Shadow and Bone

Publisher: Hachette (Little, Brown)
Pages: 359
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Type: Hardcover, bought

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. 

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. 

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

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Books like this make me realize just how biased my ratings really are.

Because, objectively, this isn't perfect.  And that's what five stars means, right? Perfect. 100%. Not a flaw to be found.

And objectively speaking there are flaws in this novel.  

There's scarcely a good female character to be found aside from our lovely heroine.

The plot contradicted itself several times.

Alina's last name should be Starkova and you can't get drunk on kvas.

Etcetera etcetera.

But the fact is, when I was reading this novel, I wasn't thinking about a lack in female representation, or a contradictory plot, or improper last names.

I was thinking about the dark, magical, fantastical world, the one that consumed me the moment I cracked open this novel.  How marvelous and horrible and utterly entrancing it was; how wonderfully imagined, every last detail.

I was thinking about the romance, how it made my heart pound like a silly teenager (oh, right! I am a silly teenager!), made my stomach clench and made me grin like I was the one being kissed senseless.  

I was thinking about the plot, the crazy, layered, chilling plot that I could never quite predict.

I was thinking about a villain so complex that while I recognized the evil of his deeds, his own inherent darkness, the fact that he would most likely always be a terribly awful, terribly dangerous person . . . I still wanted some redemption for him, some semblance of a happy ending.

I was thinking about how beautiful it was despite the horror.  How I started this at 12 and finished it at 4 in the morning.

I fell really hard for Shadow and Bone.

And whatever the objective side of me may say, the part of me that stayed up until an obscene hour of the morning just to turn the final page and share my exhausted ramble of a gush with the internet refuses to give this novel anything less than five stars.

Born Wicked

Publisher: Penguin (Putnam Juvenile)
Pages: 330
Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Type: Hardcover, bought

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

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Let me start off by saying this was not what I expected.

When I saw the premise of a novel set in the late 1800s, centered around witches, I expected it to be something ala the Gemma Doyle trilogy--set in a normal historical backdrop, with a fantasy element.  That does not describe Born Wicked.  Quite frankly?  Born Wicked is a dystopian, all the way, from the conglomerate countries that have taken over various parts of the world to the oppressive regime and secret rebels.  This was a dystopian with old speak and habits.

And as a dystopian, it was lacking in several areas.  The world-building was scarce.  Most of it is summed up in a few vague sentences.  We get very little information about the rest of the world, or even about Cate's New England.  I had a very blurry understanding of the setting, and that made it difficult to really place these events or put them in some sort of context.

Also, there was a simple lack of believability.  In this novel, girls are treated like total scum.  In fact, the Brotherhood's teachings center around just how awful and wicked girls inherently are, and how they must learn to be idiotic, docile creatures.  Forget preaching about Heaven and Hell, charity, divine figures, belief in the Lord!  All they preach about, all the time, is the wickedness of females.  Girls are considered useless, foolish, and idiotic.  They must either be engaged by their 17th birthday or declare their intentions to join the Sisterhood.  They are meant to look pretty and sit around, holding teas and gossiping.  If they act in any way that could be deemed scandalous--say, doing something other than looking pretty and gossiping--they can be  convicted and sent to a mental institution or a prison ship.

And even aside from their awful treatment of the female gender, the Brotherhood restricts society as a whole; they've closed the borders, censored books, controlled the post.  

But despite all of this, not once, in the past 100+ years, has their been any previous resistance.  None.  At least not anything the author found noteworthy.  And I simply didn't find that realistic at all.  The fact that no one, in over a century, had staged a rebellion against this cruel, controlling regime?  I simply couldn't buy it.  

Also, I was disappointed in the portrayal of the Sisterhood.  In novels where there's a group trying to rise against the restrictive government, I do like when the rebellious group is portrayed as more than just the wonderful saviors.  I think it's important to remember that it's not a black-and-white portrait, that there are many, many shades of gray.  Except . . . with the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood, it came off as more of a black-and-black, with Cate and those close to her being the only white in sight.  That was a bit of a letdown, because I think a more complex group would've been more realistic, and provided more of a moral conflict.

However, despite what it may sound like, I didn't really dislike this novel.  I quite enjoyed the writing style, despite the occasional hiccup.  It seemed suited to the supposed time period, and had moments of real loveliness.

I also liked the characters, for the most part.  While I wish the antagonists of the novel had been given some more depth, for the most part, the characters were interesting, flawed, and fun to read about.  While Cate did irritate me at times, I admired her spirit and her loyalty, and while at times I wanted to fault her for her selfish choices, I couldn't; because, honestly?  In her place, I can't say I'd have done any differently.  I enjoyed reading through her perspective, and I liked that her relationships with her sisters played such a crucial role in the plot.

The plot itself . . . was slow.  Not much really happened until late in the novel, but despite that, it didn't really bore me.  It was entertaining, even if it was fairly predictable and relied on the age-old plot device of a discovered diary.  The romance was surprisingly enjoyable, despite featuring a love triangle; it really wasn't much of a triangle at all, since there's only one person Cate really has feelings for, and I quite liked him.  Finn was sweet and adorable and he reads.  That's a keeper, Cate. That's a keeper.

While I had many critiques for this novel, when it comes down to it, this was a fun read.  It kept me interested from beginning to end, and I'm curious to see where the next novels will take us.  I would recommend it to fans of the dystopian genre, or to any who just really, really adore a man who reads.

3 stars.

A Million Suns

Publisher: Penguin (Razorbill)
Pages: 386
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Type: Hardback, bought

Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. 

It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies. 

But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart. 

In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis mesmerizes us again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship. 

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This book was a million times better than Across the Universe. Pun intended.

I liked AtU.  I thought the concept was fascinating, and there were some flashes of real brilliance.  But other things fell short.  Sometimes it was the characters; sometimes it was the writing; sometimes it was the plot.  I was so confused as to how I felt about it that I couldn't even give it a rating.

I can say with certainty that I really enjoyed A Million Suns. 

The writing was better.  There weren't the awkward hiccups scattered throughout AtU;  it was smooth, it was beautiful, and it didn't bog down the characters or the plot.  There was genuine emotion and genuine loveliness and one of the best uses of formatting that I've ever seen.  I saw their closed walls and endless stars; I felt their love and hope and complete desperation.  I saw, and I felt, and that is all I can ask of any writing.

The characters were also a huge improvement, most notably Elder.  In AtU, there were times I quite liked him, but for the majority of the book, he seemed quite whiny and insecure.  In A Million Suns, he really grows into his role as leader.  He toughens up, starts acting like someone in charge of over two thousand lives, grows a pair.  He even has a bit of a swoon factor, which was a pleasant surprise.

Amy I had liked in AtU, but in A Million Suns, I grew to love her.  And it's not just because she's that rare heroine who can think for herself and be the hero when she and/or others need rescuing; it's because I understood her.  It's because I read everything she felt, everything she considered, and it was all so very, very real.  If a teenage girl were trapped on a revolting spaceship with her parents indefinitely frozen and only one other teenager on board, this is precisely how she would be.  And that, I loved that.  I loved that Beth Revis just completely nailed it.

It wasn't only the main characters; I believe Beth Revis did a brilliant job at creating a cast of characters that was more than short descriptions, words on paper.  They were people, people with curiosities and flaws and dangerous ideas.  People. Even the villains of the story, save one, were not flatly evil; they had their explanations, their reasonings, their good qualities.  There was even the moral debate of whether one villain was justified in his actions, and I adored that.  To see a villain not simply condemned as the stereotypical bad guy, but as an intelligent, if slightly unbalanced person with genuine concerns who simply took things a step too far.  I really love moral dilemmas in general, but particularly those involving villains, and Beth handled that brilliantly.

And the story.  Oh, the story. The plot was craziness.  A whirlwind of action and mystery, not one thing mentioned without reason, everything an integral piece of this crazily twisting plotline.  Clues and murders and rebellion; personal dramas and dramas of the most immense scale.  I loved her accurate portrayal of the mob mentality and the stirrings of revolt; I love the complexity of her mysteries, how for every twist I figured out there was one I never saw coming.  While there were a few holes, I'm still extremely impressed with anyone who can fashion a plot such as this and carry it out as well as Beth did.

That said, I did have my qualms.  Mainly, the ending.  First of all, I simply did not see the logic behind the enormous mystery that all the clues amount to.  I wish I could go into more detail, but as I'd rather not spoil the book for all of you, I'll simply say that if you've read and would like to discuss it further, message me on Goodreads.  

Second of all, I feel as if another thing I cannot reveal was orchestrated simply to place another wedge between Amy and Elder.  They've finally grown closer, accepted their feelings for one another, and then . . . this!  While it's nothing so huge as the twist at the end of the first novel, Amy makes it out to be an insurmountable barrier between the two of them.  And I can't help but feel that this was done so there'd be additional relationship drama to incorporate into Shades of Earth.

Qualms aside, I really, really enjoyed this book.  It was an incredible improvement on the first novel, and I suspect Shades of Earth will only be better.  This is a series I would most definitely recommend, not only to sci-fi lovers but to any who enjoy a fast-paced, intriguing plot, powerful writing, and genuine characters.

4 stars.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Publisher: Little, Brown (Poppy)
Pages: 236
Publication Date: January 2, 2012
Type: Hardback, bought

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

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This book is so very misleading.

Look at that title.  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.  Look at that cover, all pierced hearts and scribbles and kissing as if no one were watching.  Look at that pitch--British boy, airplanes, true love.  It sounds cute, right? A little corny? Hole-in-your-tooth sweet?

This book would you have you think that you are picking up a lovely little romance and no more.  You would be so very, very wrong.

This book is about family.  It's about finding love and losing it and finding it again.  It's about bringing yourself to forgive when all you thought you could do was hurt. It's about endings and beginnings and everything in between.  It's about two lost and lonely people whose lives cross by a string of chance.

It's absolutely beautiful.

It's very short for a YA book, shorter than almost any I can remember, and usually, that'd be an issue.  Usually, I'd turn the last page and think of all the things the author could have done but didn't, all the little ways this and that could've been expounded upon if it were only that much larger.  Not so with this.  In 236 pages, this book says everything it needs to say and more.  There are broken hearts and new loves, families shattered and families made, laughter and love and maybe even tears.  

And in the end, there is hope.  The characters change, more than I've seen in almost any novel to date, but they don't fool themselves; things will not magically be okay.  They will be better.  And maybe they will be alright, someday.  

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  There is a 100% probability that you will love it.  

Cover Reveal: My Heart Be Damned, Defiance, and The Lost Girl

My Heart Be Damned by Chanelle Gray
Publisher: Knight Romance Publishing
Release Date: July 5, 2012
Add it to your shelf on Goodreads!

If you're a Hunter, there are only three things you must know about the Damned. The Damned can't lie, can't live without a body, and can't leave you alone. 


Amerie Carter has the blood of a Hunter, unfortunately. She is one of a rare line of women who, upon her sixteenth birthday, will come into extraordinary powers used to hunt the Damned; escaped souls from Hell who take up residence in human bodies. It's supposed to be her sweet sixteen, but Amerie has never dreaded a day more, and her worst fears are confirmed as the celebration turns tragic when her mother is killed. 


Grief-stricken, Amerie vows to never hunt a day in her life. She's determined to hide behind normalcy, attending school, hanging out with her friends and working an after-school job at The Hut. All Amerie wants is to be left alone. But try telling the Damned that. The harder Amerie tries to ignore her powers, the more the Damned come looking for her. 


When an attack leaves one of Amerie's friends in the hospital, and endangers the lives of her fellow students, she knows she has no choice: Hunt or Be Hunted. Thankfully, the gorgeous, secretive, and so-off-limits Marshall offers to train Amerie to take out her supernatural enemies. But training with Marshall means leading lying to her friends, her family, and confronting the mysterious circumstances surrounding her mother’s death. 


Amerie soon discovers she’s not the only one with something to hide, Marshall's secrets might kill her before the Damned get the chance.
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Defiance by C. J. Redwine
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: August 28, 2012

Preorder it on Amazon!

Add it to your shelf on Goodreads!

Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan—the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her. 


At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared. 


As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.
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The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Preorder it on Amazon!
Add it to your shelf on Goodreads!

Eva's life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination - an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her 'other', if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it's like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she's ever known - the guardians who raised her, the boy she's forbidden to love - to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive. 

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I don't think I can even express just how excited I am about these books.  Between the stunning cover of My Heart Be Damned and the beauty of the Balzer + Bray release date twins, publishers are clearly doing something right in that department.  Covers aside, though, don't these all just seem completely fantastic? Damned souls, badass girl warriors hunted by an indestructible monster, a girl who is simply meant to fill up the gap left by another?  I just keep reading the pitches, staring blankly at the covers, and refreshing the page in hopes that the release date will magically change.  July and August are a long time away, and I've never been known for my patience, especially concerning books that seem as stunning as the three of these.

What do you guys think?

Delirium

Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 441
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Type: Hardcover, gift

Ninety-five days, and then I’ll be safe. 

I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. 

I want to get it over with. 

It’s hard to be patient. 

It’s hard not to be afraid while I’m still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet. 

Still, I worry. 

They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. 

The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.

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When I first started, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd think of this.  The reviews were incredibly mixed; some friends swore it was the most fantastic thing they'd ever set eyes upon, and some swore that Lauren Oliver was milking the dystopian genre for the money and should return to contemporary.  But one thing that nearly all agreed on was the writing.   The writing, they said, is absolutely gorgeous.  So I, someone who absolutely adores beautiful writing, should at least enjoy that.  Right?

Not entirely.  The writing was certainly my favorite part of the novel; it was gorgeous, lyrical and lovely and with at the very least an attempt at depth.  For a while, all was well.  But after a bit, it just became a bit too much.  The plot would constantly be interrupted for a random, several-paragraph-long deep revelation or metaphor that Lena had stumbled upon.  I appreciate Oliver's attempt at giving this novel real meaning and doing her best to make it beautiful, but when this beautiful deep lovely stuff is getting in the way of my plot (and occurring every few pages) even I start to get annoyed.

Sadly, that was the least of my problems.  I'm not quite sure where to begin, so I'm just going to list them.

The world.  I'm sure, if you've read any of this book's reviews, you have already seen this subject taken and beaten to death.  Honestly, I don't have much to add.  The world was completely and utterly nonsensical.  For one, the US has sealed its borders.  Yeah.  Sealed its borders.  And . . . how exactly does that work?  Considering there seems to be very little communication between even the cities of America and technology has not advanced the slightest bit, how the hell are little cities like Portland still surviving?  I cannot think of a single explanation for this.

But more importantly, the basic concept of this book.  A world without love.  A world where love is a disease.  Where at eighteen you receive a "cure" that keeps you safe from the "deliria."  How . . . does . . . just . . . no.  As others have mentioned, I can understand choosing to remove all emotions.  I can understand someone coming to the conclusion that we would be better if we simply did not feel.  But identifying love--and only love--as a disease, and choosing to remove it?  I cannot see how anyone could ever come to this conclusion, I cannot see how the entire country would ever acquiesce, and I cannot see how their current world functions without it.  There is a reason evolution gave us a mothering instinct.  If a mother does not care for her children, what is making her raise them?  And even if she somehow does, how would she raise them right?  If she has no feelings of lust or love and no desire for children, why would she procreate in the first place?  If all children under eighteen still have normal emotion, regardless of the drivel being spat at them, why have they not risen up in protest?  Considering just how many parts of the brain are involved in the different types of love, how the hell do you remove that without making a person catatonic?

I could go on, but frankly, I'd rather not.  This world was just a huge logic fail.  Even the impossibility aside, what about the improbability of general society being no different than it was over a century ago?  By that I mean they have the same technology as us, they talk like us, have the same jobs as us.  If we completely ignore the question of where they're getting this technology, why have they not advanced the slightest bit in any way?

With some dystopians, I have been able to ignore flimsy world-building, simply sit back and enjoy the ride.  But the world of Delirium was so utterly ridiculous that I just could not ignore it.

My other huge problem with this novel is our main character. Lena.  Oh, Lena.  She tried so hard to be thoughtful and powerful and inspiring but was doomed to be the cause of massive headdesking.  She was one of those protagonists.  The kind that are, according to their own description, unexceptional in every way, and oh, how could anyone love them?  But! Hark! A boy!  He calls me beautiful? He calls me beautiful! I am beautiful!  But only because of him.  He makes me beautiful.  Without him, I am plain. Without him, I am nothing.

DJGLDJ;LFEWJLFEWOI

No.  Just. No.  Not only does this girl say that "This is what life will be like without him: Everything will become ordinary again. I’ll become ordinary again."   but she actually thinks, in the beginning, that the cures and pairings are obviously a good thing because if they weren't forced to no one would ever want to be with her.

Yup.

Also, this is yet another dystopian in which the girl needs the hot rebel boy to show her how truly flawed her word is.  Because she couldn't come to this conclusion of her own volition. Pff! What blasphemy is this?  Clearly girls need strong men to show them the light.

To be clear, I did not dislike Alex.  I was actually quite fond of him.  But I strongly disliked his relationship with Lena, along with  wondering why he'd chosen someone like her when he could've had beautiful, passionate Hana.  Aside from being the only thing that can solve Lena's self-confidence issues, Alex becomes the only thing . . . period.  This is yet another book where the close friend gets shunted to the sidelines in favor of a boy the main character scarcely knows.  While Hana didn't completely disappear, she certainly faded into the background for a good portion of the story.  Hana, the only reason Lena has any kind of relationship with Alex in the first place.

To wrap up this ramble/rant/review, I am going to briefly mention the plot.  Wait, plot?  There was actually a plot?  What is this magical thing called a plot and where can I find it?

Told you it'd be brief.

Finally, I will say that I'm a big fan of the ending.  If there's one thing Oliver did right with this book, it was the ending.  It would've been unrealistic for them to skip off happily into the sunset.  The ending didn't seem like some cheap trick; it felt genuine, and I really appreciated that.  The last few paragraphs were fantastic.

But sadly, they were not enough to save this book.  Two stars for a few lovely quotes and a great ending.  I will probably read Pandemonium, but it's safe to say I'll be wary.

Saving June

‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’ 

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why. 

When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going California. 

Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs. 

Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again.

So, I went into this expecting great things.  Glowing review after glowing review appeared on my Goodreads feed.  The premise was intriguing and fantastic.  People were even comparing Hannah Harrington to authors such as Melina Marchetta.

But despite that, I was a bit skeptical.  I'm always a bit skeptical when beginning books as praised as this one, like some part of me is mentally preparing for it not to be as amazing as everyone has claimed.  I don't like being let down.

Luckily, Saving June did anything but.

 I don't know exactly what to say about this book.  I don't know how to describe it.  I don't think I can even begin to communicate the rare and beautiful mix of music and love and anger and humor and loss that make up this brilliant little book.  So I'm just going to ask you to read it.  Maybe you'll be able to describe this better than I ever could.

Five solid stars.  Speechless had better come out soon, because the world needs more of this woman's genius.

Paranormalcy

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal. 

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. 

So much for normal.

So, funny story.  This is one of the first books that I actually caught the hype for.  It was many many months ago, long before I'd joined Goodreads or the book blogging world as a whole.  But I was a member of Inkpop, a writing site run by HarperCollins.  And they have these lovely little ads on the sidebar.  These lovely little ads that never go away.

I saw the Paranormalcy trailer on my sidebar and thought, Hmm. Cute trailer. Doesn't tell me much, but cute.  I was intrigued.

Then I saw the same trailer again. And again. And again. For months on end. Every time I refreshed the page. Anything that had once seemed cute was now a source of blind rage.  I scoffed at HarperCollins and their silly trends, shoving this ungracefully into the "YA PNR I will never read category."

But at some point--and I'm not even quite sure how this happened, to be honest--I stumbled across Kiersten's blog.  It was right as she was doing her first vlogs, and I watched every single one of them.  They were great. She was great.  She was hilarious and quirky and adorable and just plain fun.  I followed her blog.  I read her posts.  I read her Tweets.  And her sheer awesomeness quickly melted the icy hate that HarperCollins's over-advertising had left me.  She became one of my favorite authors before I had even read her books. Still is, and probably will be for a very long time.

So, despite my original bias, I really wanted to like this one.  I wanted it to be as kick-ass as its author.  And I'd say it delivered.

What really sets this book apart, even more than its original concept, is the fact that it's . . . adorable. Yes. You read that right. Adorable.  You're not used to the words "adorable" and "YA paranormal literature" being even distantly related.  Neither was I. Although, in fairness, despite what the title and blurb may imply, this is far more of an urban fantasy than a paranormal.  It was an urban fantasy full of vampires and werewolves and faeries and hags and . . . cuteness.

With a main character like Evie, it's so easy to be led down the typical path.  Badass.  Snarky.  Tough.  Gorgeous.  She fights paranormal creatures, right?  Of course she must be a snarky bitch!

But no.  Evie is anything but.  Evie is a sixteen-year-old girl who's never had a family, who's never been to school or had friends.  She's a girl who's fascinated by lockers and cars and high school dramas and is infatuated with anything pink.  She gets unreasonably excited about silly things.  She has a heart. She's lonely and insecure.  She's curious and eager and rash.  She's not perfect.  

I love her.

She made this book for me.  Yes, there were other things I liked--the plot wasn't like anything I'd read before, she captured the immorality of fae to the T, her characterization as a whole was pretty spot-on--but in the end, Evie and her sweet, chatty narrative were what made me fall in love with this. They were also what made this such a quick read.

The one downside about the chattiness of this narration is that I wasn't as sold on some of the more serious or emotional moments.  There were some scenes that I think should've tugged at the heartstrings or had me clutching the book, wide-eyed with fear, and that never happened.  While this was a very quick and fun read, it didn't hold a huge amount of emotional depth.

Honestly, though? That's okay.  I've been reading a lot of heavy books lately, and it's kind of refreshing to read something that doesn't always take itself seriously.  It was cute, funny, and entirely new, and I can't wait to begin Supernaturally.


4 stars.

Warm Bodies

R is a young man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. His ability to connect with the outside world is limited to a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and stragely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His choice to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies explores what happens when the cold heart of a zombie is tempted by the warmth of human love.

First, I want to say that I absolutely loved this.

Second, I want to say that if you do not like flowery writing and a lot of philosophical pondering in your zombie novels, you will not love this.

Fortunately for me, I love both of those.  I love beautiful writing more than I can possibly express, and I love books that can make me think, genuinely think.  I love that Marion was able to turn a zombie novel into something haunting and introspective and beautiful.

When I first read the summary, I had two problems with it.  One, that the main character's name was R.  I mean, I've stumbled upon some pretty bizarre names in my reading experience (dystopias, i c u) but this kinda took the cake.  However, once you start reading, the reason for this "name" is revealed. Quite simply?  He does not remember his name.  He knows it began with an R, and since one letter is better than being a nameless entity, that is what he calls himself.

The second problem was that I simply could not fathom the idea of a zombie main character, and more importantly, a zombie romance.  In my head, zombies were brainless, revolting creatures, creatures never seen as anything but monsters to run from.  The idea of being inside a zombie's head, and of this zombie having some sort of relationship with a human girl, was unfathomable.

Until I started reading.

The romance . . . was beautiful.  It was different and it was real and it was beautiful.  It was a girl with ideas and a zombie who wanted them to come true.  It was a girl fighting against her world and a boy fighting against his own nature.  It was two people with thoughts and flaws and emotions, with a relationship as complex as it was unbelievable, who genuinely cared about one another. Two people trying to change the world as much as they were trying to change themselves.

Don't go into this expecting a fast-paced, zombie thriller.  This book is small, yes, but leisurely in that way thoughtful books often are.  It's one of those books that'll keep you thinking for days after you turn the final page.

“There's no benchmark for how life's 'supposed' to happen. There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, it's up to you how you respond to it.” 


5 stars.

Cold Kiss

It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.

Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants—what she must do—is to bring Danny back.

But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.

Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her—and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.

But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought—even if it means breaking her heart all over again.

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I  would, but was still very let down by a few aspects of it.

The writing was lovely.  I'll say that right off the bat, because that was one of the things I really, really liked. You all know I'm a big fan of lovely writing.  It was lyrical and powerful but never strayed into over-written.  It drove the whole story and made it so much easier to connect to Wren and all the crazy things she was feeling.

But Wren herself I was a little iffy on.  Sometimes I loved her, sometimes I wanted to slap some sense into her.  I loved that Garvey didn't try and paint her as the perfect heroine,  how Wren acknowledged that she was selfish and reckless and just generally terrible at making decisions.  I loved that I could feel everything she was going through, all the pain and confusion and regret and loss all bundled into one small, powerful girl.  I loved the way the power was just sort of a part of her, and the way Aunt Mari had explained it; like electricity, and they simply knew how to tap into it.  

I didn't love how she swooned for the hot new guy as soon as he came on the scene, despite the fact that her dead boyfriend was still in her neighbor's garage.  I didn't love how she strung Gabriel along, using him but then freaking out at him for trying to help.  I didn't love how she asked the stereotypical heroine question about three times--"Why do you like me?"

You may notice that all my dislikes of her revolve around Gabriel. That's because my main problem with the book revolves around Gabriel.

I think this book could've been really, truly beautiful if he did not exist.  If it was not about sending Danny to heaven because a hot boi came along, but simply about Wren and Danny and their past and their present, about Wren coping with the loss of his death and the knowledge that he never really came back, about her reconnecting with her friends and her family and her life.  So, yeah, maybe the little teen fangirls thirsty for fresh blood (no pun intended) would've been disappointed by the lack of a supernatural hot guy.  But the genuine book lovers? The people who can appreciate a good story? No. Not at all. Not the slightest bit.  This book still had some depth to it, but not nearly the amount it could have had if Gabriel simply did not exist.

It's not that I hated Gabriel.  He was better than a lot of PNR guys that girls fantasize about.  But he was also the stereotypical hot, brooding, falls-for-the-girl-the-instant-he-sees-her even though she's "nothing special" love interest that we see far too often these days. He had his moments, but the two of them moved far, far too quickly, and I never felt their chemistry like I felt Wren and Danny's.

The flashbacks with Wren and Danny were lovely.  By the time the book is coming to a close, the reader has a very strong feel for Wren and Danny's relationship, and it was adorable and sweet and real.  I genuinely felt that she loved him and he loved her and her without him was like a puzzle missing a crucial piece.  The only thing I did not like was a quote at the very beginning of the book, where Wren talks about how her relationship with him became her entire life, and then how "that's the kind of love they write movies about."  This was not actually true--she didn't just shun her friends and family while she and Danny were in a relationship, we learn later.  But that is what the prologue said, and it really bothered me. Because no, that is not the kind of love they write movies about. That is not love at all. When one boy becomes more important to you than the family and friends you've known for your entire life, that is obsession, and should not be dressed up as anything else.

The only other thing that bothered me in this book was that the whole dad thing was never wrapped up.  I seriously respect Garvey for writing a stand-alone PNR, because these days that's almost unheard of. Most of 'em like to milk the cash cow for all its worth.  However, there wasn't any explanation as far as Wren's dad was concerned.  It's one thing to have an open ending and another to explain nothing whatsoever.

I debated between 3 and 4 stars for this one.  Settled with 3, but it's more of a 3.5.  It's a good read with good writing, just could've been a lot more powerful.

3 stars.

All These Things I've Done

In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Engrossing and suspenseful, All These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends both the familiar and the fantastic.

This is the first book I've given up on in a long time.

And some might think it strange. Because, looking at it objectively . . . is it better than Twilight? Is it better than Evermore? Is it better than Hush, Hush?

I think I'd have to say yes to all of those.  But the difference is, however terrible those books may be, the one thing they did do is keep me interested.  They kept me invested enough in the story that I wanted to know how it all turned out.  And that just did not happen with All These Things I've Done.

There are a few main reasons why I gave this up.

1. The writing.  It wasn't horrid writing, and there were a few moments when it shone, but the style really did not work for me.  From what I've gathered, it's Anya writing this whole account. I've read several books that worked that angle wonderfully. This did not.  The writing was awkward and distant, and the random interjections only annoyed me.  Also, little dialogue gems such as this didn't really help my opinion of this:

"His name's Goodwin but he goes by Win.  Isn't that OMG?"

Uhhh, yeah.

2. The characters. I didn't hate the main character, Anya. I really didn't. There were a few moments where I even liked her.  But most of the time, I just felt so removed from everything that was happening, and couldn't bring myself to care.  Also, certain characters (coughScarletandNattycough) annoyed the hell out of me.  They were flat, simple, and irritating, which is all the worse because I'm pretty certain we're supposed to love them. Win, the love interest, was . . . okay. He didn't upset me, but there was just no spark.  I felt no chemistry between him and Anya and couldn't understand why he was interested in her.  She hardly encouraged him.

3. The strong Christian presence.  This part is just my bias.  I tend to dislike books that have a strong religious presence, regardless of what the religion is.  Some Christians may absolutely love this aspect of the book. It just really didn't work for me.

4. Related to the last one: Anya being the "good Christian girl."  Whenever she would think bad thoughts, it would be all No, no, I can't think these things, because I am a good Christian girl.  Whenever the possibility of sex was presented to her it would be all No, no, I would never have sex, because I am a good Christian girl.  Now don't get me wrong--I have no problem with those who choose not to think "bad thoughts" about others, or who choose to abstain until marriage.  That's there prerogative.  What upset me was that these were painted as bad things, like being pure-minded and abstaining made you a saint and daring to think bad thoughts about someone who almost date-raped you or, gasp, having sex before marriage made you a terrible person.

This is not a horrible book.  This is really one of those cases where I just have to say that it was not for me.  Some of you may love it, or at least like it a lot more than  I did.  (Plus, you might just want that gorgeous cover. SO PRETTY.  And did I mention that the hard cover is patterned to look like chocolate?)  But personally, I could not make myself finish this.  

2 stars.