Listless Monday, Forever Young

Listless Monday was inspired by both Amanda at A Bookshelf Monstrosity's feature Books by Theme and Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf's Listed feature.  Be sure to check out their lists!

 

 

With the number of books out there now that are about creatures of some kind or another than happen to have a really long life, I thought it would be fun to gather as many as possible in one list.  This can be vampires or angels or faeries or werewolves or anything else that seems to persist forever or even just a really long time.

Forever Young

Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz 
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
Ever by Gail Carson Levine
Everlasting by Angie Frazier
Evermore by Alyson Noel
Evernight books by Claudia Gray
Fallen and Torment by Lauren Kate
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Hush, Hush and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
Lament and Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers
Vampire Academy books by Richelle Mead
Wicked Lovely books by Melissa Marr
Wings by Aprilynne Pike
Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

I'd love your suggestions!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in listless monday , lists , not a review

Labyrinth

There are very few female Urban Fantasy authors who are able to draw in male readers as Kat Richardson is able to. You see, she writes more like a guy than her female counterparts. For us, this is a good thing. Because we are guys. LABYRINTH marks the fifth entry into Richardson's Urban Fantasy series following the adventures of Harper Blaine.

Here is the thing with this novel: you shouldn't be reading it unless you have read the rest of the series. Guys like Jim Butcher and Simon R Green tell stories that have more enclosed story arcs. We don't recommend it, but you could read them out of order and still have a pretty good idea about the landscape of the story and series. Not so with LABYRINTH. It picks up right after the events in London from book 4, VANISHED. There are terms you won't know. There are people you won't know. There are relationships you won't know. Get our meaning? Don't read this novel unless you are already a readers of the series.

The plot of this novel revolves mostly around Harper attempting to free the imprisoned ghost of her father. Really, that's about it. There are other sub-plots--mostly dealing with vampire politics--but the focus of the story is on Harper trying to free her father's ghost while she evolves more fully into a being of great power.

First of all, we didn't quite like this novel as much as the rest of the series. While the plot was narrower, it didn't feel as tight, and the pacing was up-and-down. While reading this novel, we should have been feeling a deep sense of dread, paranoia, and worry. There are moments where those came through, but we felt the pacing undermined it. We questioned why this was so apparent, and came to a conclusion. LABYRINTH feels like a great novella with lots of filler to give it the length of a novel. If a majority of the wandering around the characters do was cut out, the pacing would flow better, and we would have a pretty tight novella. But see, there's no real place for a novella as this stage of the series, so a novel was required. It bothered us, but we could see why it was done.

Additionally, the relationship between Harper and her "geeky" boyfriend Quinton was a bit flat here. It is mentioned several times how "geeky" Quinton is, and we keep being told that a "geek" like Quinton would normally never get a hottie like Harper...but Quinton just seems like a heroic gadget-whiz in this novel. No real geek this time around. We would have liked a tad more "show" here instead of "tell."

If you are a fan of Kat Richardson and this series (like we are), none of this is going to bother you too much. The supernatural P.I. type stuff isn't as prevalent in LABYRINTH as it was in the earlier novels, and whether you like that or not is a matter of opinion. Personally, we like less vampire, and more ghosties. You may be different.

You are reading this series for the unique premise, the well-described action, its humor, and its ability appeal to either the male or female audience equally. For the most part, that will all be here in this fifth novel. This novel is noticeably used to tie off some small threads from the earlier parts of the series, and also to set up the next novel. It's one of those books. That is neither good, nor bad. Richardson's writing is sharp, her execution of different ideas is well done as always. We liked the novel for the smaller idea that was there, and for what it promises us for future assignments. If you're already a reader of the series, this book should be on your reading list.

If you haven't already, you should give this series a try. It isn't for everyone, but Kat is a great person, and a great author. Go pick up GREYWALKER and see if it does you some good.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Yeah, some. Usually Urban Fantasy has tons, but Richardson doesn't rely on profanity like other authors.
Violence: Not really. Lots of action, like usual, but hardly any bloody violence at all.
Sex: Nope.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books We Like , Kat Richardson , Urban Fantasy

Book Review: Snap by Carol Snow

Snap by Carol Snow
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: August 2009
ISBN: 0061452114
Source: Review copy provided by publisher

 

All Madison wanted was the spend the summer in Hawaii with her parents.  But, when that trip is cancelled so they can go on a cheap and boring vacation to a tiny beach town, Madison is angry and upset.  There seems to be nothing to do there, but take photos.  When those photos start showing people who were not there when she took the shots, she's starting to get worried.  Especially when they turn up dead.  Can she figure out what is going on before it's too late?

Things I Liked:
I was most intrigued with the way Madison changed over the course of the book.  She seemed a little bit stereotypical at the beginning and her transformation was expected, but still I enjoyed the journey.  I liked the interactions she had with her family and how each of them dealt differently with their changed circumstances.  I loved even more how she and her best friend from before don't give up on each other.  Even when things are so different and they don't live close by, they kept that going.  I find that the most satisfying part of the book.  I also really liked Duncan as a person.  He was the one I'd like to be friends with the most.  One other thing I thought was pretty unique was the way this book looked at people who suffered from the housing market drop.  Also, it didn't really try to hide the horrible effects it had on people who were so deeply in debt and living way beyond their means.  Definitely not something you get often in a young adult book.

Things I Didn't Like:
The paranormal camera aspect did nothing for me.  That almost seemed like a completely unnecessary device to keep the plot moving.  I thought the book's strengths lied more with the realistic portrayal of X and how she interacted with those around her, friends old and new, as well as her parents.  I would have left that whole story out (and it didn't show up very much until near the end either).  The ending wrapped up almost a little too neatly.  Not that she got everything she wanted, but things did work out so nicely for them, especially with a house, that it felt a little too unreal.  Something more realistic, like the trashy apartment complex, would have been better, I think.

Read-alikes:
The Mark by Jen Nadol
A little like Evermore by Alyson Noel

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a very few

mrg-factor: none
some kissing

v-factor: ->
some minor 

Overall rating: ***

What books do you think would do better without paranormal aspects?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 3 stars , paranormal , realistic fiction , review copy , Young Adult

Winners are the BEST!

The two winners in my Spaceheadz giveaway, each getting a copy of Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka and a Spaceheadz pencil are:

Kristen and Gayle

Congrats, ladies!  I'll be passing your info on to the publisher to send those gifts along.  Hope you enjoy a little alien humor!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in giveaway , not a review

BBAW Day 5: Future Treasures

This was a hard post to write.  Well, the second half anyway.  I'll admit I am terrible with making goals (and even worse at following through).  But, as far as things I love about BBAW, that isn't too hard.  I loved finding new blogs, and I love that the links will be there for longer than this week and I'll be able to find new blogs for months to come (I didn't visit nearly as many blogs as I'd like to).  I especially loved the Forgotten Treasures we told each other about.  I hope we all pick one of those up and read it, if only to find out what makes another person tick.  I hope someone somewhere picks up Precious Bane and finds a new friend in that book.  

And now, on to the hard part.  I may have cheated a little and looked at other people's blogs first for ideas.  But, that is another one of the benefits of BBAW - a whole truckload of ideas!  Here are three that I finally settled on:

1. Not reading so much and feeling so stressed about finishing books on time that I no longer enjoy reading.  This is actually something I've been feeling coming on for a few weeks.  I have to step back, remember why I love to read, and then find some books that will pull me out of the "I have to finish this by" funk.  

2. Write some more thoughtful reviews.  I notice that with the above problem, my reviews start to all sound the same and I use those cliche words over and over.  If I liked something, why did I like it?  If I didn't, why not?  This will take a little more time when writing reviews, but I think will totally improve the quality of them.  (At the same time, if I can't think of why or why not, I'm not going to bang my head against that review until I figure it out.  So, maybe only some of my reviews will improve! :)

3. Get a new project that I've been sitting on going.  I've been thinking about starting this new feature at my blog which I think will be a lot of fun, but I've been stalled on it.  It will actually require quite a bit of time at first, but I think once I get it going, it will not be as difficult.  I'd like to see the first post go up in a few weeks time at the latest.  I hope you check back and see if I actually accomplish this one.  

So, what are your blogging goals?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in bbaw , not a review

A Star Shall Fall

By now all you readers have probably figured you have us all figured out. You know what books we will like before you even read the review. More importantly, you know what books we will hate. We aren't going to argue much. We wear our taste in novels openly, and to be honest we have a good idea of whether a novel will be awesome/yucky before we even read it.

We receive quite a few ARCs every month. We sift through the tilting stacks of them and get excited when we see something from one of our favorite authors. Likewise we tend to feel a little nauseated when we see another "original tale of a human who falls in love with a deadly vampire." You see, some novels just don't interest us at all. Yet we read them. For you. Because we are inexplicably full of awesome.

Sometimes, a novel surprises the heck out of us.

A STAR SHALL FALL, by Marie Brennan, is an Alternate Historical Fantasy about London in the 1750's. With faeries. Uh huh. We enjoyed a novel with faeries.

Here's how the story goes. A while back, in 1666, there was a crazy fire in London. It gutted nearly the entire city. This is historic fact. What Brennan does is put a fantastical explanation to the historic event. Psycho dragon. Yup. He got hungry and angry and nearly killed everyone and everything in London. Luckily, the fae managed to exile the dragon into a comet that was passing by a bit (1682 after they had temporarily imprisoned the dragon) after the devastating fire. Problem there? It was Haley's Comet. You know, the one that comes by every back every 75 to 76 years? This is the part where all the fae realize how screwed they are. The premise alone made us sit back and say, "Huh. That is way cool."

It wasn't until we were partly through the first bit of the novel that we realized this was the third book in a series. It was a bit of a bummer, but really we didn't feel lost at all. Brennan does SUCH a great job with the clarity of her writing that we picked up meanings, and back stories of characters with ease. Our main PoVs are the Fae Queen of the Onyx Court, Lune. Apparently she has been a character throughout the entire series. Lune wasn't the main focus of the novel, but he characterization was fantastic. You could see the pain in her past, and her desire to do anything to protect her Court, and the humans in London. Irrith is another of the fae PoVs. Her fascination with all things human is described with such an alien way of thinking, but also in a very endearing way. Our main PoV belongs to a human Lord named Galen. He has some issues. In love with Lune. Bedding Irrith. Betrothed to another human. Oh, and resolving the whole "dragon coming to eat everyone" thing has been placed on his shoulders.

That, dear readers, is how you introduce conflict.

The thing about this novel is that it would have been easy for Brennan to focus on the event of the dragon returning, and then ignore any real character development. Brennan doesn't do this. A STAR SHALL FALL is a character drama. It is about how all these wonderful characters deal with the dragon's return, a potential coup of the Onyx Court, and love. This story is all about character development, and we loved it.

Before we go any further, we should mention that this book most definitely isn't for everyone. If all you read is action novels, you won't find that type of content here--though when we do get action in A STAR SHALL FALL, it is extremely well described. Brennan's novel is slow paced. There is a lot of people standing around talking about possible solutions for the various problems present. In a way, it feels a little like if Brandon Sanderson had written Historical Fantasy. We mean early Brandon Sanderson. ELANTRIS. You know, where people stood around and chatted for the majority of the novel. For us, in this particular case, it was a good thing. Will it work for you? Hopefully. But we realize that it just may be too slow for some people.

We really don't have many issues with A STAR SHALL FALL. It was just so refreshing to read. It didn't get bogged down in "Let me tell you all our history." No, she seamlessly integrates the story into the time period, and into the actual events in history. Our personal opinions? This is how Alternate Historical Fantasy should be done.

A STAR SHALL FALL is a terrific novel. It stands solidly on its own two feet despite being the third novel in a series. You should be reading this novel. Seriously, like, right now. If you are reading this review, it will take you a whole five minutes to order this book from Amazon. While you are there, do what we are about to do: pick up copies of the other two novels in the series. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME and IN ASHES LIE. If they are even half as fantastic as A STAR SHALL FALL, they will be excellent reads indeed.

Marie Brennan: Thank you for giving us one of the surprises of the year so far. If we were standing next to you, we would totally be giving you high-fives.

Recommended Age: 14 and up.
Language: We can count on one hand how many times characters swore.
Violence: Not a ton, but there are some decently shocking scenes. Extremely well done when included.
Sex: Mentioned tactfully, but never shown.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books We Like , Fantasy , Marie Brennan

Book Review Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart

Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Publication date: August 2010
ISBN: 9781606840801
Source: ARC provided by publicist

 

During the World's Fair in Philadelphia in 1876, Katherine must come to terms with the loss of her twin sister Anna.  She struggles to understand why Anna is gone and her part in the loss of her sister.  Surrounded by the people who came to Philadelphia for the fair and by cultures from around the world represented there, we get a very individual and human story of one young woman remembering the times she had with Anna and deciding if she wants to live life without her. 

Things I Liked:
Lovely, lovely writing.  This is my second taste of Beth Kephart, and I have to admit she has a way with words.  The writing isn't what you'd call flowery, showy or gripping, but it has a quiet power that draws you into the heart and soul of her characters.  I loved the setting, a time and place that I haven't read a lot about.  But, I especially loved Anna and Katherine.  They are what make this story tick.  The memories of the heartbreak and joy that both come from the same relationship.  A touching story.  Some lovely quotes:

The bird has gone off on some tune.  Short, unsustained notes - more like questions than songs.  The rustling of its feathers is like the sound of a hand cupped to an ear - that space between the hand and the ear, where the heartbeat echoes. p 38-39 of ARC

High above is the crystal chandelier, and Anna won't take her eyes off it; in Anna's eyes it shines.  It's like the icicles that form on the edge of a roof when the sun gets trapped inside - a cascade of ice and sun. 
"Like sitting inside a jewelry box," Anna whispers, and Katherine nods. p 158 of ARC

Things I Didn't Like:
I found that I was less interested in the present parts of the story, at least initially.  I loved far more the flashbacks Katherine experiences, her memories of Anna.  When she was in the present, things were so much more foggy.  I think that might have been intentional, since she was trying to deal with the guilt and sorrow and it was clouding her sight.  However, I got confused and even a bit bored with those parts.  But, taken as a whole, I really enjoyed this book!

Read-alikes:
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none
that I recall...

mrg-factor: X
a very little implied

v-factor: ->
some scary situations, nothing graphically violent

Overall rating: ****

The Hidden Treasures idea for a BBAW post is perfect for this review.  I know Kephart's books have been under the radar for many, though the efforts of Amy from My Friend Amy and Nicole from Linus' Blanket have helped a lot. I know they are the reasons I picked up my first Kephart and why I agreed to read this one as well. She could certainly use more attention, and I think deserves it, if only for the sheer beauty of her writing!

And I would be remiss in my Hidden Treasure duties if I didn't also mention an absolute favorite classic book that I think I have yet to meet a book blogger who's read it! This beautiful book is Precious Bane by Mary Webb, which I posted a review of a long time ago. This book impacted me so much when I read it, possibly because it was a gift from my sister-in-law during a time when I was recovering from a (seemingly) broken heart. I was definitely mopey, sad, and feeling ugly. This book reminded me what beauty is and to look for it in everyone. If you can get through the colloquial language of the book (which is probably the hardest thing people find when reading it), then it is bright and sparkling and so lovely. If you have the time and patience, do try it and then come back and let's talk about it. Ok, end of raving.

What is your Hidden Treasure?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 4 stars , bbaw , Historical Fiction , review copy , Young Adult