaTLSdlGUgcWqc0xIbw25xNALgFS-9HGZO78qzzx27C9idDCm4jlHqmAOV7iWqrgtKB84ddpf5-sE4oFexnfkPdA/s72-c/Jordan,+Sophie+-+Uninvited.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-5859686921602855885</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-31T10:00:01.902-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Gena Showalter</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Teen</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">zombies</category>
<title>Review: Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaaenNnANLaHY3-A9CHwJ1EuR_FC0TUlsJoP56KIGqIsZsINVi_Dy97f8QuETvRtE7JvUy-Ks_Bg_MGuiyHUcyAkJ8cmvKFkTdqrlHFAYi1-397u6zOwhaBvicUhEDDyUTZs6SMYrlrMD/s1600/Showalter%252C+Gena+-+Through+the+Zombie+Glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaaenNnANLaHY3-A9CHwJ1EuR_FC0TUlsJoP56KIGqIsZsINVi_Dy97f8QuETvRtE7JvUy-Ks_Bg_MGuiyHUcyAkJ8cmvKFkTdqrlHFAYi1-397u6zOwhaBvicUhEDDyUTZs6SMYrlrMD/s1600/Showalter%252C+Gena+-+Through+the+Zombie+Glass.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title: &nbsp;Through the Zombie Glass<br /> <br /> Author: &nbsp;Gena Showalter<br /> <br /> Publisher: &nbsp;Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series: &nbsp;White Rabbit Chronicles #2<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author: &nbsp;Intertwined; Unravelled; Alice in Zombieland<br /> <br /> <br /> I've talked before about my love of the first book in this series. &nbsp;When you take a shot of the Gena Showalter whiskey, you have to come back for another one (or two, or three...) I went from thinking her work needed improvement to adoring her YA novels. &nbsp;Her adult novels are perhaps even better, but <i>Alice in Zombieland</i> was a brilliant YA paranormal novel with a main character that kicked butt, had a great romance, and appealed to me with her loyalty to her friends and family. &nbsp;<i>Through the Zombie Glass </i>is a sequel I've anticipated reading since I read the first book, and I'm happy to have finally taken the time to revisit Ali and her zombie-hunting friends. &nbsp;While this book is a little less perfect than the first one, it still recreates the magic of the first book (and the kissing - oh, the kissing). <br /> <br /> Ali has overcome the death of her parents and has embraced the zombie hunting abilities inherited from both. &nbsp;With her little sister Emma lingering on the fringes of Ali's life as a guardian angel, she has the ability to move forward. &nbsp;Her newfound love with Cole and the strengthened friendships she's made after learning to defend herself even more has made Ali into a strong, capable girl ready to fight. &nbsp;She still finds it hard to deal with sometimes, the thoughts of living life without her family, but she knows that they are in a better place and that she is happy.<br /> <br /> The addition of two new people to the team, one being Cole's ex, puts unnecessary stress on the situation as Ali begins to wonder who is worth trusting. &nbsp;A stray zombie bite also manages to inject venom into Ali's system, causing her to experience moments where she feels as though she has two hearts. &nbsp;A hearty dose of the antidote seems like it does the job - until Ali starts hearing a voice in her head and seeing a zombie-version of herself in the mirror. &nbsp;This self never goes away. &nbsp;This self is a lot like Ali.<br /> <br /> Except this self is a zombie. &nbsp;It wants to hurt the people that Ali loves. &nbsp;Just as she realizes that she is becoming a danger to herself, Cole distances himself from her and strains their relationship. &nbsp;Ali feels abandoned just when she needs someone most; to protect the people she loves, she has to start finding out a way to fix things. She can't go to anyone in her group about it at the risk of being removed because of her condition. &nbsp;The only opportunity to cure herself may lie with the enemy. &nbsp;As the rabbit clouds begin to appear in the sky more frequently, zombie attacks increase, and Ali finds herself racing against the clock to save herself and the people she loves from falling prey to a deadlier threat than they could have ever imagined.<br /> <br /> A story inspired by Alice in Wonderland with zombies. &nbsp;That initial premise of this series captured me and still has in its second installment. &nbsp;There's something inherently interesting about it. &nbsp;Showalter has some unique ideas for her paranormal worlds, but this one is by far the most unique in terms of its inception, and I think that she explores the possibilities in this installment in regards to the zombie aspects specifically. &nbsp;The story in many ways combines elements of Showalter's adult series (a group of badass, sometimes morally questionable or slightly sexist guys and occasionally girls) with elements of her YA series (focus on romantic issues that expand beyond a single book), and I think the combination works well. &nbsp;This installment struggles a bit more with balancing these things, but it brings some new conflicts to the table that promise good things for a future book(s) in the series. <br /> <br /> Ali is a character that I've enjoyed because of her ability to fight. &nbsp;There's something very nice about a female character depicted as physically capable, a female character that goes against her boyfriend if it means doing what she thinks is best. &nbsp;There's a tendency for Ali to carry a depiction of naiveté in the narrative that I don't always enjoy, but she usually comes across as strong and capable. &nbsp;I think that said characterization is strengthened in this book because of Cole's distancing issue. &nbsp;Some of Ali's narrative is a bit too focused on wanting Cole back or being jealous of Cole (though it is fairly realistic internal dialogue for a teenager in love), but she is also consistently forced to focus on other matters as she deals with this second zombie self growing inside of her and consistently manifesting. She never backs down and she never lets herself succumb to the evil without a fight. &nbsp;There's a sense of strong morality in Ali that grows within this book as she fights this dark self that appears. &nbsp;Morality tends to be a big part of this series, and I think this time around the theme is a little more subtle and flows better with Ali's character overall. &nbsp;Two things that bothered me included Ali's tendency to slut-shame, which I have to deduct points for because it was seen as completely acceptable and never questioned/challenged, and the lack of swearing. &nbsp;I know that Cole's character doesn't want to "corrupt" Ali, but it's starting to feel very forced in terms of the overall narrative. &nbsp;I'm all for Ali wanting to have sex and building up to that internally, but the hypocrisy and problematic thoughts in other areas kind of negated the sex-positivity Ali was gaining in terms of her own body.<br /> <br /> Of the other characters, it was a strong mixture between interesting and consistent (which is good) but not exciting. &nbsp;Cole is still just as dark/brooding/gorgeous/broken as ever, but this time around he comes across as less kind and aware of Ali's needs as he did in the previous book. &nbsp;As a reader, I understood his motivation to some extent, but it turned into a situation where Cole was being blatantly immature in keeping secrets from Ali. &nbsp;I think that Showalter does it well in regards to showing how that breeds mistrust within a relationship after the basis of honesty has been established, but it still got to the point where I was less of a fan of Cole. &nbsp;I think that the additional team members and Ali's friendships are both featured well - not as much as they should be, but it was helpful that Cole's issues were able to bring in the possibility of Ali having other relationships. &nbsp;I liked that she continued to be sassy and peppy towards the other zombie hunters; her personality was at its strongest when she was forced to confront her friends while struggling to save them from the monster within her. &nbsp;Ali's grandmother is also the sweetest character in the history of sweet supportive characters - it may not be the most realistic, but I wish my grandmother could be counted on to be supportive of me if I was from a dual lineage of zombie hunters. &nbsp;It's not something you may want your grandparent to be right away, but Ali's grandmother proves that it's a good skill to have.<br /> <br /> <i>Through the Zombie Glass</i> is just as exciting as its predecessor, but the first two hundred pages have more introspection and setup than one would hope for a series that's pretty solid in its action novel tendencies. &nbsp;I liked getting back into the groove of Ali's voice and narrative style, but it got a little hard to handle when the first book ended with such a good bang. &nbsp;The narrative also starts off with a more romance-centered approach, which, as stated above, isn't the book's strong suit in terms of creating a situation that feels balanced (even if it is also accurate). &nbsp;The second half poses many more questions and concerns in regards to the world and what the zombies are really doing there; it also doesn't focus as much on the blatant good versus evil dichotomy of the zombies and the zombie slayers, which help the story to feel more organic and less based on a moral code. &nbsp;The story ends with a solid punch that will leave readers wanting to know more. &nbsp;Showalter has enough material for at least one other book in the series. &nbsp;Ali's narrative is also too juicy to ignore, so I look forward to seeing what further conflicts arise within the various characters as the zombie/world building questions come to a climax within the series arc. <br /> <br /> Overall, while <i>Through the Zombie Glass </i>doesn't quite live up to the totally-awesome, addictive quality of the first book, it does more than a fair job at maintaining the momentum of the action sequences and the interesting main character. &nbsp;Some of the book's pitfalls hit some of my issue buttons (mainly the slut-shaming and similar elements there), while others got better as the story went on (the pacing and the romantic issues with Cole). &nbsp;Readers will be more than satisfied by this installment. &nbsp;Showalter has a good stride with her YA writing, and she doesn't skip the heat or the passion in her romantic arcs, so I'm more than confident that the next book will be worth the wait.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;I don't like the cover model on this one as much (she looks a little off), but the design and the creepiness of the cover is gorgeous.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;4.0 &nbsp;Stars <br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!)</description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-through-zombie-glass-by-gena.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6081478257383635591</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-28T10:00:02.730-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">5.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">debut novel</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fairy tale</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fantasy</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">retelling</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Rosamund Hodge</category>
<title>Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge</title>
<description><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqBS9QZBFC5eVPi_mZ8gy4h0XmA3VQhfvUeYgVDSqhDxOJJuZK1xwQXJ8yVRgzRq-jyixvgVf_D9J7Tm3CGmNppE43A8cfHgT0FrnIvGY07YfRnDmWjhBRl-x5qsFDLDfgIvlM0LEs10P/s1600/Hodge,+Rosamund+-+Cruel+Beauty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqBS9QZBFC5eVPi_mZ8gy4h0XmA3VQhfvUeYgVDSqhDxOJJuZK1xwQXJ8yVRgzRq-jyixvgVf_D9J7Tm3CGmNppE43A8cfHgT0FrnIvGY07YfRnDmWjhBRl-x5qsFDLDfgIvlM0LEs10P/s1600/Hodge,+Rosamund+-+Cruel+Beauty.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> Title:&nbsp; Cruel Beauty<br /> <br /> Author: Rosamund Hodge<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Balzar &amp; Bray<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> I don't do gif reviews, but I would for this book.<br /> <br /> I had no idea that I would read a book that I would clearly designate as one of my favorites of the year so far this early on, especially with how my reading has been going lately.&nbsp; <i>Cruel Beauty </i>promises to be many things based on the marketing; its cover is gorgeous and melodramatic with its endless staircase entwined with the insides of a bloody rose, and the back cover copy uses short, powerful statements in order to make the story seem mysterious.&nbsp; The entire thing suggests a YA paranormal romance.&nbsp; Let me tell you a secret, readers: this book is so much more.<br /> <br /> So.&nbsp; Much.&nbsp; More.<br /> <br /> This book made my heart ache because it was so much more than I expected.&nbsp; Believe me when I tell you that there is something about this story that is special.&nbsp; It's not just the 'Beauty and the Beast' tale retold; it's a timeless tale all its own, inspired by stories of fantasy and gods.&nbsp; <i>Cruel Beauty</i> is an earthquake.<br /> <br /> A demonic prince reigns over a land that was once a part of a larger world. &nbsp;A parchment sky is in place, looming over the villages that fear the prince. &nbsp;He is known for granting favors; they always come with a price. &nbsp;Once upon a time, a man and his wife wanted children, but the wife was unable to bear them. &nbsp;The man went to the demonic prince with the hopes of having a favor granted - compromise would be made so the children and his wife would be safe from unjust consequences. &nbsp;The prince granted the man's wish, and the wife was overjoyed when she became pregnant with twins. &nbsp;As with most fairytales, the birth of the girls was unsettled due to inevitable tragedy: their mother died.<br /> <br /> Nyx was one of those twins. &nbsp;She has been trained from a young age to incite her father's revenge in the completion of his half of the compromise. &nbsp;In order for Nyx's father to complete the requirements for his bargain, one of his daughters is required to marry the demon prince. &nbsp;Nyx is the daughter destined for this. &nbsp;Unlike her sister, there is an ever-present darkness in her heart because of the resentment of this marriage. &nbsp;Nyx can never fall in love; she can never go to school to study the magic that makes up her world. &nbsp;Nyx is destined to marry, and therefore she is trained to kill.<br /> <br /> She is taken there at seventeen - a sweeping castle that is both archaic and timeless, a dark place where the prince, known as The Gentle Lord to his people, lives untouched by death. &nbsp;Nyx is prepared with a dagger gifted to her by her sister with the hopes that the old tale of a "virgin with a virgin blade" would have some truth to it. &nbsp;Entering the castle presents her with a world much darker than she ever anticipated. &nbsp;Ignifex, The Gentle Lord himself, is a being with strands of evil corseting his heart, yet he doesn't force himself upon Nyx. &nbsp;His shadow servant also appears to be more than a demon in disguise. &nbsp;Nyx finds herself stuck in a world where the darkness and the light within it vie for her attention, her heart, and her vengeance. &nbsp;She will find that evil cannot go unloved, and that revenge must be enacted.<br /> <br /> There is nothing more interesting than a take on an old story that fleshes it out into something totally different. &nbsp;<i>Cruel Beauty</i> is that; it is 'Beauty and the Beast' but with more magic and nuance. &nbsp;The first fifty pages of the book are also vastly different from the rest of it. &nbsp;The narration of the story is from a character prone to describing everything, a character who is emotional and extremely frustrated with the dark parts of herself. &nbsp;The first fifty pages thus serve primarily as the backstory/character voice-dump of the story. &nbsp;Moving beyond that is where the story gets true life. &nbsp;It's a deep Italian opera with songs of a pinnacled bass and an airy soprano. &nbsp;The book finds itself exploring the depths of what it means to be good and evil. &nbsp;'Beauty and the Beast' as a fairytale is one that develops on the polarization of this theme, whereas <i>Cruel Beauty </i>takes this polarization and asks what it means to have nuances. &nbsp;Beauty has as much evil in her as she does good. &nbsp;Beast is evil but with kindness somewhere within the evil. &nbsp;He has his own set of morals. &nbsp;Evil is not total, and neither is good.<br /> <br /> I think that Nyx's narration grew on me because she learned to embrace her anger. &nbsp;This fairytale retelling stands out because the female character learns to be angry; she learns that she should not hate herself for thinking bad thoughts, but she should learn to balance those with positive thoughts. &nbsp;It's about learning that being a self-serving person doesn't destroy her as a human being. &nbsp;In some ways, Nyx is a better person for thinking about herself because she is able to focus on her survival and her own happiness. &nbsp;She was never happy as a martyr character because it was never voluntary; Nyx was not given the chance to choose, nor was she given the opportunity to live with complete freedom prior to her " choice". &nbsp;Because of this, she is a forced martyr, and she is forced to put everyone ahead of herself without any true reason. &nbsp;This makes her resentment and anger understandable; it also makes her attraction to Ignifex and his shadow servant make sense. &nbsp;They represent the polarized good and evil, light and dark, shadow and substance. &nbsp;Nyx constantly finds herself learning new things that tip the scales out of balance as she realizes that the perceived morality around her wasn't as black-and-white as she initially interpreted it. &nbsp;I think Nyx's struggles with understanding revenge, fate, and deception were excellent. &nbsp;There was never a time when I thought that she was a character that did something without thinking; there was also never a time when I felt like she only presented a situation in a boring, predictable, one-sided way. &nbsp;Nyx has the ability to perceive things in ways that challenge a reader's preconceptions as to how her romantic story arc will go down. &nbsp;In many ways, her kick-assery as a heroine is perfect because it involves her learning to eschew expectations and embrace the harder decisions found within the darkness of her soul.<br /> <br /> I thought that the usage of Ignifex and his shadow servant was excellent because of this breakdown of polarization. &nbsp;There's something brilliantly thematic about using these two prongs of a "love triangle" to explain the ways in which light and shadow work in the human soul. &nbsp;Ignifex stole my heart because he was blatantly evil, yet he respected Nyx when it came to her body. &nbsp;He never practiced the idea of having sex with her just because they were married. &nbsp;He never forced himself on her physically. &nbsp;He still had the darkness of being the one in charge within the captivity fantasy (although we as readers soon learn that his situation is much more complicated than that), but he has good qualities about himself. &nbsp;We also see Ignifex as a character who feels trapped, whose self-doubt and attempts at forgetting the bigger issues in his life make him vulnerable and sensitive beneath his snarky angst. &nbsp;The shadow character, Shade, is interesting as well because he is the character that is presented as the "insta-luv" option, but he quickly becomes something different as Nyx learns more about him and the house. &nbsp;I felt that these two characters balanced each other well with their connections, their ties to each other, and the way they foil each other in Nyx's quest to save herself and the world around her.<br /> <br /> Hodge's world is one that is lush, brilliant, and filled with monsters. &nbsp;Shadows and sorcery bleed together in a world inspired by the Greek myths; the inspiration is far more complex and subtle at times than one would think, and it is integrated in a way that seeps into the core of the narrative itself. &nbsp;Fables and stories are themes that come in at every interval - from the library with blackened holes in the pages of its books to the way that myths are retold (both the myths of Hodge's world and the myths of the Greeks). &nbsp;It also asks the questions of who the true causes behind the myths are. &nbsp;What beings are pushing the hands of fate, and why do they desire everything to be filled with consequences and impossible riddles? &nbsp;How is one able to understand these things that make everyone into pawns? &nbsp;Is our world real, or is it one of fantasy, fable, and village songs? &nbsp;The house itself becomes a character as its tricks weave into Nyx's narrative. &nbsp;In many ways, this story is reminiscent of fantasy tales in how it presents its lead character with periodic trials and puzzles to overcome. &nbsp;Fans of role-playing video games may notice a similarity in how these puzzles work; it also has a slight throwback to an anime, too, because of how the characters are presented with such layered polarity within the framework of a quest and puzzles. <br /> <br /> Magic works in a system that fits the world as well. &nbsp;It's based on the idea of connecting the four elements, and the connections often are imbued within "hearts", at least in regards to the castle. &nbsp;There isn't as much of the magic in the middle of the book, but it is used often enough to give the reader a solid idea of what the magic needs in order to function and what limitations it has. &nbsp;It's a different way to go about creating a magical system based on elemental affinities and connectivity, and I loved that about it. &nbsp;I find myself wishing that Hodge would have explored the magic more. &nbsp;She's the kind of writer that has unlimited potential within her ideas; readers will undoubtedly love that nothing in this story feels familiar after the pages start turning. &nbsp;In that respect, the plot does take a good fifty or sixty pages to get into because of the voice and the initial set-up, but the story is utter magic once things get rolling. &nbsp;It is fire, earth, water, air; it is the very essence of what a fantasy story should be. &nbsp;There are consequences and tragedies and decisions made by people who have to do the best that they can based on the people that they have become. &nbsp;Hodge has created a world that lives beyond the stained ink on her printed page. <br /> <br /> Cruel Beauty is not a damsel that faints into the arms of a beast simply because it has a good heart that matches hers. &nbsp;It is a damsel with a torn dress that knows how to kill; it is a woman that embraces that she does not need to be the moral center of every situation because the world wants her to be; it is Nyx, someone who is more than a martyr or a bride or a daughter. &nbsp;Cruel Beauty is about Nyx becoming herself and, in the process, falling in love with a demon that allows her to look at said self in a new light. &nbsp;It is a book with pitted pages and watermarks, one that will be bent from your tense grip and stained with the tears you'll shed at the final pages. &nbsp;This book is brilliant, unexpected, and one that I will return to throughout the year in thought. &nbsp;Cruel Beauty is the dark side of the tale as old as time.<br /> <br /> Cover: &nbsp;This cover is gorgeous because of how it connects the rose and the spiral staircase as images. I think it regulates the story to being interpreted as explicitly romantic, but it captures a strong sense of the atmosphere of the story.<br /> <br /> Rating: &nbsp;5.0 &nbsp;Stars<br /> <br /> Copy: &nbsp;Received from publisher/publicist for review &nbsp;(Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!) </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-cruel-beauty-by-rosamund-hodge.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqBS9QZBFC5eVPi_mZ8gy4h0XmA3VQhfvUeYgVDSqhDxOJJuZK1xwQXJ8yVRgzRq-jyixvgVf_D9J7Tm3CGmNppE43A8cfHgT0FrnIvGY07YfRnDmWjhBRl-x5qsFDLDfgIvlM0LEs10P/s72-c/Hodge,+Rosamund+-+Cruel+Beauty.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8500972809901016677</guid>
<pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-18T10:00:04.489-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">alternate history</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">debut novel</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fantasy</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">necromancer</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Robin Bridges</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Russia</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vampire</category>
<title>Review: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges</title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7NrSSSoiyPUKRDul-hWJrTSAVH05A5h-9L5N1UpQ7QPyvNTg9rcS10uQYvpNfFFSNqXXsPxWBvuQK8wjToo0J06LXc-72-4VldVlBjylr0iKs70nP2oTx5Gr-zSs78OHlUY7PzSehC_K/s1600/The+Gathering+Storm+by+Robin+Bridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7NrSSSoiyPUKRDul-hWJrTSAVH05A5h-9L5N1UpQ7QPyvNTg9rcS10uQYvpNfFFSNqXXsPxWBvuQK8wjToo0J06LXc-72-4VldVlBjylr0iKs70nP2oTx5Gr-zSs78OHlUY7PzSehC_K/s1600/The+Gathering+Storm+by+Robin+Bridges.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Gathering Storm<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Robin Bridges<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Delacorte Press<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Katarina Trilogy #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Sometimes you need your Russian royalty tainted with the blood of necromancy.&nbsp; Er...well, in your books, anyway.&nbsp; I've discussed my love of the history of the Russian royal family on a few occasions - as early back as my review of Anastasia's Secret - and to put that in a fantasy YA novel with romance and vampires and necromancers and werewolves and intrigue?&nbsp; I had to read this series at some point.&nbsp; I finally caved in when the third book came to me a month or two ago and I had no more excuses.&nbsp; The Gathering Storm has made it clear that I'll be reading the other two books soon.&nbsp; This wasn't a perfect debut effort by any means, but sometimes it's so easy to overlook storytelling flaws when you realize that the book can be enjoyed anyway. This is a book to be enjoyed.<br /> <br /> Katarina Alexandrovna is a Duchess of Oldenburg, a girl of a privilege because of her distant connection to the royal Russian bloodline, and a girl expected to marry and continue her station in life.&nbsp; She hates it.&nbsp; More than anything, Katarina wants to go to school and become a doctor.&nbsp; Her father's interest in medical research has given her the courage to fight for her right to become more educated after she completes finishing school - which, while an education, is an education aimed at upper-class women who are not expected to become medical professionals.&nbsp; She knows that this goal will go against the expectations her mother has set on her, but Katarina refuses to give up her dreams of changing the world via medicine.<br /> <br /> There's one more roadblock to Katarina's happiness: necromancy.&nbsp; At a young age, Katiya accidentally resurrected an animal and became aware of the powers she held. It's common knowledge that the Light and Dark faerie courts are intertwined into Russian aristocratic society, but supernatural powers of Katiya's type are considered to be forces that few want around.&nbsp; They're dark powers.&nbsp; The wrong hands could use them to turn the Russian courts into places of dreaded evil.&nbsp; She's always tried to hide her gifts because of this.&nbsp; Katiya's life at school introduces her to several girls that are members of a royal family known for their dabbling in darker magic - only, unlike Katiya, these family members are said to embrace their gifts with devilish excitement.<br /> <br /> An aristocratic function sets Katiya's journey in motion as people from this infamous family take note of her gifts, just as Katiya takes note of attempts at manipulating the Russian royal family.&nbsp; Katiya's gift leads several people of high ranking to show interest in her: an older woman known for eccentricities that discusses the existence of "blood drinkers" within the courts, a man by the name of Prince Danillo whose family is that of the dreaded rumors, and George Alexandrovich, the middle son of the Tsar himself.&nbsp; One tries to warn Katiya, one tries to seduce her, and one suspects her of attempted conspiracy with her necromancy.&nbsp; The interlaced relationships, suspicions, betrayals, and magical ties become a web of unimaginable danger as Katiya comes into her powers as a necromancer and is forced to embrace said powers, or die.<br /> <br /> As you can tell, the alternative history created in The Gathering Storm is not one that limits itself to a singular supernatural concept.&nbsp; It's an epic story that encompasses the idea of faerie courts, vampires, werewolves, necromancers, and other types of magic that seem to exist in the background that highlights the overall narrative.&nbsp; A book like this is not meant to be contained in a singular volume, but it was a delightful read on its own despite the knowledge that it is intended to be a larger series.&nbsp; What I found most interesting about this book is that its flaws are also a part of its strengths as a work, thereby making it able to be enjoyed despite some of the issues presented within the writing.<br /> <br /> Readers will more than like Katiya.&nbsp; If you have a predisposed like of heroines that enjoy science or math, you'll find her engaging and fun.&nbsp; Her love of medical science peppers the text with consistent points of knowledge, a medical fact or a scene where she butts in and expresses her dislike of the "old" superstitious medical practices in place of the more modern ones being developed by revolutionary researchers and scientists.&nbsp; This conflict occurs a lot, and while it isn't the only present conflict in her character, it's one that Bridges incorporates into the book enough that it becomes more than a background character trait.&nbsp; Katiya's love of medical science is an integral part of her characterization that allows her to become something more than a girl with something special about her.&nbsp; I think readers will also enjoy seeing her growth as a character with powers that hold great responsibility; she doesn't want to be great because of magic, but because of her mind, and that struggle is one that Katiya grapples with even after the last page is turned.&nbsp; She is constantly coming across issues with her magic that require her to learn more about it, yet she also hates being defined by those around her in regards to her powers.&nbsp; At times, it feels as though her desire to avoid all necromancy-related knowledge is more of an authorial device to incite more external conflict, but it usually seems to be an organic reaction from Katiya as a character.&nbsp; I think allowing Katiya to embrace herself as a magical being earlier in the narrative would have provided a cleaner and stronger character arc in this first installment; that's really the only place that I struggled with her.<br /> <br /> A huge bonus to all of this: the romance in this story is not the focal point.&nbsp; Katiya learns very early on that Prince Danillo is someone with the ability to manipulate her emotions.&nbsp; She doesn't like getting close to him.&nbsp; There are a few times she seems pushed into making a stupid decision that will cause her to have more conflict with him, but she's usually pretty aware that he's creepy as all get-out.&nbsp; I liked that he wasn't portrayed as particularly sexy even when Katiya wasn't interested in him.&nbsp; It felt more real, in that way, and it helped Katiya seem more level-headed.&nbsp; He's mostly evil, though.&nbsp; Danillo isn't a character that's super fleshed out.&nbsp; His family in general is very creepy, and I have to hand it to Bridges for creating a grouping of characters that squicked me out throughout the narrative without question.&nbsp; I'm usually not a fan of villains; I was more than a fan of these characters making things bad, as they were enjoyably devious.&nbsp; George and Katiya are more spatty than they are romantic.&nbsp; The characters really don't warm up to each other until later in the narrative, and there's a certain sense of rush to their affections for each other, but I liked that Katiya was confident in her place as his equal.&nbsp; It never felt like she was supposed to just be this ugly, gooey mess around George because he was brooding, kind of a douchebag, but smart and attractive.&nbsp;&nbsp; Bridges managed to make the romance palatable despite how it initially came off as being another rendition of a tired YA trope.&nbsp; I liked that, and I liked that the romance fit into the plot as a whole rather than transforming into the only plot the book was taking the time to exhibit.<br /> <br /> The world of Robin Bridges' Katarina series is one that I would love to visit and study, yet I dread being asked about the mechanics after reading the first book.&nbsp; It's a situation where the promise of the different aspects is great, but putting them together requires a bit more finesse than the author has at the time of writing.&nbsp; Readers are thrust into the world (which is a good thing in order to create a reading experience where it feels organic) but things are not given internal sense in regards to the narrative.&nbsp; The aspects of the faerie courts, the vampires, the magic all kind of get lost in the narrative as the story barrels forward.&nbsp; Transitions between chapters sometimes feel jarring as Bridges goes between one supernatural aspect and another; the world also doesn't feel as aware of the supernatural as Katiya does, yet she speaks as though several things are common knowledge.&nbsp; The world would have been developed better if these supernatural aspects had been more integrated in the world as a whole rather than specific sections of it.&nbsp; In that respect, the narration would have been able to move forward with a stronger sense of believability.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Bridges clearly has an excitement for what she writes; this allowed the book to be enjoyable despite the world building issues. Katiya's voice feels authentic as a teenaged narrator with its shift of topics and priorities.&nbsp; The headstrong, fearless, occasionally rash decision-making in particular is written with a sense of understanding in regards to teenagers.&nbsp; Katiya comes into her knowledge and knows that she can save everyone.&nbsp; Because of this, she tries to do it to assert her independence when she really wants to assert it by becoming a doctor and going against expectations from every end (the end of her mother, the end of society, and the end of those who know of her power).&nbsp; Bridges writes her emotional themes well and is great at integrated them throughout the entirety of the text.&nbsp; There's also a feeling of excitement in the action scenes, suspense in the scenes that require it - I may have been able to anticipate some twists and turns, but Bridges made all of them thrilling.&nbsp; The strength in the writing lies in that energy and humor in the world.&nbsp; It's always something fun to read even if it doesn't feel entirely explained or textually supported.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The overall impression that I got from The Gathering Storm was one of a book that fit me well.&nbsp; It's not as romantic as I usually go, but it still does the romantic arcs with some good flavor and has a world full of many things I enjoy reading about.&nbsp; Its main character is a hoot, her love interest is rude, the other one is evil (and damn good at it), and the world doesn't always make total sense.&nbsp; It's basically a situation where the whole is greater than the individual parts, and I'm fine with that.&nbsp; Katiya's story is one of a girl striving for independence when she's someone of intelligence and drive.&nbsp; I can always get behind that, and I will be behind that for the other two books in the trilogy.&nbsp; (And that means I'm going to read them soon.&nbsp; Which I never do anymore.)&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I love the ferocity of the cover model, the swirling snow, the font, and the way that she simply looks fierce.&nbsp; All of the Katarina covers have that in common - a fierce cover model - and I think it says a lot that Random House markets these books based on that.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!) </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-gathering-storm-by-robin-bridges.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7NrSSSoiyPUKRDul-hWJrTSAVH05A5h-9L5N1UpQ7QPyvNTg9rcS10uQYvpNfFFSNqXXsPxWBvuQK8wjToo0J06LXc-72-4VldVlBjylr0iKs70nP2oTx5Gr-zSs78OHlUY7PzSehC_K/s72-c/The+Gathering+Storm+by+Robin+Bridges.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-3262248352731647130</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-16T10:00:06.705-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">bad boys</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">contemporary</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">dual PoV</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Robin Constantine</category>
<title>Review: The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine </title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcsSrGNuMjGH-M8PEsEiS6_uW3ICQeIlR2DKh1oZQvoeHirrB_VRj9I2x9K6GJ9Mg66bII4KLXw0zuS8g8X3m3PWDT2IXpQG-pZ1v7jezQkTA66vARmat3eSBa3b3X8HHHNOFy0PQMdt/s1600/Constantine,+Robin+-+The+Promise+of+Amazing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcsSrGNuMjGH-M8PEsEiS6_uW3ICQeIlR2DKh1oZQvoeHirrB_VRj9I2x9K6GJ9Mg66bII4KLXw0zuS8g8X3m3PWDT2IXpQG-pZ1v7jezQkTA66vARmat3eSBa3b3X8HHHNOFy0PQMdt/s320/Constantine,+Robin+-+The+Promise+of+Amazing.jpg" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Promise of Amazing<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Robin Constantine<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Balzar &amp; Bray<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Balzar and Bray always puts out novels that have me curious.&nbsp; As a publishing imprint, I've come to associate it with high-quality stories that usually have something unique about them, whereas the other Harper Collins imprints for teens tend to vary because their visions are a little less emotional and a little more genre-based (Harper Teen is more commercial, Greenwillow is more fantasy-oriented, Harper has more crossover appeal).&nbsp; <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> piqued my interest because of the imprint quality and the cuteness of the cover.&nbsp; A contemporary romantic comedy is always up my alley, and I think the idea of one that promises a level of angsty conflict along with the cute romance was exactly what I needed when I read this book.&nbsp; It's a debut novel that has more to it than meets the eye, even if it's not as polished as one would hope it to be.<br /> <br /> The middle is a place that Wren knows well.&nbsp; For being at an all-girl's school with stellar academics, competition to spare, and students that aim for the top, she's squarely in the middle.&nbsp; She got rejected from the Honor society because she was smart but quiet.&nbsp; Too quiet.&nbsp; Wren has started to believe that she really is just average.&nbsp; It doesn't help that the world around her seems to fit in with this idea.&nbsp; Compared to her playful older brother and her successful older sister, she views herself as the child destined to end up running the family's Arthurian-themed catering company.&nbsp; What a life.<br /> <br /> Wren's work at the catering company leads her to working a wedding one fateful night when the sexy Grayson Barrett chokes on a mini-hotdog.&nbsp; She saves his life; they can't forget each other.&nbsp; Grayson is instantly intrigued by Wren, the girl that tries to fade into the background despite being adorable and different from everyone else around her.&nbsp; Grayson knows that he's the stereotypical bad boy; he goes to the local public school because he was kicked out of the all-boys private school for running a term paper operation.&nbsp; Add that to his family problems and Grayson is the brooding guy girls dream of.&nbsp; He knows that he could get anyone, so why does his mind go back to Wren?<br /> <br /> Grayson does what it takes to put himself in Wren's path.&nbsp; There's something intriguing about taking the plunge and getting involved with the guy that choked on a mini-hotdog, but it's not long before Grayson's blunt honesty about his past scares Wren away.&nbsp; Even then she can't stop thinking about him.&nbsp; The two teenagers begin to deal with problems of self, family, and friends as they get to know each other and look for the reason behind their intrigue and attraction.&nbsp; They know it's not just physical; the question is - what exactly is it, and will they be able to overcome their issues in order to make it work?<br /> <br /> The opening of <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> seems to provide exactly what the title hopes it to.&nbsp; Constantine's voice is brimming with possibility and poise as it opens a contemporary romance where the girl really does seem invisible and the boy really does seem bad.&nbsp; As the story moves on, the book seems to stumble and trip as it struggles to put all of Constantine's excellent ideas into action.&nbsp; A debut novel like this makes it very clear that a debut novelist's skills with narrative construction can really make or break the success of the book.&nbsp; I loved this book at it's best, yet its best wasn't enough to put it into the territory of "It's amazing, go purchase it right now."&nbsp; Forgive me for the play on words, but while <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> certainly promised a lot, what it delivered wasn't quite as amazing as one would hope.<br /> <br /> Readers will identify with Wren if they've ever felt invisible; she plays that card well, folks, and when she narrates the story you really feel like she lives up to the label.&nbsp; Wren doesn't know what her passions are or what she wants to do.&nbsp; She looks to her friends that are super passionate for excitement, or constantly working for her family business if she has to.&nbsp; Wren's inability to step out of her comfort zone becomes a huge issues for her character early on.&nbsp; Grayson provides an easy way for Wren to do it, and that becomes the primary reason that Wren is fascinated with him beyond his hot body.&nbsp; Sure, there's the fact that he reads philosophy and drinks black coffee, but the bad boy personae is the perfect escape for Wren as a character.&nbsp; She has a spunk and snark to her narration that makes her feel like a unique character despite this issue she faces - that helps tremendously in feeling empathy for her despite her being "boring".&nbsp; She does grow into a character that becomes more aware of her agency in the world, yet there's always a sense of it never being quite enough to make her into a character that feels independent.&nbsp; So much of Wren's story is tied to her romance with Grayson that it feels as though her primary "uniqueness" is falling in love with him.&nbsp; This argument can be made in a lot of YA stories, but I find that usually the heroine undersells herself when she is clearly something more early on in the story.&nbsp; In this case, while I think Wren is indeed "something more" than a middle-of-the-road Boring Bettie, I don't think that's shown beyond her witty remarks and her romance with Grayson.&nbsp; That became a niggle throughout the story that never quite went away.<br /> <br /> Then we have Grayson.&nbsp; Grayson is surprisingly a well-done bad boy.&nbsp; Adding in his narration to the story gives it a cool twist, and it's odd in that Grayson is the one that falls for Wren more readily than she falls for him.&nbsp; Both characters fall fast, but it's more about them exploring each other and seeing if the falling is real or not.&nbsp; Grayson's story makes him seem troubled; not evil, but troubled.&nbsp; Adding in his narration gave the reader the ability to empathize with his hardships in a way that Wren couldn't directly.&nbsp; I think it was an overall smart decision to make.&nbsp; As the story progresses, though, the reader finds out that Grayson is involved in some less-than-cool activities that directly disengage the trust he builds up with Wren.&nbsp; There was at least one instance where I think the only thing he could have done was tell Wren about it and avoid getting caught up in the mess, even if it meant a hard situation for him.&nbsp; By the end of the book you still like Grayson, but I never quite felt like he made up for the trust that he broke in Wren.&nbsp; Seeing it from his end felt like a way of manipulating the reader into empathizing with it, but it didn't help me.&nbsp; It almost made me angry because I felt like it was trying to get me to see the situation in a biased light.&nbsp; Grayson is a bad boy and he feels damaged.&nbsp; I can get behind that.&nbsp; But that doesn't mean that I want him to screw up his relationship when he knows about it and then try to get away with it because of his past history.&nbsp; There's a fine line with bad boys - they can do morally questionable things so long as they do not hurt their love interest in a way that they can predict or understand.&nbsp; The issue with Grayson is that he is highly aware of how he will hurt Wren and the consequences for going against expectations to keep her safe are never great enough to make his choice to hurt her instead acceptable.&nbsp; That's just me, though, and I could see many readers being Team Grayson until kingdom come.&nbsp; He is super attractive.<br /> <br /> Constantine constructs a world where the romance makes a lot of sense.&nbsp; These two come together in unconventional ways because they are interested in each other; it's not quite insta-love, but it's insta-interest.&nbsp; I think Constantine expressed how people get stuck in your head and don't let go; how it's easy to fixate on someone because they connect with you in a way that you haven't quite experienced or understood before.&nbsp; This love story is one about people who are very different - truly different - discovering their ability to connect as human beings with shared tragedies and shitty pasts.&nbsp; The other characters in the story provide good drama and the occasional comedic situation to balance the sheer amount of snarky angst that the two protagonists bring to the table.&nbsp; As for plot construction, the story tends to feel longer than it should.&nbsp; It could be the dual narration or just the amount of issues Constantine tries to cover, but the story feels like it could have been fifty pages shorter and been the perfect length.&nbsp; I think a lot of it just derives from the character back-and-forth and the occasional lull in conflict between them.&nbsp; Wren and Grayson have conflict, but not all the time, and there is outer conflict that comes and goes.&nbsp; It would have helped for the conflict to have been sensible and continuous so as to feel organic, but that doesn't quite work out, and sometimes different issues fade out for a while in order to make room for others.&nbsp; Overall, there was just a lot to fit into a story of this type, and the sheer amount of dialogue overrides the internal characterization to the point where some of the conflict takes longer than necessary to understand and dissect.&nbsp; I'm all for showing instead of telling, but with two characters with a shit ton of stuff going on, internal dialogue can really help clarify a character's thought process and add a sense of importance to the issues being explored.&nbsp; That would be the biggest flaw in the debut novel from a stylistic standpoint, because the character voices were so on-point for teenagers going through these experiences.<br /> <br /> I'm not quite sure how to put my feelings for this book into a grade.&nbsp; On one hand, <i>The Promise of Amazing</i> never feels like it hits the balance it needs to be a stellar book.&nbsp; Trust me, it has that potential.&nbsp; On the other hand, there is a strong sense of character voice that can't be ignored and an understanding of what it means to be interested in someone, leading to falling in love.&nbsp; I still can't quite figure it out.&nbsp; Constantine may have tried a bit too much in this novel - yet when it got it right, it got it really right, and it did it in a way that was subtle and surprising.&nbsp; I have to give this book props overall.&nbsp; I may not have gotten a totally polished experience, but Robin Constantine taps into things that ring as true as can be.&nbsp; That's something worth lauding in a debut novel that manages to be both serious and funny but always romantic.<br /> <br /> Cover: This cover is adorable.&nbsp; Perhaps not the most original cover (it reminds me of several contemporary YA romance covers from last year), but it gives a good idea of what the story covers.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 3.5 Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!)&nbsp; </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-promise-of-amazing-by-robin.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hcsSrGNuMjGH-M8PEsEiS6_uW3ICQeIlR2DKh1oZQvoeHirrB_VRj9I2x9K6GJ9Mg66bII4KLXw0zuS8g8X3m3PWDT2IXpQG-pZ1v7jezQkTA66vARmat3eSBa3b3X8HHHNOFy0PQMdt/s72-c/Constantine,+Robin+-+The+Promise+of+Amazing.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6538511944083587370</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jan 2014 05:48:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-15T00:48:49.639-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">alternate history</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">paranormal romance</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Victoria Lamb</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">witch</category>
<title>Review: Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb</title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLc9pMms3V7LbOScH5rRrFdI9tbtDoSQvvVUgq2l3YLXs0E1S-2QlwiyRRPGyqW9WhufnRS5cHNqbxyLm0lkhIxUJHmZRfqLqryPiYFEWGLTz2u_zJ-1FCaO3C9nNilC08K9B0xDC_noL/s1600/Witchstruck+by+Victoria+Lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLc9pMms3V7LbOScH5rRrFdI9tbtDoSQvvVUgq2l3YLXs0E1S-2QlwiyRRPGyqW9WhufnRS5cHNqbxyLm0lkhIxUJHmZRfqLqryPiYFEWGLTz2u_zJ-1FCaO3C9nNilC08K9B0xDC_noL/s320/Witchstruck+by+Victoria+Lamb.jpg" width="208" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; Witchstruck<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Victoria Lamb<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Tudor Witch Trilogy #1<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Things I Love:&nbsp; witches, Tudor England, romance, religious conflict, and Harlequin Teen.&nbsp; What better than a novel that combines all of those aspects?&nbsp; Victoria Lam also has the added bonus of being the daughter of Charlotte Lamb, a category romance novelist whose Harlequin Presents novels are famous (and sometimes infamous) for the quality of their writing and genre-bending relationships.&nbsp; (I read one about step-siblings falling in love, y'all - you cannot do that without talent, even if it still comes out weird.)&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> was a trilogy-opener that managed to convey exactly what it wanted to; the drama, the romance, and the peril of a time when witches were hunted.&nbsp; Only this time, they're real.<br /> <br /> 1554, England.&nbsp; Queen Mary is on the throne and is readying to marry the prince of Spain.&nbsp; Protestantism is vilified to the point of people being imprisoned, even murdered, because of her staunch Catholicism and the religious genocide going on in Spain.&nbsp; Mary's sister Elizabeth is currently waiting out her sister's angry reign in the Woodstock Palace.&nbsp; The country knows that Elizabeth is next in line if Mary cannot provide an heir to the throne and perishes, so she's kept at a safe distance in the hopes that Mary will be able to secure her place in the English monarchy.<br /> <br /> Meg Lytton serves princess Elizabeth at Woodstock.&nbsp; A girl from a family with a different kind of power, Meg has inherited the ability to perform witchcraft - just as her Aunt Jane and her late mother both inherited from their lineage, and so on.&nbsp; Princess Elizabeth is aware that Meg and Aunt Jane have these abilities and hopes to use them to see into the future.&nbsp; At a time so pivotal in England's life, Elizabeth has no other way of knowing if she'll inherit the throne before the Protestants are slaughtered...or if Mary will have her killed for treason.&nbsp; Danger is just as present for Meg and Aunt Jane, though in their case it is because of their gifts.<br /> <br /> The local witch hunter has become attracted to Meg and hopes to eventually ask for her hand in marriage.&nbsp; It's Meg's luck that she was swept into the service of the princess before the horrid Marcus Dent could force her into a marriage of submission and secrets.&nbsp; There is also the question of a young Spanish priest in training, Alejandro de Castillo, and his superior.&nbsp; They are initially sent to watch over princess Elizabeth and her devotion to Catholicism, but Alejandro takes a special interest in Meg.&nbsp; Rebellion from the Protestants looms in the clinking of glasses at nearby taverns with Meg's brother at the heart.&nbsp; There are too many ways in which Meg and her family can be found out and destroyed.&nbsp; Adding in Meg's growing attraction to a man she can never love only makes things worse.&nbsp; The country is ready to explode as Meg learns the depth of her craft and how she can use it to protect the princess in the hopes of the crown changing hands.&nbsp; Meg may find great reward in her position, if she can survive.<br /> <br /> Stories like this are like velvet cake.&nbsp; They aren't really that much different from chocolate cake, yet something about their makeup is inexplicably luxurious.&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> is a trilogy opener that is the velvet cake of YA historical novels and YA paranormal novels.&nbsp; While it may not be as complex and constructionally awe-inspiring as some other works (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy kind of wins that round, always, but it's not this book's fault), it has a sense of drama that works well with the paranormal aspects it presents within the story.&nbsp; It also uses tropes that some readers may get tired of.&nbsp; Let's face it: if a trope is done well in YA and it's one that doesn't involve a male protagonist, I'll probably be on board with it immediately.&nbsp; I think Victoria Lamb created a book that is exactly what I needed with the drama, the tropes, and the writing.&nbsp; She crafted a damn good story out of parts that I've seen used before, and I have to admire that.<br /> <br /> The narration style Lamb uses is perceptive and descriptive in a way that straddles evocative and overly expository.&nbsp; Meg's voice is one that is enmeshed in the world around her; it can't help but describe the politics, the magic, the way things feel.&nbsp; I think Lamb understands the need to create the world without getting too lost in the history.&nbsp; I felt like Lamb's attention to the political situation paralleling the witch hunt was a particular highlight of Meg's voice.&nbsp; I felt like Meg truly understood that the world around her was doing that.&nbsp; As for Meg as a person - she is emotive but reserved; a character that goes through the predictable cycles of love, lust, denial, and self-blame for various events (and a stupid decision or two), but feels legitimately angry at herself for what she's done.&nbsp; It doesn't feel like Meg wallows in herself as a person throughout the story, which is the tendency for characters going through problems such as this.&nbsp; She's pretty quick to find solutions and make amends for her mistakes.&nbsp; I also think that her intelligence shows through even when she does something that isn't super logical.&nbsp; I never felt like Meg was heralded as a superior protagonist that then went against what was being told to the reader.&nbsp; Meg's actions line up with her idea of herself, and it helps that Meg doesn't focus on herself as much as the usual first-person protagonist.&nbsp; I think it could have the negative of making readers less immediately empathetic with Meg, but it allows the story to feel larger while still getting to know her as a character.<br /> <br /> As one would imagine, the other character to steal the attention is Alejandro.&nbsp; There's something so sexy about a man that goes against his religion to be attracted to someone.&nbsp; (I'm weird - don't ask me why this is sexy.&nbsp; It just is.)&nbsp; Granted, we as readers know pretty early on that it's not impossible for him to be with Meg according to the laws of his priesthood, but dammit if it isn't still dramatic because of Meg's witchcraft.&nbsp; What I love is that he gets into discussions with her about religion and witchcraft.&nbsp; Alejandro doesn't get as much page time as I would like for a love interest, as a lot of the story involves Meg going between him, Elizabeth, and the rebels to continue the plot's steady pacing, but but when he's around...things get hot.&nbsp; Smoking hot.&nbsp; Sometimes I just need to be into a romance for the sake of enjoying the idea of the love interest at their most basic level, and I think Alejandro hits that mark for me.&nbsp; His declarations of eventual love are expected and not as fully-formed as one would like them to be, but it's far from an insta-love scenario.&nbsp; Lamb has the potential to really strengthen his relationship with Meg throughout the series.&nbsp; I would love to see them getting into more debates about religion, witchcraft, and what it means to fall in love with someone with such different beliefs (both of which have direct magical manifestations in this alternative universe).&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Let's just get this elephant in the room out of the way while we're at it: the history in this book is subjectively good.&nbsp; What do I mean by that?&nbsp; Well, it's fairly easy to imagine the surroundings and the events going on that don't relate to the witchcraft are very much based on reality.&nbsp; If there are authorial tweaks, they're done with the intent of making the story work and don't feel totally invasive to someone with (very casual) knowledge of the time period.&nbsp; The Protestant vs. Catholic thing has always intrigued me, and it's nice to see how it was something that actually destroyed lives because of the bigotry.&nbsp; I won't get into Christian bigotry in here, but it's something worth commending as a historical aspect.&nbsp; That being said - actual witchcraft obviously wasn't a part of these historical events, so a lot of the story does focus on that and a witch hunter that aren't directly involved in every historical event at this time.&nbsp; I think readers that enjoy paranormal that takes a lot of historical elements will like it, but readers that are history buffs may want something a little more detailed and period-enriched.&nbsp; The book feels true to the time in the narrative tone in a way that many other modern paranormal historical novels don't, but I can't speak for major history buffs.<br /> <br /> Victoria Lamb proves that her writing style creates a story that works, not just in the blend of history and paranormal witchcraft.&nbsp; There really isn't a "love triangle", although the witch hunter expresses interest in Meg, because the witch hunter is repulsive as hell and clearly is not someone Meg wants in her life.&nbsp; Plus, it's his job to kill her and he likes it.&nbsp; So Lamb takes the idea of the triangle and makes it something that threatens Meg's life and, because of the sexism of the time, something she can't escape from so easily.&nbsp; The whole rebellion thing also worked well in this context.&nbsp; It was nice to read about a rebellion and action in historical context rather than in another dystopian/post-apocalyptic context.&nbsp; Seriously readers, you have no idea how nice it is to picture the rebels in period clothing.&nbsp; The magic, the romance with the dramatic conflict that keeps the love interests from being together for good in book one...it all falls under traditional YA ideas, yet Lamb's version just uses them all well.&nbsp; There's a sense of excitement, adventure, and mystery as the magical aspects of the novel get explored more.&nbsp; Meg's growing relationship with princess Elizabeth also helps things.&nbsp; I think Lamb makes Elizabeth a side character that's interesting, useful in being a historical cookie to the story, but Elizabeth doesn't feel as though she overtakes anything despite being a well-known figure that is awesome.&nbsp; I do wish to see more of her, but Lamb doesn't make her too close to Meg for some obvious reasons - both in terms of Elizabeth's need to keep herself from getting charged for treason/withcraft/etc. and in terms of the relationship between a royal and her lady's maid.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Does this story have appeal to every YA reader?&nbsp; Probably not.&nbsp; There are some tropes that we've read in YA many times and a romance that gets equal to slightly-greater footing compared to the plot.&nbsp; That alone will deter readers who want something more non-traditional for YA.&nbsp; However, if readers are looking for something that is fun and uses the tropes in a way that can be respected (even if it's not subversive), they'll adore this book.&nbsp; I loved everything about the history, the magic, the romance, and the action.&nbsp; It's exactly what I expected it to be and delivered on every front.&nbsp; Not to mention the writing is good; it's better than a lot of its competition, actually, and I can't wait to see what Lamb does in the next two books in this trilogy.&nbsp; <i>Witchstruck</i> is a gem, the kind that would look perfect on the neck of Elizabeth I herself.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I know this cover has the girl's face and the castle and what-not...but I love the coloring and the font.&nbsp; It suggests all of the plot elements well and is gorgeous to look at in paperback.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.5&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin Teen!!) </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-witchstruck-by-victoria-lamb.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLc9pMms3V7LbOScH5rRrFdI9tbtDoSQvvVUgq2l3YLXs0E1S-2QlwiyRRPGyqW9WhufnRS5cHNqbxyLm0lkhIxUJHmZRfqLqryPiYFEWGLTz2u_zJ-1FCaO3C9nNilC08K9B0xDC_noL/s72-c/Witchstruck+by+Victoria+Lamb.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-6807001760144402594</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-14T10:00:04.621-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3.5 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Aimee Carter</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Greek mythology</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Harlequin Teen</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<title>Review: The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter</title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazRbCppIGgDuZK1M6s69vs5xg3vcUUNmBWrSWyPp7a8uQrTO4UDqK0gNUrBthWDCxTuL8Tur2QSeAweLQJz_I0H1iNoYDm35jym4h4ylxwWyE3dFctrogBY1WTE0YF1kSgua4tVQWvG8I/s1600/The+Goddess+Inheritance+by+Aimee+Carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazRbCppIGgDuZK1M6s69vs5xg3vcUUNmBWrSWyPp7a8uQrTO4UDqK0gNUrBthWDCxTuL8Tur2QSeAweLQJz_I0H1iNoYDm35jym4h4ylxwWyE3dFctrogBY1WTE0YF1kSgua4tVQWvG8I/s1600/The+Goddess+Inheritance+by+Aimee+Carter.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Goddess Inheritance<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Aimee Carter<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harlequin Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Goddess Test #3<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; The Goddess Test;&nbsp; Goddess Interrupted<br /> <br /> <br /> The Goddess Test series is one that I've come to really enjoy upon my reading.&nbsp; Despite the fact that some of its themes are less-than-perfect, I really love Aimee Carter's authorial voice and have found her ability to create complex romantic relationships one to be appreciated.&nbsp; This led to me waiting a good while to finally read the concluding volume of the trilogy, <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i>.&nbsp; <i>Goddess Interrupted</i> ended on a major cliffhanger that had me excited and wary of the direction of the final storyline.&nbsp; It provided a major source of conflict, but it was also something that made me think...huh...this may not be going where I hoped it would.&nbsp; Having finished the series, I can safely say that I still really enjoy Aimee Carter's writing, but I think the direction of the narrative veered to a place that made me uncomfortable in some spots as a reader.<br /> <br /> <b>*Note:&nbsp; Spoilers for the first two books will be very present from here on out.&nbsp; Enter at your own risk.&nbsp; Keep all people with weak constitutions away from the spoilers.*&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> There's something about Kate Winters...and it's not just her position as a goddess, or as the wife of Hades.&nbsp; It's the pregnancy; it's her closest friend among the gods that has since become a traitor; it's the separation from Hades as Cronus holds her captive under threat of harming the people that she loves. Kate's life is far from charmed when she factors in all of the heartache and, frankly, the utter shit that she has to go through.&nbsp; The life of humanity as a whole has become endangered because of this tiff between the gods an the king of the Titans himself.&nbsp; In some ways, Kate has to accept that her place within the realm of the gods helped the danger along.<br /> <br /> Yet Kate is also the only one with a chance at saving humanity.&nbsp; She was the only one that showed Cronus an ounce of kindness, back when she explored the Underworld and first learned of his imprisonment.&nbsp; She treated Cronus like someone with emotions.&nbsp; Screwed up emotions that involved damaging parenting and dictatorship, maybe, but emotions none the less.&nbsp; It left an impression that made her the only thing he cared about taking for himself that wasn't entirely about revenge.&nbsp; Sure, Cronus wants Kate at his side because it would be a betrayal to all of the gods aligned with Zeus - but it's also because some part of him just wants <i>her</i>.<br /> <br /> This sparks Kate into action.&nbsp; She has no love for Cronus, but she is aware that he holds the life of her child in the balance.&nbsp; He holds the lives of the world in balance.&nbsp; Even if she escapes from his clutches, she still needs to use her slight influence on him to find out necessary information.&nbsp; The final battle between the gods and the recovering Titan is destined to end in loss and destruction.&nbsp; Kate knows it's dangerous, but the true consequences of saving the world could mean the loss of everything she hopes to live for.&nbsp; The love of her husband, her child, and her family.<br /> <br /> I think that my love of this series and the way that the second book grappled with complicated relationships had me hoping that this installment would tie it all together with an epic struggle that really spoke to what the themes were in the series.&nbsp; Aimee Carter was never perfect with each book, yet I enjoyed the hell out of them and found them to be really special in their presentation of a myth that YA has been retelling a lot over the past three or four years.&nbsp; The Goddess Inheritance was a satisfactory way to end Kate's story and romance, but I think that Carter suffered from some issues in her usage of conflict and character throughout the story.<br /> <br /> What I've always loved about Kate as a character is her ability to survive and pull through things.&nbsp; Occasionally she feels a little too introspective in her character voice and makes you remember every complicated and sad emotion involved with a situation, but she comes across as a character that feels real and very much what she is: a teenage girl who is thrust into a world of power that she is only beginning to understand as everyone else around her plays a game that's centuries old.&nbsp; Seriously, Kate has a lot of strength within her despite falling into many traditional guidelines of YA romance.&nbsp; I found the second book to really showcase how Kate was able to explore her power as a character after being regulated to a role in the world that was important but effectively powerless compared to her totally immortal peers.&nbsp; Her voice grew and she learned to stand up for herself in her relationship, as well as explored the world around her while it rumbled of scary events to come.&nbsp; I think The Goddess Inheritance loses some of the character momentum as Kate reverts back to some older thought cycles.&nbsp; She constantly questions herself and her placement in the world - understandable, but hard to handle when people are dying all over the world at the hands of a Titan.&nbsp; She also takes to calling Calliope a bitch - a lot - because of Calliope's betrayal.&nbsp; Calliope's need to become a surrogate mother to Kate's child is mainly behind Kate's rage.<br /> <br /> I think this is where I really lost Kate.&nbsp; While I don't find Carter's series to be the most feminist one in YA, there's certainly an argument to be had for putting a female character in an expected power and seeing how she handles that as she enters a world that is ancient and patriarchal by nature.&nbsp; It's not intended to be feminist, nor would I say it fits the criteria enough for me to argue for it, but I could see how a reader could find it empowering in that respect if they identify with Kate's particular situation.&nbsp; The "bitch" thing bugged me for two reasons.&nbsp; 1.)&nbsp; It's frequency in the text was much higher than I anticipated, and the word in general is extremely negative because of its connotations towards females in general.&nbsp; When a female calls another female a bitch, it feels as though she feeds into the idea that women of power and control are by nature "bitchy".&nbsp; 2.)&nbsp; The context of the name-calling made sense, but it didn't feel like it justified the frequency.&nbsp; I could understand how any character, male or female, that tried to take Kate's child away would be met with hatred and anger.&nbsp; The issue was that Cronus was portrayed as evil but in an accepted context; even though he is just as much of a threat to Kate's life and family and personhood, Calliope's threat is the one that incites name-calling throughout the text.&nbsp; I think it also turned me off because I felt like introducing motherhood to Kate as a character felt a little bit too Old Skool romance novel - like how the ending/epilogues would usually contain babies or pregnancy.&nbsp; Not that this is the epilogue of the story, but in the sense that Kate as a character wasn't free to be able to enjoy her romance without the pressure of traditional womanhood, even if there wasn't a direct narrative push for her to go that route.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> It's important to note that this all made sense for Kate's character at the time - I just think that the direction Kate took as a character on the whole bugged me because it felt like she gave up her feelings of empowerment more than I thought she would.&nbsp; Seeing that in her insecurities and her fears towards Calliope just didn't help my comfort level with her character.&nbsp; That being said, I felt like she got better at the end of the story when she started to realize that she did have power despite not being as measurably strong as the other gods.&nbsp; The end of the story also feels like an attempt at compensating for previous issues by making Kate align herself with several female characters in a way that seemed very positive.&nbsp; I don't think it quite worked out in the end, but it helped me to feel better about Kate as a character, to the point where I still had a positive opinion of her throughout the series.<br /> <br /> Plot-wise, the story felt like it had a lot of interesting things going on.&nbsp; The first half was confusing because of the emotional focus, yet it tied together towards the end as Carter began building up to the climax of the story.&nbsp; A lot of the leading events to said climax had a tendency of repetition because of the nature of the infiltration and Kate's internal struggles, so it was nice to see that Carter still knew how to end the story with a bang.&nbsp; <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i> ends on an emotional high that is hard to match.&nbsp; Carter knows how to make you feel everything when she wants you to.&nbsp; You know something tragic will happen.&nbsp; Carter just rolls in and proves that it can still be surprising, sad, and traumatic.&nbsp; I think the series really plays well on the drama of the large situations.&nbsp; In some ways, it's a lot like Josephine Angelini's Greek myth series Starcrossed because of the dramatic high notes, though it's much more internal and focused on the dynamics of the protagonist's self-perception.&nbsp; I think Carter ultimately does a stellar job with the plot as things finish up, but the beginning stutters in a way that will have some readers wondering if the series should have gone the direction that it did.&nbsp; It's not until the end that the reader realizes that Carter is aware of the consequences of this kind of world-ending conflict, and that realization really shifts how one reads this book and the series as a whole.<br /> <br /> <i>The Goddess Inheritance</i> is a solid series finale that summarizes the emotional impact of Aimee Carter's writing.&nbsp; The Goddess Test series is one that I'll keep on my shelf and probably return to in a few years when I want something that is readable, emotional, and romantic, but it doesn't quite live up to the skill in plot and characterization that the first two books of the series put out there.&nbsp; Some of the less-polished parts of the narrative came out as the author began to prepare to wrap up the plot; it showed a little too much before Carter regained footing in the narrative.&nbsp; That being said, readers of the series will be satisfied by the book's romance and the overall conclusion of the storyline as things are completed.&nbsp; Love and loss come together and make it all work, even if some of the story's parts feel like they strayed from the intended path. <br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; I love the covers of this series.&nbsp; This one isn't quite as good for me as the second, but I love the closeup of the girl, her bright pigmentation, and the title font.&nbsp; ALWAYS the font.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 3.5&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Natashya and Harlequin!!)</description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-goddess-inheritance-by-aimee.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-3233306657817411457</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-13T12:00:00.938-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Monica's Moment</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">personal crap</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">random thoughts</category>
<title>A Quick Plug</title>
<description>Attention blog readers!&nbsp; <br /> <br /> You may recall that, on occasion, a good friend of mine by the name of Monica does reviews here under the blog post titles "Monica's Moment".&nbsp; Well, she's always wanted to start a blog of her own and get into it from an independent standpoint, and she's recently debut her blog <a href="http://monicathenovelista.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>The Novelista</b></a> where she'll be posting reviews of books, movies, and other pop culture happenings.&nbsp; If you want a fashionable college student's opinions on YA novels, movies, or television shows, she is the person to go to.&nbsp; She'll still have reviews up here, but she'll also be doing ones on her own blog.&nbsp; Stop on by if you have the time and maybe give her a follow or two.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;I'll be working hard to get content up more consistently as well; winter break may be coming to a close, but this blog is going to be given new life.&nbsp; (Mostly because I don't have two English-heavy courses this semester.&nbsp; Not the best idea if you want to read for fun, folks.)&nbsp; <br /> <br /> *scurries back into my internet hole with a book and tons of coffee*&nbsp; <br /> <br /></description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-quick-plug.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-9023980171155311042</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-13T10:00:06.300-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">4.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">debut novel</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Kathleen Hale</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">mystery</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">small town</category>
<title>Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale</title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nfJWOapXNC-bQkzBjvj5b3W3sMI3Bt0vRZJyqqU-CcTOFLR7nJMPeMWdNj9-K0wxZZVJ8iHVPZPVkkMmbb-ohugf4tU-l5rfBN9pqSg9IkNtDHlG6WoD-_kkSZPiIzdeY7gahMPydDg-/s1600/No+One+Else+Can+Have+You+by+Kathleen+Hale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nfJWOapXNC-bQkzBjvj5b3W3sMI3Bt0vRZJyqqU-CcTOFLR7nJMPeMWdNj9-K0wxZZVJ8iHVPZPVkkMmbb-ohugf4tU-l5rfBN9pqSg9IkNtDHlG6WoD-_kkSZPiIzdeY7gahMPydDg-/s1600/No+One+Else+Can+Have+You+by+Kathleen+Hale.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; No One Else Can Have You<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Kathleen Hale<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Harper Teen<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Books like this are off-the-wall.&nbsp; They are not for the reader that takes things literally.&nbsp; They are not for the reader who wants a mystery story that's seriously about the mystery.&nbsp;<i> No One Else Can Have You</i> has gotten polarized critical reception for a reason - readers either like it or they don't.&nbsp; They either love the satire or get too frustrated with the presentation of the satire.&nbsp; There's no middle ground here.&nbsp; Because some of my reading this year has been varied in quality, I was worried I would be one of those readers that just hated this book and wanted it to stop.&nbsp; I tried it anyway because people said it was jacked up.<br /> <br /> <i>No One Else Can Have You</i> is the strangest concoction of satire, mystery, and a quirky narrator, and I loved it.&nbsp; I.&nbsp; Loved.&nbsp; It.&nbsp; Maybe I'll be the only reader to love it, but I will damn well own my enjoyment of this book, because No One Else Can Have You is the most brilliant kind of messed up.<br /> <br /> A small town like Friendship, Wisconsin is not ready for another traumatic death.&nbsp; Its 689 residents are perfectly content to go about their small lives with their heavy accents, their love of hunting deer, and their constant use of phrases like "don'tcha know".&nbsp; Kippy Bushman is a sixteen year-old girl who has dealt with loss herself - the loss of her mother and seeing her second-best friend, Ralph, go through the death of his own parents.&nbsp; A town like Friendship is too small to understand what it takes to work through that kind of loss.&nbsp; Kippy can attest to it.<br /> <br /> Nothing can prepare Kippy, or Friendship, for what happens when Kippy's best friend Ruth Fried is found hanging from a tree in the cornfield near Kippy's house.&nbsp; Ruth didn't hang herself; she was stuffed with straw, sexually handled against her will with her mouth sewn shut with bright red thread.&nbsp; It's not much of a surprise when Ruth's boyfriend, a boy well-known for being a vaguely psychotic asshole, is arrested and the case is dismissed.&nbsp; Kippy is happy to believe it; it fits with what she observed throughout her friendship with Ruth.&nbsp; When Ruth's mother gives Kippy Ruth's diary in order to read it and censor out the "sexy parts", Kippy begins to truly understand Ruth's life.<br /> <br /> Friendship was not what Kippy thought it to be.&nbsp; Ruth's voice is not always nice.&nbsp; As Kippy begins to ruminate on her friendship, Ruth's older brother Davey convinces Kippy that something is up.&nbsp; Colt, Ruth's boyfriend, may have been an asshole throughout his life, but he was missing what it took to be a killer.&nbsp; Kippy secretly believes that Davey's PTSD is the cause of his misgivings, but a few basic questions to the right people quickly leads her to the conclusion that Davey is right.&nbsp; Colt has an alibi for the exact time Ruth was murdered.&nbsp; The town's chief of police seems hell-bent on ignoring that fact in order to keep things calm in Friendship.&nbsp; As Kippy takes on the role of amateur sleuth, she realizes just how dangerous the ignorance of Friendship, WI is.<br /> <br /> This book sounds dark and serious, but the reality is that Kathleen Hale's debut novel is very aware of what it is trying to do as a narrative.&nbsp; The satirical nature of the work is rooted in the misgivings of small towns.&nbsp; Friendship, WI is a place where people hang bloodied deer from their basketball hoops during hunting season and everyone has a pro-hunting bumper sticker.&nbsp; Everyone speaks with an accent.&nbsp; Things are swallowed up by the few authority figures in town because it makes things easier.&nbsp; No one questions it because they believe it is simply how the ecosystem functions.&nbsp; Hale, in creating this town and putting a narrator like Kippy Bushman in charge of describing it, creates a situation where the reader realizes just how strange everything is.<br /> <br /> I have never read a voice quite like Kippy Bushman.&nbsp; She uses very cutesy words in some instances - not because she wants to, but because her environment literally teaches her to use slang words from the 1950's.&nbsp; She's naive and all over the place in her thought process, yet she's observant, intelligent, and a thinker that is in many ways beyond the town that she lives in.&nbsp; Kippy also has a history of trauma that has caused her to adopt strange social behaviors, go to therapy for said behaviors, and then shift them to less-destructive activities.&nbsp; Kippy is far from together, yet it ostracizes her socially in a way that allows her to be objective about the world that she lives in.&nbsp; Because of this, Kippy has the ability to deny the more complicated aspects of her life because she's so aware of things that everyone else is ignorant about.&nbsp; Her father Dom, a middle school counselor that uses his knowledge of psychology for harmless and cutesy purposes, manages to fall into the trap of Friendship-ignorance, so Kippy's used to being the only one that knows what's going on.&nbsp; Her narration is interesting because it's never entirely clear how accurate it is.&nbsp; Kippy has her own biases from her past that come into her narration, yet her voice is the too-much-information kind of honest that immediately causes you as the reader to trust her.&nbsp; Or at the very least, you trust her more than you trust all of the other characters that are blatantly ignoring the obvious.<br /> <br /> At large, the plot is a giant attempt at showing just how deeply the issues of small town mentality go, at least in regards to the general awareness of people's well-being.&nbsp; The mystery is not too difficult to figure out, or at least guess intelligently on, which felt very purposeful in terms of its place in the narrative.&nbsp; Kippy is not expected to be the best sleuth on the planet.&nbsp; Her actions being amateurish at best are best compared with the turning-of-cheeks that the authority and legal figures in her life do when confronted with contrary evidence and issues.&nbsp; I loved how the mystery was enjoyable because of how it pointed out the various issues with how this kind of thing becomes easily corrupted and biased within a small town setting.&nbsp; The plot is inherently zany, and there are a few sporadic diary entries from Ruth that are entertaining in just how awful they are.&nbsp; Friendship, WI is full of a lot of people that really aren't nice at all; removing that facade of pleasantry and happiness becomes humorous as the story goes on, even though it provides a pretty solid level of social commentary on that idealistic view of small towns.<br /> <br /> Some of the plot aspects weren't well-done.&nbsp; I didn't notice them as much in my own reading, but this <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/703727760" target="_blank">1 star review</a> explains them in much better detail.&nbsp; A good portion of the second half of the book involves a mental hospital and a support group for individuals with violent tendencies.&nbsp; In both cases, I perceived the author to be attempting a satirical look at how people react to those that are violent and those that are treated in mental hospitals, but those parts of the novel aren't crafted as well in a satirical way.&nbsp; Basically, the portrayals can very well be viewed as ableist and offensive because of the usage of both as a source of humor throughout the novel.&nbsp; While the novel is humorous throughout, the humor found in those sections is much more event and secondary-character based, deriving often from the issues the characters have.&nbsp; In that respect, the book fails and inherently shows a level of prejudice in regards to differently-abled individuals.&nbsp; I can't say that I picked up on that issue while I was reading the book, but it's one that none the less needs to be addressed before telling anyone to read it.<br /> <br /> I think that <i>No One Else Can Have You</i> is the kind of read that's very much based on how into the experience you get early on.&nbsp; It's not a story that's for every reader, and even at its best interpretation it has its issues, but it's a story that impacts you with its cleverness if you get to that point.&nbsp; I found myself laughing at so many points in the book.&nbsp; Not so much the points that other reviewers have pointed out to be ableist, but the points where Kippy would be describing the general townspeople: the popular girl who can't say "Oh my God" and who uses Ruth's death as a way to pad her college applications, the father who is totally unaware of the real world but tries his hardest anyway, the very popular dude whose asshole behavior is known, understood, and still perpetuated.&nbsp; Hale also really gets into Kippy's weirdness.&nbsp; Yet within that weirdness is a writing style that can be really beautiful, too.&nbsp; Sometimes phrases jump out within the narrative as just being utterly perfect in what they are describing, something that you don't expect in this type of story.<br /> <br /> The downside is that there is a large audience of readers who will find Kippy to be way too silly, the story predictable or just plain dumb.&nbsp; None of that is inaccurate, but I think the story's awareness of these aspects and how it pokes fun at them is what makes the book exceptional.&nbsp; I have to take off points for the issues the book presented, but I do think it's an excellent read that is unlike anything else on the shelves right now.&nbsp; If you're the kind of reader who likes off-the-wall books with strange humor, interesting female narrators, and a good swath of dark undertones to everything it presents, then this book may be your unexpected hit of the year. <br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; This cover is SO GREAT.&nbsp; No sexualized cover model.&nbsp; Just a cover that looks like a sweater with a hanging moose.&nbsp; You cannot get more morbid or weird than that, and I think it fits this book perfectly.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 4.0&nbsp; Stars (It would have been a 4.5 or a 5 without the ableist issues)<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)&nbsp; </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-no-one-else-can-have-you-by.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nfJWOapXNC-bQkzBjvj5b3W3sMI3Bt0vRZJyqqU-CcTOFLR7nJMPeMWdNj9-K0wxZZVJ8iHVPZPVkkMmbb-ohugf4tU-l5rfBN9pqSg9IkNtDHlG6WoD-_kkSZPiIzdeY7gahMPydDg-/s72-c/No+One+Else+Can+Have+You+by+Kathleen+Hale.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-9010079032727936714</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jan 2014 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2014-01-07T10:00:04.923-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">2.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">debut novel</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Emil Ostrovski</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">literary YA</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">male narrator</category>
<title>Review: The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski </title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKirHczSSPlcN-3lJquQqLNkUT2DXka7B4jwC1FH104SjWvRnTr28HLkSYs37LB50iL1IVY_xffw-OEZBpIZ3w-qLES2_JbL0f8sVWMBhh1xMCk0xFPrzkHA80D47zGCQnP85iKgb2Ie19/s1600/The+Paradox+of+Vertical+Flight+by+Emil+Ostrovski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKirHczSSPlcN-3lJquQqLNkUT2DXka7B4jwC1FH104SjWvRnTr28HLkSYs37LB50iL1IVY_xffw-OEZBpIZ3w-qLES2_JbL0f8sVWMBhh1xMCk0xFPrzkHA80D47zGCQnP85iKgb2Ie19/s1600/The+Paradox+of+Vertical+Flight+by+Emil+Ostrovski.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Paradox of Vertical Flight<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Emil Ostrovski<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; None<br /> <br /> <br /> Sometimes books look like they would be so what you need and then...they aren't.&nbsp; At all.&nbsp; <i>The Paradox of Vertical Flight</i> is a book that I should have loved because it was precisely what I was looking for on the surface.&nbsp; A friend of mine highly enjoyed it, it was short but with brilliant prose, and it involved weird themes that aren't often explored in YA literature (or adult literature, at least in this way.)&nbsp; I was also going into winter break when I started it, so I was predisposed to enjoy it because I was reading an actual book for fun (!!!) since finals were over and done with.&nbsp; <i>So </i>over and done with.&nbsp; The actual reading experienced was another story.&nbsp; Philosophy, a road trip, and teenage fatherhood make this a book unlike any other released in the past year.&nbsp; (As far as my knowledge goes, anyway.)<br /> <br /> Philosophy is Jack's purpose in life.&nbsp; He's the teenage boy that gets drunk and discusses more than just how the room is spinning.&nbsp; He's the type of person to discuss how people go about life as if they are drunk and the room is spinning, and how that lifestyle relates to the reality of the human experience.&nbsp; He's the type of boy that wakes up on his eighteenth birthday, sees all of the posts on his Facebook wall, and thinks about killing himself.&nbsp; Jack is far from normal.&nbsp; Unhinged, unprepared, he's barely able to pull himself away from the pill bottle he takes out - let alone able to become a teenage father.<br /> <br /> He got his college-aged girlfriend Jess pregnant nine months prior.&nbsp; He would go to parties with her, get drunk, and discuss philosophy while they fell in love.&nbsp; All Jack could think of when Jess announced her pregnancy was the potential abortion, and that was enough to cause Jess to want him out of her life forever.&nbsp; So, nine months later, it comes as a surprise when he gets a call about Jess having the baby in the hospital.&nbsp; She doesn't want him there.&nbsp; She doesn't want him, period.&nbsp; Seeing his son changes Jack's life.&nbsp; Mentally, he names his baby Socrates.<br /> <br /> It's at the hospital that Jack finds out the hard part of the situation.&nbsp; Jess is giving the baby up for adoption without his consent.&nbsp; She didn't put a father down on the birth certificate.&nbsp; As far as the hospital and the law are concerned, there is no way for Jack to be considered the father of Socrates without DNA testing and a lot of extra hoop-jumping.&nbsp; With the baby about to be adopted, there's no time for that.&nbsp; Jack simply plucks Socrates out of the hospital and decides to take him on one trip - a trip to Jack's grandmother, a woman whose memory is on its last leg.&nbsp; This road trip will change the course of Jack's life forever as he finally has to confront the meaning of his life, not just the meaning of life in general.<br /> <br /> Books like this always have a way of intriguing me.&nbsp; I don't read a lot of male protagonists, specifically first-person narrators, so it takes a lot for me to pick up a book narrated by a male.&nbsp; The Paradox of Vertical Flight initially felt like it would be more than just a book aimed at creating a very specific ideal of the intellectual but still-male male, but some sections of it feel like they try so very hard.&nbsp; This is a case where I think the author's youth and credits (Philosophy major from Vassar, going to Columbia for an MFA in creative writing) inevitably caused this book to be something that tried much harder than it should have for the story it was telling.<br /> <br /> While Jack's narration is interesting and intelligent, it quickly becomes apparent that it's heavily based on philosophy, self-reflection, and the kind of stupid-but-meaningful scenarios that one expects from a literary roadtrip novel from the male gaze.&nbsp; Jack's reactions to Jess's pregnancy were beautiful (he explains them all in relation to the colors of M&amp;Ms) until they revealed this idea that he had a right to discussing what happened to the baby after it was had when Jess had no desire for him to be in her life.&nbsp; It was intriguing, really, because I think it could have been a well-done scenario if it didn't ultimately give the impression that Jess was a bitchy character for not wanting Jack in her life at that moment.&nbsp; I could see how Jack could interpret it that way, but the viewpoint supported an interpretation of events that made the female character seem petty and lesser in relation to the male character's more-important needs.&nbsp; Jack grows as a person and eventually gains more self awareness, realizing that pregnancy and a failing relationship were hard on Jess as well, yet he never truly understands the impact of it on her the way he understands his loss - and he never really accepts that he had more privilege in his situation, which really got annoying.&nbsp; A lot of the epiphanies also come around when the characters get very drunk towards the end of the story.&nbsp; It felt realistic to a point but raised the concern of exactly how much character growth there was in the story.<br /> <br /> Jess, and Jack's friend that also joins the road trip, are both drawn well to some extent but occasionally feel limited in their purpose.&nbsp; I had trouble connecting to any of the characters on a personal level because the novel's intellectualism felt like it got in the way.&nbsp; Sometimes the characters had breakthroughs I understood - Jack's relationship with his grandmother is so amazingly sad, and the way that his friend Tommy is dealing with enlisting in the armed forces and Jess is dealing with her own issues are very meaningful in powerful ways throughout the narrative.&nbsp; Jack's narration just kind of overtakes those points, and they are separated by periodic situations that are meant to be purposeful, funny, and thematic but kind of end up feeling a little too contrived simply because they don't seem one hundred percent organic to the story.<br /> <br /> Can I also say that the narrator talks a lot to Socrates in his head mentally, and that the lines between reality and his mental state are blurred in those moments?&nbsp; That technique got old in this narrative.&nbsp; I wasn't sure how to handle it, and after a while I felt like it got more annoying than genius.&nbsp; It felt like a writing technique that wasn't polished enough for the storyline; even if it was, I don't know if it necessarily fit.<br /> <br /> I will say that Ostrovski's writing is amazing save for the occasional weird choice of technique.&nbsp; His words can be very powerful.&nbsp; The humor is spot-on when it doesn't feel too embedded in the narrator's philosophical musings, and the story feels original even though the literary roadtrip book from the male gaze isn't exactly a new concept.&nbsp; There's a lot in this book that should be lauded, especially from a young talent in the writing world, and it's clear that Ostrovski has a voice that the writing world hasn't seen before.&nbsp; The book itself may feel like it's drowning in too many attempts at being literary, smart, and philosophical, but the core ideas and themes have something special to their execution.&nbsp; I didn't regret reading the book because of the writing.&nbsp; In fact, the writing makes me want to read another book of Ostrovski's.&nbsp; When the writing is in a good space, the book manages to impress.<br /> <br /> <i>The Paradox of Vertical Flight</i> is a debut attempt that, for the right reader, will blow their minds.&nbsp; Readers that love road trip novels with male protagonists and/or books that heavily discuss philosophy as it relates to today's modern teenager will adore the narrative.&nbsp; For other readers, the book's feelings of technical dysfunction and character limitations will probably override the solid quality to the writing.&nbsp; Emil Ostrovski has a bright future in writing, but I think he needs to focus more on the characters in his stories rather than the need for the story's elements to be literary and impressive.&nbsp; If this book hadn't tried so hard to impress me, I may very well have liked it.<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; This cover is gorgeous.&nbsp; I love the abstract nature of it, the oddity and the colors.&nbsp; It's really catchy.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 2.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!)&nbsp; </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-paradox-of-vertical-flight-by.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
<media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKirHczSSPlcN-3lJquQqLNkUT2DXka7B4jwC1FH104SjWvRnTr28HLkSYs37LB50iL1IVY_xffw-OEZBpIZ3w-qLES2_JbL0f8sVWMBhh1xMCk0xFPrzkHA80D47zGCQnP85iKgb2Ie19/s72-c/The+Paradox+of+Vertical+Flight+by+Emil+Ostrovski.jpg" height="72" width="72"/>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327691610470698970.post-8871176545038185529</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<atom:updated>2013-12-30T10:00:07.931-05:00</atom:updated>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">5.0 reviews</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">epic fantasy</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">magic</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">PoC</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Rae Carson</category>
<category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">series</category>
<title>Review: The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson</title>
<description><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTVDCnmZAldtKyeN-sF085yollx0QcOHIT4VTXpqZ6K0zGQHN4bToFZtdVXKwtby2o3tUoyZGltNb8lEuwqDlkTdSkhNxL0240HoJxroJ0yw3HLd4xuy8LYd5c8vd5kBnMd22n05c1Eyw/s1600/The+Bitter+Kingdom+by+Rae+Carson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTVDCnmZAldtKyeN-sF085yollx0QcOHIT4VTXpqZ6K0zGQHN4bToFZtdVXKwtby2o3tUoyZGltNb8lEuwqDlkTdSkhNxL0240HoJxroJ0yw3HLd4xuy8LYd5c8vd5kBnMd22n05c1Eyw/s320/The+Bitter+Kingdom+by+Rae+Carson.jpg" width="212" /></a></div> <br /> Title:&nbsp; The Bitter Kingdom<br /> <br /> Author:&nbsp; Rae Carson<br /> <br /> Publisher:&nbsp; Greenwillow Books<br /> <br /> Series:&nbsp; The Girl of Fire and Thorns #3<br /> <br /> Other Reviews for This Author:&nbsp; The Girl of Fire and Thorns<br /> <br /> <br /> This book is me, unraveling.<br /> <br /> I never got the guts to review <i>The Crown of Embers</i> when it came out - it blew me away and reminded me of everything that I loved about this series, but I think a large part of me practiced the idea of denial.&nbsp; If I pretended that the third book was going to be ages in coming, I would never have to experience the end.&nbsp; I would never have to judge it and compare it.&nbsp; I knew I would love it, but I wasn't sure why.&nbsp; I wasn't sure what I would go through in order to reach the final pages of this trilogy.<br /> <br /> I have read it; I am undone.<br /> <br /> Note that this review will contain <b>major plot spoilers</b> for this series.&nbsp; Just go out and read <i>The Girl of Fire and Thorns</i> and <i>The Crown of Embers</i>, because you might as well get hooked too.<br /> <br /> Elisa is a queen with access to an unimaginable amount of magical power through her Godstone and a new connection to the earth itself.&nbsp; She has escaped death and proven herself to be more than the puppet of religious prophecy.&nbsp; Slowly, Elisa has proven herself a force to be reckoned with by her calculations, her cunning, and her power.&nbsp; With her new knowledge of where the power of the Godstones comes from, she begins her final journey with her companions as they go off to the enemy country of Invierne in order to rescue the love of her life and hopefully stop a siege on the surrounding countries.<br /> <br /> The power of the Godstone that Elisa possesses begins to change as she navigates the new magical connection she has made.&nbsp; Storm, the outcast Invierno who has made a tie of loyalty to Elisa, also finds a renewed sense of magical gifts because of the connection.&nbsp; Their magical training puts them in the artful position of having powerful magic at their disposal.&nbsp; At the same time, there is also the question of whether or not the party will find Hector alive, as he is captive to a band of traveling Inviernos using him for the sole purpose of luring Elisa to the capital city.&nbsp; There, Elisa will be used as a living sacrifice in order to keep the Invierno magic alive.<br /> <br /> Sacrifice is more than what Elisa has planned for herself.&nbsp; Training herself to become more powerful only leads her to more questions.&nbsp; Even if she reunites with Hector and manages to get into the Invierno city, Elisa knows that things will become complicated.&nbsp; Meanwhile, her kingdom of Joya d'Arena is under siege with the heir to her throne in hiding with the other leaders still on her side, and her friend Cosme, now queen of Basajuan, is facing her own threats of siege by the Invierno leaders due to the continual issues between the relatively new kingdoms and Inviene, a kingdom standing centuries before the settlers of its adversaries appeared in the deserts.&nbsp; Elisa has a long road ahead of her as she faces sacrifice, political machinations, countless armies, and potential betrayal at every turn.&nbsp; Survival is never guaranteed.<br /> <br /> I refused to give out anything major in there.&nbsp; I promise.&nbsp; This summary does not begin to cover the 400+ pages of perfection that is <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i>.&nbsp; Elisa is not a narrator that skimps on details or complexity, and Carson is not an author that will let her readers get off with a basic plot and theme.&nbsp; With this series, you are in for so much more than you ever bargained for.&nbsp; Wrapping it all up is an accomplishment - this book pulls it off well, and not without some heartache.&nbsp; Okay, a lot of heartache.&nbsp; Carson might not be as cruel as some other fantasy authors out there, but her world is real.&nbsp; You can reach your hand through the pages and enter it at your own risk, folks. <br /> <br /> What allows Elisa's voice to ring true for all three books is the way her thought process works.&nbsp; Elisa isn't a character that goes into things without thought.&nbsp; On the contrary, her expertise as a narrator has been the continual usage of thought rather than instinct in order to get ahead as a ruler.&nbsp; Her character arc represents what it means to learn how to rule a country.&nbsp; <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> in particular expresses many instances in Elisa's narrative where she has to choose between a situation that would be instinctual and one that would realistically benefit her country and her cause.&nbsp; It's never enough for Elisa to just make a decision - she has to make a smart one.&nbsp; Carson explores this idea of a ruler being more than just passionate, making it feel like it goes above the usual fantasy novel and the usual YA novel.&nbsp; Elisa not only learns to be more than impulsive, but she also learns to be emotional and to balance her life.&nbsp; This connection allows her to find uses for her emotions on a broader scale.&nbsp; Her love for Hector isn't just love in this installment; it's something that can become an advantageous marriage and political alliance within her kingdom if she succeeds.&nbsp; There's grief, tough decisions, and moments where Elisa is unsure of herself.&nbsp; Nothing comes easily and nothing comes without a price.&nbsp; Carson continually puts Elisa in these positions because it would be realistic.&nbsp; There's a strong sense that navigating this world is like this all the time.&nbsp; Every day may not be one of life-and-death scenarios, but Elisa will always have to think about her kingdom, her companions, and herself.&nbsp; Always.<br /> <br /> This is why Elisa strong, why it's admirable when she finds strength in her friends and makes blatant attempts at using her power to put other women she believes in in positions such as hers.&nbsp; Elisa is powerful heroine because her actions and her thoughts prove her strength and stability. This trilogy is about her learning that her power comes from herself and that she can use that to better her position in life and those that are also in similar positions.&nbsp; She has privilege and she becomes aware of that.&nbsp; Elisa is truly worthy of the mantle of a character that could be labeled feminist (if you prescribe to that label being legitimate).&nbsp; On top of that, she is a person of color and a person who has gone through size-ism and understands what those mean as well.&nbsp; Carson made her an amazing character by giving her the opportunity to understand these intersectional points, though in Elisa's case her heritage puts her at a better social position than the Inviernos within her kingdom, which provides some interesting food for thought as the rest of the story unfolds.&nbsp; Elisa is the manifestation of a world that is bold and challenging, a world that is aware that it is problematic and only beginning to realize it.&nbsp; (Can you tell I've been involved in learning about these issues at college?&nbsp; Totally not what I anticipated when I started reading this book.&nbsp; Series can survive you growing more cynical!&nbsp; It's a revolutionary concept!)<br /> <br /> I could spend another two long paragraphs detailing the great characterization of the other characters, but I'll limit it to one for the sake of constraint.&nbsp; Hector is a gorgeous hero who gets a chance to save Elisa once or twice throughout the book, yet I loved how it was obvious that she saved herself more.&nbsp; Their romantic relationship is brilliant; they discuss how she can put him on an "equal" level to hers politically, and he blatantly states that he's fine with Elisa having more political power than he does.&nbsp; Hector is a true hero because he allows Elisa to become a stronger person without making her dependent on him to survive.&nbsp; In allowing her to better herself for herself, he really proves his heroism without overtaking Elisa's story or her exploits.&nbsp; Hector is a foil character - a really well-crafted, three-dimensional foil character - and Carson nails that.&nbsp; She really does.&nbsp; And this romance?&nbsp; Smoking.&nbsp; Hot.&nbsp; It was so satisfying that I cheered when they finally got the chance to do all of the smexy things they wanted to do.&nbsp; I have not read such a satisfying scene like that in ages.<br /> <br /> (Okay, two paragraphs on this - will you kill me readers?)&nbsp; I also loved Storm in this installment.&nbsp; Loved loved loved.&nbsp; He was humorous and opened up, creating this great new friendship for Elisa to consider.&nbsp; He provided some cultural understanding for her as well that was desperately needed.&nbsp; I wished there was more about the Invierno culture in the text, as I think Carson only scratched the surface as to the long history of colonization and how it changed the cultures and how they coexisted throughout the series, but Storm was a good start and provided a viewpoint that was needed in the series.&nbsp; Mara and Elisa also get even closer in this book; I love how Elisa as a character can pull from all of these other strong females in her life.&nbsp; Mara, Cosme, and even Alodia (Elisa's sister) get shining moments in this installment that show the readership their strength.&nbsp; Women coming together and forcing political change?&nbsp; Totally my kind of read, and I admire how Carson is able to show how the politics complicates the friendship between them, yet how it also gives them all the ability to work as hard as they can for their people as rulers.&nbsp; There's also an inclusion of what the romance community calls a Plot Moppet, a girl who is part-Invierno and therefore considered of a low class in the free towns close to Invierne.&nbsp; She mostly brings more themes of what the internal prejudices mean for the world, but she actually becomes a vital part of the plot and even shows herself to be just as intelligent and brave as Elisa and the others.&nbsp; I liked that Carson didn't underestimate her character by just making her ostentatious and prideful; the character becomes something more, and therefore becomes more empathetic and endearing than annoying.<br /> <br /> The way that Carson writes this world is just amazing.&nbsp; <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> shows the far-reaching world building that Carson has established throughout the series, and I think readers will find themselves shocked at how much more there is to it after the final pages are turned.&nbsp; The Invierno capital comes alive in brief descriptions; the magic of the world is unveiled just a little bit more, even as the religious aspects become more confusing and personal than ever before.&nbsp; Each journey and adventure creates new drama.&nbsp; The things that Carson showcases in<i> The Bitter Kingdom </i>are more dangerous than I remembered in previous books.&nbsp; Fans of fantasy fiction, even anime and manga, will delight in the different beasts and twists that Carson pulls throughout the story.&nbsp; Everything connects in a way that fits into the larger scheme of the world, so it doesn't come across as being invented just to create outer conflict in the plot.&nbsp; Her reveal as to the history of the Invierne and their culture is particularly illuminating in this installment.&nbsp; It's probably not enough for the larger themes at work - I think Carson addressed it as best as possible by forcing Elisa into a situation where she had to act on the present circumstances to save her people, but it would be really interesting to read a later volume that explored the growing knowledge of the history of the Inviernos and the people descended from the (relatively) more recent settlers and how that effected the world.&nbsp; Carson just made the world come to life to the point where I wanted to know everything.&nbsp; I already wanted to know everything about this world, but <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> made me prepared to do a whole lot of begging for it.<br /> <br /> <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> is a masterpiece.&nbsp; Truly, the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece.&nbsp; Rae Carson has a writing style that perfectly balances characterization, plot, and description.&nbsp; Her world is a sentient organism that grows with its page count.&nbsp; Nothing here feels overdone, trite, or cliche.&nbsp; She uses fantasy tropes well when she pulls them out, but does so in a way that feels original and inspired.&nbsp; The romance is amazing; Elisa is a narrator worth heralding as one of the best teen female fantasy characters of our generation.&nbsp; I want to give this series to everyone who loves fantasy and say, "This is how it's done."&nbsp; My love for this series will remain even though it's over.&nbsp; After I devour the novellas and am out of fresh material, I'll wait patiently for Carson to write something else - a new world - and make the time in the next year or two to reread this trilogy again and remind myself of everything it's done for me.&nbsp; It's been a great ride, and <i>The Bitter Kingdom</i> is a series finale worth every ounce of your time that it eats up.&nbsp; You will not put it down once you start; you will not be able to handle it; it will be okay, because it's worth it.<br /> <br /> Cover:&nbsp; The covers of this series are mixed for me.&nbsp; I think they have a great beauty to them but don't capture the epic, powerful nature of Elisa's narration - and they don't show that she is a woman of color, either, which is a huge deal considering the desert world the series takes place in.&nbsp; It would have helped to have that representation visually.<br /> <br /> Rating:&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars&nbsp; <br /><br />Series Rating (because why not?):&nbsp; 5.0&nbsp; Stars<br /> <br /> Copy:&nbsp; Received from publisher/publicist for review&nbsp; (Thank you, Heather and Harper Collins!!!)&nbsp; </description>
<link>http://dreaminginbooks.blogspot.com/2013/12/review-bitter-kingdom-by-rae-carson.html</link>
<author>noreply@blogger.com (John The Bookworm)</author>
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