Genres

Book Review : Black Heart by Holly Black

May 10, 2012 5 Comments

That’s family for you. Can’t live with them, can’t murder them.”

― Holly Black, Black Heart

Synopsis: Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

Our favorite coffee addicted charming anit-hero, Cassel Sharpe is back for a Curse Worker’s finale where the stakes are higher than ever before for Cassel, his friends, and his family.…

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Book Review : Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

May 1, 2012 3 Comments

Release Date : May 1st 2012

Synopsis: What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil. Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Sweet Evil is a provocative paranormal romance with angels, demons and a sinful twist.

The paranormal concept behind this novel is something different than what I have encountered while reading paranormal romance. In the novel Nephilim, the children of fallen angels, live on Earth and embody a sin. Their most important work is to pull humans into sin. Sweet Evil explores the concepts of nature versus nurture ideas of sin. The book made me think about how we make sense of the bad things that others do.

Higgins writing is fun and addicting, and will appeal to teens and YA readers. However I did feel like some parts of the plot were spoon fed, we are told too much instead of being shown and allowed to create our own opinions.

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Book Review : Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

April 27, 2012 3 Comments

“A world of nevers under a never sky.”

– Veronica Rossi, Under The Never Sky

Synopsis : EXILED from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland–known as The Death Shop–are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild–a savage–and her only hope of staying alive.

Under The Never Sky is a post-apocalpytic road story sprinkled with dystopian elements. The female protagonist, Aria lives a safe and secure life in underground pods, spending her days in vitural realms. Perry lives on the outside or “The Death Shop” a world filled with tribal warfare, Aether storms and savagery.When their worlds collide they learn they may not be as different as they thought.

The novel starts out a little shaky to me, almost everything in the story is told or explained immediately, in an almost checklist like fashion. There is very little mystery and I would have liked to slide easier into the story. Once we get past the introduction the writing does get better and the story begins to take shape.

Basically, Aria and Perry each have their own plot MacGuffin that propels them to journey together in search of what they are looking for. While this jump starts the plot it isn’t my favorite set up.

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Book Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

April 24, 2012 5 Comments

“I like how you’re neither here nor there. And how there’s nowhere else you’re meant to be while waiting. You’re just sort of suspended.”

– Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight

This has to be one of the most unique and heartfelt contemporary YA books I have read in a while. With a title containing the words ‘love at first sight’ I was afraid it was going to run into insta-love category, but I found it far from it. It’s not so much about love at first sight, but the possibility of love at first sight and other things.

The story follows roughly 24 hours of the life of Hadley Sullivan as she catches a plane to London to attend her father’s wedding to a woman she has never met. Along the way she meets Oliver and through the story she is trying to learn how to reconcile her feelings with her father and his new marriage.

Smith uses an excellent writing style that is sparse and simple, but still tells you so much. She is an excellent storyteller–I felt sympathy with the characters and connected through the use of retrospective story telling.

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Book Review : Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

April 7, 2012 7 Comments

“Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf ?”

Synopsis : Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

In the late 15th century the nation of Brittany is entrenched in mysticism, war, and treason. Ismae, a simple pig farmer’s daughter, is plucked from a life of hardship to serve Death as an assassin. In the midst of her training, she becomes involved in a clandestine plot and must serve the royal family and her country.

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Book Review : Born Wicked By Jessica Spotswood

April 3, 2012 1 Comment

Synopsis: 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. . . 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.

Born Wicked is a debut historical fiction that features an alternate history with a magical twist. In this revision of 1890’s New England, the Brotherhood–a sect of a priest–rule with an iron fist over the lives of women who fear they may be witches.

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