Book Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Review: Glass Houses
Series: Morganville Vampires – Book 1
Author: Rachel Caine
No of Pages: 239
Release Date: 3 October 2006

WELCOME TO MORGANVILLE TEXAS. DON’T STAY OUT AFTER DARK.

It’s a small college town filled with quirky characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad comes out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows – one that will spill out into the bright light of day.

Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. The popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks on the school’s social scene: somewhere less than zero. And Claire really doesn’t have the right connections – to the undead who run the town.

When Claire heads off campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don’t show many signs of life. But they’ll have Claire’s back when the town’s deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood...

My Thoughts:

I had high hopes for Glass Houses, but it didn’t really live up to my expectations.

Claire is a nerd, she’s sixteen and already in college. She moves to Morganville which is the closest college she is willing to go to that’s near her home, because she also wants to escape her parents, but what teen doesn’t?

When she gets to Morganville though Claire is faced with more than just being top of the class; extreme bullying, violent abuse and vampires are added to her list of worries. Claire can never seem to catch a break. One thing after another after another seems to be going on and it’s only until she moves into the Glass House that she finally is able to make a few friends that things can start to mildly resemble normality.

Claire for me wasn’t very interesting. Trouble follows her everywhere she goes it seems and at the start I felt sorry for her but it got old really quickly to the point where I was thinking “not again”. Caine wrote some cringe worthy stuff when it came to the extent of the bullying Claire faced at the hands of the cheerleaders.

Eve was probably my favourite character in the entire novel, purely because she was the rocker chick that didn’t want anyone to know she cared. She is the epitome of cool because she has a heart to go with her smarts.

Glass Houses also introduces us to some traditional vampires, and by traditional I mean blood-sucking, evil, human controlling fiends. These vampires are very similar to the mafia, expecting protection money so the humans can feel safe.

What detracted from Glass Houses for me was the intense bullying situation. Claire was nearly set on fire in the back of a van at one stage and no one does anything! A few school girls held her down as someone held a lighter to her clothes. Who does that? What kind of people are these? It was infuriating for me to visualise not because of the situation, but what kind of teenage girls would set someone on fire and not face any repercussions? What was the response to this atrocious act? That Claire needs to stay out of her way. She was pushed down a flight of stairs and laughed at, not helped because of the fear of this teenage girl. Even her over-protective parents who came rushing to see her when she didn’t answer their phone call just dismissed it.

For me Monica had too much power. It was more than just Queen Bee she was getting away with things that are illegal. Beating people is illegal, soliciting hit-men is illegal, ordering policemen to shoot people is illegal, and arson is illegal. Not just mean, but against the law and she was just getting away with it. It was unrealistic and it annoyed me that it was the only thing interesting about this book but also the most far-fetched.

I think I will continue this series, just to see where it goes and to find out what happens after the major cliff-hanger at the end, but I am not going in with high-hopes.

Others in this series:
The Dead Girls Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death
Ghost Town
Bite Club
Last Breath

Book Review: Enticed by Jessica Shirvington

Review: Enticed
Series: Violet Eden Chapters – Book 2
Author: Jessica Shirvington
No of Pages: 413
Release Date: 29 March 2011

CONSEQUENCE HAUNTS EVERY CHOICE

Violet Eden is Grigori – part angel, part human. Her destiny is to protect humans from the vengeance of exiled angels.

Knowing who to trust is key but when Grigori reinforcements arrive it becomes clear everyone is hiding something. Even Lincoln. The only thing Violet does know...Phoenix’s hold over her is more dangerous than ever.

The race to find the one thing that could forever tilt the balance of power takes them all to the sacred mountains of Jordan, where Violet’s own powers will be pushed to the extreme. And the ultimate betrayal exposed.

My Thoughts:

Enticed made for a brilliant sequel that had me glued to every page.

Violet is still reeling over Phoenix’s deception and what she saw in the desert when she embraced, so when Lincoln deserts her again to go off on a secret mission while she is left to figure out why Phoenix wants the sacred Grigori scriptures, and when he is going to come after her.

Violet once again astounded me with her strength. Granted she is not the sharpest tool in the shed and not nearly the strongest, but her sheer will to power through her troubles and not let anyone get her down has me cheering her on through each new obstacle she faces. Violet is coming into her powers now and hopefully it seems, her fighting ability but she is still getting distracted by Lincoln, with whom she is still in love.

Lincoln is so far from being in my good books that he is going to have to do something astounding in Emblaze to even begin to make me like him. His character is a good one because you know he is the good guy but he is just so incredibly mean to Violet. He’s on a crusade to avenge his mother and instead of telling Violet what is happening, instead of being there for his partner when not only she, but his race needs him is incredibly selfish. I would want to avenge my mother too, but for a guy that was in love with a girl for two years and able to control himself every time he was around her to a loose cannon that doesn’t care what happens to him as long as he destroys this one exile is awful.

Phoenix crops up from time to time in Enticed as well, to remind Violet that he is all powerful and can kill her with a single thought, but there is still that connection between them that has me rooting for him to come good.

I also can’t wait to see more of Onyx – the exile turned human – who has taken on the role of comedic relief to help ease the tension of impending doom. Shrivington’s secondary characters all have their own personalities and aren’t hidden by the main which takes this series to that extra level.

Enticed was yet another whirlwind dive into the beautiful picture that Shrivington’s created with her words. Her superb historical elements of the story and completely believable explanations for how some exiles have lived out their existence on Earth has had me looking at the skies from time to time over the last couple of days.

Violet’s story has me enthralled with intense anticipation of what is to come in Emblaze and I absolutely cannot wait until I can get my hands on it as soon as possible.

Also in this series:
Embrace
Emblaze

Book Review: The Shadow Seer by Fran Jacobs

Review: The Shadow Seer
Series: Ellenessia’s Curse – Book 1
Author: Fran Jacobs
No of Pages: 337
Release Date: 2 April 2009

For generations prophets have foreseen the birth of the Shadow Seer, the oracle of dark visions and fallen kingdoms. But by the time of Sorron, King of Carnia, their warnings have mostly been forgotten and his name is known only to a handful of scholars. When Sorron's grandson, Prince Candale, falls deathly ill, the Seer's legends are brought to light once again by his saviour, a witch named Mayrila. She believes that Candale is the fulfilment of those long forgotten prophecies. She believes that he is the Shadow Seer...

My Thoughts:

The Shadow Seer was an extremely interesting read, but it was a little slow in its movement.

Candale is a prince with a secret; he is having prophecies, hearing voices, and seeing people that aren’t there. The Shadow Seer starts with Candale being gravely ill and close to death. All we hear are snippets of conversation between his relatives, arguments between his father and grandfather about how to best help him.

His grandfather sends for a woman named Mayrila, a conniving, gold-digging witch, who seems to be the only person who can help him. Mayrila saves Candale, but she also changes his life forever, revealing herself as his birth mother and him as the Shadow Seer, a dark prophet whose visions will only ever be of death and destruction.

Candale is an interesting character, if a little naive. He is intelligent and easily relatable being a quiet, odd child who fits in well enough at court, but is always dreaming and looking for something more. Candale did get a little infuriating at times when he went off by himself without thinking things through only to nearly get killed by his enemies. At times I wanted to shake him, but mostly I felt empathetic and a little sad about his situation.

The Shadow Seer was well written and completely engaging because it didn’t seem like you were racing to the finish line. Each new event in the timeline was well paced and flowed seamlessly into the plot.

The only problem with The Shadow Seer was that we never really get answers to our questions, the world of Carnia that Jacobs created was superb, but there was so much groundwork to lay that we only got to see snippets about the myths behind the shadow seer and those myths were relentlessly repeated.

The Shadow Seer was an excellently written story with an engaging main character who kept me entertained and continuously coming back for more. The mystery behind who Ellenessia is and how she is going to affect Candale in the long run has me itching to get my hands on the second book in this promising fantasy series.

Book Review: Ada Legend of a Healer by R. A. McDonald

Review: Ada Legend of a Healer
Author: R.A McDonald
No of Pages: 250
Release Date: 1 January 2011

No sickness, No injuries, No pain, No limits.

If you had the power to heal, what would you do?

For fifteen-year-old Ada discovering that she can heal feels more like a curse than a gift. When she learns of the mystery surrounding her mother’s disappearance, and sees the indifference of so-called friends, she sets out for Paris to find her.

The power to heal protects her, but also has her hunted by a man who sees her as nothing more than his fountain of youth. Ada realizes her true power is her will to survive, and that her only chance at freedom is to become the best at escaping.

My Thoughts:

Ada Legend of a Healer had a bad start, but ended up turning into a rather good read.

Ada is an orphan with an attitude problem. After getting kicked out of yet another foster home she can’t be placed anywhere else, so she leaves the system, embarking on her own journey to find her mother. Her journey leads her to France and the people she meets there help her hone not only her healing skills but develop skills in the art of parkour.

Ada was not a likeable character for most of the story. Her only redeeming attribute was her sheer force of will power, all of her other aspects boiled down to her being an egotistical, self-centred teenager. For the first hundred pages I had the urge to not only scream but stick a fork in my eye because of the constant whining about how unfair the world is and how unfair it is that she have to bear the burden of having the ability to heal not only others, but herself.


Ada Legend of a Healer did start to get interesting when Ada went to France on her mission to find her mother. After using Jessie – her aunt – for money and information Ada struck out on her own to find out if her mother was still alive.

Delving into the world of parkour and the limits of Ada’s power was the highlight of the novel because we got to see McDonalds writing ability on show. Daniel and his friends and Daniel’s budding romance with Ada drove the novel from that point.


Ada Legend of a Healer was a slow read to get started and once it got going it was easy to see where it would end up, but I felt oddly compelled to finish, quickly. McDonalds writing drew me in after Ada got to France to a point where I couldn’t let go and Ada’s story wouldn’t let me go. Even after the final page was turned McDonalds message - to cherish what you have - stayed with me for a long time afterwards.

Book Review: Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

Review: Embrace
Series: Violet Eden Chapters – Book 1
Author: Jessica Shirvington
No of Pages: 382
Release Date: 1 October 2010

THE WRONG CHOICE COULD COST NOT ONLY HER LIFE, BUT HER DESTINY.

All Violet wants is to be with Lincoln. But he has a secret so great it could tear them apart.

Then there’s Phoenix. He’s intense and enigmatic, but always there for her.

Caught up in a battle between light and dark – where angels seek vengeance and humans are warriors – Violet must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice. And who to trust...

My Thoughts:

Embrace was more than I expected, and I absolutely loved it.

Violet Eden’s life is turned upside down when she finds out that her best friend and man she is secretly in love with has been keeping a secret, about her. Violet is a Grigori, a half angel-half human protector of human kind against exiled angels, evil fallen angels that wish to control mankind.

After finding out that Lincoln has been keeping such a terrible secret about her identity she shuts him out of her life, a hard thing to do to your closest companion over the last two years. She meets Phoenix, an exiled angel who seems to have a darkness about him, but is fiercely protective of Violet when other exiles are around.

Violet was an interesting and well fleshed out character. After losing her mother at birth and being terrorized by a former teacher at school she has developed a habit of not letting much get to her and never fleeing from something too hard or scary. She broke that rule when it came to Lincoln and her destiny of becoming a Grigori leaning on Phoenix to help her get through her life upheaval.

Lincoln was a hard character to like for me if choosing between the two boys vying for Violet’s attention, he keeps secrets, lies and is condescending when around Violet but he also had that irresistible charm that Violet has been in love with ever since they got close. Violet’s and Lincoln’s love for each other was obvious from the first page, no matter how much Lincoln tried to keep his distance from her it was still clear that he loved Violet as much as Violet loved him.

Phoenix on the other hand is your typical bad boy; he is an exiled angel who takes a liking to Violet when he meets her. Violet tries to stay away but is inexplicably drawn to him. She admits that she doesn’t love Phoenix, but he can give her so much more, and is willing to give so much more than what Lincoln is.

Embrace was beautifully written, if a little confusing. I had a hard time keeping track of which angels were what and up until mid-way through the book exactly who the bad guys were. Even the motions of Embracing were a little sudden and rather confusing.

Other than the slight confusion Embrace was an engrossing read. Each time I was forced to put it down all I could think about was getting back to it. Having had some bad experiences with angel books in the past I highly encourage everyone to give Embrace a try.

Embrace is an addictive read, and left me salivating for more not just answers but for more beautiful prose and engaging characters. I cannot wait until I can dive into the next instalment in this intriguing series.

Also in this series:
Enticed
Emblaze

Book Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Review: Living Dead Girl
Author: Elizabeth Scott
No of Pages: 170
Release Date: 2 September 2008

The thing is, you can get used to anything. You think you can’t, you want to die, but you don’t. You won’t. You just are.

This is Alice.
She was taken by Ray five years ago.
She thought she knew how her story would end.
She was wrong.

My Thoughts:

I expected Living Dead Girl to horrify me, sicken me and make me feel all sorts of thing for this poor stolen little girl. But I didn’t.

Alice wasn’t always called Alice. There was a time when she was part of a family, had friends and a future. But when Ray kidnapped her from a school trip when she was ten, everything changed.

While being in a traumatic situation, Alice is not likeable or even relatable as a character. I wanted to feel sorry for her and I did at times when she was starving or being abused but it wasn’t enough to make me feel anything more than a passing thought of something being mildly wrong. It may have been the writing or it may have been Alice or it might just be me, but there were times when I couldn’t feel sorry for her.

Alice wished her situation on other little girls in hope of freeing herself. She was supposedly broken and yet she could still fight back in her small ways. Stealing food and coming up with escape plans. She hated herself so much and yet she still wanted this done to a child in hopes of her dying or being free, it made me really dislike her as a character but it also made me feel like she was contradicting herself. She talks about how she used to be selfish and yet she still is. She talks about how shes given up and yet she still fights. She talks about how bad it is to live like this and yet she wants it done to someone else.

Ray threatens Alice with killing her parents if she ever tries to leave him. Beats her if she doesn’t comply with his wishes and starves her so that she will only ever way one hundred pounds or less. He makes her feel bad for growing up and beats her whenever he feels like it. He rapes her because he can and because he thinks he loves her and he makes her tell him all the time about how she will always be his little girl. Ray is a despicable person, and yet I don’t hate him. He just wasn’t around enough for me to hate him. Everything he did to Alice was diluted by constant repetition or complete glossing over of details.

Living Dead Girl sounds fantastic in theory but the writing takes a lot away from it. The short chapters and fragmented sentences don’t drive points home like they are meant to. Too many details are glossed over in the treatment of Alice to the point where there is almost nothing to visualise and the constant repetition of how each day was the same became tedious.

I was expecting a lot more from Living Dead Girl than what I got. I read it in a couple of hours but it didn’t affect me in anyway.

Book Review: A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler

Review: A Blue So Dark
Author: Holly Schindler
No of Pages: 266
Release Date: 1 May 2010

All I see are murky depths that could swallow me whole.

Mom knew that the mermaids – hand carved from driftwood by the owner of a souvenir shop – were all I wanted to take home from Florida. As she bought them, she looked down at me, her eyes not just glittering but snapping with fire like two Fourth of July sparklers. She ran her finger down the length of my nose, almost like you’d stroke a favourite pet, and said to the salesman, “We’re just alike, me and Aura.”

And you know, back then, the idea of that didn’t scare the absolute hell out of me.

My Thoughts:

A Blue So Dark is a perfect example of how stupid some teenagers can be.

Aura is caring for her mother who has schizophrenia, whilst also trying to juggle school a job and trying to get her mother to work on time. Aura’s mum begged her to not make her take any pills and Aura kept that promise to her at the cost of her mother’s sanity.

Aura killed the entire story for me. She refused to get help for her mother even though she watched her spiral out of control. Aura seemed to start to lose her own sanity for a while too as she convinced herself that she could handle it. But when Aura tried to convince herself that her art was the thing sending her family crazy that’s when I completely rolled my eyes.

Aura is the embodiment of why teenagers should not be left to deal with things on their own, because they are too immature. Her mother would have been well if only Aura had said something, if she had done her research on schizophrenia instead of the many artists who suffer from mental illness. She almost had me convinced that my writing was sending me crazy (until I realised I would be crazy anyway).

A Blue So Dark contained beautiful writing especially when it came to the poems she wrote through Aura. They truly portrayed some of the feelings Aura was going through and helped you get more into her head. They for me were extremely inspiring and helped me with some of my own writing.

Schindler’s writing alone that kept me going and the question of would Aura let her mother die or get her help? Because that is what it was coming down to.

I can understand that anyone in that situation would have a hard time. Aura’s father walked out because he couldn’t deal with the stress of living with a schizophrenic. But the way Aura handled everything was just so wrong and so childish.

A Blue So Dark would have been interesting if it didn’t have Aura in it. A Blue So Dark for me set a bad example as to how to handle mental illness in a family. Aura’s mother, Grace, was shunned by her husband and abandoned, left in the care of her sixteen year old daughter who just couldn’t handle the responsibility and thrown out by her own mother when she was young and she had realised what she would become.

A Blue So Dark just wasn’t for me. It was a good premise but the characters, especially Aura, completely killed it for me.

Book Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Book Review: If I Stay
Series: If I Stay – Book 1
Author: Gayle Forman
No of Pages: 234
Release Date: 9 April 2009

On a day that started like any other...

Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left – the most important decision she’ll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

My Thoughts:

If I Stay was powerful and sad. Probably the only girl in YA history who is both well adjusted and mature and she had to have everything taken away from her.

On a family drive during the winter Mia’s family car is t-boned by a semi that couldn’t stop in time. Her parents are instantly killed and Mia and her brother Teddy are the only ones to survive. Teddy is rushed to the local hospital but Mia has to go to Portland hospital because her injuries are so severe.

Mia is probably the nicest, most respectful, most mature girl in the history of YA. She loves her parents, her grandparents, and her little brother to pieces. She is in a normal stable relationship with a fellow musician who is in a rock band. Mia is strong, smart and just so normal. It broke my heart to know that she lost her family. Before the crash Mia’s only dilemma in life was deciding on whether to go to New York to study music or to stay in her small home town with her family and her boyfriend.

After the crash Mia had to decide whether to pass on or to continue living. The 24 hours that she took to decide this is the twenty four hours that we spend in her head. Mia is having an out of body experience, being able to walk around the hospital she is in and see what the people she loves are going through.

Mia’s boyfriend Adam is also probably one of the most normal male interests we have ever seen in YA, he wasn’t moody or irrational he was just a musician like Mia who happened to have the mental capacity to love. Adam supported everything Mia did and Mia supported Adam in everything he did. Adam and her best friend Kim broke into her hospital room just to see her and it was Adam who thought to bring her beloved cello music for her to listen to.

Whilst being in Mia’s head we also have a lot of flashbacks, how she met her friends, her memories of her grandparents growing up, her memories of her parents and brother. They once again ground in the fact of how normal Mia and her life had been. But they never got boring or repetitive like some flashbacks become. They were just bits and pieces of her life as she had known it and they were so masterfully done that they created a clear picture of what Mia and the people she knew had been like.

Her parents were probably the nicest parents ever portrayed in a YA novel. They were rockers who turned into loving parents who didn’t overlook what they knew their kids would be doing anyway but didn’t give them free reign either and truly sunk in the message that your parents can be your friends.

If I Stay was so powerful in the many messages that it put across. From living every day to the fullest, to loving your family and being thankful for what you have, and to cherish the people you love because you never know when they might be taken away.

I also loved the sheer irony of the situation. Leave the family and go to New York became stay in the world of the living or go with your family.

If I Stay was extremely emotional for me and I would be surprised if anyone didn’t come away with something from this novel. The simplicity of a normal person losing their family in a horrible way became a rollercoaster ride of emotions. If I Stay was masterfully written and will stay with you for a long time after the final page has been turned.

Also in this Series:
Where She Went

Book Review: Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Review: Last Sacrifice
Series: Vampire Academy – Book 6
Author: Richelle Mead
No of Pages: 594
Release Date: 7 December 2010

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO NOW.

Murder. Love. Jealousy. And the ultimate sacrifice.

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose – for a crime she didn’t even commit. She’s in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She’ll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose’s life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead’s international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series.

My Thoughts:

The epic finale to an epic series, and my word was it epic.

At the end of Spirit Bound we found Rose locked away and getting ready to be trialled for murder. Within the first 100 pages she’s broken out and is on her way to finding Lissa’s sibling. With Dimitri at her side they meet up with Sydney and try to find a secluded place to keep Rose away from the guardians who are now after her.

Rose has matured in a way only Rose could have since the start of the series. She is still occasionally reckless, still has her heart in the right place and still hits before she asks questions. But throughout Last Sacrifice you could see how she has truly matured and realised that the world was more than just her being with Lissa. From book one she was adamant that Lissa needed her and that she had to be with her no matter what. For Rose protecting Lissa meant being right there to punch whoever tried to touch her. In Last Sacrifice though she finally realised that running back to Lissa wasn’t the best idea, finding her sibling was.

Lissa has grown the most throughout the series in my opinion. In Last Sacrifice she truly became a princess and an adult in a very harsh world. She stood up to the politicians who wanted to bring her down and proved that she had just as much right to be there as anyone else.

We still got a look into Lissa’s world though through their bond. With Rose being able to look into what was happening at court, and with her boyfriend Adrian, it added that extra dimension to the story because nothing was ever boring.

In keeping with the rest of the series Last Sacrifice was fast-paced and completely sucked you in. I had read 100 pages in the first half hour and the rest of it was literally un-put-down-able. The action was constant whether it be in Rose’s world or Lissa’s. With Rose on the run and Lissa running for the throne neither girl ever seemed to get any rest.

The sexual tension between Rose and Dimitri kept you on edge just as much as the action did, with Rose in a relationship with Adrian she was trying to pass off any feelings for Dimitri as the after affect of their romance but being on the run together wasn’t such a good idea. It was good that they had Sydney with them who as always with her loath of both Dhampirs and vampires always had a quick quip.

Last Sacrifice was the perfect ending to a perfect series. Did everything tie up beautifully? Of course not and that’s what made it the perfect end to the Vampire Academy series. The only problem with it? It didn’t feel like the end.

Also in this series:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Blood Promise
Spirit Bound

Book Review: Thicker Than Water by Carla Jablonski

Review: Thicker Than Water
Author: Carla Jablonski
No of Pages: 246
Release Date: 11 January 2007

WHEN DOES ESCAPE BECOME OBSESSION?

Kia is searching for an escape. From her mother’s cancer. From her father’s apathy. From her own rage.

The pressure is building. There’s a craving in her veins, a secret urge. She needs a way to let the inside out. But she knows she must resist. She knows she must find another way.

When she becomes immersed in an underground scene – Goths who live as vampires – Kia thinks she’s finally found that way.

At the centre of everything is sexy and mysterious Damon. With his otherworldly presence he pulls Kia deep into the night, into a world where the unbelievable can be believed, the unreal made real, until Kia herself can no longer draw the line.

My Thoughts:

Although not what I expected, Thicker Than Water drew me in and kept me coming back for more.

Kia is struggling. Her mum is dying of cancer and her Dad doesn’t really know what he’s doing. She has a couple of close friends but she can’t even tell them her deepest thoughts or troubles. One day at the hospital she meets a girl who invites her to a vampire party.

Kia is intrigued by the idea so goes along with her friends and for the first time in a long time, feels accepted. As Kia gets pulled deeper though she starts to reorganise her priorities, the feeling she gets when she is with the “vampires” is too good, and she always wants more.

Kia starts to forget about everything else with her obsession with the vampires and it doesn’t go unnoticed, but she doesn’t care. Until Kia is so far in she doesn’t know where the line between real life and make believe is drawn.

Kia is both a likeable and an unlikeable character. She is strong in the fact that she puts on a good face when it comes to dealing with people and doesn’t burden people with her issues. But on top of that she is also quite selfish. She thinks only of herself and even when she realises that she hasn’t gone to see her dying mother in over two weeks she still carries on doing whatever she wants.

The other thing I didn’t like about Kia was her willingness to push her new vampiric beliefs on everyone after telling her best friend Aaron that Wicca was stupid.

Thicker Than Water was a very interesting dive into the world of a vampire cult. They bit each other, drank blood (mostly fake though), had houses with “Royal Courts” and even almost a pecking order. Kia quickly rose through those ranks through her association with Damon, a vampire DJ who ran a lot of the parties, DJ at most of them and even hosted some very exclusive ones.

Thicker Than Water held an unrelenting mystery of is it real? Through Kia’s eyes it is definitely understandable that she started to fall into the trap. Even I did.

I think that’s why I got through Thicker Than Water so quickly, even though Kia was a bit annoying, I had to know if it was real.

Thicker Than Water pulled me along with its very clever lure, Kia grated on my nerves a little but other than that it was a very fast-paced, extremely interesting read.

Book Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Review: Forbidden
Author: Tabitha Suzuma
No of Pages: 418
Release Date: 27 May 2010

“You’ve always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I’ve fallen in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?”

She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed.

He is seventeen, gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future.

And now they have fallen in love. But...

They are brother and sister.

My Thoughts:

That was possibly the most horrifyingly moving book I have ever read.

The Whitely kids don’t have it easy. Their dad has left. Their mum is an alcoholic with the temperament of a sixteen year old and barely makes it home at night. The responsibility has long since fallen to Lochan and Maya the two eldest children. At just seventeen and sixteen respectively they have managed to keep together their family of five, successfully taking care of their three younger siblings.

Things start turning more pear-shaped than usual. Kit, the thirteen year old middle child is lashing out, staying out until all hours of the night, smoking, drinking and hanging around with a gang. Tiffin and Willa, the two youngest of the clan need constant supervision and attentiveness.

Lochan is trying to study for his final year of school and Maya is only a year off that herself. In troubled times they have always turned to each other, always supported each other and been one another’s rock. They have always been the closest, the best of friends, the surrogate parents to the little ones, the team.

Lochie has always had trouble talking to anyone outside of his family, painfully shy and afraid of speaking in public after nearly losing Maya to another boy at school he realises why he has never wanted anyone else. He loves her, more than a brother should.

Maya has felt the same way and when given the opportunity to finally express herself, she willingly takes the chance.

Forbidden was in a way painful to read. There was no excitement at the unknown, no daring anticipation at the fact that they could be caught at any second. You start out thinking ok, well this will be a standard story about traumatised kids finding comfort in each other, but it is so much more.

You weren’t made to like the idea of incest, even Lochie and Maya hated it at first, you couldn’t sympathise with them, but you could understand what was happening. After their first kiss I had to put the book down and walk away, to be honest, I was disgusted.

You didn’t want them to succeed in finding a way to make their love work, but you almost didn’t want it to end. You didn’t want to continue reading because about halfway through it is easy to see the outcome but you couldn’t put it down.

Suzuma in a way forces you through their pain, by completely consuming you with their lives even though you don’t want to keep going, just like them, somehow you find a way to continue. By the time Forbidden was finished, I was a mess because it forced me to think of things that I didn’t want to think of. You want to write off Lochie as a nutcase, consumed by his own madness but that’s not fair to him, because he fought for so long.

I almost can’t bear to give Forbidden top marks, but it has to have them. I hated Suzuma for what she did to me, what she made me feel. I have never felt so depressed after reading a book, but that is what I want in a book, to be consumed, to be lost, to be pounded, to feel. I am honestly terrified of reading anymore of her work purely because of what Forbidden did to me. So, as her characters had to do; it will just be one step at a time.

Book Review: Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Review: Leaving Paradise
Series: Leaving Paradise – Book 1
Author: Simone Elkeles
No of Pages: 303
Release Date: 1 April 2007

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PERSON WHO DAMAGED YOU FOR LIFE...

Caleb Becker spent the past year in juvenile detention.

Maggie Armstrong spent the past year in hospitals and physical therapy.

Two teens who were scarred one fateful night are going to have to face their greatest challenge yet – meeting up with each other again.

...BECOMES THE PERSON YOU TRUST THE MOST?

My Thoughts:

I am so glad that I didn’t read this before I read Perfect Chemistry, or it would have put me off Elkeles altogether.

Leaving Paradise was one big selfish teenage whinge. Yes these kids have problems, but they don’t do anything about it and they don’t take any of the blame themselves, everyone else is at fault.

Maggie was hit by a car driven by Caleb a year ago, resulting from that is a mangled leg that Maggie refuses to use. What I couldn’t stand about Maggie was her lack of courage and willpower. She refused to put any pressure on her leg and expected everyone to treat her special because of it.
When the elderly Mrs. Reynolds refuses to give her special treatment Maggie doesn’t like her. It showed a lack of character. Sure there may be people out there like Maggie, but it doesn’t set a good example.

Caleb on the other hand is fresh out of gaol and expects everyone to just accept him and go back to normal after he has mutilated one of the townsfolk. It grated on my nerves how much of a chip on his shoulder he had, I wanted to punch him the face for most of the book and tell him to wake up.

I know teenagers can be stupid, but did these two have to be that stupid?

Then there was the romance, Maggie fell in love with the guy that crippled her...there was a complete eye-roll moment as soon as I read the sentence. That whole part of the story was completely far-fetched.

The only thing I did like about Leaving Paradise was Mrs. Reynolds, she taught the pair to wake up and get over themselves. She had a world of wisdom that I could have listened to for hours and a wit that only an old lady can get away with saying out loud.

There was thankfully a change in Maggie toward the end when she hardened-up, the way it came about though and her sudden change in thinking was another complete eye-roll moment.

Elkeles is a masterful writer and it shows in this book, this just wasn’t one of her better ideas.

Also in this series:
Return to Paradise

Others who reviewed this:
Sarah's Book Reviews

Book Review: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Review: Perfect Chemistry
Series: Fuentes Brothers Trilogy – Book 1
Author: Simone Elkeles
No. Of Pages: 357
Release Date: 23 December 2008

At Fairfield High School, on the outskirts of Chicago, everyone knows that south siders and north siders aren’t exactly compatible elements. So when head cheerleader Brittany Elis and gang member Alex Fuentes are forced to be lab partners in chemistry class, the results are bound to be explosive. But neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all – love. Can they break through the stereotypes and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart?

“Miss Ellis?” Mrs. Peterson says. “It’s your turn. Introduce Alex to the class.”

“This is Alejandro Fuentes. When he wasn’t hanging out on street corners and harassing innocent people this summer, he toured the inside of jails around the city, if you know what i mean. His secret desire is to go to college, and become a chemistry teacher, like you, Mrs. Peterson.”

Brittany flashes me a triumphant smile, thinking she’s won this round. Guess again, gringa.

“This is Brittany Ellis,” I say, all eyes now focused on me. “This summer she went to the mall, bought new clothes so she could expand her wardrobe, and spent her daddy’s money on plastic surgery to enhance her, ahem, assets. Her secret desire is to date a Mexicano before she graduates.”

Game on...

My Thoughts:

I read this book in three hours, which is a new record for me, that is how good it is.

Perfect Chemistry is the perfect modern tale of star-crossed lovers. We’ve had Romeo & Juliet, Westside Story and now Perfect Chemistry.

Brittany is from the “right” side of the tracks. She lives in a big house, has perfect friends, perfect grades, is the perfect cheerleading captain and has a perfect family. Supposedly.

Brittany actually can’t talk to half of her friends, has to study hard like everyone else, is getting over cheerleading and her family is a mess. Shelley is Brittany’s older sister, and she has multiple-sclerosis, one of the main reasons that I loved Perfect Chemistry was the way Brittany treated her sister. No matter what Shelley did to her, Brittany still defended, loved and protected her, although her parents thought she was too much of a handful Brittany made sure that Shelley was as happy as possible.

Alex is from the “wrong” side of the tracks. He lives on the Latino side of town, is in a gang and works hard to help his family get by.

Alex is the ultimate bad boy at school, and everyone knows it. People refuse to look him in the eye others are scared to speak to him and most just avoid him altogether. There are rumours that he has killed dealt drugs and is in multiple knife fights with other gangs.

Alex is commendable in his behaviour. He doesn’t want to be in the Latino Blood, but he is and once you get in, there is no getting out. Alex works hard throughout Perfect Chemistry to try and keep his younger brothers away from the gangs. He has strong family values and respects his mother, something we don’t see too much in YA at the moment.

Brittany and Alex are in chemistry together, and clash from the beginning. There are constant pranks and jokes as they try to make the other stumble and look a fool. Once they put aside their differences though and see that although they are from different sides of the tracks, in a way they are the same.

Both live up to an image, both don’t really want to be there and both would like someone to talk to.

Alex is originally dared to talk to Brittany on a bet. His motorcycle for his friend’s car and seeing as Alex’s motorcycle is like his baby, he will do anything to keep that from happening. The bet is that he can sleep with her before the end of school.
Inevitably though, they get to know each other. Through the constant bickering and name-calling they become friends. Alex teaches Brittany how to drive a manual, Brittany opens her life up to Alex and they get on, even though they are getting it from all sides, they stick together.

Perfect Chemistry is a beautiful tale, and no matter how much I say I love it, it won’t be enough. If the teachers are smart in a few years this will be getting used in English classes because of its beautiful prose and modern take on a classic tale.

Others in this Series:
Rules of Attraction

Also reviewed by:
Sarah's Book Reviews

Available at:
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Book Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Review: Hex Hall
Series: Hex Hall – Book 1
Author: Rachel Hawkins
No. Of Pages: 323
Release Date: 3 March 2010

When sixteen-year-old Sophie Mercer discovers she’s a witch, she imagines like will be full of magic, fun and...well...broomsticks! But her first attempt at a love spell goes disastrously wrong and, as punishment, Sophie is shipped off to Hecate “Hex” Hall, a reform school for witches, shape shifters and faeries.

By the end of her first day among her fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like super-models, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tag-along ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person on campus and the only vampire.

Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students and her only friend is the number-one suspect...

My Thoughts:

When I first opened Hex Hall I felt Harry Potter, by the middle I felt Evernight and by the end I felt something so spell bindingly interesting that it could only be unique.

Hex Hall is a magical school for delinquents. Not all Prodigium (magical beings) go there, only the ones that place the magical world in danger of exposure, like a fairy flying to catch the school bus, a werewolf losing control and eating someone or in Sophie’s case, a love spell that caused her school formal to come to a crashing halt.

Sophie is a unique character, she knows some of what she can do, and practises! But she has not reached her full potential just yet. Sophie is quite normal for being a witch; she doesn’t always have a snappy comeback and usually thinks of them after the fight is over. She gets scared like normal people do but can toughen up when the time comes.

The secondary characters weren’t too fleshed out in Hex Hall but it didn’t take away from the story, the coven was a nice touch, Sophie wasn’t trying to be part of the bitchyness that came with who the coven were, no matter how many times they asked her to join, she continued to refuse. Watching the cat-fights between Sophie and Jenna and the Coven was interesting, and some of the pranks, although dangerous were quite unique.

I loved how Hawkins took the time to give the history of witch hunts and of the Prodigium without making it boring, I devoured the history parts.

The romance though, I’m not so sure. Archer Cross was described as “slender, almost to the point of skinny” and “strange guy who was not that hot”. I couldn’t understand how Sophie had a sudden flare up of emotion for him after being adamant about the not liking him factor, I mean, he’s not even hot...

I devoured Hex Hall just because it was completely enchanting. Hawkins draws you into her world of mis-matched tables and psychotic gym teachers and won’t let go until she gives you the final curve ball at the end, which I did not see coming at all.

Hex Hall would have been an awesome stand-alone book as it didn’t stick to normal YA clichés and didn’t leave you with an airy-fairy feeling at the end, but one that makes you think long and hard about possible repercussions of one’s actions and people actually getting their come-uppance in the end.

I originally thought Hex Hall was a stand-alone, and with the ending (cliffhangerish) it left a lot of room for thought, but then I found out that there was a second book in what is supposed to be a trilogy. So we might get some whacked HEA after all.

Others in this Series:
Demonglass

Reviews by Others:
I Just Want to Sit Here and Read
Sarah's Book Reviews

Available at:
Amazon
Book Depository

Book Review: Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison

Review: Taken by Storm
Series: Taken By Storm - Book 1
Author: Angela Morrison
No. Of Pages: 304
Release Date: 4th February 2010

Leesie Hunt has many rules: No kissing. No sex. No dating outside the Mormon faith.

When Michael Walden—a deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricane—arrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.

Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist?

Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.

My thoughts:

This book draws you in and doesn’t let go, even though you really want to get out.

Taken by Storm is good in the same way that it is bad. It depends how you look at it. It features Leesie, whose voice we hear through her poems and Michael whose voice we hear through his diving logs.

Leesie is the Mormon ice queen, no-one touches her and no-one wants to go near her, although it is a game for the guys to see who can pinch her the most.

Michael is the troubled orphan, who recently lost his parents and doesn’t really feel like living anymore.

And so inevitably they meet and the story ensues. Leesie and Michaels relationship develops quickly in pages, but slowly over time which is hard to understand at times. But the time that it was given was ample and well-paced.

They had their troubles with Leesie’s faith and Michael’s belief that love equals making love, which Leesie of course, does not agree with. So will it work?

The simple answer is, no. There is constant bickering and tension between the pair. And it’s ironic, for being you’re not so typical YA romance, it is very close to a real life one. They don’t think in happily ever after in Taken by Storm they are more focused on how they’re going to deal with the upcoming dance, and keeping the “width of the lords book between them at all times”.

When Michael got fed up during one of the “down times” and cheated, I instantly thought (a very nasty word) but then in thinking about it now, who wouldn’t? You’ve just broken up with your frigid girlfriend; you have built up tension and an easy chick waiting for you on the sideline.

Leesie is a good person, don’t get me wrong but she could be quite annoying and easily led Michael on in things you really shouldn’t lead guys on with. For being a Mormon ice-queen who won’t stand to be touched by anyone let alone a non Mormon, her values rapidly fall to the side when it came to even the first couple of meetings with Michael, which I didn’t see as realistic. If you’ve had it drummed into your head for your whole life (and I have) it doesn’t just fall away that easily for some guy that you barely know and who is obviously trouble. It spells disaster.

I think it was sad in a way that Taken by Storm didn’t go smoothly; it puts a damper on other inter-religious relationships. With the thoughts being so different when it came to Michael and Leesie it was like they came from two different planets.

Michael had all the normal non-religious thoughts about all the rules being stupid, Leesie had her high moral ground and faith in God.

Taken by Storm is an enthralling read, and even though it is sad in some ways, in others it is extremely happy; it also brings us out of the clouds of YA and shows us that not everything runs as smooth as one fight and then you’re betrothed for eternal life.

Taken by Storm is realistic, and that is its best attribute, it takes a familiar storyline and puts a unique twist in it making it captivating and memorable.

Also in this Series:
Unbroken Connection
Cayman Summer

Book Review: My Big Nose and Other Nautral Disasters by Sydney Salter

Review: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Author: Sydney Salter
No. Of Pages: 352
Release Date: 6th April 2009

I recieved this book through International Book Tours

Welcome to the summer of passion. For seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels, that means three sun-and-fun filled months of spending time with her best friends, obsessing over her crush, trying to find something she is passionate about, and…saving for a nose job. Jory is determined to lose the big, honking, bumpy monstrosity she calls the Super Schnozz—the one thing standing between her and happiness.

So accident-prone Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for surgery; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cut-outs of perfect noses to show the doctor. To find her passion, she tries yoga; she tries becoming a foreign film buff; but nothing is quite as interesting as finding a boyfriend. And that can’t happen until Super Schnozz disappears…right?

Jory is in for some big surprises when passion finds her—and she discovers the beautiful people she longs to look like are not as perfect as they seem.

My Thoughts:

This is such a funny book!

Jory is a lovably annoying character with serious self-esteem issues. My Big Nose takes place during the summer before her senior year. The summer she wants to lose her virginity and get a nose job to fix Super Schnozz.

In the first half of the novel we watch the events unfold as Jory takes her first job. Just watching her write out the resume was funny enough and paramount to what was to come. Babysitting equalled experienced carer, and driving experience as a delivery driver came from ferrying groceries from the supermarket for her mum. Needless to say the job was an absolute disaster, and hilariously funny.

Whilst doing her job though Jory met Gideon, a moody and rather odd cafe worker who also has a Super schnozz. She befriends him thinking that he can only sympathise with her because of their mutual “problem”. Also enter Wooster Tom, a guy from the ‘burbs who sounds really nice, funny, genuine and all around good guy. Both boys a nice distraction from Tyler Briggs whom Jory has been crushing on for 12 months 16 days 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The second half of the book focuses on relationships between friends and guys. To be perfectly honest, if I had some of Jory’s friends I would want a nose job too, talk about some of the most unsupportive friends in the universe.

Jory does go through some funny things but also some very confronting ones, ones in which I was almost scared for her with what was happening. I think My Big Nose also provides us with an insight into the consequences of one’s actions, and how sometimes things can spiral very quickly out of our control. This is mainly shown at the frat party, and it was only sheer luck that kept Jory out of trouble, and her aversion to drinking “hard lemonade”.

Anyone who has ever had a problem with a certain part of their body will be able to relate to this book, it isn’t inspirational but it does provide a funny take on those who would go to extreme measures just to fit in.

Although My Big Nose is extreme, it is also believable. It is believable that someone would be so desperate for money for something that they would take a job as a driver even though they couldn’t drive a manual car. It is plausible to have issues with even your best friend because she is in your eyes so much prettier than you. It is plausible to want to change your body so badly that you would consider surgery to do it.

Overall, My Big Nose is hilarious and anyone who likes YA Fiction would love it. I would recommend this book just for the yoga scene; I was in fits of laughter for nearly an hour after Jory had cabbage soup, then went to a yoga class.

Available At:
Amazon
Book Depository