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Tag: "magic"

Review: The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott & Colette Freedman

[ 4 ] January 4, 2012

Reviewed by Sarah Lelonek

The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman is a dark novel that follows many different characters who are associated with the Thirteen Hallows of Britain. The novel bounces between present day and ancient times to give the reader a full understanding of the great power these seemingly ordinary objects possess.

The Thirteen Hallows is more of a sinister thriller than anything else. Between the elderly Hallows Keepers being brutally murdered and talk of demons preying on human souls, the reader is transported into a world of mysteriously dark and somewhat disturbing magic.

However, the story becomes hard to follow early on. Scott and Freedman take the liberty of using short novels traveling between eight to ten different characters. I found myself flipping backward between chapters to remember which one I was now reading about. Once I was able to get a hold of all the players, I found they were fairly well developed. Sarah Miller and Owen Walker, the two main characters, were complex and easy to relate to. Miller came from an over-bearing mother who wouldn’t let her live her own life, while Walker came from a broken family. I did want to see longer, or combined chapters, so that I could relate and connect with the characters earlier in the book.

Along the same lines, the passages written in italics about the history of the Hallows grew redundant and unnecessary. I felt that the talk of the Demonkind ended up being stale by the end of the book. Every passage seemed the same: the demons were strong and wanted to be released while a young boy worked hard to keep them at bay. Toward the end of the novel I even found myself speed reading and skipping portions to get to the present day action.

On the other hand, Scott and Freedman did a very good job with building the suspense. The entire novel circles around the idea that someone is bringing together the Thirteen Hallows on All Hallows Eve, Halloween for short. If these hallows are brought together, the world as we know it could very well end. While the suspense build up was executed nicely, the end result was sub-par in my opinion. The last few chapters are the shortest in the novel, while I wanted them to be the longest to get sense of the action that was taking place.

All in all, The Thirteen Hallows was a good read. It’s not a long novel, and the writing itself is easy to follow. I liked the haunting feel and the few twists kept me on my toes. The descriptions were spot on and the character development was very descriptive. My only wish is that there was more to read in a less jumbled manner so that I could be truly transported to modern Britain with a touch of past magic.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Sarah Emily Lelonek has a BA in English Literature from Kent State University. She is planning on attending Graduate School for English Rhetoric and Composition. She enjoys traveling and gaming while on breaks from working on her novel.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Tor Books. 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

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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Review: The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

[ 4 ] December 2, 2011

Reviewed by Marcus Hammond

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian is an effectively complex novel that mixes psychology and the supernatural to create an original, atmospheric thriller that keeps the reader guessing.

As the novel opens, Chip Linton faces the difficult situation of safely landing a passenger jet in a lake after the engines are destroyed by a flock of geese. His attempt fails and thirty-nine passengers die, as the plane is ripped apart. Chip is cleared of any fault, but is left with severe guilt and PTSD. In order to begin healing from the ordeal, Chip, his wife, Emily, and their twin girls, Hallie and Garnet, move from their formerly comfortable lives in the city to a smaller, out of the way town. As the Lintons attempt to settle into their new lives they are surrounded by mystery and conspiracy. Their new home may be haunted and the residents that have welcomed them may have deeper, stranger motivations behind their welcoming nature.

The Lintons are welcomed into the town by a group of women who believe in the magical and healing properties of plant life. The women, who are all named after different plants, begin to take interest in the Lintons and try to acclimate the family into their close-knit group.

As the intentions of the herbalists to incorporate Emily, Hallie, and Garnet into their cult become more and more persistent, Chip’s PTSD becomes a bigger problem. The subsequent drama provides the reader with page after page of hair-raising paranoia, supernaturally creepy visions, and murderous deception.

Chris Bohjalian employs a blend of narration perspectives throughout the novel to add to its creep-out factor. While the majority of the thriller is told in a third person omniscient perspective, Chip’s narration is portrayed through a second person perspective. This change in perspective allows the reader to experience, first hand, the disturbed mentality that Chip progressively succumbs to during his family’s encounters with the unusual and deceptive herbalists.

With Bohjalian’s unique writing style and his ability to twist the plot into a unique and sufficiently creepy thriller, The Night Strangers is best read with a light on.

Rating: 4/5

After obtaining a Masters in Liberal Arts and Literature Marcus has dedicated most of his time to teaching English Composition for a community college in the Midwest. In his down time, he spends time avidly reading an eclectic selection of books and doing freelance writing whenever he gets the chance. He lives in Kansas with his wife.

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

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Review: Little Black Dress by Susan McBride

[ 4 ] November 11, 2011

Reviewed by Jodi Horsley

Evie has a dream about her sister Anna. She awakens early the next morning and heads to the attic, on a mission to resurrect the little black dress. She needs to find out if her dream is true, and if it is, the little black dress will tell her what is to come. To Evie’s surprise, the little black dress reveals an image of her sister Anna and her daughter Toni at her bedside – is she going to die?

Antonia (Toni), Evie’s daughter, is called home to Blue Hills because her mother has suffered a stroke. Leaving her successful business as a wedding coordinator and her boyfriend Greg behind, she packs up her things and returns to Blue Hills – a place she has not seen since her father’s death two years earlier. She comes “home” to find that a lot of things have changed. It is evident things were spinning out of control for Evie for some time. Toni, with the help of her mother’s housekeeper, starts to straighten out her affairs. In doing so, she starts to unravel family secrets and the secret of the magical little black dress. She also starts to learn more about her Aunt Anna – Evie’s sister whom she knew next to nothing about.

Little Black Dress is told in alternating chapters and from two different perspectives: Evie’s and Toni’s. In Evie’s chapters, we learn that she came from a broken home, and that that broken home was the result of a sudden decision her sister made based on an encounter with the little black dress. We also learn of her relationship with her late husband, Jon. They had a relationship like no other – a true fairytale-like love affair. From Toni, we learn of her childhood, her hopes, dreams and aspirations. We also learn that her current relationship is nothing like the love her mom shared with her dad – a love that she would like to experience.

Little Black Dress was such a fun, light read. Susan McBride did an amazing job at character development. This book had a little bit of everything – magic, mystery, family relationships and romance.

A definite recommendation!

Rating: 5/5

Jodi lives in the western suburbs of Illinois with her husband, her elementary school daughter, and preschool boy/girl twins. She is an avid reader and loves losing herself in a good book. She has a Master’s in Information Technology and has been a WAHM mom for 4 years now.

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

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Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgensterm

[ 10 ] November 4, 2011

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

The Night Circus was unlike any novel I’ve ever read. The imagery seemed to take precedence over the plot, but unlike other reviewers, I didn’t feel like it overpowered.

The characters were just as wonderful as the descriptions, each coming alive while I read. There wasn’t one character I didn’t like and not one character that felt underdeveloped. I applaud Erin Morgensterm for creating something that not very many authors can accomplish.

Celia in particular was such a great character and I loved being able to watch her grow up. It seems like she had to be so strong to keep everything balanced and you could really see what a toll it took on her. I loved the kindess Morgensterm put into her character.

Marco was so very dreamy and such a great match for Celia. Their romance scenes were scarce, but accurate to the time period. Definitely a more sweet romance than a hot and heavy one, but I preferred it this way. The tents and rooms in the Labyrinth that they make for each other are gorgeously described. If a guy made me a garden out of nothing but ice, I’d certainly fall in love with him.

I went into The Night Circus not expecting much from the plot, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was deeper and better developed than other reviews led me to believe. I didn’t feel the game was dangerous, though, until the end chapters, which bothered me a bit. I would have liked just a little more emphasis on the danger aspect.

Overall, I absolutely loved The Night Circus. I felt like I was walking through the circus myself and writing the chapters in second person was such a phenomenal idea. I highly recommend you go into this novel with no preconceived notions to get the most out of the wonderful plot. This is definitely a book that will be added to my favorites list.

Rating: 5/5

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 Doubleday. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Traitor’s Daughter by Paula Brandon

[ 4 ] November 2, 2011

Reviewed by Colleen Turner

In a land known as the Veiled Isles, the eternal energy called the Source is beginning to reverse. With the last reversal mankind was able to inhabit the Veiled Isles and banish the previous Inhabitants, a race of sentient, bodiless creatures that operated as one Overmind to control all manner of living things in their path, to the area known as the Wraithlands.

Since then man has created its civilization and many have forgotten the power of the Source and what came before. But now the signs that the Source is once again reversing, allowing the very laws of nature and arcane magic to change and the great Overmind to once again assert its power, are beginning to show. The only way to halt this change is to cleanse the Source and keep it on its current path. This can only be done with the combined assistance of the arcane powers held within the six great houses: Belandor, Corvestri, Steffa, Orlazzo, Pridisso and Zovaccio. These houses have been at war or been slowly dissipating for years, but they will have to find a way to come together or they, and all of mankind, are doomed.

In the city of Vitrisi, the wealthy Magnifico Aureste Belandor is saddened but resigned to marry his beloved daughter, Jianna, to a prominent family far from the city of her birth and the hatred that he has kept her sheltered from. Jianna idolizes her father and has no idea he has long been considered a traitor to his Faerlonish brethren and has spent his life conniving and bribing his way into favor with the current administration.

On the ride to her wedding, Jianna’s carriage is attacked and all her attendants viciously murdered before her eyes. Her captors soon show themselves to be a branch of the Belandor family that Aureste brought to ruin, allowing himself to become the Magnifico of the family after his predecessor, Onarto Belandor, was killed in exile. Onarto’s widow, Yvenza Belandor, has hatched a plan to marry Jianna to her brutish son, Onartino, hoping to once again establish her lineage as the head of the house.

As Jianna waits for her father’s rescue she soon discovers she will need to use her own resources and intellect to try and save herself. At the edge of despair help comes from a Dr. Falaste Rione, a man who has lived his life loyal to Yvenza but cannot justify the pain she seems set to lavish on Jianna.

While Jianna lies in the clutches of Yvenza and her vicious clan, Aureste sets out to indeed try and rescue his daughter. As he uses his brother Innesq’s arcane powers to locate her, he also sets about to destroy one of his enemies, Magnifico Vinz Corvestri , the man who married the only other woman Aureste ever loved, Sonnetia Steffa. But before Vinz is arrested, he uses his own arcane magic to assist the Faerlonish resistance in an attempt to murder Aureste and burn down Belandor House, injuring Innesq in the process. By the time the smoke clears, Jianna and Dr. Rione are in hiding with the resistance, both Yvenza and Aureste’s homes are in ruin, Vinz has been arrested and Innesq lies on the brink of death. Will they all survive and, if so, how will they ever begin to work together to save the world as they know it?

The Traitor’s Daughter is the first in an epic trilogy that promises to be exciting. Not usually a fan of fantasy stories, I was thrown off at first by the talk of magic; as the story progressed I became enamored with Paula Brandon’s writing. It reads like a classic historical fiction novel that stretches its boundaries to include the mystical. The twists and turns keep you turning the pages and while there are a lot of plot points and characters to absorb, it isn’t hard to become thoroughly invested in the story. The ending is left at the tip of a cliff hanger and I cannot wait to read the second book in the series, The Ruined City, which comes out in February 2012.

Rating: 4.5/5

Colleen lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, son and pet fish. When not working or taking care of her family she has her nose stuck in a book (and, let’s face it, often when she is working or taking care of her family as well). Nothing excites her more than discovering a new author to obsess over or a hidden jewel of a book to worship.

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

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Review: The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

[ 6 ] October 16, 2011

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Though each of the Story sisters is vastly different from the other, they had a bond with one another that seemed unbreakable. A day that was just like any other until the unspeakable occurred altered the lives of Elv (the eldest Story sister) and Claire (the youngest Story sister), haunting them as they grew older. Elv retreats into the fantasy world of Arnelle, which she once shared with her sisters Claire and Meg (the middle Story sister). Claire becomes frightened of the world and is afraid to open her heart to love. Meg, unable to share her sisters’ dark secret, is lost amidst the chaos.

Single mother Annie is unable to reach the girls, especially Elv, who acts out her torment in ways that could destroy her entire future. Natalia, the girls’ grandmother, reaches out to each of them throughout their lives, offering comfort, hope, and sanctuary. Through despair, heartbreak, love, and loss the Story sisters change for the better, ultimately redeemed for the mistakes they made in their adolescences.

After discovering the unique and haunting poetic prose of Alice Hoffman several years ago, I was eager to read The Story Sisters. In my limited experience with her works, I find her novels to be either hit or miss. In this particular case, The Story Sisters read like a modern Gothic fairy tale. I was swept up in the imaginary land of Arnelle, where Elv escaped to avoid the horrors of her captive situation. I could see why the younger Story sisters both revered and feared her. Even at her worst moments, Elv was still charming and seductive. Claire, who blamed herself for Elv’s day-long absence, chose to shut herself off from the rest of the world. If she did not let herself experience emotions, she would not be able to be hurt again. Unfortunately with Meg, I did not feel I got to know her at all. Her character to me has been entirely forgettable, as I am almost positive she was intended to be. I would have liked to have gotten to know her even half as much as I feel I know Elv and Claire.

Each of the sections of this novel were prefaced by a few short paragraphs that foreshadowed the events to come. These italicized paragraphs were headed with one-word introductions including Follow, Iron, and Swan. They read to me like snippets of fairy tales, and added greatly to my enjoyment of The Story Sisters. If you enjoy hints of magic, strong characterization, and beautiful storytelling, TThe Story Sisters is something you will not want to miss.

Rating: 4/5

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 Broadway. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Keeper by Kathi Appelt

[ 3 ] October 7, 2011

Reviewed by Claudia Robinson

10-year-old Keeper has had a very, very bad day. If only the stupid crabs had not chosen her to be their rescuer, this entire day, very BAD day, would never have happened, and everyone on Oyster Ridge Road would not be mad at her anymore.

Based on a tiny, seashell strewn inlet in the middle of a park on the Texas Gulf Coast, Keeper embroils its readers in a tale of love, loss, magic and mayhem. Keeper lives with the beautiful, white haired Signe and BD (short for Best Dog) in a haint blue cottage. The other inhabitants of Oyster Ridge are Dogie, the dread-headed surfer, madly in love with Signe, Too, the OTHER best dog, the ancient Mr. Beauchamp and his one eyed cat Sinbad, and Captain, the watermelon loving seagull.

When a daring crab rescue attempt goes horribly awry, ruining night blooming orchids, Blue Moon gumbo and a secret wedding proposition, Keeper does the only thing she is sure will fix everything. She goes in pursuit of her beautiful mermaid mother, Meggie Marie. Counting on the Blue Moon and its power over the ocean, Keeper embarks on a dangerous journey in an attempt to rectify all her wrongdoings. The journey she undertakes at sea and the unfolding drama on land because of it, expose an achingly romantic drama and the power of wishes and full moons.

Reality and magic blur beautifully in this sweet, funny, tenderly woven tale of lost souls, second chances, forbidden love and growing up. Between the lines of this Youth oriented story are older, more ancient tidbits of wisdom, making this a story for all ages.

I thoroughly enjoyed Keeper and the magic between its pages lasted long after I finished it; sure to be a hit among young and old alike. Keeper is proof that dreams DO come true, you just have to want them bad enough.

Rating: 4.5/5

Claudia lives on beautiful Cape Cod with her husband and two children.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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