Books and Sensibility

We're an Open Book

Book Reviews

Book Review : The Unnaturalist by Tiffany Trent

     6 Comments

  • Release Date: August 14th 2012
  • Pages: 305
  • Genre: Fantasy/Steampunk
  • Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers

Synopsis: Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world

I’ve been buzzing about this book since I went to a steampunk event with Tiffany Trent back in April. Naturally, when I saw this book tour on Southern Book Bloggers I couldn’t resist the opportunity to participate.

The Unnaturalist just happens to be the third book I’ve started reading that falls into this genre of  part steampunk part magic. The other two books being The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kitteredge and Skylark by Meagan Spooner. In these novels, possessing magic is considered taboo and evil ; science order are upheld and rule the land. Each of these books handles the genre differently and The Unnaturalists  takes a more historical alternate universe approach.

…

Read this Post

Book Review : Origin by Jessica Khoury

     Leave a Comment

 

  • Publication Date: September 4th 2012
  • Pages: 393
  • Genre: Science Fiction 
  • Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Going into Origin I was excited for one big reason; this is a stand-alone novel. Since I started blogging the only non-contemporary stand-alone novel I’ve read is Entwined by Heather Dixon and that was a while ago.

When we are first introduced to the Pia, the immortal girl raised and created by scientist, I couldn’t help getting anxious. I was excited to see how this girl’s unusual story could be told in a single book format. It’s a different experience reading a book knowing there is only one chance to meet and grow with the characters and Origin holds up pretty well.

 Pia’s world is confined to Little Cam, a secret research compound hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Pia is the first of her kind, an immortal race whose origin (title drop !) is found in the secrets and stories of the elysia flower. When an Ai’oan boy, Eio, from the outside, finds a way to free her from her caged in life, Pia learns the truth about her destiny and the life she thought was hers.

The novel does a good job of crafting this stoic and rational world of the Little Cam compound and how it contrasts with the chaotic and energetic lives of the Ai’oa tribe.  Usually, claustrophobic settings don’t work for me but there was so much description and intricacy to this jungle setting that I didn’t notice how little movement there is.

I was mostly drawn to the supporting characters because they have the most stakes in the plot, even more so than Pia. They have immediate sacrifices, hopes, and aspirations that rely on Pia creating the next generation of immortals. Due to the nature of Pia’s condition (being immortal) at times hard to relate to her because there is no immediacy. This concept is explored in the novel by Pia and is one of the reasons a contrast like Eio is necessary to propel her story forward.

It’s also worth noting that this novel is based entirely on the Science Fiction genre. It is based on the question of”what if” you could live forever. It stands out because it doesn’t focus on society or a big brother like in most Speculative and Dystopians

Origin is a refreshing change to the current YA landscape and I certainly hope it starts a trend of more stand-a-lones. This novel is perfect for those suffering from series fatigue and looking for a science fiction novel with a twist of romance.

Book Trailer

 

Amazon | Indiebound |Barnes and Noble

Book Review: Carnival of Secrets by Melissa Marr

     8 Comments

 

 

  • Release Date: September 4th 2012
  • Pages: 306 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures–if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.
All Mallory knows of The City is that her father–and every other witch there–fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it’s only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls

So, remember those articles where moral guardians condemned some YA novels for being too dark ? Well, this probably would have been one of the books they targeted.

Carnival of Secrets is a gritty,violent, and vaguely sex obsessed fantasy novel from best-selling author Melissa Marr


In The City, daimons live in a strict Caste system ruled by their leader, Marchosias. At the center of The City is the Carnival of Souls, a marketplace where  one goes to trade money for favors from the black masked assassins or red masked prostitutes among other things.

The only way out of the Caste you were born into is to enter Marchosias Competition and compete in a series of fights to the death to earn a spot in the ruling class.

Kaleb is a cur, a member of the lowest caste and winning the competition is his only way at a life of more than assassin or prostitute. He believes his path to victory is clear until he crosses paths with Aya, the first ruling class girl to enter The Competition and Mallory, Marchosia’s only child who lives hidden in the human world unaware of her lineage. 

…

Read this Post

Audio Book Review: Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

     2 Comments

  • Release Date: March 24th 2009
  • Pages: 217
  • Audiobook Length: 5 hours 23 minutes
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: Simon Pulse

Synopsis: Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows she’s got them all beat. Her dad made a fortune showcasing photos of pretty girls and his party lifestyle all over the Internet, and her mom was once one of her dad’s girlfriends and is now the star of her own website. After getting the wrong kind of attention for way too long, Hannah has mastered the art of staying under the radar…and that’s just how she likes it.

And you think you have parent issues.

Something, Maybe is the story of Hannah, a girl who wants nothing more than to go through life and high school unnoticed. Well, except by her hipster co-worker Josh. Anonymity isn’t easy for Hannah as her estranged senior citizen father is the eccentric owner of a popular softcore porn website and her mother is a former model who talks to a camera in lingerie for a living. When Hannah’s Dad tries to bring her back into his life nothing is ever the same. Hannah learns about trust and discovering what love truly is

I really enjoyed this story, it’s a  light, romantic coming of age teen story and it’s short at just over 200 pages. I love Scott’s ability to tell a complete story in only a few pages. Something about Scott’s writing is so honest and feels genuine.

The audiobook is narrated by Ellen Grafton, and I loved her voice for Hannah. It has this great youthful quality, I can’t put my finger on who she sounds like it’s kind of like Ellen Page. She does great male voices as well.

My favorite part of this story had to be Hannah’s crush on Josh because from page one I think everyone knows he is a pretentious idiot, but Hanna is so entrhalled by this crush she just can’t see it. Josh carries around thick books so people can see he reads “heavy stuff”, claims to care about the environment and the world by going to coffee shops and talking about change instead of actually doing it. I just thought Hannah’s willingness to overlook his faults in the name of a crush was so true to what high school is like.

…

Read this Post

Summer of Sarah Dessen : Along For The Ride

     1 Comment

“People don’t change. If anything, you get more set in your ways as you get older, not less”

– Sarah Dessen, Along For The Ride

Synopsis : It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. 
A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother.

I’ve had this audiobook for at least 3 years, so when I started commuting this was on of the first audiobooks I  “read”.

Going into Along for the Ride I was excited to read another Dessen novel that takes place in Colby, NC. The same small beachside town town as Keeping The Moon.

Growing up in the world of academia Auden West is book smart,  motivated, intelligent; but more importantly, she is alone and she likes it that way. . . or so she thinks. The summer before college Auden takes her first big risk and spends the summer with her dad and new stepmother in  Colby, NC in search of The Best of Times, but she finds so much more.

Dessen is the queen of Manic Pixie dream guys romance,  but the romance isn’t the main story happening in Colby, NC.  What really stuck out for me in Along For The Ride were the friendships, families and characters.

…

Read this Post

Audiobook Review:: My Soul To Take by Rachel K Vincent

     1 Comment

 

  • Release Date : July 29th 2009
  • Pages : 279
  • Audiobook Length : 8hrs 21 minutes
  • Genre : Urban Fantasy
  • Publisher : HarlequinTeen

Synopsis: She doesn’t see dead people. She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next.

In Texas, beautiful teenage girls are dropping dead. No one knows why. Not even  Kaylee Cavanaugh who can predict these deaths with a deep ear-splitting scream. Kaylee thinks she is crazy, but with the help of the popular jock, Nash Hudson, secrets will be revealed and the deaths of these girls will be solved one way or the other.

I enjoyed this novel. I liked the way we see how Kaylee is dealing with her special “ability” before she knows what  it is. At first she is confused, frustrated and angry; but even more she is afraid of herself because last time she screamed it landed her in the psych unit. It doesn’t help that her father is living thousands of miles away in Ireland and has left Kaylee with her aunt, uncle and Sophie, her spoiled cousin.

The paranormal elements weave into the story nicely and I found the setup believable. There are a few twist and turns and it’s exciting to see how the story develops.

…

Read this Post