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Category: Love & Romance

Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

[ 3 ] February 21, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Grace Soledad

Ari has always been different. With her silvery hair and startling teal eyes, she is considered an anomaly. Every year, she keeps it together by believing that her estranged mother holds the answers to who she really is.

Once Ari finds the mental institution that her mother had been in, she also has to face a horrifying truth. How could her mother commit suicide? How is it possible that the one beacon of hope she’s had all these years could be gone? Who should she turn to now?

Eventually, Ari decides to go to New 2, the dystopian city that used to be called New Orleans, a treasure trove of information, history, and paranormal activity. She needs to know who she is and why she is the way she is, and she wants more than anything to find the answers soon. In New 2, Ari meets a cast of characters, and realizes that the truth may be closer than she thinks.

What intrigued me the most about Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton was the interesting premise. A ruined city of New Orleans, a girl with silver hair, a mother who commits suicide, and a search for answers? It sounded like the perfect winding adventure.

I did love the diverse cast of characters in New 2. They each had very flavorful personalities and distinct dialogue that allowed you to identify them easily. Their backgrounds were created so seemingly effortlessly that this was one of the few elements of the book that I enjoyed.

The problem for me was that I simply couldn’t connect to Ari. Her personality wasn’t the most unique and her line of thought seemed like it didn’t translate to narration very well. This is one of those books that is either hit-or-miss. I know some who simply adored it but I was one of those people classified in the “miss” category, unfortunately.

The writing was not good enough to justify for its slow-moving plot and an irritating protagonist. The idea behind the plot became apparent as the story developed, but I felt as if the element came in too late for it to make a difference to the pacing. I wished that Keaton would have introduced it earlier, because for the majority of the book, I was waiting for everything to happen.

The ending felt rushed while the beginning and middle felt lazy, and dragged on for me. I wanted Darkness Becomes Her to be dark and intense, or simply be a satisfying story. Unfortunately, it wasn’t either.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Grace Soledad is a teenage bibliophile who runs the blog Words Like Silver. She is described as “antisocial” because she constantly has her nose buried in a book or a notebook. When not reading, she can be found dancing, writing, or at the beach.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Simon Pulse. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Irises by Francisco X. Stork

[ 2 ] February 13, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Grace Soledad

Irises is not the type of book that I would normally pick up for myself, but I found myself surprisingly loving it. The book is simply about sisters trying to find themselves when everything around them is falling apart. When Kate and Mary’s father dies, they find themselves alone with nobody else but each other. Their mother has been in a permanent vegetative state for three years and their preacher is barely more than a stranger to them.

Kate has always dreamed of being a doctor and getting her M.D. at Stanford. The problem is that her father had always expected her to stay home and take care of her mother and sister. Although she wants nothing more than to leave it all behind, she is held back by her sense of duty. Mary is an artistic spirit, a girl wrapped up in her own dreams and struggles of being an artist.

When their father dies, the two girls are filled with grief, but lurking on the edges of their minds is the word freedom. Although things are tough financially, Kate can now go to Stanford and Mary can stay home and paint if she wishes.

Just as their lives seem to settle down, three men enter the sister’s lives. Two of them are Kate’s toughest choice yet. Her old boyfriend Simon has just proposed to her, but she finds herself having feelings for the young preacher that her father taught – Reverend Andy Soto. Mary is infatuated with Marcos, a gang member; Marcos is dangerous, and Mary is not sure whether to pursue the relationship or run away from it.

When their mother’s life is put on the line, Kate and Mary must choose between keeping their family together and chasing their dreams.

Irises was very thought-provoking and earnest, but in a quiet way. It felt more like a whisper than a shout. Its main focus was on family, and how far you should go to provide for them without giving up your own identity. The promise of a book about the sister’s relationship was what drew me in and it’s what makes Irises truly special.

This novel was by far character driven. It was amazing to read about the range of emotions and conflicted feelings that Kate and Mary shared. There was a fine line between what they each wanted to be and what they were expected to be. People thought that Kate was selfish for wanting to leave her family behind and go to Stanford, but they didn’t know that it was killing her inside. Mary seemed carefree on the surface, but secretly struggled just as much as her sister.

Honest and sweet, Irises explores grief and family. It was stunning to read, and was complex in a way that’s hard to describe. It touches you and makes you think about what you leave behind when you chase your dreams.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Grace Soledad is a teenage bibliophile who runs the blog Words Like Silver. She is described as “antisocial” because she constantly has her nose buried in a book or a notebook. When not reading, she can be found dancing, writing, or at the beach.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Arthur A. Levine Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer

[ 2 ] February 9, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Translated from its original German, Arcadia Awakens is a modern day Romeo and Juliet tale mixed with Mafia intrigue and just a splash of the paranormal. Rosa Alcantara is the Juliet character in the novel, an American who relocates to the island of Sicily after experiencing heartbreaking personal trauma. She meets Alessandro Carnevare on the plane, son of the head of a rival Mafia family. Though they don’t get along at first, Alessandro and Rose end up falling in love.

As Rosa settles into her new life, she discovers a secret about her family that will greatly affect her own future as well as her budding relationship with Alessandro. While both of their respective families attempt to control them, they must decide whether their love is worth risking their lives–and the future of their families.

There is more to Carnervares and Alcantaras than meets the eye, however; they shape shift into panthers and snakes, respectively. It’s Alessandro who reveals this nugget of information to Rosa when he gives her a copy of Aesop’s Fables, a collection of stories about animals with human tendencies. This isn’t at all a new concept to me, but I loved how Kai Meyer relates it to Aesop’s Fables. Once their origins were revealed, I became even more invested in this book.

Though I like the concept of the book, the story never really came alive to me. It was a roller coaster ride from beginning to end: at page 181 it began to pick up, and then slowed down again. Then in another hundred pages it picked up again for me, until I finally began to lose nearly all of my interest. I’m fascinated by Meyer’s definition of Arcadia, which is possibly the only thing to tempt me to read further in this series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

[ 4 ] February 2, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Talbott

Wendy Everly has never felt as if she fit in anywhere. When she was six, her own mother tried to murder her in a fit of delusion, convinced that she replaced her real child. People seem to dislike her upon meeting without knowing anything about her and she just seems to stumble into trouble without meaning to.

At seventeen, she’s living with her brother and her aunt, trying to be good and do well in school, and stay out of trouble for their sake. Then Finn, a boy at her school, starts to stalk her, making Wendy suspicious but interested. He reveals that she is a changeling and tells her that she must return to her true family or be kidnapped by an opposing faction. Is this new place where she truly belongs or will she be just as alien there as she is in the human world?

Switched is a typical teen fantasy book that is supposedly about trolls (AKA trylles). This aspect isn’t necessary at all and seems like an easy way to market it as something unique, when it’s actually just a typical fairy story.

There were some things I liked about the book, such as the trylle society and the dynamic of her blood family as opposed to her human family. The society has a rigid caste system that doesn’t allow for upward mobility. The regular, peasant trylles don’t have any special abilities, so they work in order to contribute. Those in the aristocracy have magical abilities of some sort, but they don’t know how to defend themselves. Trackers only have abilities that go with their trade and are considered very low on the totem pole, but humans hold the lowest position. The blatant hatred of humans and behavior of trylles and people at different levels of the caste system really intrigued me.

The rest of the story was fairly typical for a teen fantasy read. Of course there was a hot guy named Finn that made Wendy act completely senseless and melodramatic. Finn’s character was the most annoying aspect of the book for me; I really liked Wendy except when she acted as if she would die without Finn, as so many heroines do these days. It was also quite creepy that she found it sexy to be stalked instead of meeting and getting to know each other like real people. The plot was a little uneven with pacing and did not pick up until Wendy arrived in the trylle world.

Overall, Switched was enjoyable, but not a spectacular read. The writing was all right and the story kept my interest, but I don’t have a burning need to read the next book in the series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Elizabeth is a student at Cal State Long Beach. She laughs a lot, loves cats, and lives for music and books. You can read her blog here: http://titania86-fishmuffins.blogspot.com/.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by St. Martin’s Griffin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review & Giveaway: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

[ 77 ] January 23, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Meghan Saldecki

Kaelyn’s town has come down with a mysterious – and deadly – virus. First, you’re itching and you cannot stop. Next, you’re acting like you’re friends with everyone. Then there are paranoid hallucinations. And lastly, you’re dead.

The Way We Fall is about exactly that: a falling civilization, hindered not only by the deadly virus, but by the healthy inhabitants inside doing anything it takes to survive – even if that means killing someone.

Kaelyn holds her own and shines as a brave heroine, risking her life to help those with the virus and her family. She sometimes breaks down, sure, but who wouldn’t when the town you grew up in is crumbling beneath you? I felt proud of Kaelyn and would definitely want her on my side, should a deadly virus ever hit my town.

The romance in The Way We Fall was wonderful and very appropriate for the circumstances. Gav was sweet and was always saving Kaelyn, which got annoying at times but was easily overlooked. He provided a shoulder to lean on and not once did I feel that their relationship was forced.

In addition to the great heroine, Megan Crewe’s writing really shined. The plot wouldn’t be anything without her intense, page-turning writing. She made you feel just how desperate the inhabitants of Kaelyn’s town were. Some of them going so far as to form a gang and horde all the food and medicine for themselves and even killing the sick.

Overall, I loved The Way We Fall and would strongly recommend it to anyone. Megan Crewe paints a fantastic story of what could very well happen someday and the story left me breathless and wanting more, but also scared to have more.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Visit Megan Crewe’s website and check out the book trailer to learn more

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Giveaway:
One winner will receive a Minimergency Kit and a copy of The Way We Fall!

Mandatory entry: Please comment here with your e-mail address (filling it in on the form works too).

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This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents. Deadline to enter is midnight on February 6, 2012.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Big Honcho Media. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

[ 5 ] January 19, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

Nikki Beckett mysteriously vanished last spring, leaving her family, her friend Jules, and her boyfriend Jack devastated. She was taken to the Everneath, a place where immortals feed on humans’ emotions to sustain their immortality.

So when Nikki suddenly comes back to her old town, everyone is surprised. She tries to slowly get back into the flow of things, but she harbours a secret that’ll devastate her loved ones even more: she has to go back to the Everneath in six months. And this time forever.

Nikki must find a way to stay above the ground, or lose everyone and everything again…

I found the premise of Everneath by Brodi Ashton extremely interesting, but because of a few problems, I just couldn’t like this book as much as I wanted to.

Nikki was all over the place for me. One minute she’d be entirely selfless and the next very selfish about having to go to the Tunnels at the end of her six months. She spent entirely too much time whining about the fact that she had to go back and that she wanted to make her disappearance up to her friends and family. Considering that her dad and her brother, Tommy, hardly entered the story, I didn’t feel that she made things better with them. This was also the case with her “best” friend, Jules, whom she hardly ever talked to or hung out with.

Now this is not to say I didn’t like Nikki at all. When she and Jack were actually making progress with each other and figuring out how to keep Nikki on Earth, I really enjoyed her character.

I did like Jack from the beginning of the story, however. I thought he was sweet and incredibly brave and understanding. I thought that he accepted Nikki’s story about the Everneath and her being a Forfeit way too fast, though.

Ashton’s writing was pretty simple, which was good in a way since it balanced out the complexity of the plot. I found the plot complex because it basically forced me to come up with explanations for the new vocabulary words such as Everliving, Tunnels, Forfeit and Feed. Some things were explained briefly in the beginning, but I thought the full answers were given too late, after I had already figured out what most things meant by the context clues.

Two things I definitely enjoyed, though, were the mythology incorporated in the story and the ending. The ending was executed perfectly in my opinion and I wish the rest of the novel was of the same quality.

Overall, once I looked past these flaws, I did enjoy Everneath quite a bit, but since so many things fell flat for me, I couldn’t give it a better rating. I would recommend this to fans of paranormal romance, though with some hesitation.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Elphame’s Choice by P.C. Cast

[ 4 ] January 14, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Elphame, daughter of the goddess Epona’s Beloved, has always been treated differently by the citizens of Partholon. Born a combination of human, goddess, and centaur, Elphame’s uniquely beautiful figure is met with awe and shock by all she meets. Having never been comfortable with being an object of worship among her mother Etain’s people, Elphame is led by her prophetic dreams to set out on her own and rebuild the castle of her ancestors. Damaged in the war against the Fomorians centuries earlier, the MacCallan Castle requires all the assistance it can get to be restored to its former glory.

With the assistance of her centaur brother Cuchulainn and a small group of followers, Elphame makes the MacCallan Castle her new home. Instead of looking at her through worshipful eyes, the new tenants of MacCallan Castle become the friends that Elphame has always longed for. It is in the surrounding forest that Elphame will meet her destined lifemate, a man damned by the sins of his ancestors, the Fomorians. Like Elphame, Lochlan is of two worlds. Will he fulfill the prophecy that calls for the blood of a dying goddess and end the madness that plagues his people? Or will Lochlan forsake those like him for true love?

First published in 2004 by Luna, P.C. Cast’s coming-of-age story Elphame’s Choice has been beautifully repackaged and marketed toward teens under the Harlequin Teen publishing house. Fans of the House of Night series will undoubtedly be drawn to Elphame’s Choice, which promises “a different world…where the blood-suckers are truly dangerous”.

Elphame’s Choice takes place in the same world as Divine by Mistake (originally published as Goddess by Mistake) and Divine by Choice. Though each book could be enjoyed as a stand alone story, I highly recommend reading the Partholon books in the following order as suggested by goodreads.com: Divine by Mistake, Elphame’s Choice, Brighid’s Quest, Divine by Choice, and Divine by Blood.

Like Cast’s previous works, there are dark themes and adult sexual situations presented throughout the novel that may not be suitable for less mature teen readers. Adults shouldn’t shy away from this book, as I believe it was originally intended for that audience. Cast’s writing style is definitely appealing to younger readers; I especially found her use of foreshadowing in this novel to be too “telling.” When the events foreshadowed finally occurred, there was no element of surprise. For teen readers especially, Elphame’s Choice will be the perfect bridge to Cast’s adult-oriented novels.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Harlequin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten

[ 3 ] December 22, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Garret Rose

Ever had your heart broken? Do you remember the feeling when your first love dealt you the blow of breaking up with you? If so, this is the novel for you. Lynn Weingarten introduces the reader to the magical sorority of heartbreakers in her new novel (aptly titled) The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers. Weingarten takes the reader into the world of magic, mischief, and ultimately compassion in this novel.

Lucy Wrenn is so excited for her boyfriend to come back from Colorado where he has been all summer. As she runs to greet him on their first day of sophomore year, he quickly crushes her when he announces that they are no longer a couple. With her heart wrenched, she runs into a mysterious stranger who offers condolences. As Lucy’s world tailspins, this stranger invites her to a party where Lucy is introduced to Gil, Liza, and Olivia, members of the “The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers.”

As Lucy feigns over whether or not she should join the sorority, she questions her relationship with Alex, the boy who broke her heart; Tristan, her best friend, as well as the new kinship she strikes with the sisterhood. Will she or won’t she join the mysterious and magical group and are her intensions genuine? Lucy knows that she cannot run away from her problems (even though she has tried to do so) and is unsure about how she will face them.

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers is a quick and fun read for those who have been wronged before by a loved one or have had their heart broken by someone they trusted. There are aspects of sex, alcohol, and partying, all involving teens, that make this a read for those mature, or above sixteen years of age. Although several characters are cliché and flat, Weingarten is effective in investigating the dynamics of different types of relationships as well as different aspects of love.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Garret loves literature! He is creating the Vernal Journal for his students as well as anyone else that is interested in literature – be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, or even miscellaneous! Garret’s goal is to share, review and make connections to the world and each other.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by HarperTeen. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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