Review: Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin

Title: Girl Wonder

Author: Alexa Martin

Release Date: May 3^rd, 2011

Publisher: Hyperion

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 304

Source: Won ARC at TBF 2011

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (hosted by The Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket.

Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team—and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.

But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know.

Talented newcomer Alexa Martin delivers a poignant story of first love, jealousy and friendship, where the ups and downs of senior year have never been so complicated. What else can Charlotte do but throw her hands up and ride?

My Review:

Alexa Martin did a really good job writing about a lost girl who is having a hard time figure out who she is and who she wants to be in her life. The main character Charlotte is a girl who got sucked up into the vacuum of a stereotypical high school senior year complete with drugs, sex and booze. I hated Charlotte because of this. I found her to be a written really well character, so well written in fact, that I ended up hating her for the majority of the novel. However, once her life imploded I really started to like her because she realized that she was an idiot and her so called friends were losers. The denouement of this story is what makes me like Charlotte and the book in general. I ended up rooting for Charlotte in the end. I could see that after she came to her epic realization that she finally started to see the people who were there for her all along such as her brother and his best friend (who, by the way, were my favorite characters of the novel). Overall, this is a story about growing up and making mistakes, but it is also a story about how even after making a ton of mistakes there will always be a tomorrow and it will be better than the day before!

Review: The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

Title: The Demon Trapper’s Daughter

Author: Jana Oliver

Release Date: February 1^st, 2011

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 340

Source: Bought for Kindle

Series: The Demon Trappers (#1)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (hosted by The Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

My Review:

I really liked this book! It’s really different from all the other books I’ve read this year. From the summary I got the impression that this book would be told from Riley’s point of view seeing as she is the Demon Trapper’s daughter, so I was (pleasantly) surprised to find that it’s a dual narration between Riley and her father’s trapping partner, Beck. I think this narration technique is what made me like it so much. Yes, the action and plot and all the other characters are brilliantly written as well, but it’s the stark contrast and the surprising similarities between the narrators that make this book stand out. I just really like Riley and Beck together (I ship them, I really do. I will go down with this ship). I also loved how Oliver handled the setting of the story. It’s 2018 and the world is literally going to Hell because of the economy of the last decade (which would be what we’re living in right now). She presented it in a way that is totally believable even with all the demons running amok. I could see this happening the way she puts it forth. Riley, too, is totally believable because you can tell that at times it’s hard for her to be the only female trapper in her neighborhood and that she has to live up to what her father has done and that even though it is hard and the pressure is overwhelming she remains strong. Riley is a character that it’s almost hard not to immediately love her due to her sarcastic and heroic nature! Overall, a splendid debut that has everything one could possibly be looking for in a book: love, laughter, life, death and demons!

Review: Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

Title: Witch Eyes

Author: Scott Tracey

Release Date: September 8^th, 2011

Publisher: Flux

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 332

Source: Won finished copy in contest

Series: Witch Eyes (#1)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2011 (hosted by The Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves.

My Review:

Before getting Witch Eyes I had heard a lot of good things about it and those recommending this book knew what they were talking about. Witch Eyes didn’t disappoint me. I liked the concept of the feuding families and the star-crossed lovers because it was all very Romeo and Juliet but with boys and one happened to be a witch and could see visions if he took off his sunglasses, revealing his witch eyes. Seriously, if Shakespeare had used Tracey’s plot instead of Romeo and Juliet just being spoiled Italian kids I’m sure a lot more teenagers would have liked it. I think I liked this book so much because of the main character Braden. He’s sarcastic but it’s easy to feel for him. It’s not hard to find Braden and Trey’s story moving, I am rooting for them to pull through. It’s an action packed novel with romance and mystery that’s sure to leave readers wanting the sequel the moment they close the book. A great debut, I look forward to reading more of Scott Tracey’s work!

GIVEAWAY: I have two signed Witch Eyes bookmarks to giveaway! I will pick two random people to win on December 10th at noon! All you have to do is be a GFC follower on this blog and comment on *this blog post* answering the following question (with your email so I can get a hold of you if you win):

1) Who is your favorite Literary Witch/wizard/warlock and what book are they from (Harry Potter answers are excepted, but if you could say someone from a different book that would be great)?

GOOD LUCK!

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed

Author: Josephine Angelini

Release Date: May 31^st, 2011

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 496

Source: Ebook from Publisher via Netgalley

Series: Starcrossed (#1)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2011 (hosted by the Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

My Review:

I really liked this book. The ways the famous Greek myths are put forth in this novel are not only unique, but fantastic as well. Most YA Greek myths books are about demi-gods and monsters and God Parents, but it’s rare (at least for me) to read a book that deals with a historical event such as the Trojan War and in particular the “love story” between Helen and Paris of old. The love story of Starcrossed drives me batty but also makes me ridiculously happy because for once the characters don’t have smooth sailing (I won’t say anything else for fear of HUGE spoilers). Read Starcrossed, if you don’t want to face the wrath of the Gods!!

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood

Author: Kendare Blake

Release Date: August 30^th, 2011

Publisher: Tor Teen

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 320

Source: ARC Won in Contest

Series: Anna Dressed in Blood (#1)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (hosted by the Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

My Review:

A good scary, thrilling tale is hard to come by these days, but a brilliant one is almost impossible to find! Anna Dressed in Blood is one of those rare near impossible to find stories that will give you chills. There are parts of this that truly freaked me out, but there are also parts that made me laugh as well as say “AWW”! It’s got action, blood, love and laughs which makes it pretty much perfect in my opinion. It’s a book that will make you think twice about going into that dark room after you read it. I loved Cas’s background of ghost hunting and I loved that he was a kick butt character. I love how this seemingly “easy job” of Cas’s changes his life. I also really love Anna. Her story is so sad and it just tore at my heart. Cas and Anna’s relationship is truly what made me love this book (also the plot and well everything else)! I beg you to go get this book. Don’t walk, don’t even run, I want you to break speeding laws to get to your local book store or library!

Review: Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Title: Falling for Hamlet

Author: Michelle Ray

Release Date: July 5^th, 2011

Publisher: Little Brown

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 368

Source: ARC from Publisher (thanks so much!)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (hosted by the Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.

My Review:

Falling for Hamlet is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet told from Ophelia’s point of view. I enjoyed Hamlet, but I adored this retelling. I read Hamlet for my AP Literature class, two years ago (and will be reading it again for my theater class this semester) so I’m familiar with the story, but you don’t need to be to like this novel. I don’t even think you need to like Hamlet to like this retelling. My friend hates the play, but I’m sure she will like Falling for Hamlet. What I liked best was that it was told from Ophelia’s point of view. In the play she’s vastly overlooked as just being Hamlet’s crazy, suicidal girlfriend. In Falling for Hamlet she’s neither crazy nor suicidal; she’s strong and has a sensible head. I think she does everything right; she makes the right decisions even if they are hard. It’s also quite interesting, as a fan of the original play, to see how Michelle Ray modernized all those famous speeches; my favorite was the way she conveyed the “To be or not to be” soliloquy of Hamlet’s (you’ll have to read it to know how she did it, I know unfair, but I don’t want to spoil it). I encourage you to give this a try!

Review: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Title: The Near Witch

Author: Victoria Schwab

Release Date: August 2, 2011

Publisher: Hyperion

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 288

Source: ebook from publisher via Netgalley. Bought Hardcover today (because I seriously love it so much)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2011 (hosted by the Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.

My Review:

Where to begin? I could happily go on about The Near Witch forever. I love The Near Witch. If there was a stronger word than love I would use it to describe my feelings for Victoria Schwab’s brilliant debut novel. I read the advanced ebook last week and bought the hardcover of it today and I already want to re-read it. I’ve never read anything like it, yet I feel as if I’ve known it forever (the blurb above tells it all). Everything about this book makes me happy. The story of the Near Witch, which when told by the Main Character Lexi starts off with my new favorite line of all time, “The wind on the moors is a tricky thing”. The story of the Near Witch makes this novel one of my favorite of all time. When Lexi is telling Wren the story, Wren falls asleep and Lexi stops telling it, I literally said out loud “What? No! HOW CAN YOU FALL ASLEEP DURING THIS?! Oh man, finish the story, Lexi! I have to hear the ending”. Victoria Schwab’s writing is beautiful and chilling. Even when the characters mention “the town of Near” a chill goes up my spine. With Schwab’s writing you feel as if you’ve lived in the town of Near your whole life and you grew up hearing the stories. I felt as if I already knew the Near Witch song that the kids play along to. I keep humming it to myself even a week later (my version is sort of upbeat and bouncy, I’m not sure it’s supposed to be, but to me it made it all the creepier). I love the stranger that comes to Near and the witches that live on the edge of town, just as Lexi does. I despise Lexi’s uncle and friend, Tyler for what they do throughout the course of the book, just as Lexi does. I feel as if I live in a town called Near and hear the Near Witch singing the moor to sleep, just as Lexi does and that is what makes me love The Near Witch.

Review: Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Title: Blood Magic

Author: Tessa Gratton

Release Date: May 24^th, 2011

Publisher: Random House

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 405

Source: Library

Series: The Blood Journals (#1)

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (Hosted by the Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com):

It starts off simply.

Draw a circle ... place a dead leaf in the center ... sprinkle some salt ... recite a little Latin ... add a drop of blood ...

Maybe that last part isn't exactly simple. Yet somehow it feels right to Silla Kennicott. And nothing in her life has felt remotely right since her parents' horrific deaths. She's willing to do anything to uncover the truth about her family—even try a few spells from the mysterious book that arrived on her doorstep ... and spill some blood.

The book isn't the only recent arrival in Silla's life. There's Nick Pardee, the new guy next door who may have seen Silla casting a spell. She's not sure what he saw and is afraid to find out. But as they spend more time together, Silla realizes this may not be Nick's first encounter with Blood Magic. Brought together by a combination of fate and chemistry, Silla and Nick can't deny their attraction. And they can't ignore the dark presence lurking nearby—waiting to reclaim the book and all its power.

Tessa Gratton's intoxicating first novel will keep pulses racing, minds reeling, and pages turning right up to the very last drop of blood.

My Review:

I have really mixed feelings about this book. At times I hated it and had to stop reading because I didn’t agree with what was happening in the plot lines. Overall, though, I liked it. Would I reread it? I don’t think so. Will I read the next book? Maybe. Do I recommend you read it? Absolutely. Just because it’s not precisely my taste doesn’t mean I will tell people not to read it. I liked all the characters and for the most part I enjoyed the plot. But at times Silla, Nick, and Reese’s casual blood spillage just sickened me. It was incredibly interesting, but very twisted. The writing was suburb, though, which really made this book work. I really liked the switching narratives (this book is told from Silla and Nick’s POVs as well as journal entries from the antagonist and a surprise character later on). All the history and flashbacks and journal entries were all presented at the right plot point so they didn’t bog down the story, but greatly enhanced it. Anyway, my advice is to try this book out because it never hurts to try.

Review: Die for Me by Amy Plum

Title: Die for Me

Author: Amy Plum

Release Date: May 10th, 2011

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 352

Source: ARC ebook from publisher via Netgalley

Series: The Revenants #1

Challenge: Debut Author Challenge (hosted by The Story Siren)

Summary (goodreads.com): In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

My Review:

This is the very first book I read on my Kindle and oh boy I couldn’t have asked for a better book to begin with. This is an amazing start to what I’m sure will be a great new series, in fact I’m positive it is. At first it seemed like one of those books where the parents die, the girl is sad, girl meets boy, all is good. It sort of is, but there is so much more than that when you add in Paris and the fact that the boy is well a hot zombie type person. Now before you let your imagination run wild no one eats any brains in Die for Me and there are no apocalypses, zombie or otherwise. I love the concept of the revenants in this book because it is completely new to me. I love that this book doesn’t have vampires or werewolves or fairies or any of the other overdone supernatural beings. I love that this book’s setting isn’t in the States, but in Paris it makes it seem as if anything can happen if you go abroad (which I am a total believer in). I also love Kate! She’s so cool; I love the fact that she doesn’t jump into a relationship with Vincent that she may regret, she thinks about it then decides she doesn’t just jump in like other heroines. I guess my only complaint about Kate was that she was a tad whiny at one point but hey she’s a normal teenager and I like that! I also love that even though I read this a couple weeks ago I still think about it, this plot just sucked me in and its hard to get out of. I can’t wait for the next book! I recommend this to everyone, go get it ASAP!

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Leviathan

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Release Date: October 6th, 2009

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 448

Source: Library

Series: Book #1 of the Leviathan series

Other Titles in the Series: Behemoth (book #2)

Challenge: Steampunk Challenge

Summary (goodreads.com): On the eve of World War I, conflicts in Europe are coming to a bloody boil. On every side, governments are frantically arming themselves with new weaponry and sorting out likely friends and foes. On the whole continent, perhaps the oddest pairing of all is the makeshift alliance bred in danger between Aleksandar Ferdinand, fugitive prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Deryn Sharp, a daring British airwoman disguised as a boy. Both have secrets that they must conceal and now face dangers of literally global proportions. A steampunk series by the author of the Uglies and the Midnighters series.

My Review:

I’ve never really particularly liked World War I. For some reason I always forget what happened, why it started and who was involved. Leviathan changed all that. It creates its own version of WWI and yet it still sticks to the facts. I liked learning about Alek’s side of things with all the machines and what not but I was truly fascinated by Deryn’s aide of the war with the fabricated animals. I was a Bio Chemistry major in high school and even though I hated it some of it (unfortunately) stuck with me. In my HS I could have chosen one of three majors, Bio Chemistry, computers or engineering. I hate computers (I tend to break them a lot) so I obviously didn’t choose that and I could honestly care less about machines and building things so engineering was also out. Even though I sucked at science even back then I chose it because there was no where else for me to go (well I could have gone to a different high school but I really liked mine). I came to loath science by the way because of majoring in it. Okay, here’s the point of that long rambling tangent: I think it sort of explains why I like Deryn better than Alek. Alek was interesting I guess, but Deryn’s story made the book good. It's what kept me from giving up on it all together. Once the stories of the two main characters combined however I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it down. I plan on reading Behemoth soon because Leviathan was in fact really good. I also really loved the illustrations in this book they were wonderful. I recommend this to steam punk fans as well as WWI fans or just history in general.

Review: Clarity by Kim Harrington

Title: Clarity

Author: Kim Harrington

Release Date: March 1st, 2011

Publisher: Point (imprint of Scholastic)

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 246

Source: ARC from Publisher

Series: Clarity, Book #1

Other Titles in the Series: Perception, Book #2 (due out March 2012)

Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren

Summary (goodreads.com): When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth?

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

My Review:

When I opened the package that contained Clarity I squealed (my dad thought I saw a bat or something. Nope, I had just received a book I had been pining for for months). I just knew this book wouldn’t let me down. I had high hopes for it and Clarity didn’t disappoint. I loved this book, it was so good. I have never read anything quite like it. Clarity is part paranormal, part murder mystery and completely awesome. I love how Clare is psychic but she doesn’t let her ability control her. She works with her mother and big brother at their family business like a lot of teens do, her family’s business just happens to be a whole lot cooler than a motor shop or something, the Ferns run psychic readings out of their home in Eastport on Cape Cod. Clare is a really believable character and super entertaining. I love Clare’s family, I am uber jealous of her. I think its so funny that her mom can read minds even though I wouldn’t want her reading mine. Perry, her big brother, reminded me a little of Jason from True Blood in that he’s a player who becomes suspect in a small town’s murder. Perry though is infinitely less annoying, he’s one of my favorite characters. There’s also a kind of love triangle type thing. Her Ex-boyfriend really wants her back and the new detective in town’s son may have feelings for her despite her abilities. I think I’m leaning towards her Ex Justin but I’m not sure yet, I’ll wait to read Perception next year to decide; I need more evidence. Clarity is also a small book at just under 250 pages, it’s a great book to read while sitting on the beach or even in your own back yard. I read this in February and it had me longing for summer (and I hate summer). Clarity is just a great read; I highly recommend it.