June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

© January 29 2013 by Penguin

I was iffy about reading Prodigy as I read Legend last year and I was worried that I wouldn’t remember any of the important elements introduced to us during the first book. However my worries were for naught as Prodigy picks up right where Legend left off, following June and Day as they join the Patriots and figure out what sinister beings lurked behind the seemingly perfect Republic. Along the way they have to determine if their feelings for each other can survive despite their very different backgrounds.

I liked that both characters were stronger in the second book so you could really see how they had developed. I had a bit of a problem with the voice distinction in Legend but Marie Lu polished that up nicely in Prodigy. Apart from the font use, Day talked in a more street and rustic manner while June was all military thinking and strategic tactics. June and Day took their relationship slowly which was fitting as they previously came from different worlds and were brought up to despise each other. I liked how June came across as a girl who didn’t know where her true loyalties lay and as the book progressed, we often see her thinking about whether she should follow the Republic, living a life of luxury and safety, or the Patriots where she would be forced to fight for her life.

Prodigy was action packed with never a dull moment. Each page brought us more and more into the world of the Republic which I found slightly reminiscent of another real life rogue state (not going to name names). It was interesting to learn how the dystopian society first started out with the trials and everything. I also liked Kaede’s little dialogue of how there were no utopian societies as the Republic and the Colonies both had their bad sides and their good sides. Kaede is probably my favorite character in Prodigy because she came across as very strong, independent and at times, invincible.

Marie Lu has a gift for amazing climax build up and pacing which seemed to be evident in Prodigy. The plot twist really caught me unawares but I think that it fit in nicely with the plot and added more substance to the story. I hope that the subplot about the Congress despising the new Elector would be more explored in the third book since I was left with a lot of questions by the time Prodigy ended. Overall I’m glad to see that Prodigy wasn’t a lackluster follow up to an otherwise great YA dystopian series.

I initially thought that Prodigy was going to be the last book so when I read the ending, I was all “Oh my gosh you can’t just do that! That violates the reader-writer relationship!” Then I found out from goodreads that the last book, Champion, has an expected release date of November 2013. I also saw the cover of Champion and it is gorgeousness and gorgeousity in flesh.

Title: MONUMENT 14

Author: Emmy Laybourne

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. 

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Review: I LOVED THIS BOOK. I read it in my pre-travel OMG-I-HAVE-TO-FLY-ON-AN-AIRPLANE-FOR-TEN-HOURS-I-HOPE-I-DON’T-DIE anxiety. And you’d think that reading an ‘end of the world’ novel would have just pushed me further into my hysteria, but… it didn’t. This book sucked me in and distracted me for a full 24 hours pre-trip so I was able to cope.

Yes, I read this book in 24 hours. I did have to take a break to sleep, eat, pack, and go to work, but in all that in-between time I had my nose glued to my kindle as I read this.

I actually happened across this book by total chance. It was on sale in the kindle store (the only place and price I’m allowing myself to buy books these days) so I looked it up on Goodreads, saw that it was a disaster novel, and pushed the ‘BUY NOW’ button (my favorite button on the internet).

At exactly 3% into the story I was already updating my Goodreads page raving about it. THIS IS HOW YOU START AN APOCALYPSE. Kids on a school bus, giant pieces of ice falling from the sky. One plucky driver crashes her bus into the closes Mega-store and saves the kiddos. Well, only 14 of them. Must have been early on her bus route.

The story starts off with a bang and does NOT slow down. They go from super hail to the biggest earthquake in history, MEGAtsunamis, and a chemical weapons spill that I thought was pretty unique (for ya know, a chemical weapons spill).

Now, this was pretty much the only thing that bugged me… the earthquake. Maybe because I DID live through the ‘biggest earthquake in human history (two years ago on March 11th)’ I’m a bit sensitive to earthquake’s in fiction. This earthquake was bigger than the March 11th one, but they had NO aftershocks? And the building survived? I’m not a scientist, and I don’t know anything about earthquakes that happen because of MEGAtsunamis, but I do know that there are aftershocks (for years!) after huge quakes. So I tried not to let this bother me, but I did make a note about it.

Outside of the whole ‘world is ending’ portion of the novel, the heart of the story is how the kids survive inside of the giant Wal*Mart (that’s what I pictured anyway). The one adult goes to find help, leaving some teenagers in charge of a handful of Junior high and Elementary students. With only 14 kids we get A LOT of personality. And I loved these crazy kids. We had the adorable twins, the Spanish kid (who doesn’t speak English), a super religious boy (who kept telling everyone they were going to hell), a hilarious kid who’s basically lived the life of a 45 year old trucker (Max, he was my favorite. His stories about strippers and other random forms of ‘adult entertainment’ were hilarious). And then the ‘older’ kids; a couple of jocks, a popular girl, another girl who probably could have been the class president, a pre-teen who thought it was a great idea to try to dress sexy and try to get the older boys to hook up with her (her storyline was probably one of the most interesting and really knocked you in the gut, but man, there were times when I just wanted to scream at her and knock her down a few pegs), a boy scout, and then our narrator (who was kinda a nerd) and his computer-genius brother.

So all of these kids in this store… and things go from super fun (freedom and LOTS of candy), to Lord of the Flies. There are some tense moments and some truly terrifying moments. There are plays for power, moments were they have to choose who to trust, and even times when they’re just a bunch of stupid kids doing stupid things. And teens doing stupid teenager things.

I can’t say too much more without spoiling it, so just take my word for it and check out this book! The next one, MONUMENT 14: SKY ON FIRE comes out later this month, and I just found out that there’s also a short story. Super excited to check them both out!

The other day me and my friends decided to sit and watch The Host. They had seen it before and loved it so persuaded me to give it a try. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the sort of story line that The Host had, it should have been right up my street, right?! Well, the reason I hadn’t have wanted to see it before was because I had suffered through the first two Twilight films much to my displeasure and found it extremely long, bizarre and tedious.  I mean, I walked in on one of friends watched the end of the fourth movie, what the hell was that all about – he fell in love with a baby! Anyway, enough with the Twilight rant *gah*. I had kind-of pushed The Host in the same corner. But feeling generous, and knowing my friends wanted to watch it again I decided The Host should have a chance.

After aliens take over Earth installing peace and tranquility, it comes at a price. Every human body is inserted with a ‘Soul’ replacing the human inside. Very few human are left, and after Wanderer takes over Melanie’s body, the ‘Souls’ seek out to track down the rest of the race. However, Melanie fights Wanderer, remaining in her brain and forces her to fight back. She persuades her to go on a search for her brother, Jamie and lover, Jared in whom she left behind.

Well, I can’t say my preconceptions fell far from the tree. I wasn’t really impressed at all. It took too long and could have been executed a lot better. And as for the internal speech, best left in the comfort a novel. I was confused about who the protagonist was meant to be with, the two actors both looked the same! A predictable story-line through, *SPOILER ALERT* I could tell you from the start that she wasn’t going to die. I just got bored and found my munchies more interesting that this alien invasion fest. The acting wasn’t too bad and neither was the set but it could have been so much better with the material they had! I did like the blue eyed glow though.

For a movie that should have been right up my street, as it is an awesome concept, the film was an epic flop.Trying to ride Meyer’s Twilight success, The Host, for me, was a fail and should stay in the pages of a book. Which maybe, I’ll take a look at and see if it any better.

“What’s interesting about the way Margie and I write is that we don’t write separate characters, we don’t write separate chapters, we kind of split up the work and one of us will write and then we pass it off to the other one. And Margie always says it’s like a running stitch because each of us is writing over the other person’s work constantly. And we go back and forth with the same chapter like, you know, maybe ten times before we even get to the revision process. So, both of us are constantly writing and constantly rewriting.”

—Kami Garcia

Image via http://thecasterchronicles.wikia.com/

The above quote is from an interview with authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl about their book, Beautiful Creatures. Beautiful Creatures is a young adult novel that takes supernatural romance to a new level. Ethan Wate meets new kid in town Lena Duchannes and instantly suspects there is something different about her. From there, Ethan is pulled into a strange world of power and danger. On her sixteenth birthday, Lena will be claimed for either light or dark, and nothing she does will change her fate. It is a darkly magical tale of magic in the deep South, of trust, of pain, and of facing a destiny that could change you in ways you can’t control. Looking at the book as a whole, it addresses a lot of the stereotypes about the young adult supernatural romance genre—you won’t find any flat characters, unbelievable relationships, petty problems, or low quality writing here.

It has been acclaimed for its strong writing and authentic feel, and the reason why may just be in the unique way the writers tackled the writing process.

As stated above, Beautiful Creatures was highly collaborative. Both authors had equal input. Each section of the story was polished again and again before it ever reached revisions, by not just one writer, but two.

But would this work for everyone? The authors say that it was likely their friendship, and the fact that they had similar ideas about writing and the story they wanted to tell, that made the collaboration possible. As the authors say:

“We have a naturally similar voice…We were super compatible.”
—Margaret Stohl

“We don’t actually argue about the content of the book very much. And I think that that’s because we really trust each other.”
—Kami Garcia

Additionally, as indicated later in the interview, the authors had a large support network. The research process was highly involved and included input from a number of different people about everything from the Southern small town atmosphere to having phrases translated into Latin. The authors also state that their editors were a major part of the book’s success, as well.

Writing a novel often involves many individuals as well as the novelist: editors, beta readers, research contacts, and so forth. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl embraced this concept and ran with it. So should we stop thinking about writing as an art form of individuals? Is collaboration the way to go? Or is this an example of a rare success story?

The interview mentioned above can be found in the audiobook version of Beautiful Creatures on Audible.com. A similar interview can be found on Amazon.com’s product page for the book.

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• Beautiful Creatures (pinnerswrites.wordpress.com)
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• “Beautiful Creatures” – A Book/Movie Rant (igeekteenbooks.wordpress.com)
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pages: 578 (including back matter)
publication date: 2008
ISBN: 978-0-316-12865-0

When I realized that Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight saga, had written another book, I went directly to amazon.com to preview the book. I got about one paragraph into the preview and I read this sentence: “With the truest instinct of my kind, I’d bound myself securely into the body’s center of thought, twined myself inescapably into its every breath and reflex until it was no longer a separate entity. It was me.” Oh my gosh, I thought, it’s just Yeerks; this book is just Twilight but with Yeerks. Immediately, I stopped previewing because I knew I would have to read The Host in its entirety.

And although The Host was not as good as either Twilight or Animorphs, it did share many of the same themes. Themes of love and identity, good and evil, although on a much smaller scale than the other two series. The book begins on Earth in the future, after parasitic creatures known as “souls” have taken over Earth except for a few rebel groups of humans. Wanderer, a soul, is implanted in a young rebel woman, Melanie. When Melanie was captured by the souls, she left behind her brother, Jamie, and a young man, Jared. Because Melanie has people to fight for, she resists Wanderer’s attempts to fully assimilate into Melanie’s body. As Melanie’s consciousness and emotions become more and more prominent, Wanderer begins to sympathize with her. Eventually, Melanie convinces Wanderer to go search for the remaining humans, including Jamie and Jared. And, because this book was written by Stephenie Meyer, a love triangle develops.

The best parts of the book were when Meyer used the interesting plot line to write curious passages about identity and the self. There are entire scenes where Wanderer and Melanie first share a single consciousness, only for it to splinter apart and then shift between Wanderer and Melanie. And all this from Wanderer’s point of view. If I specified much further, I would give some plot lines away, but, as a small example, at one point, Wanderer, in Melanie’s body, states, “I remembered what it felt like to vomit, though I never had.”

Additionally, Meyer was able to create some very compelling suspense. I worried about how Wanderer and Melanie could both survive, how they both could live with their respective love interests, whether the souls would find the rebel humans, whether the various rebel attacks against the souls would succeed and almost every other plot line Meyer concocted. The only aspect of The Host that was not compelling was the love triangle, because it was formulaic and predictable.

The Host also shares some of the failings of the Twilight saga. For example, Wanderer/Melanie is constantly and unnecessarily getting carried by men, often as she is telling them “no.” Additionally, Wanderer encounters not a single black person – not a single one through 561 pages of story. But for all her faults, Meyer, in The Host and the Twilight saga, knows how to craft a good story.

4/6: worth reading

Some other reviews of the book:

Entertainment Weekly
The Guardian
The Obsessive Reader

Time froze, but she still held my hand. I was expecting it to be numb, but a tingling sensation remained. It was warm and reassuring. The air was still around us, no motion occurred. It was like nothing I was expecting, but by now I knew to leave any preconceptions at the door. Too much had happened for beliefs to remain intact. Normal no longer existed and I was thrust into a world that only belonged in fables.

‘I told you it would be amazing’.
Kayla whispered in my ear. Her breath tickled the back of my neck. Without uttering another word, we explored the city she had ceased to a halt. Careful not to disturb anything we weaved through the statues that people had become. My mind wondered, fascinated with the elegance of the motionless city. In amazement at Kayla’s talent and wondered if many had been to witness this wonder. Kayla’s voice made me realise I had spoke aloud.

‘It scared me at first. I didn’t know how to control it, how to get out. I feared I would never speak to the people I loved again. One minute I was sat in the café, drinking coffee whilst waiting for a friend. The next thing I knew there was pure silence. Looking around movement had ceased. Everything but me. I panicked, tried to wake people with no such luck. They all just stared blankly, no motion, no sound. Sobbing, I ran and hid in park, far from where I first witnessed the suspension. I don’t know how long I remained there, sobbing and crying for a life I thought I had lost. Time had ceased for everyone else, but not for me. I couldn’t understand, I even thought I might die this way. That angered me. It was not my fault. I was trapped with no way out. No power to leave.
‘So, I lashed out. Not on the humans, but anything else that was in my way. In my eyes, it was nature’s fault and that had to take my anger. The trees mainly, but even the grass, rocks and lake felt the wrath of my frustration. I wore me out, and shred my knuckles to ribbons. I ignored the pain though, too angry, too lost to care. I was sixteen, meant to have my whole life ahead of me, but instead suspended in time. Each blow let out a release of my frustration on the world.
‘Until one hit ignited the lift. I could hear birds and listen to the wind. Children playing, feet on the gravel and ducks splashing on the water. You have no idea of the relief I had. I cried. Tears of joy made their way down my cheeks. But there was also the intense fear that it may happen again, at anytime. That is when I became scared. But, little did I know in the distance Stella was watching me, waiting to guide me. But she came with a price. I had no choice. I had to walk out of the life I had, the life I loved. I couldn’t put my family and friends through this. Only she could give the answers, the solutions that I was so desperate for. And only she has been here with me. Only once. She taught me to control the power I had. To use for it my own good. To embrace. To love it. It is now a place of rest, a place to call my own and think of those that I left behind. You are the first person in three years that I have let in. It should feel strange but it is nice to have company. It is nice to know I am not on my own…’

Her voice trailed as she wandered off. Instead of following her blue glow that provided me with reassurance, I stayed in the middle of the road taking in with awe the world at a standstill. So peaceful and quiet I could understand why she liked it here. So different to what our lives had become. I was glad she trusted me. Glad that she showed me. I felt closer to her now more than anyone and at a time like this, stability in a friend was what I needed most.

Her blue glow provided me with reassurance.

This kind of links to the lil’s prologue I wrote the other day, so if you liked this check that out. The Intense Feeling of A Green Glow

James Dashner did a good job of showing the different characters in this action novel – particularly that of sub-character, Chuck.  The language took a bit of getting used to, but as the pages were turned, it became a natural part of the dialogue.

There were a couple of questions I found myself wondering throughout the read, however, e.g. how a ‘newby’ such as Thomas could slide into the leaders’ circle so easily and be listened to; and how no-one questioned the conformist lifestyle that had been set up at some point in the past by teenagers – and adhered to, when teenagers are supposed to be the very opposite of that during that stage in life regardless of how savvy or smart they are.

Those musings aside, I found the story moved along well with intrigue and suspense.  Thomas’s heroic actions to ‘take a punch’ for the benefit of the group shows good character arc; leading to a strong story climax with the attempted escape.  I thought Dashner closed the story well, allowing the reader to know something more than the characters did themselves.  I was left with a feeling of ‘oh no…’; a reaction I’m sure Dashner was trying to achieve and did so successfully.   A good read.

Chapter 3:  “Seeds of Change”

Perched at the foot of Collin’s bed was the winged gargoyle from his drawing, hungry to pounce.

 It drooled over his blankets, baring its long blade-shaped teeth while staring wide-eyed at Collin’s body as he slept, and slid his claws over the bumps and curves of his unresponsive form. Then, without warning, Collin felt the jolt of falling as it grabbed him, dragging him under his bed then splintering his already fragmented mind through a crack in the floorboards.

Dazed, he found himself on the underside of the so-called prairie-dog holes.

He paused only seconds to catch his bearing and then felt his muscles pulled and jerked around by the hideous creature as it made its way through hidden tunnels. Collin felt his whole body being flung out into an open field, like a discarded rag doll.

Collin squinted, trying to get his eyes to adjust through the thick fog and mist, but all he could see was an old classic black-and-white horror film with choppy and spliced-together scenes that rambled and jumped across his still-blurred vision.

He stood up in the middle of the empty field, trying to gather his bearings, alone with only his black-and-white vision.

Then across the field he spotted a squatty gnome running with a shovel, obviously on a mission, and grumbling some obscenities about being seen. Just as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared into a nearby hole.

Collin sat up in his bed, drenched with sweat and clenching at his beating chest as if trying to keep his heart inside. He caught himself checking his pajamas for mud then realized it must have been a dream.

Letting his head fall back on his pillow, he tried to figure out how something that felt so real could be merely a dream. What on earth did it all mean? Dreams usually had no meaning at all, but why did this one seem like it was screaming something out to him? A warning maybe?

Glancing around his room, he noticed the familiarity of his Batman night-light.

His pulse began to slow down as the gentle light dispersed a golden hue upon familiar pieces of furniture around the walls in his room.

Collin then pulled the covers up around his narrow shoulders and gazed at shadows that lurked around.

Morning was approaching way too quickly, and he had the rest of his room to pack.

For now, he had to sweep the unknown fears under his bed, along with the unresolved nightmares.

(illustrations by: Nick Wallace)

_____________________________________________________________________________

How many times do we, like children, personify our hurts and worries into monsters that lie in bed with us, laying havoc with our sleep? We toss and turn, wrestling with fear and disappointment until we wake up the next morning to face our giants. God promises in His word to give us sweet sleep. Could this be if we trust in a God that is big enough to take care of all of our needs, loving enough to concern Himself with what concerns us, and powerful enough to chase away all of our enemies, that we can lay our heads down and rest in His loving goodness.

God is our loving Father that soothes away the fears in our lives. Just as we could trust our parents were big and strong enough to chase out the creatures under our beds and in our closets, with one flick of the light bulb, we can trust our heavenly Father to light up our path by watching over us and protect us. Before you lay your head down at night,  give God your hurt, anger, fear, and disappointment. If you don’t take them into bed with you, than you will have more room to stretch out inside the peace of God.

I havne’t finished a book yet, but I am working on some good ones, so I thought I’d do a post “in reading” just to see what everyone else is reading.

Right now I’m reading “Pushing The Limits” and “the Under The Never Sky Novella about Roar and Liv.”

I’m hoping I can finish these. And tonight I actually took some time to do something – not sure if all of you do this, but to organize the list of what i want to read next/when. Between Negallery/Edelweiss and the normal books being published my list is getting piled up fast – Wow i idn’t relaize how wuickly this stuff can come up so i’m “trying” to organize this stuff tonight and get an idea of what next when.

I also took a good hard look at my blog, and some things I might want to change.  First of all I have realized to my utter disbbelif that I have not published my review for the second Under the Never Sky, for Forever Black, for Beautiful and Walking Disaster – not to mention I would love to review the Dilerium series.. So at least I have some content to work on until I can get my next set of books read. Anyway, so where I am on a Satruday night truding away on this, so you can def take away that I love doing this.. Its my relief from my everyday stuff.

One other comment before I’m off of here for today. Another blogger I really like posted something today about friendships and how h ard they are to cultivate and keep and I agree with her 100%, so either I just had some bad luck or i’m not meant to have that clsoe connection.. I don’t think i’m not menat to have it because I love people and I strive for communication – but what can I do to change this? I was also thinking that maybe me coming on here wsas a way to find friends who had more in common with me, so we could share our love of books and maybe even more – so who knows. Does anyone else knwo what I mean? I would love to develop a clsoe knit circle of fellow bloggers where we could keep up via blog, emial, maybe text message.. and maybe have some type of book group, I just could see it growing more maybe?? I can always hope anyway..

Well everyone, have a great Satruday and Pre-Mother’s day night – look for some reviews to be posted tomorrow!

Night  Ya’ll – thought I would leave you with a post from one of the books i’m reading!

Kelley

“If you’re scared, tell me.  If you need to cry and scream, then do it.  And you sure as hell don’t walk away from us because you think it would be better for me.  Here’s the reality, Echo: I want to be by your side.  If you want to go to the mall stark naked so you can show the world your scars, then let me hold your hand.  If you want to see your mom, then tell me that too.  I may not always understand, but damn, baby, I’ll try.” From Pushing the Limits – can you say “swoon”?

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Alina doesn’t realize that she has magical abilities until the life of her best friend (although she wishes they were more) is threatened. Thrust into a world of magic and wealth that she doesn’t fully understand, Alina doesn’t know who to trust.

Fantasy with a dystopic feel that is a must read! On the 2013 Lone Star Reading List and I couldn’t put it down! The only bummer is the cover art on this is not appealing to teens. I have to sell this book or they won’t check it out. I’m anxiously awaiting the second book, but the cover art follows the same pattern on that one as well.

Line that is so true it’s scary: “The problem with wanting is that it makes us weak.”

Recommended Ages: Grades 7 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Overall Opinion: Highly Recommended
Source: Book

Warning…contains some spoilers to first book.

Book three in the Jenna Fox Chronicles finds Locke on a favor for the Network. He is still adjusting to living in a box for 260 years, and learning about the new society he is thrust into.  Not only is a beloved Network leader still alive, but Locke finds himself falling for the person who will become the bait if he can’t find the answers he needs.

When I read the first book I fell in love with Jenna. The first two books kept me guessing and this book is no different, except that the must love character is Locke.  Enjoyed that the bots are back (and still making a difference one act at a time) and that there was joy for Meisha. Her character broke my heart and I was so glad to see her as more than just a tragic plot twist.

Line full of beautiful honesty, “Words have been said that can’t be taken back, and I learned a long time ago that words have longer lives than people.”

Recommended Ages: Grades 7 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Overall Opinion: Recommended
Source: Book

Celia Macarty is back in Post Mortem, the second instalment in the Parish Mail saga.

Autum in New Orleans means Homecoming, romance – and murder. When a friend vanishes, Celia believes a desperate letter about an unsolved Civil War-era murder holds the key to unravelling the mystery.

As she searches for answers, Celia enlists the help of quirky witch Tilly, and either all-American boy Donovan or enigmatic Luc – you get to choose.

As the gang follows the missing girl’s trail, danger turns up on all fronts. A vicious stranger threatens Celia’s family. Celia’s nightmares – about a shadowy, ominous villain – get worse. And a new ghost has appeared: beautiful Angelica, who shares a past with Luc.

It will take all of Celia’s will and wit, and the faith of her friends, to solve an unspeakable crime. And no matter which path Celia takes, she will discover that sometimes the past can come back to haunt you.

 

Having reviewed Dead Letter Office, the first of the Parish Mail series, I was contacted by Coliloquy to review Kira Snyder’s second book, Post Mortem. I am so glad – I loved the last book, and if anything, this one was even better.

At the end of Dead Letter Office, the reader is told about a pile of letters that Celia has, in which she is being asked for help. This book is based a couple of weeks after the first, and follows the events of a letter from Celia’s pile. Again, she has the help of best friend Tilly as well as Luc and/or Donovan.

The reason I said this book may have been a little better than the first is that it gets stuck straight into the adventure, without needing an introduction to the characters. The characters are established, and there’s no pussy-footing around, wondering if someone will get weird with the level of magic involved. That was still great in book 1, don’t get me wrong, but there was an instant hook in this story that I loved.

Talking about magic I think the way that magic is so effortlessly intertwined with normal life is really cool. Within a paragraph, Tilly can be whipping up some magical concoction and at the same time dig at Celia for gossip about Luc/Donovan/insert teen issue here. <b>[Mild spoiler in next sentence]</b> I have a thing for realism, so while in a different book I might have an issue with the protagonist leaving a big dance to go adventuring, in this book it seemed perfectly normal.

Snyder has created characters that will develop upon every sequel, and I think the series would actually make a brilliant TV show – I’d definitely watch it! As with last time, I enjoyed the choices I could make, although they seemed to have a further reach in this book, which meant I had to think more about what I chose. There’s one towards the end that took me longer than it should have to decide, as it dramatically affects the climax of the book. There’s only one thing slightly negative I’d say about the whole book, and that is that sometimes things were mentioned that only happened in one of the choices in the last book. For readers that, unlike me, didn’t read all scenarios, that could have been an issue.

In brief (after a long review – oops!), a highly recommended book, and I can’t wait for #3!

Finally, I’m still posting on this blog, but I’ve actually just bought my own domain through Blogger and will be cancelling this account soon. I’d love it if everyone could check out www.a-wordofwords.com, which has all my posts on it. I’ve done this as it’s a lot easier to play around with the design, and I’m waiting for some cool artwork to make my blog look unique to me. Thank you!

Here’s what he advised me:  ‘A supporting character needs a handle.’

‘A handle?  You mean like a nickname?’

‘No.  I mean like a door handle.  Or a pot handle.  Something that the reader can grab.’

Ever since then, I’ve tried to do exactly that with minor characters.  I give them handles.  I give them some characteristic, twitch or quirk designed to jolt the reader into recognition: ‘Oh, yeah, this is the guy with the thick glasses/the wandering hands/the car that’s always breaking down/the missing fingers…’ and those are just the ones from Code Name Verity!  After my friend gave me this advice, I gave my character Agravaine my very first conscious handle.  He wears his hair in a long copper-coloured plait of which he is very vain.

Handles shouldn’t be gratuitous.  Agravaine’s plait, though I included it on purpose to make him a little different from the rest of his red-haired brothers, is important because it works symbolically to show how like his mother he is – she, too, has long red hair and is vain.  It also shows Agravaine’s bond to his mother.  Similarly, the handles for the minor characters in Code Name Verity all contribute to the plot in some way.

The magic thing about handles is that they help the writer as well as the reader.  Once you’ve given someone an interesting characteristic, the writing starts to generate itself around that characteristic.  The guy with the thick glasses suddenly has a prop that can be used in a number of different ways – sometimes he seems to be disguised, sometimes he seems to be hiding, sometimes he can take the glasses off and wipe his eyes and I, as the author, can use this prop to suggest his emotional state without having to speculate about what he’s thinking.

Handles aren’t just relevant to characters.  Giving your settings specific, detailed characteristics helps to make them come alive, too.  Not just the smell of flowers, but the smell of lilacs.  Not just a fire in a fireplace, but a coal fire in an iron grate.  Not just a small dog but a wire-haired terrier.  Specific details don’t just make your story more interesting to read: they make it realistic and evocative.  These small nuanced touches can be particularly important in historical fiction or fantasy, where it can be tempting to generalize when you don’t know or can’t visualize specifics.

What are your characters eating around their campfire?  Have they got a coffee pot?  Is the coffee burning?  What does it smell like?  When someone picks it up, is the handle hot?

It’s worth a few burnt fingers to grab that handle.

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Elizabeth Wein’s author website: www.elizabethwein.com

Elizabeth Wein’s bio page

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United States (and beyond)

United Kingdom (and beyond)

Australia (and beyond)

Writing Teen Novels
www.writingteennovels.com

From Goodreads

From Goodreads: Everyone has a secret. But Lucy’s is bigger and dirtier than most. It’s one she’s been hiding for years—that her mom’s out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. She’s managed to keep her home life hidden from her best friend and her crush, knowing they’d be disgusted by the truth. So, when her mom dies suddenly in their home, Lucy hesitates to call 911 because revealing their way of life would make her future unbearable—and she begins her two-day plan to set her life right.

My Review:

This book by C. J. O was short and sweet (hour by hour setup), with a nice minor twist ending. If you enjoy shorter reads then this is a book for you.

This book, most likely because of its length, focused mainly on the main character and had minor character development for her, but not the other characters who we did not see much of.

It does have a love story, but it is a minor part of the story. The author focused mostly on the actual plot of her a trying not to get found out as the girl who lives in piles of garbage. Not much to say about this novel. I really did enjoy it, and I kind of enjoyed the ending. The only part I didn’t like much in this novel was her choices in the begining, none of them seemed well thought out and only set her up for failure.

The story of Haruhi Suzumiya began one boring school day when she announced her honest interest in meeting time travelers, espers, and aliens; she had absolutely no interest in normal people. She forces the narrator, Kyon, to assist her in forming the SOS Brigade, a school club whose sole purpose is entertaining Haruhi, a.k.a. bringing more excitement to the world.

The story debuted in the light novel by Nagaru Tanigawa, pictured to the right.

Light novels are a Japanese-specific format that features a lot of dialogue, character illustrations, often cover art, and a fast but not very deep plot.

The light novel was then made into a manga series, pictures to the left, and a wildly popular anime. The popularity of Haruhi Suzumiya was so widespread, and continues to be so, and as a result otaku dubbed the fanaticism of Haruhi Suzumiya “Haruhism.” Okay, it may also have something to do with how Haruhi is pretty much the god of her world and we should all do everything we can to make her happy and entertain her or the world could be completely destroyed! But you’ll find that out soon enough, right?

There are several spin-off series based on the original Haruhi characters and plots. First is The Misfortune of Kyon & Koizumi, which is a collection of one-shot short stories in manga form about unfortunate events that happen to the title characters.

It features the art of several different manga-ka and stories from a variety of writers, which makes it a very unique addition to the Haruhi world.

Personally I really enjoyed following the boys around, seeing Koizumi’s perspective, and reading stories that weren’t so Haruhi-centric!

My personal favorite addition to the Haruhi universe is The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, a manga that has just this year been released in the U.S. It fills a plot gap from the original Melancholy of Haruhi story, in which Yuki splits time to get more attention from Kyon. I won’t say more than that so I don’t spoil the original story!

Anyway, I love being able to see the SOS Brigade’s antics from Yuki’s perspective! She gets to be a normal high school girl, and fight for Kyon’s attention, and go on trips and do school festivals and such. She’s so sweet and kawaii and I just love reading about her!

From a librarian’s perspective, having as much Haruhi-centric content in your manga collection is absolutely essential. It is a staple of the otaku world, a must-see for all self-proclaimed anime fans, and on top of that the art and stories are actually really great! The light novels are also really great stories, but fans of the Haruhi manga and anime are not really that interested in them, in my experience.

For those of you who don’t know, I went to the USA last week and… ended up hauling THIRTEEN new books back to Japan with me. I hit up TWO bookstores on my trip (and would have gone to more if I’d had the time!) My grandmother purchased most of these books (as a belated birthday present) and I grabbed a few for myself… plus two eBooks… (If you count the image on the left you can see only 12 books, I didn’t include the Sarah Dessen book that I won since I posted it last week).

eBooks (purchased on sale!) include MONUMENT 14 and MOONGLASS

From my grandmother: THE WAY WE FALL, OPAL, CODA, IF I STAY, THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX, THIS IS NOT A TEST, and WINTER GIRLS.

And for myself from myself (new releases!!!): UNBREAKABLE, THE PROGRAM, THE 5TH WAVE, and BREAK MY HEART 1,000 TIMES.

Won: MILA 2.0 (I actually won Mila 2.0 back a few months ago, but my mother decided to read it when it arrived at my US address and then never handed it over until I got there…)

So that’s them! I kept freaking out that my suitcase was going to be over weight and hid a few in my husband’s suitcase (shhh, don’t tell him!) just incase. I mainly tried to keep to paperbacks since they’re heavy AND I don’t have that much space in my apartment to keep books. And since I wasn’t spending my OWN money for most of them I decided to give a few series that I’ve been wanting to read (but not sure I wanted to shell out the money for) a try. I’ve been on a major mix of disaster and contemporary, so that’s why you can see those two extremes. If I’d had the money/ luggage space I WOULD have grabbed ALLLLL the new releases, but it’s hard to justify that when I can get most of them on kindle for under $10 (and on sale if I’m lucky and wait a bit!)

I honestly don’t even know how to go about tackling this massive pile but so far I’ve read MILA 2.0 (check out my review here), MONUMENT 14 (five stars!!! It was SO good), and I’m 30% into MOONGLASS and on page 227 of THE 5TH WAVE.

But srsly, y’all don’t know how good it feels to have physical books again. It’s been TOO LONG!

Author: Anna Carey

Recommend: Definitely, but only if you’ve read the first two books in the series.

I had less than an hour to read this one. I saw it on the shelves while wondering Barnes and Noble on a long lunch hour. I picked it up, plopped down at a table and began to race through the book, eagerly devouring the conclusion to one of my favorite trilogies lately.

Eve is a mess after the shooting of Caleb and she is definitely showing it at the beginning of this book. Her hatred of her father and everything he stands for has only grown since she lost Caleb but she goes through the motions – all while secretly planning his assassination all while dealing with her sham of a marriage to Charles. When she find out that she has one last piece of Caleb left, everything changes and she puts her life on the line to stop her father forever.

This one was  a complete roller coaster ride to the end and when you think it’s all over, the author throws you for a welcome tailspin. I think the only thing I would say could be a negative about this book is that the author takes Eve away from the action one too many times. I know why she does it but it almost seems like a cop-out to keep her alive. I would have rather seen her in the middle of the action, continuing to fight and somehow escaping the inevitable. I think it would have made for a more exciting storyline. However, I really liked the fact that she brought back some of the issues from the first book to show that they weren’t forgotten. I also love the fact that she doesn’t make things too easy on Eve. The major complication in this book is almost funny in a way but also very bittersweet for the character, not to mention dangerous. I love the transformation of the character from a girl scared of her own shadow to a leader who seems to be able to overcome almost anything when necessary. A very large change but without losing the heart of the character.

My biggest frustration with this book was the ending. While I loved how she concluded the story, she needed to write about five more pages. It was just plain mean to leave us where she did. I wanted to see the moment she walked into that room! UGH! A few more paragraphs wouldn’t have killed her. Of course I’m among the group who loved the prolonged ending to Return of the King and I wanted just a bit more this book too. When you cut the story just short of a huge payoff for the readers, it’s just frustrating for them. It really didn’t need to be long or dragged out, but it needed to be!

Great end to such a fun series. I’m rather sad that there isn’t another Eve book to wait for.

Final Rating:

Buy it new

If you’re looking for a book that is crammed with scandal, betrayal and romance from start to finish, then look no further. The Heiresses by Allison Rushby (published May 2013) provides all of this and then some. With more lies, love affairs and money troubles than an episode of Dallas, this book is a thrilling read that fans of Anna Godbersen, Libba Bray and Eva Ibbotson will love.

Set in 1920s London, The Heiresses follows the lives of seventeen year old girls, Thalia, Clio and Erato (Ro) who have been summoned to London by their Aunt Hestia to learn that they are in fact triplets and the rightful heiresses to a large inheritance. However, there is a catch. Due to the inheritance laws of the time, their greedy half-brother Charles is the current heir and he refuses to part with any of their money unless all three girls leave London and never return.

Having only just met, the girls are slowly getting to know each other and are learning quickly that the world in which they now reside is full of lies, betrayal and scandal. After their mother died during childbirth, the triplets were separated by their morally corrupt father and placed up for adoption quickly to ensure the scandalous nature of their birth was hidden. Clio, Ro and Thalia have lived very different lives and Rushby’s accurate portrayal of the class system in English society proves just how different their lives had been. They are very much individuals, each with their own outlook on life, love and matters of the day. Each of the girls are new to the vibrant city of London and the lures of fashion, parties and excess proves tempting to them all, particularly Thalia, the confident and cunning party lover.  Their separate upbringings means they all have very different reasons to stay and fight for what is rightfully theirs, even if the fight seems to divide them at times.

This book is full of strong female characters, particularly Aunt Hestia, a feminist who is paving the way for future women with her involvement in politics. She is unconventional for the time in that she is unmarried, involved in politics and regularly voices her opinion on matters that most men of the time would deem unsuitable for ladies. It is a rather refreshing take of the female character that we are so regularly presented with in historical fiction set in this period and it is a shame that she does not feature more regularly in the book.

With alcohol, drugs, illicit love affairs and buckets of scandal, this book is a good addition to any YA reader’s bookshelf. It is a quick read with a fast pace and a writing style that compliments the genre well. The book was originally published as a six part e-series and the novella feel of the book certainly lends itself to that medium nicely. Not exactly a huge page-turner but one that is overall an enjoyable read for teenage girls (15+).

• Author: Allison Rushby
• ISBN: 9781742613147
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
• Website: http://allisonrushby.com/

From Goodreads

From Goodreads: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

My Review:

Let me say I loved this book. I loved how heart warming it is, I loved the plot, I loved the characters, and most importantly I loved the message I got out if it. This is a book that fills you with hope (my favorite kind of book) and it gives you a different side of terminal illness – a seemingly real side that does not want your pity. The plot of this book is not like one of books I have seen before. This definitely was a book that stands out alone in all the books I have read. The characters are my second favorite part of this novel. They are likeable, you can emotionality connect with them, and you find yourself rooting for them. You want them to get better even though Green makes it clear death is part of the story. But, the part that hits me the hardest, the true to life twist in the story, nothing goes as planed or expected. And that is the lesson of this novel. This is another book to make you think about the life you are living. Are you living your life to its fullest?

But this book makes me think, “What is a full life?” Is it falling in love, sacrificing yourself for the good of the whole, becoming who you want to be, or is it something else that I haven’t found yet?

That is what I believe John Green made the message of this novel; asking us to find what would fulfill our life and complete it before it is too late.

Reblogged from Inside Movies:

Warning straight up (since I did not get the fair warning from my source) this is a series. But never fear! All three books in the series are in stores already! (And the prequel too!) So happy reading on that (without having to wait!)

The story opens on a boy – Thomas – who is locked in a dark box. He has no memories, no idea where he is or why. Suddenly the box opens and he is introduced to The Glade and it’s inhabitants.

Thomas slowly learns the rules and secrets of The Glade, and when things start to change he and the other Gladers must work together to find a way out, or die trying.

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting because everything is revealed to the reader as it is revealed to Thomas – so the reader is in a constant state of confusion and anticipation (just as Thomas is).

Dashner did a great job inventing a language and a feel for a different kind of world.  He uses good prose and a well scripted pace that keeps the readers attention and interest. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the series turns out.

The covers that I read from…

Unaware it was the fourth book in the series, I read it regardless and mind-blown by the awesomeness I looked and found that there were actually three more to the series. Oh the joy! Avidly I discovered the other three books in the library, read them in the correct order and was engulfed throughout the entire series. The dystopian setting, the distorted perception of beauty and the thrill of rebellion had me hooked throughout. Stuck with the typical boy meets girl romance books that my fifteen year old self was steered towards, the Uglies series satisfied my need for a more meatier fiction in my life; a genre I absolutely adore even now. It was nothing like I had ever touched on before and nothing I could ever imagine. My eyes were open to a dynamic and edgy series with an epic story line that was beautifully written.

For those who haven’t heard of the books (and trust me you really should of have and read them immediately!) the first three books, Uglies, Pretties and Specials, are set three hundred years in the future, where everything needs to be ‘Pretty’. At the age of 16, teenagers have dramatic cosmetic surgery to alter their ‘Ugly’ looks and become accepted into the high flying society  The story revolves around Tally Youngblood, who is just about to turn sixteen and cannot wait to become ‘Pretty’. But after her new-found friend Shay rebels against society and runs after refusing the operation, Tally is led to question the perfection waiting for her on the other side. The fourth book, Extras, happens a few years after the events of the first three books  with new protagonist Ava but still infuses the previous books and Tally. You’ll be a sucker not to read them.

If you love the Hunger Games, then I pretty much guarantee you will fall in love with these books. Its nearly four years on and am still adoring these books! It was only the other day I was with my friend in Waterstones, she picked up the book and my love for them came flooding back. Forget paranormal beings (although I do have a soft spot for those too) this government controlled, beauty obsessed rebellious series is the one I need to rave about. The abandon outer cities, train surfing, hover boards and inter-body technology engrossed me from the very start. Each book provided a new twists and turns, you didn’t know what was going to happen next. And despite the fourth book having a separate narrative to the previous three, it was still as epically awesome. I am pretty sure this series will remain a firm fav of mine for many years to come.

Without a doubt, Dreamhunter and Dreamquake are hands down some of the most original YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy I’ve read in AGES. Like seriously. No werewolves, no vampires, no paranormal romance. In Knox’s world (set in 1905), a select few are able to hike into the “Place”–a barren inter-dimensional desert-like wasteland full of dreams. Yep, kiddos, dreams. And in this world, dreams are sold as commodities.

Tziga Hame and Grace Tiebold were among the first Dreamhunters, and are by far the most famous. So, you can imagine how excited Tziga’s daughter Laura is to “Try.” Grace Tiebold’s daughter Rose is also up for her Try this year. To pass your Try, you must simply be able to step over the invisible line that separates our world from the Place. With dreamhunting comes fame and fortune, depending on how impressive your skills are. You can soothe people, influence them, torture them, and even grant their wildest fantasies.

Dream palaces are like hotels that people go to–to pay for the privilege of sleeping near a Dreamhunter. Anyone within their penumbra experiences the same dream. Pretty wild stuff.

But when our protagonist Laura finds out that the government may be using her father’s amazing ability to hurt people, she must find a way to stop them. Because, if you torture the dreamer you’re also torturing the Dreamhunter.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED these books. Some of my new favorites. I liked them so much that I am actually kinda pissed that these have been out for seven years and I haven’t seen ANY marketing or press for them at all. Even their covers are dull and drab. But, read them people! They need a movie for sure. They have crazy dreams, political intrigue, a smattering of romance, magic, and even a SANDMAN. Get it?? Dreams?! A sandman!!? Love it.

There were a few slow moments, for which I am taking away a star, but other than that this duet was unforgettable. Do it!

4 bites of Wakeful of 5