Book Review: Paper Valentine

I did it! I'm so very proud of myself. I read one of my books on my Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Debuts 2013 and Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Read in 2013 lists. 

And now, now I'm going to review it.

Why I do book reviews, I really have no idea. They aren't really anything in-depth. If I was an outsider reading it, I'm not sure it would sway me one way or the other to read the actual book... but here I go anyway.

So, Paper Valentine. I had pretty high hopes for it. It promised super natural elements (Hannah the main character is being haunted by her dead best friend), romance, and suspense (someone is going around killing girls - of course our narrator is going to get mixed up in it). 

Buuuut, I found this book oddly disappointing. The little blurb on the book jacket made it sound so fun. There was even an intense heat wave and some weird disease going around killing birds -- that could totally be awesome if it lead back into the overall plot. But it didn't. So, I feel like I was set up to be disappointed. I mean, why put that in the hook if it really doesn't relate back to the plot at all? Sure, it sets the scene. But it's not like the weather is influencing the killer. 

And then there's Hannah's best friend that's a ghost. I mean, it was weird, and the relationship that the two of them had (when Lillian was alive) was pretty complicated, but Lillian's death doesn't really relate back to the killer at all. (Not much of a spoiler - you find out pretty early on what happened to her). And, I don't know, that just rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, the way that she died, and her death, are important to the development of Hannah's character, but not the driving force behind her growth. Again, I felt like I was set up a bit.

What I did really like about this book though was how it was written. The main reason that I kept reading it was to observe the character dynamics (they are very similar to the ones I'm trying to produce in my thesis/novel) and just the flow of her writing. It was pretty amazing, in describing lover boy Finny Boone's hair we get a memory of the day he first died it that also correspondes with a big moment in Hannah's life. Also, in this memory, we get character insight into more than one main character. So, I found the way that she interwove her backstory and details and whatnot all together pretty fascinating. 

Also, she did a really great job of incorporating all the senses in her scenes. Another thing that I'm trying to work on - thus I noticed it. She did it so well, that I think, only if you were looking for it, you would notice that in some cases she weaves all 5 senses onto one page without throwing it in your face. 

So... yes, that was a bit better than I've given before... I think. Anyway, I don't think I would recommend this book. I mean, the aspects that I enjoyed in it were all craft related and mostly things I wanted to do better that she did well. If I hadn't been looking for those things and found them in this book, I would've returned it to the library before I finished it. Just saying. 

However, this is all a matter of personal taste. Lot's of people on GoodReads loved it - so you can check out reviews there, but this wasn't a favorite of mine. You win some, you loose some.

BUT! Please, if you've read the book and disagree or agree let me know. Or, you know, other thoughts are welcome. Leave a comment and if you hit me up with a link to you're blog I'll try and comment back. 

Book Review: The Raven Boys

 This is the first book I have ever read by Maggie Stiefvatier and I'm kind of beating myself up thinking, "Why? Why haven't you read anything from her before?" I have no answer to that...

But, this post is all about her newest book, The Raven Boys. (Click the link to go to the book's webpage)

Holy crap. I loved it.

Usually I gobble books up. I let myself get lost in them and the world could be ending around me, and I wouldn't notice. 

I didn't let that happen with this book. Like The Night Circus, I wanted to savor this book. But not just that. I didn't want it to end. I told my husband last night, "I'm so conflicted. I don't want to keep reading, because I don't want the book to end. BUT I DO want to keep reading because I want to know what happens next." To which he replied, "Well, you don't have to read anymore tonight. Let's watch a movie."

Why I loved this book:

• First and foremost, the characters. They just feel so real. So, easy to relate to. One of the things I love most about John Green is his ability to write characters that I feel I could be friends with. Maggie has done the same thing in this book. I think one of the hallmarks of a fantastic writer is that the characters in the books become more than imagined people, they become your friends in a weird way. 
• The magic. The magic in this book comes to the reader slowly. It isn't like "BAM!" There are little hints and then more and more come until it's totally okay if otherworldly things start happening. I mean, the characters still react believably, but Maggie does an awesome job at suspending the disbelief of the reader. 

There are so many more reasons why I loved this book (and can't wait for the next in the cycle - there's supposed to be four books total), but I can't tell you any of them without spoiling the book for you. Therefore, you must read.

Things I didn't like about the book:

• Every so often (and this happens with every writer) I come across a bit of dialogue that I don't understand. I sit there and reread it. Reread the paragraph and try and puzzle it out. Now, that doesn't happen very often in this book. Really, to me it was just the last line of the book. I'm not sure what was meant by it and felt a tiny bit cheated.
• Also, when the main characters discover something of importance regarding one of their teachers at school (I don't think this is a spoiler...) they seem to accept it a bit too easily for me. Just saying.

But that's it. I kinda adore this book and would seriously start rereading it right now if there wasn't a small colony of unread books on my bookshelf. 

I highly recommend this book. And if you want to purchase a hard copy of it go here. It's an independent bookstore that works closely with Maggie. So much so that you can order signed copies of her books for the same price that you would pay at Barnes and Nobel or Amazon. SIGNED COPY! And, you'd be supporting an independent bookstore. So, why would you not get it from there?

Lastly, here is the book trailer that Maggie made herself. That's right. She did the art. She did the music. She pretty much did it all. She's pretty much some kind of writing superhero... Anyway, to finish up this post, I'm going to go on record and say that she has now filled out my TOP FIVE FAVORITE AUTHORS - and I plan on reading everything she's ever written.

   

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

My friend LHughes practically forced me to read this book she loved it so much. Not that I wouldn't have read it on my own (eventually), but she sped the process up. While we were at school, she drove me to the bookstore, marched me in, and bought the paperback version of Daughter of Smoke and Bone before shoving it into my hands.

It wasn't that I didn't want to read it right away, I did, but I was in the middle of The Night Circus and couldn't put that down.

Well, I finally read this book.

And I am so glad that I did! It was so beautifully written. Her description is so vivid and unique. I almost wanted to go through as I was reading and take notes on the way she described things in new ways so that I could use it in my own writing. Not like, copy and paste what she said, but hopefully be influenced by it.

The novel takes place, mostly, in Prague. And while it's an amazing setting and Taylor uses it well, it's not overwhelming. I am lucky enough to have spent some time in Prague (just a few days) and I think that she does a fantastic job of setting the piece in a foreign city, but not making the reader feel left out if they've never been there themselves.

Okay, so what is it about? I can't tell you too much without spoiling the entire book, but I will tell you what I can. Karou is the main character of the novel. She is a mystery even to her self. She has been raised by a (for lack of a better phrase) family of monsters, but has no real knowledge of where she comes from. Who her parents are. Or where she got these unique eye tattoos on the palm of her hands. She exists between two words, the word of her monsters shop where they trade wishes for teeth, and the human world of Prague. Suddenly, black handprints are burned into doors all over the world, and Karou's family is threatened.

Taylor does an amazing job of world building here. Not only does she make the places in the human world so real and vibrant I'm convinced that she's spent many a vacation in both Prague and Morocco (a place where she runs errands for Brimstone, her foster father/ Wishmonger) AND this "Elsewhere" she's created.

So there was only two things that bothered me.

1.  And this would totally ruin everything for you so I'll be vague, is when you discover who Karou really is. I felt it was just a bit easy at first. Not the discovery, but who she is. 
2.  Sometimes Taylor's sentence structure bothered me. I'm not usually one that pay attention to that sort of thing, but after about 2/3s of the book it was really popping out at me. She has this habit of doing this: Original thought, side note on something that pertains to the first part of the sentence but goes on for a bit, return to original thought. The only reason this bothered me was that I found myself forgetting how the sentence started and had to go back and reread the first half to figure out what the last bit what saying. 

Now, here's the fun part. The sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight, comes out November 6th. So you totally have time to get out there and buy Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read it. Which you should do. Don't trust me? Check out LHughes' review here.  

Book Review: The Night Circus

I fell in love with this book. If you are looking for something to read go out and buy this book. Right now.

Okay, maybe not right now, finish reading my blog post and then go and get it. Or download it.

I found this book to be such a delight. There are some books, The Hunger Games series comes to mind, where you can't put the book down. You gobble the books up one after another. You would rather read than sleep. It consumes you. Some people think that that talent of making the reader turn the page again and again is a quality of a great writer. And it is. As a writer you want the reader to keep going. But I don't think that that makes a good book. You want the readers to savor the book as well.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a book worth savoring. Morgenstern has created a world that is so real and vibrant that you just want the circus to be real. If you are of the Harry Potter persuasion, it's like that desire to open your mailbox one day and find your letter from Hogwarts. You want to wander through the black and white striped tents and experience it all.

I would recommend this book for older YA, adult readers, and adult readers that enjoy YA. The main characters are in their upper teens and early twenties. The romance is intense and tastefully done. Yes, there is a sex scene, but if you ask me Breaking Dawn is more pornographic than this.

One thing that I didn't really like about this book was how each chapter started with a date and a place. Usually I don't mind these place markers in books, and they are needed  in this book as well, but it got me too focused on the year and how old the characters are. So, if you do go read this book (which you need to) just be aware of the two different timelines. There is the one with Marco and Celia and then there is Bailey and his plot line. Just be aware to keep those two plot lines straight and the other dates don't really matter.


So all in all. This is a MUST READ! Highly recommend! So, why are you just sitting there? Go! BUY IT NOW! 

Book Review! Black Heart

It's here. Black Heart. Well, it's been here actually, but I just finished reading it. The final book in the Curse Worker series by Holly Black (check out the series webpage by clicking the link). If you haven't read this series, but are familiair with Black's other work (the modern faerie tales and The Spiderwick Chronicles) this is in a different vein. Yes, there it magic. But there aren't any faeries.


This series is still dark and grungy, like the modern faerie tales (Tithe, Valiant and Ironside) but this series focuses on crime families and how certain people are workers.


What's a worker? It's someone who is gifted with a different kind of magic. There are emotion, luck, physical, memory, dream, death and transformation workers. With a touch of a hand against bare skin one of these people can manipulate you in various ways.


Okay, I'm going to stop there with all the background information. I'm not trying to review the entire series, just the last book. However, I will give my feelings on the previous two books. White Cat, the first book, I loved it. It's a retelling of a not-so-well-known fairy tale by the same name. I thought that the retelling was so awesome and imaginative. Then Red Glove, the second book, kind of let me down. It was good, but I didn't love it. This last book however, made the series.


I remember starting this book thinking that there's no way that this book will have both a satisfactory ending and end happy. I won't give anything away, but I was wrong. Sure, there are some loose strings at the end of the book, but life never ties up in a happy little bow so why should a book?


I love the narrator, Cassel Sharpe. He is so kind, clever, and criminal. He's been raised in a family of criminals and con artists. He's such a strong character. He always wants to do the right thing, but that tends to be the illegal thing. He's stuck between choosing his family or the feds. His brother's have screwed him over time and time again, but they are family. Also, he's in love the the head of a crime family's daughter. What's a poor boy to do? Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? In the course of this book Cassel discovers that life isn't as black and white as he thought it was. There's a lot more grey area. 


I also love all of the crime family stuff that Black has worked into this book. It's obvious that she did a lot of research (or you know, was raised in a crime family but I'm pretty sure it's just research). However, the great thing is that you don't get lots of info dumps. She weaves the research in so it really seems like its second nature.


One thing I didn't like about this book was that there was a secondary plot involving a student at Cassel's school and blackmail. It just seemed a bit unnecessary and while it didn't really take away from the overall plot, I felt that it didn't really enhance it.  


I feel as if this book got me to love this series again. If you like dark magic, love, cons, and moral dilemmas. I would totally recommend this book. 

Book Review: Insurgent

So, while I was on vacation, Insurgent the sequel to Veronica Roth's Divergent hit the virtual and physical bookshelves. I made the mistake of downloading it on my iPad to read (click on her name to go to her webpage and get all the news first - I'll also be adding her to my blog roll!)


Why was this a mistake? Because I was on vacation at the beach. I'm not going to take my iPad down to the beach.

I wound of devouring Insurgent between meals, while the TV was on, and while others took showers. So, pretty much any spare moment I was inside, I was glued to this book.


After reading Divergent I said that the only super huge issue I'd have with the series was if Roth never really explored what was beyond the fence that surrounds this dystopian Chicago. Did she tell us in this book? Nope. But, I think she did one better; she gave us some hints about the history of how the factions came to be.


I really loved this book. Now, I feel like if I'm really going to give it a critical reading I'd need to go back and read it again. Usually on my first read through of books I'm paying attention to the plot (and if I'm not then I start paying attention to why I'm not hooked).


For the most part I think that the strongest aspect of this book is the characterization. Tris, the narrator and main character, is put in some really touch situations and I think she deals with them to the best of her ability aka her characterization is strong and consistant.


One thing that I did notice was that there was one bit (involving her brother) that seemed a bit cliche/ predictable. However, having said that, since I was so caught up in the book, I didn't see it coming. Once it did though I was kinda like, "Well, of course that was going to happen..."


Now, one of my blogger friends wasn't thrilled with the way the book ended (dropping this huge plot twist at the very end) but I disagree. I think it was annoying, yes, because I wanted to keep reading. But isn't that the whole point? Keep the reader wanting more. Make them crave that final book? I feel like the Huger Games dropped a pretty huge plot twist at the end of the second one. But you should check out what my buddy said for yourself here.


Here's a little book trailer. Enjoy!

Combo Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars and Going Bovine

Alright, so I read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Libba Bray's Going Bovine (actually I read Going Bovine back in January but never got my butt in gear enough to write a review) and I'm now going to do a review and compare/contrast thing here.

I originally thought that since both books feature teenaged narrators who both have fatal diseases, the books might have similar or totally different endings. Well, that's like comparing Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings because they're both third person and fantasy. Kind of a silly thought on my part.

Both of these books are amazingly well written. Bray and Green both excel at humor and at being serious. I mean, the books are about death. Or, being confronted with one's own mortality and learning to live. 

Yes, both main characters Hazel, from Stars, and  Cameron, from Bovine, are teenagers who don't make the most of life. Hazel lets herself get stuck in a rut or limited existence partially because she's dying of lung caner (and thus requires being hooked up to oxygen tanks) and partially because she's depressed and has been away from her peers for three years. The only social interactions she gets are at the community college she attends three times a week, and a support group where all the kids have cancer. It's easy to see how it would be hard to really embrace life to the fullest in that kind of situation. 

Cameron on the other hand doesn't really have a good reason for being a moody loner teenager. For Cameron, it is the disease that gives him life.

Also, I really admire the fact that both narratives are written through the voice of a teenager that is the opposite gender of the writer. I mean, John Green has never been a female teenager (and I have therefore I can be a good judge on the matter), but he pretty much nails the voice in my mind. Now, I've never been a male teenager, and neither has Libba Bray as far as I know, but she as well does an extremely convincing job. 

And that's where the similarities end. Well, they also both have characters who love video games, but I'm not going to linger on that.

So brief reviews on both books...

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

genre: magical realism 

overview: Cameron contracts mad cow disease and teams up with a dwarf, a garden gnome, and an angel to travel cross-country and find a cure while trying to defeat an evil wizard.

I loved loved loved this book. It has been awhile since I read it, but the strengths of it still stick out in my mind. Bray does an amazing job with details. She takes these minor details from before Cameron gets sick and then weaves them into the amazing adventure he has. Like (and I don't consider this a spoiler alert) watch out for snow globes. 

Also, mad cow is not something that you get better from. It's not something you can live with. No. The disease kills you. So you would think the ending of the book would be horribly sad and make you cry for days. And while there are sad parts to it, the book ends on a hopeful note. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

genre: realistic fiction (but also fantasy in the way that only falling in love for the first time can be)

overview: Hazel has lung cancer and is terminal. She is sleep walking through life, but meeting Augustus Waters gives her a new reason to get out of bed in the morning. 

I adore John Green. He writes characters that I could've been friends with in high school. They just feel like real people. And not just the kids - the parents too. I feel like I'm most like Hazel's mom in this book (she celebrates every holiday. Such as arbor day. It's not goofy. Her child is dying of cancer and the mom wants to make the best of it - who can blame her?)  Also, I'm kind-a in love with the fact that the two main characters (Hazel and Gus') first real conversation revolves around the correct use of the word "literally." You know how that can be a pet peeve of mine.

Does this book end sadly? Yes. The main characters have cancer. To be fair (to them and the world) there is only one way for this book to end. But, is it a book about kids who have cancer? I'd say no. The characters are not defined by their disease. It is a book about kids who are living, not dying.

Here's a video from John Green talking about the novel. 

  

So... where did I think the book was lacking? I feel like the character of Gus (Augustus) at some points is a bit too awesome and a little unrealistic. A super hot guy who is concerned about the metaphor of having an unlit cigarette... and he's 17. So maybe not totally unrealistic but very rare.

But it is totally worth reading. So read it!

Abandon Book Review

So I finished Abandon by Meg Cabot.

Really, I finished it several days ago, but I had to let things simmer for a bit.

I wanted to love Abandon, I really did. And for the most part, there wasn't much keeping me from loving it. The novel is part one in a trilogy (or a series but I'm pretty sure a trilogy...) and it does a fantastic job of getting me to crave more. It's not so much a retelling of the Persephone myth (you know the one: she gets stolen away but Hades into the Underworld and her Mom has to come and save her. But wait! Her lovely daughter ate three seeds and has to spend three months in the Underworld every year...thus we get Winter) but it is heavily influenced by it.

Pierce is our narrator. She is in high school, a senior, and is starting at a new school. Only, Pierce comes with a good bit of baggage. She died. And then came back to life. And while she was dead she kinda formed a bond with this guy named John, who seems to be in charge of the Underworld. She is drawn to him like a moth to a flame (and it's so much better than Twilight in the whole forbidden love thing - like really, I hate to even mention Twilight but yeah...) but he's somehow intimately involved with death so that tends to send up some red flags for most girls. Even the ones who have died.

And I feel like if I tell you too much more I'll ruin something that Cabot excels at. She is amazing at creating suspense. Of getting you to turn the page. Of going on to the next chapter. She gives you just enough to keep you sane, and then moves on. It's very artful. Like better than Lost because we actually get answers.

So good things: I like that Cabot has taken an awesome greek myth and given it new life. Also, I love Pierce. She seems so real. She makes mistakes and knows she's doing it, but hell, she's a teenager. It's what they do. And the attraction between her and John is electric.

Okay... so here's what keeps me from totally LOVING the book.

I'm not sure how many of you have read Avalon High (a moden day "retelling" of the Arthurian legend myth where Ellie/Elaine is the reincarnation of the Lady of Shallot and must keep the reincarnations of Lancelot and Gwen from hooking up and destroying the Arthur of our age), another book by Cabot, which I totally love (but I'm not as big a fan of the graphic novel/manga and I refuse to watch the Disney Chanel movie version of it...they made too many changes). So, as I was reading Abandon I started to notice something. Abandon and Avalon High are freakishly similar. By the end of Abandon it was almost disappointing and annoying how much it was like Avalon High. Here is all the ways that I noted that the two novels are similar...

1. Both narrators are girls who have names very close to the characters that they are the "new version" of. Pierce --> Persephone and Elaine/Ellie --> Elaine of Astolat 
2. In a way, both girls are caught up in a destiny that they aren't really sure they want to be in
3. "Retelling" of myth/legend: Greek and Arthurian
4. Older man who at first seems to be a threat of some kind, but turns out to be a guide. Oh yeah, and he's also a member of a "secret society" Abandon: Richard Smith and Avalon High: Mr. Morton
5. Pool plays a noticeable role. Pierce drowns in a pool while Ellie likes to flot in hers
6. Magical object that assist the heroine in some way, shape, or form... Pierce has a necklace and Ellie gives Will (her Arthur) a sword that saves them all
7. Both Ellie and Pierce are the new girl in town. Pierce has to leave her old school after the "incident" (to get you interested the "incident" does not refer to her death/coming back to life) and Ellie follows her parents who are on a sabbatical
8. Drawn to guy but knows it's a bad idea: Pierce --> he's involved with death/is dead and Ellie --> he has a girlfriend
9. AND finally! Both stories' climax during an intense (notable) storm

Really, I'm not making up how alike the two are. It really bummed me out in a way. I mean, at first I thought it was a coincidence how alike they were... but then the similarities just kept coming. I will say this though. Cabot actually has some "on screen" deaths in this book compared to Avalon High (where the deaths were just part of the back story).

So, do I recommend this book? Yes! While it is SUPER similar to her other book that I love, it's still fantastically written and totally worth the read. Besides, if you haven't read Avalon High (even though I really recommend that books as well) then really, there's no problem.

 

Welcome to Bordertown: Book Review!

So, you all disappoint me (but only a little bit). I know you are reading my blog, but it makes me sad that you all don't comment. Not really. But, I can't be too sad, at least your reading :-)

Okay, moving on to the read point of the post.

I finally finished the Welcome to Bordertown Anthology.

Why did it take me so long to read it? Because when I was in the middle of reading it I went to school, got married, and then went on my honeymoon. So, I have no had time to finish it and think about it.

To comment on my previous post, what do I think about anthologies, I still don't know. I think I might approach anthologies in a way that just doesn't suit my reading style. They are not like regular novels, reading them from cover to cover isn't the same experience.

Having said all that let me launch into the review, but keep all of that in mind.

I think this anthology might have a bit of something for every fantasy lover: faeries (but really they are elves, and really they prefer to be called Truebloods), vampires (kinda), a werewolf (well, not really, he's just cursed to look like a wolf), and humans.

So, what's the concept of the book? Well see, Bordertown was this idea that Terri Windling was asked to come up with in the 80s. Back then fantasy was pretty much just epic stuff (like Lord of the Rings) and there wasn't much else. (Terri does a much better job of explaining the birth of Bordertown in her introduction to the book -- this is just the watered down version). What Terri did was invent a place where the World and the Realm ("fairyland" meet up together) and it's a place where magic and electricity don't always work, where there are Trueblood gangs, and where the city is just as hard and as nitty gritty as any city in the World. But still, there's magic to it. So, it's been 13 years since anything on Bordertown came out -- and now, original Bordertown writers, and those writers who grew up reading Bordertown books, have teamed up and brought you this awesome anthology. For people like me, who totally missed Bordertown when it first came out (I wasn't really at the right maturity level), this book is more than awesome. It's like a doorway that's been opened. It's as if we have been finally let in.

The stories that bookend the anthology are probably my two favorite. They're the ones that stand out the most in my memory. The frist story, by Ellen Kushner and Terri Windling (two of the orginial Bordertown writers), really sets the stage for the rest of the stories. See, the Way to Bordertown has been blocked for thirteen years (this correlates to the last time something about Bordertown was published) but to the people in Bordertown, it's only been thirteen days. So, in the first story "Welcome to Bordertown" Jim decides to go and find his sister Tish who has been missing for 13 years, but a postcard that she had sent when she fist arrived to Bordertown shows up and sets things in motion for Jim. (I don't want to summarize the story because if you read it that'll take the fun away -- I think the most important aspects to this story is that it sets up the rest of the anthology beautifully and draws the reader in).

The last story, "A Tangle of Green Men", by Charles de Lint, is perfect as a final story. By the time I got to it, I was a bit bored with the same format of the other stories. They all seemed to focus on the same thing: I just got to Bordertown, I just met someone that got to Bordertown and should help them, etc... This story (like the first one) starts with a main character out in the World, looking to go to Bordertown, not for themselves really, but to find someone else.

The poems in the anthology are all so different, and I'm not really a poetry person... but my favorite was Jane Yolen's "Night Song for a Halfie" it's written to the same pattern/beat as "Mis Marry Mack". Awesome. And, there's even a short graphic novel/short story "Fair Trade."

Okay, so this might not have been an in-depth, ground-shaking, earth-moving review. But it's what I thought about it -- Like I said, I think that I might have been able to do more if I had read it by just picking random stories in a random order instead of doing it cover to cover.

So, should you read this book? Yes. If you have ANY intrest in urban fantasy I think that this is a must read. And then, go to the library and check out all the other books and read them too. I know that's my plan.