Erin O'Riordan writes smart, whimsical erotica. Her erotic romance novel trilogy, Pagan Spirits, is now available. With her husband, she also writes crime novels. Visit her home page at ko-fi.com.
Forest and Rico are the Jensen and Misha of this fictional universe. (Supernatural exists in this universe, but we don't have time to unpack all of that). They're on the first season of a show called Demon Heart.
We alternate between the point of view of Forest and of high school junior Claire Strupke, who ships their characters HARD. Claire asks Forest about her OTP, SmokeHeart, at a fan conference and then things get...awkward.
No characters in this book are on their best behavior, but that's ok, because they grow as people over the course of the book. Claire learns a lot, including some lessons she needed to learn about understanding herself, and her own sexuality, better. She meets a talented artist named Tess and goes on a maybe-date with her. Forest ships it. All ends well because, well, the characters grow, making this an enjoyable, if somewhat fluffy, YA read.
I checked this ebook out from my local library using the Axis 360 app and wasn't obligated to review it in any way.
This is one of those books that's so good, I have a hard time articulating why I loved it as much as I loved it. The story is compelling, the relationships between the siblings and the various other characters are compelling, the world-building is incredibly detailed, and the writing is full-grown. The ending blew my mind. I doubt I've read anything better in the last 12 months (and keep in mind I really, REALLY liked Philip Pullman's latest.)
"Must-read" is bandied about so much in book marketing that it loses all meaning, but in the truest sense, readers who appreciate good YA fiction must read this book. Tomi Adeyemi has the gift.
I borrowed this e-book from my library using the Libby app. I had to keep returning it and checking it out again because it's really popular and I kept stretching it out because I literally did not want this story to end.
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am SO MAD at this book -- HOW DAre it just end THERE?!?!
Seriously, though, this is well-crafted piece of historical fiction about three young adults on their Grand Tour of Europe in the early 18th century. Their adventures are over-the-top and ludicrous, and that's part of the book's charm.
The real "alchemical heart" of the book is the friendship between our heroes, Henry "Monty" Montague and his BFF Percy. As a clever(ish) social media quote goes, "A good romance starts with friendship. A bad romance starts with Rah rah ah-ah-ah! Ro mah ro-mah-mah..." Monty and Percy are friends, but Monty is desperately in love.
The question of whether Percy considers Monty as anything more than a dear friend is resolved at the very end, which is why I need there to be...more book. Overall, it's a charming adventure story, quite briskly paced in parts, with a throbbing emotional heart.
I purchased my copy at Forever Books with my own funds and was not obligated in any way to review it.
'Geekerella' is a sweet, fun, charming retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale. Its heroine, Elle, bonded with her late father through the sci-fi television series 'Starfield.' Its prince is Darien Freeman, an actor on a soapish evening drama series recently cast as 'Starfield's Prince Carmindor in a movie reboot.
Elle is not initially happy with this casting decision. A nice twist is that part of the book is written from her point of view and part is written from Darien's. I don't think I've ever read a "Cinderella" version that gives us the prince's POV before.
Darien and Elle correspond via text without knowing who the other person is in real life. They fall in love through each other's words and their shared love of 'Starfield.' In a way, they become Carmindor and the fictional TV series' heroine, Princess Amara. There's a wicked stepmother and a lost shoe, but this retelling is contemporary and fresh enough to make it all seem new.
An important detail about this book is that it has a Cosplay Ball, and at that ball, a Dean Winchester and a Castiel are a dancing couple. (Okay, maybe that's only an important detail if you're a Destiel shipper.)
I'm more of a fanfiction writer than a cosplayer, so I didn't quite identify with Elle as much as I did with Cath Avery in Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. Still, this is in 'Fangirl's wheelhouse, and fans of Rowell's geeky romance should enjoy this romantic geeky retelling.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was not obligated in any way to review it.
- Young adult books that deal with mature themes, including death and sexuality
- LOTS of plot twists
- Books with a dark, tense, and moody atmosphere
- Authors who can capture the feeling of first love
- Latina heroines
- Tense, suspenseful scenes
- Books set in the Ozark Mountains
- Stories set in modern times, but in settings in which the characters lead old-fashioned lifestyles
This novel is compulsively readable from the first page. While it hooks the reader from the start, the tension builds slowly but steadily to a hectic, harrowing finale. This is a well-crafted example of the mystery genre for young adults.
I received this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The premise is fun - a 21st-century high schooler suddenly finds herself inside the world of Louisa May Alcott's classic Little Women. The characters in the book take it for granted that Emily is the middle March sister, right between Beth and Jo. Emily takes it upon herself to save Beth from you-know-what, but she also takes it upon herself to put the moves on Laurie Laurence, since Jo isn't using him.
The whole book is clever, and the ending is especially satisfying. Tasked by her English teacher Mr. Ochocinco (tee hee) with changing one thing about her favorite book, Emily manages to alter the ending of 'Little Women' in a way that goes straight for the heart. A large twist near the end makes the premise even more fun and the ending all the more satisfactory.
I purchased this book with my own funds from Better World Books and was not obligated in any way to review it. My particular copy came from Keesler Air Force Base, located in Biloxi, Mississippi. I'm not affiliated with Better World Books in any way.
Shift by Madison Dunn. $8.99 from Smashwords.com
I'm not sure why it happens, but when I focus just right, I can slow time. Things around me become lighter somehow, and I almost feel the tiny particles of energy spinning inside of them. The thing is, having the ability to transform the world around you isn't all it's cracked up to be -- especially when you are running from the Valencia without any deodorant.
What I liked about this book: In Sara Benincasa's young adult retelling of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway's stand-in is Naomi Rye, the Chicago-bred daughter of an upwardly mobile cupcake magnate who now summers in the Hamptons. (Rye - caraway seed - get it?) Her Gatsby is her mother's mysterious next-door neighbor, Jacinta Trimalchio, rarely seen in public but famous in the fashion world for her high-end style blog.
Jacinta's Daisy Buchanan is aspiring supermodel/congressperson's daughter Delilah Fairweather. Delilah and Jacinta were friends in primary school, then drifted apart, only to reunite in a flower-filled room in Jacinta's mansion.
They become a couple even though Delilah has a boyfriend. The Tom Buchanan of this story is Teddy Barrington, who was a child sitcom star. Teddy's Myrtle Wilson is a waitress named Misti, and Misti's George is a bartender named Giovanni.
Having some of the characters in this American classic be gender-swapped was a refreshing twist on an old favorite. Nice touch: Naomi spends an afternoon reading Save Me the Waltz. Benincasa doesn't mention the author's name, but the "old novel" happens to be the only extant work by Zelda Fitzgerald.
What could have been improved about this book: F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing in The Great Gatsby is so literary it's almost poetic. Fitzgerald's wistful, thematic prose has here been replaced with nuts-and-bolts storytelling that's not quite as much fun. Benincasa's narration in the voice of Naomi is rough in some places, inelegant in others, and downright clunky in some spots. Places where the narrator seemed much older than her supposedly 16 years, where she said things only us grown-ups would say, took me out of the story.
Not great: As narrator, Naomi refers to boys and girls as gay and to girls as lesbian. She seems to think Delilah's relationship with Jacinta makes Delilah a lesbian, but obviously that isn't necessarily the case. She's been in a long-term relationship with Teddy for years, so Delilah seems to be bisexual/pansexual. While it's not a requirement for every person to wear his or her sexuality label on his or her sleeve, it's not acceptable to pretend as if gay/lesbian or straight are the only sexualities that exist. Say no to bi erasure, kittens.
Overall, this was a fun book because of the thrill of the familiar, beloved classic American novel, combined with a new setting and new personality traits among the characters. If you haven't read The Great Gatsby but you saw the Leo movie and liked it, you'll probably think this is a pretty good book.
P.S. I looooove the Leo movie.
View all my reviews on Goodreads. I received an ARC of this book free from Amazon Vine in exchange for a review. This review represents my own honest opinion.
SPOILER ALERT! Read no further unless you want to know what happens in the second-to-last book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series.
Overall, I'm very happy with a couple of developments in this book, but what a cliffhanger ending! I didn't expect anyone to assassinate Queen Tatiana. Sure, she was a bit of a difficult woman, and she and Rose naturally clashed - Rose Hathaway isn't the most easygoing of heroines either - but I never anticipated that someone would kill her. Much less that Rose would be accused of the murder!
The book begins with awful, awful Strigoi!Dimitri renewing his vow to find Rose and kill her. Rose is still harboring the hope that she can invoke the magic that will turn Dimitri back into the Dhampir she knows and loves. In fact, she'll go to any length just for a chance to make it happen.
Even if it means traveling to Alaska to break Victor Dashkov out of Moroi prison.
It isn't enough for Rose and a small cohort of her trusted friends to break Victor out, though - they also have to travel with him to Las Vegas. There he meets his brother, who claims to have changed a Strigoi back to her living form. Rose and Lissa learn the secret: a Moroi must stake the evil, dead vampire with a silver stake charmed with the fifth element, spirit. Good thing Lissa is a spirit user.
...As is Rose's current sort-of-boyfriend, Adrian Ivashkov. One must have a bit of sympathy for the beautiful, clove cigarette-smoking Vampire Academy graduate, who gets treated rather shabbily in this installment. He loves Rose, but she can't get over the possibility of having Dimitri back. Rose and Adrian come close to having sex in this book, but due to the lack of a nearby condom, she offers him her blood to drink instead.
Evil Dimitri kidnaps Lissa, as well as Christian Ozera, in a bid to lure Rose to him. Bloody mayhem and murder ensue - but Lissa eventually manages to drive her charmed stake into Dimitri. The magic works. He goes from murderous undead fiend to Dhampir with a heartbeat again. The Moroi are skeptical at first, and keep him locked in a guarded cell until an explanation can be found.
He refuses to see Rose. She sneaks in to see him anyway. On her second visit to him, he tells her, "Love fades. Mine did." Shut up, Dimitri - you still love Rose. You're just trying to run her off because you're scared of hurting her. We know he still loves her because when the Queen's guard comes to arrest her for murder, he throws his all into trying to defend her - until she literally screams for him to stop, that she won't resist.
Rose didn't kill Tatiana - she was sleeping beside Adrian at the time, post-blood donation - but I don't know who did. I anxiously await the next book, Last Sacrifice.
A Bulgarian edition
Oh, and it appears Lissa and Christian are back together, or at least on their way to being. I hope they get married - but even if they don't, it seems she has a long-lost sibling and will no longer be the only Dragomir. Will Lissa become the next queen?
I purchased this book with my own funds at my brick-and-mortar Barnes and Noble and was not obligated in any way to review it.
P.S. I saw the trailer for The Fault in Our Stars during the Vampire Academy movie. Tit Elingtin and I finally watched TFIOS on DVD on Monday night. I am emotionally devastated - and impressed with the performances by Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, and Nat Wolff all.
P.P.S. I can't believe my sweet Rose from the VA movie, Zoey Deutch, plays that awful Emily in Beautiful Creatures, now that I'm listening to the BC audio book. Emily in the book is a mean girl. Zoey, that doesn't sound like you! Rose is snarky, but not mean.
I told myself I would take a hiatus from YA books after reading This Star Won't Go Out, but obviously my hiatus has already ended. So what if I'm occasionally reading the same book as my 10-year-old niece? Books like this one make me happy.
And sad.
Based on my personal enjoyment of this book, I'd give it five stars, but I think four stars are appropriate since it isn't going to mean nearly as much to someone who hasn't read the Divergent trilogy. I'd read the first story, "The Transfer," when it was available as an e-book for Nook. The first time I read it, it struck me as poignant and insightful. It was nice to read it again and be reminded of the small details that make up Four' character.
One thing that bothered me slightly: Roth describes both Amar and Zeke as "dark-skinned." Amar is Middle Eastern/North African and Zeke is La Raza. Surely they don't have the exact same skin tone. Is Roth trying to say that Tobias, her narrator, divides the whole world into "dark-skinned" and "light-skinned" people? That's not very Abnegation. Perhaps Roth just didn't realize she could use more rich and varied words to tell us what Zeke and Amar look like. Rookie mistake, maybe.
The other two stories that take place before Four meets Tris, "The Initiate" and "The Son," also struck me as being poignant, especially where they address Four's complicated relationship with his mother.
Then, in "The Traitor," Tris appears. Why did I imagine it wouldn't be painful to revisit Tris and Four's relationship? I kind of felt like my heart was caught in a vise as I read some of Four's first impressions - his first stirrings of love - towards his soul-mate. At the same time, spending some more time with FourTris is a wonderful gift from Ms. Roth. The third of the three "exclusive scenes" at the end is especially romantic, if you're into that kind of thing.
Which I totally am.
The copy I read was on loan from my local library, although I wish it could live in my house. When the Collector's Edition of Divergent comes out (October 21, 2014), I'm buying that for myself. I might even pre-order it. Heaven help me, I loved the Divergent series, and it's a world I'm not yet willing to leave.
Shift by Madison Dunn. $8.99 from Smashwords.com
I'm not sure why it happens, but when I focus just right, I can slow time. Things around me become lighter somehow, and I almost feel the tiny particles of energy spinning inside of them. The thing is, having the ability to transform the world around you isn't all it's cracked up to be -- especially when you are running from the Valencia without any deodorant.
I got a free Scribd membership through Smashwords, and I read this book there. I'm glad I didn't have to pay money for it, because it wasn't nearly as good as I hoped.
I liked Charlie well enough, but I didn't care for the narrative voice. The tone was flat and dry, and it didn't seem to fit with a supposedly above-average 15-year-old. The narration made Charlie seem so much younger than 15, I wondered at first if he was intellectually disabled rather than intellectually gifted. After all, what gifted teen can't think of how to use words like "corpulent" in his school essays?
Perhaps Charlie falls somewhere along the autism spectrum and is high functioning. He certainly seems to be clinically depressed, and his mood swings might indicate bipolar disorder as well. It's hard to say; he's a bit of an unreliable narrator since he's not always insightful into the behavior of others or himself. At times he's very insightful, but clearly, he has enormous blind spots.
(Can you tell I was a psychology major and used to work in a child and adolescent mental health care facility?I have met many a Charlie in my day.)
This is probably a fantastic book when you're 15, but I'm not anymore.
Now that I've read the book, I give myself permission to watch the movie, which features Emma Watson as Sam. I don't know of the actor playing Charlie himself, Logan Lerman, but the actor playing Patrick is Ezra Miller. I last saw Miller in We Need to Talk About Kevin, a film I watched despite not having read the book.
This is Ezra Miller in a 2014 photo by Nick Step, via Wikimedia Commons.
Of all U.S. actors of Eastern European Jewish descent, he is surely one of the most Middle Eastern-looking, with dark eyes, olive skin, and dark curly hair. Of course, we Jews are a very diverse ethnicity, all sharing the same Middle Eastern DNA (also shared with our Arab sibs) yet ranging from blond and blue-eyed to brown-skinned with African features. Ezra Miller could join the Israeli army and from his looks, no one would know he wasn't a sabra. Especially since he practices Judaism as a religion.
Going on this year's list of Hanukkah hotties? I think maybe so.
But I digress.
I'll have to get The Perks of Being a Wallflower at the video store, since it's unavailable on streaming Netflix, and my local library doesn't have it. Streaming Netflix actually kinda sucks when it comes to catching up on young adult page-to-screen. It doesn't have The Book Thief, Ender's Game, or The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
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You Say Witch Like It's a Bad Thing: Thea by George Saoulidis. $2.99 from Smashwords.com
When a teenage witch goes to a new school, she finds herself in an unfamiliar place with no friends. But will she manage to befriend some of the girls in class, when she’s anxious about revealing herself to others, when she’s still coughing up water from the last time she trusted people and when her new friends want to try her magick on a tennis match?
Dying to Tell Me by Australian author Sherryl Clark is a paranormal mystery with a young adult protagonist. Before I read it, my grandma read it. She doesn't usually read YA or paranormal, so I'm not sure where she picked it up. A friend must have passed it along to her. Her copy is inscribed, "To Emily York, Enjoy your book! Love in Jesus! Bro. Ed + Sis. Betty Borlik 9/5/11." I don't know the Borliks or Emily York, but maybe the Yorks are some of my grandma's neighbors. Alternatively, she may have bought this at the thrift shop.
It was a fairly quick read - I read a large chunk of it while waiting at my husband's doctor's office. I'd never heard of Clark before, but judging from the back matter, she's a popular children's picture book and young adult author Down Under.
The heroine is Sasha Miller, age 13. Her mother recently left the family, so Sasha's dad Dennis is moving Sasha and her 10-year-old brother Nicky to the small town of Manna Creek. There, Dennis will be the new chief constable.
Sasha isn't getting along very well in Manna Creek, though. Her first day, she slips near the creek and hits her head on a stone, landing her in the hospital with a concussion. Then she discovers a dilapidated old building in the back yard of the house they're staying in, and it turns out to be the town's first jail which, incidentally, is haunted by the ghost of a man who committed suicide a hundred years before. Or did he?
That would be bad enough, but when some of Dennis's mates bring around King, a trained police dog, to be the newest member of the Miller family, Sasha thinks she's hearing things. In fact, she thinks she can hear King's thoughts telepathically, and he can hear hers. Is Sasha going crazy, or simply coming into her special powers?
This book reminded me, to varying degrees, of three other things I really like:
Still, these elements added up to a unique story. I liked this book, and my grandma liked it, too. Clark's storytelling makes this a compelling read even if you're not normally a mystery reader, not normally a paranormal reader, and/or not normally a YA reader.
My grandma is currently reading, and enjoying, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, a Canadian author. I haven't read the book, but I did like the movie. I'm still working my way through Middlemarch - I'm almost at the middle - and my secondary book is The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.
SPOILER ALERT! Go away and DO NOT READ if you don't want to know what happens in the 4th book in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy novel series, Blood Promise: A Vampire Academy Novel. This post will discuss the plotline of Blood Promise and will include spoilers. You've been warned.
Previous Reviews in This Series: Vampire Academy Frostbite Shadow Kiss Let me just say this: I hate Strigoi!Dimitri. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. But now I have some hope that Strigoi can be brought back to life with some kind of magic. In this book, Rose arrives in Dimitri's home country, Russia, and visits his Siberian village. She meets his grandmother, mother, his three sisters and their kids. She also meets a human named Sydney who belongs to a somewhat mysterious society called the Alchemists. She has a gold tattoo made of Moroi blood on her face, and she seems to be aiding Rose on Rose's mission. The Alchemists reminded me a little bit of the Talamasca in Anne Rice's novels. The Talamasca are impartial observers, though, while the Alchemists seem to be actively involved. In return for being of service to the Moroi, the get limited dhampir-like powers through their gold tattoos.
Rose also meets Abe. It took me a little while - but not as long as it took Rose - to realize the brown-skinned, possibly Muslim Abe must be the same person as Ibrahim, Rose's Turkish father. I'm sure Abe Mazur comes back in later volumes. Sydney refers to Abe as Zmey, a Russian word that means "snake," but (at least in the book, if not in the actual Russian language) there's a connotation of a wise snake, a trickster that could be either helpful or mischievous, and occasionally outright evil. Sydney explains that the Garden of Eden serpent in the Bible is a Zmey to the Russians. Basically, Rose's dad is a Turkish version of Loki. Strigoi!Dimitri will be back, alas. Although Rose staked him twice - once with wood and once with silver - she didn't quite get his heart the second time. He's still walking around as an evil Strigoi, and he seems to be out to get Rose. Whether he'll try to kill her next time or try again to turn her into a Strigoi will be the question. I have a feeling it will make for some harrowing reading either way.
I didn't really enjoy this book as much as feel compelled to read it. I had a feeling it would end badly, like the last one did, but I had to know what happened. It was a tiny bit hopeful. But Christian broke up with Lissa. But I'm also hopeful the two of them will get back together again. They might not, though, because kissing her ex-boyfriend was a real jerk move on her part. I checked this book out from my local library. I wasn't solicited or obligated to review it in any way. This review represents my own honest opinion. Next Up:The King: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhoodby J.R. Ward, another library book.
P.S. If you have movie theater money and need something to do this weekend, please go see and support the movie From the Rough. It opens today. The movie stars Taraji P. Henson as Catana Starks, the first African-American woman to coach a collegiate men's golf team. Tom Felton - Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films - stars as one of her golfers, Edward. It also features the late Michael Clark Duncan.
No, I am still not over the Person of Interest thing. Yes, I will support Taraji P. Henson in all of her projects.
P.P.S. This is how Taraji would look as a vampire.
I received an advance reader's edition of Panic at no cost through the Amazon Vine program. I received no other compensation for this review, which represents my own honest opinion.
Panicis a contemporary young adult novel with a realistic plot and characters. It takes place in the small town of Carp, New York. The high school seniors in Carp play a game over the summer called Panic; the winner takes a pot of somewhere around $50,000. To many in the economically depressed town, the money represents the only chance they'll ever have to live better lives than their parents.
The novel is written in the third person, but chapters are divided into Heather and Dodge chapters, depending on which of the two main characters they follow. Heather Nill lives in a trailer park with her alcoholic, drug-addicted mother and her younger sister Lily. She has no plans for her life beyond high school. She dreams of leaving Carp, but she can't stand the thought of leaving Lily behind. And yes, Heather is aware that her last name literally means "nothing."
Dodge Mason comes from a similar background. He never knew his father, a Dominican roofer. His lighter-complexioned half sister Dayna played Panic when she was a senior, and in the final round she was in a car accident and lost the use of her legs. Their mom can't afford the most advanced medical treatment for her, so chances are she'll never walk again.
Dayna had been competing against Luke Hanahran when she was injured. When it's Dodge's turn to compete, Luke's brother Ray is also a contestant in Panic. Dodge intends to get revenge for Dayna - that's his main motivation for playing the game.
Along with Dodge and Heather, Heather's best friend Natalie (Nat) Velez is a competitor. Nat doesn't have a very strong stomach for dangerous activities, but she wants to win the money to further her dream of being an actress in L.A.
Panic is kept secret from the town's adults, with ever-changing rules, locations, and judges. None of the players know who the judges are.
I've been wanting to read the first book in Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogy, which is also called Delirium, for quite a while now. After reading Panic, I'm not so sure I want to read it anymore. I just haven't fallen in love with Oliver's writing the way I have, say, Veronica Roth's. I thought Panic was interesting, but not great. There are moments of mild suspense when the characters seem to be in great danger, but very few consequences actually happen to the four main characters. The suspense is kind of a tease.
I hoped this would be more of a "what if real kids had their own version of The Hunger Games" kind of thing, but it was even more realistic than even that - which I didn't love. I knew going into this reading that it wasn't any kind of dystopian or fantasy novel, but it turns out I simply like the speculative genres of young adult books more than the more realistic kind.
This is the second stand-alone Lauren Oliver book I've read. The first was her middle grade fantasy novel The Spindlers. I thought that was just okay, too.
But if you like realistic YA fiction about what kind of trouble bored kids with very little to lose could get into, you may very well enjoy this book.
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Shift by Madison Dunn. $8.99 from Smashwords.com
I'm not sure why it happens, but when I focus just right, I can slow time. Things around me become lighter somehow, and I almost feel the tiny particles of energy spinning inside of them. The thing is, having the ability to transform the world around you isn't all it's cracked up to be -- especially when you are running from the Valencia without any deodorant.
Shift
You Say Witch Like It's a Bad Thing: Thea
, for quite a while now. After reading