'Timebound' & ' Time's Edge' The Chronos Files 1 & 2 by Rysa Walker

Official Summary:

When Kate Pierce-Keller’s grandmother gives her a strange blue medallion and speaks of time travel, sixteen-year-old Kate assumes the old woman is delusional. But it all becomes horrifyingly real when a murder in the past destroys the foundation of Kate’s present-day life. Suddenly, that medallion is the only thing protecting Kate from blinking out of existence.

Kate learns that the 1893 killing is part of something much more sinister, and her genetic ability to time travel makes Kate the only one who can fix the future. Risking everything, she travels back in time to the Chicago World’s Fair to try to prevent the murder and the chain of events that follows.

Changing the timeline comes with a personal cost—if Kate succeeds, the boy she loves will have no memory of her existence. And regardless of her motives, does Kate have the right to manipulate the fate of the entire world?

Review:
I'm a sucker for sci-mance (and if that isn't an official term for a science fiction, romance mash-up, then it is now, on this obscure little book review site, you heard it here first!*), especially anything with a time travelling element. Time travel + romance = a pretty good time for the Jessle. That said, this series fits snugly in the sci-mance genre, making it an irresistible new series for me to follow.

Front and center to the story is a love triangle that's created by the timeline shake-ups that occur in 'Timebound.' The main character Kate has a choice between Trey, the guy she met because the timeline shifts and he's suddenly taken her place at school, and Kiernan, the guy from the early 1900's who knew her as 'his Kate' before a timeline shift changes her own memories and makes him a friendly stranger. The relationships get even more bizarre in 'Time's Edge' when dealing with the fallout of the timeline changes purposely made at the end of the first installment that cause Trey to forget that he had ever even met Kate, never mind having fallen in love with her.

That said, at it's core, this is a series about time travel and how changing a past event impact the future. With all the timeline bending that occurs it wouldn't have surprised me if this series had turned out to be a tangled spaghetti ball of a disaster but Walker does a commendable job with this narration; somehow keeping the story engaging and accessible at every turn. Even when the number of secondary and tertiary characters grows in book two the benefit of this tale being told from Kate's perspective really shines.        

Bottom Line: 'Timebound' introduces us to a world that is both captivating and compelling enough to have earned itself a place in Amazon's Kindle World's. 'Time's Edge' keeps the story going while remaining fresh and unpredictably interesting. If you're looking for something a little different in the over crowded YA space, and like time travel novels, this one is most definitely for you.

*Or not... admittedly, I haven't (and don't plan on) actually looking up whether it exists for the purposes of this quick little post here. The way this stuff works is I'll see it somewhere else in a few weeks time, wonder if it came before or after this post, get too lazy to check the date stamp and move on. Besides, if this term doesn't exist yet then it should if only because it is way way way too obvious not to. Then again (yes I'm debating myself here - don't worry this should be the closing remarks coming up now), isn't all YA these days sci-mance? Are sci-mance and modern YA interchangeable terms? Or is some librarian out there pulling out their hair right now because it would actually be YA sub-categorized as science fiction because all YA has romance in it. That's all teens think about, really...

'Gathering Blue' by Lois Lowry

Official Summary:

Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and physically flawed, young Kira faces a frightening, uncertain future. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, she struggles with ever broadening responsibilities in her quest for truth, discovering things that will change her life forever.

As she did in 'The Giver', Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, how people could evolve, and what could be considered valuable. Every reader will be taken by Kira’s plight and will long ponder her haunting world and the hope for the future.

Review:

Many, many years ago, way back in 1994, I picked 'The Giver' from a teacher's extra credit/recommended reading list* and it turned out to be one of those books that you never really shake off. It is hands-down the mother of all the great young adult dystopian stories. With that in mind, imagine my surprise when these two things happened over the course of the last year:

1. A movie was made out of 'The Giver.' Granted. It's a movie I still haven't watched, and for fear of having my memory of one of the foundation novels of my childhood marred, I probably won't.  
2. All of a sudden I became aware of a number of follow up novels that Lois Lawry wrote and released between '00 and '12 that take place in the same universe. 'The Giver', it turned out, was just book one in a four book series. Hallelujah! 

So off I went and before giving it a second thought, 'Gathering Blue' was sitting on my Kindle, waiting to be cracked open. After reading it my first thought was that 'The Giver' is better. Not only does it stand well on its own, but the story of Jonas is told in a succinct form that gives the story a power most novellas don't possess. 'Gathering Blue' with it's story of Kira and her weaving just didn't hit the same notes and it had more obvious call outs to being part of a series.

Bottom Line: Don't misunderstand the statements above, 'Gathering Blue' might not best the earlier installment, but it's still a damned good book. If you haven't picked up 'The Giver' start there and finish this series - if you have, but you didn't know it kept going, it's time to see what happened in Lowry's strange future world where magic exists in small doses and people have forgotten their roots.

* Yeah - I was that kid. In fact, I read every extra credit or recommended title regardless of passing in a report for it. It's a sickness I tell you, a wonderful, glorious, book devouring sickness that only other people who can't help but read anything and everything that someone recommends to you will understand. As an adult its culminated itself as my out of control to-be-read pile and the constant inability to find anything new on the top ten lists of Amazon that even remotely interests me anymore.

'If I Stay' by Gayle Forman

Official Summary:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. 

Review:

Like a lot of others I picked this up after seeing the movie trailer. For me, it wasn't about preparing to go see the film, (those trips are usually to see the latest and greatest Abrams flicks), but the premise of a comatose girl trying to decide whether she should give up and die or find something worth living for drew me in.

Many other reviewers have commented that the girl, Mia, spends very little time actually contemplating this decision over the course of the novel, but I have to disagree. While the character doesn't brood openly about her decision, every memory she has helps tip the scales against or in favor of waking up and living a life permanently altered by tragedy.

What I did have trouble with is the ending, not because it was poorly written, or out of place - the last pages of 'If I Stay' were exactly what you would hope for given the emotional roller-coaster that the author pushes you through from page one. What I had a big problem with was the preview for the sequel novel 'Where She Went' that followed the closing chapter. For whatever reason, the first chapter of the second novel, told from the boyfriend Adam's perspective now, totally turned me off to not only reading the next book, but spoiled the experience of reading the first one.

Bottom Line: 'If I Stay' is a quick read worthy of it's fan base. An emotional page-turner that doesn't get heavy handed but does feature characters that can be a touch unbelievable. Overall, a solid entry in the young adult category that I'd recommend for anyone looking for something substantial as it raises real questions about life, death, love and family. If you like titles such as 'The Fault in Our Stars' then this one is for you - just learn from my mistake and avoid reading the preview for 'Where She Went'

'Dust & Decay' (Rot & Ruin) by Jonathan Maberry

Official Summary:
Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them.

Sounds easy. Sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. But as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland –where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all…could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive?

In the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything…and not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will make it out alive.

Review:
I don't remember how I discovered Jonathan Maberry but it was probably back in the old MBTA commute days where every few weeks an Amazon bookstore day was needed to restock the queue. The entire ride up into work (never back because getting a seat heading out of the Park Street station during rush hour is near impossible) would be spent perusing Amazon's reading recommendations and downloading the next months title selections. That kind of convenience is the big reason I'm still remise to give up my Kindle with 3G even though the model with wifi would work just fine at home... wherever I am, I can always shop for books.

Anyway, I digress.

On that fateful day, sometime in late 2011, the first Maberry title I would ever read, Dead of Night landed on my Kindle by way of WhisperNet, and it was awesome. So awesome in fact that it not only spurred a zombie titles influx on the reading list (World War Z, Married With Zombies & Warm Bodies to name a few), but Jonathan Maberry made his way onto my author watch lists. 

Being on my author watch list is a BIG DEAL because being on that list means that I'll probably read everything you ever publish, including your pre-teen novels like the Rot and Ruin books, of which the second title is Dust & Decay, the supposed focus of this other chatter

What I'm trying to say is that Jonathan Maberry is a great writer. Not only because all of his novels are interesting and touching even when the backdrop is filled with flesh eating monsters, but because it is exceptionally tailored to his audience.  If I were twelve this series of books would some of the best stuff out there. Unfortunately, I'm in my thirties and the writing and story lines in this series are just too simplistic.

The Bottom Line: While I love Maberry's more mature titles and don't plan on letting them fall off my radar anytime soon, the language and plot lines explored in the Rot & Ruin series are much better suited for younger readers. As such, I'm still giving this title the green light it deserves, just be aware that if you're looking for a more graphic zombie experience than I'd say check out his Joe Ledger series or Dead of Night and pass this title onto the nearest horror or dystopia loving tween in your life. I think they'd love it.

It's Release Day for 'In Stone' by Louise Gornall!

Good morning Monday, and what do we have here? Looks like Louise Dornall's YA fantasy romance 'In Stone' hit shelves today, and To the Point is part of the release day blog tour! Haven't read it myself, yet, but take a look at the summary and cover below and you'll see why it's earned a spot in the TBR pile.  

Beau Bailey is suffering from a post-break-up meltdown when she happens across a knife in her local park and takes it home. Less than a week later, the new boy in school has her trapped in an alley; he’s sprouted horns and is going to kill Beau unless she hands over the knife.

Until Eighteenth-century gargoyle, Jack, shows up to save her.

Jack has woken from a century-long slumber to tell Beau that she’s unwittingly been drafted into a power struggle between two immortal races: Demons and Gargoyles. The knife is the only one in existence capable of killing immortals and they’ll tear the world apart to get it back. To draw the warring immortals away from her home, Beau goes with Jack in search of the mind-bending realm known as the Underworld, a place where they’ll hopefully be able to destroy the knife and prevent all hell from breaking loose. That is, provided they can outrun the demons chasing them

Pick up this title from:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/In-Stone-ebook/dp/B00DPWS2ZK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372619224&sr=8-1&keywords=in+stone+louise+d+gornall

Barnes&Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-stone-louise-d-gornall/115883166?ean=2940016657608

Kobo:  http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/In-Stone/book-x70XQPDrdUmZlb-0thEl_g/page1.html?s=K7ERgO9lIU6XGznC2_hQOA&r=1

Add to Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17663217-in-stone

Book Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-1_shhtTZI

'Into the Dark' (Parts 1-4) by Milly Silver

Official Summary:
When seventeen-year-old Oxford student Emily Baxter steps forward to become part of the search and rescue team for her kidnapped family member, she sees it as her last chance to put things right. Despite her seizures and being ripped between parallel universes, Emily is determined to get back to living a normal life. But first Emily has to join forces with the mysterious Gifted & Talented set and the darkly beautiful Henry Seadon. And survive. Killing the Misery-Makers who get in their way is a necessary evil.

Review:
Into the Dark by Milly Silver is a series that could have been great. It has an interesting premise and some promising character dynamics but due to a few big issues the title ends up being little more than a big disappointment. 

The first criticism is that all four parts of this title really should have been delivered as a single book. In most cases this particular issue wouldn't have made it so far up the chain but here it means that you'd end up paying a grand total of seven dollars to get through all four parts. Before you start thinking that I'm being miserly* with my money, let's put that in a little perspective. Most unknown author titles (and this falls square into that category) go for around one to two dollars on Amazon for the WHOLE experience. For Into the Dark, Milly expects her readers to not only fork out admission at the door, but then she doubles the cover and scalps them every six or seven chapters. It's not right.

The second issue is dialogue that falls flat on its face, lacks personality and really drags down the pacing of this story. If you've ever taken even a high school level creative writing class your professor probably said something along the lines of "show the action, don't speak it." This title would benefit a lot from another edit that really embraces this advice. Getting rid of passages where the character announces that they're leaving and then they leave is nothing short of bad writing. Put another way, the dialogue was so bad in spots I felt challenged to stumble through it.

Last but not least, one of the biggest relationships in this book felt so fake and forced that every time it came up it made me question my ability to get through all four parts. It wasn't the main character Emily and her boyfriend, friends or uncle. It was Emily's relationship and her uncle's comatose fiancee Irene. Just thinking about it makes me roll my eyes. It was awful! It's like the author decided after writing part one, (where Emily makes a mind-bogglingly dreadful decision that lands Irene in the coma to start with) that Irene was going to play a bigger role in the story than was initially planned for and didn't want to go back and rewrite the first half so that the relationship made sense. By the time we get to the later-parts Emily now really adores this woman and visits her every day in the hospital, wishing she hadn't been so outrageously stupid selfish and will literally put her life on the line to get her mom sister uncle's fiancee (?!) back. Yes, showing a protagonist have a change of heart and emotionally grow during the course of a book is something most good titles, and all the great ones, seem to get right effortlessly, but trust me when I tell you this one didn't come close to effortless - there was definite effort there... and it chugged by at the speed and grace of a poorly fed coal engine.

Bottom Line: This title is rough around the edges and doesn't have enough polish rounds put in for it to be fit for public consumption yet. This series would be exponentially better if it were put in the hands of the right continuity and dialogue editor. If it ever gets one and is re-released I'd love to give it another shot because the premise really is intriguing. Until then my best advice is to steer clear or Into the Dark no matter what your 'bad dialogue' tolerance threshold.

*Disclosure: This book was provided by the author in exchange for my review.  

'Tempest: A Novel' by Julie Cross

Official Summary:
The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun. That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities. But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him. Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Review:
There's something about time travel novels that will always get my attention. The prospect of discovering a whole new theory that's been dreamed up is just too hard to pass up. So, when I saw 'Tempest: A Novel' by Julie Cross flash up in an Amazon wallpaper ad I couldn't help myself - the book was downloaded and available for reading in less time than it took you to read this sentence. And in case you're wondering, no I'm not kidding. I truly have that little self-control... especially when a tragic love story is promised on top of the already enticing sci-fi stuff. This self-admitting control issue is also the reason why you're seeing a review for this title and not one of the titles promised earlier in the month. The allure of 'Tempest' was just too great.

But was it any good? Was it worth shoving all the other books that have been patiently waiting their turn in line aside so that I could indulge in a bit of time-travel speculation?

The answer to that question boils down to a classic case of 'a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B', I suppose.

Column A: The love story was equal parts endearing and tragic. The bits involving the sister were memorable, sweet and always delivered with just the right touch of sadness. The best friendship felt real, grounded and comfortable. Overall, the characters really do make this story - even though it feels as though Jackson feels like he should have been at least 21due to all the drinking he's doing. Seriously. What 19 year old's do you know of taking their scotch neat?

Column B: Time travel in this novel is used a bit too divisively for my taste. In some cases the jump is about equivalent to an historical movie. The protagonist jumps back, can interact with the characters involved, even change outcomes - but the changes don't stick and the future is unchanged by his actions. In others, Jackson jumps back in a 'full' jump - but doesn't go back in his actual timeline, instead he's in something akin to a parallel dimension. It doesn't seem like Jackson can complete a full jump in the same timeline, or to go about it the long way, one where he can effectively change the actions in the past relevant to his current circumstances without just abandoning ship to another, entirely new dimension. Although, it seems as though some time travelers can. To confuse things even further everyone except those gifted enough to travel time is duplicated across however many of these parallel dimensions exist while only one of the time traveler peeps exists across all of them. In a strange way the time traveling aspect turned out to be a kind of similiar to that mid-nineties show Sliders - but without the pesky problem of consistently running into alternate versions of yourself, or the historical divergence. You'd think with all these timelines being created by the time travelers (or visited by them... I never really figured that one out), there would be some level of difference between them. But alas, each dimension (timeline? ...so confused) seems to be a pretty good replica of the last one leaving finding what time they've landed in as the only real issue for the time traveler.  

Bottom Line: I could go either way with this one. The relationships in this book are engaging and the plot, while being a bit too heavy handed on the scattered and inconsistent time traveling, is a lot of fun. It's in that spirit that I've already downloaded the second book in the series, "Vortex". If you're usually reaching for YA fiction and enjoy titles like 'Whispers in Autumn ' by Trish Leigh than this should be added to your TBR pile. If, however, you're searching for the next great science fiction novel than I recommend you keep looking.

'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer

Official Summary:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.  

Review:

Oh boy - I love this! Oh boy, oh boy, oh - I really, truly, absolutely, love writing reviews like this! It's reviews, well more importantly the titles that inspire these reviews, that keep me reading and keeping this blog in the first place. But I should stop gushing like a little girl and get on with it.

When the first book in the series, 'Cinder', hit shelves, it caught my attention with its simple, gleaming red high heel cover, it got added to my TBR pile and spent about six months staring up at me. Eventually, I got around to it and I couldn't put it down. I stayed up and polished it off in about five hours... on a work night. I fell in love with Cinder and the strangely dystopian world in which she was forced to exist.

So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that 'Scarlet' by Marissa Meyer was already in the works. I was giddy even - and I don't get giddy all that often... seriously, that just doesn't happen too often. But even the giddy wore off and turned into self-doubt.

Was book one really as good as I thought it was? Was I drunk on a late night reading high? Would book two keep the same pacing? Would it have the same charm?

And what do I do when I start to doubt a title? Or, even more pointedly, don't want a "book two" to ruin the awesomeness that is it's "book one"?

Well - I stall. I stall even though I'd pre-ordered this title on the day I finished 'Cinder' and the title appeared on my Kindle just a day short of two months ago. But I didn't have the nerve to crack it open until only a week ago. What a big mistake that was. Honestly, I spent months worrying about absolutely nothing while I should have just been a big ball of excited energy. No, if you must know, I didn't have the stamina to finish it in an all night reading bender, I did get through it in two (much shorter) sittings.

Bottom Line: Fairy tales, romance, dystopia, androids, robots, spaceships and aliens (well kinda aliens)... Do you like any of these things? How about just a hankering for one of the best fairy tale refreshes in existence? This one is a must.

I mean it.

Click here to pick up 'Scarlet' (Lunar Chronicles #2) and add it to your TBR pile immediately!

'Beautiful Creatures' by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Official Summary:
Ethan Wate is haunted by dreams of a girl he’s never met. When Lena Duchannes moves into his small southern town of Gatlin County, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her. And he is determined to uncover the strange connection between them, even if it means uncovering the one secret that could change everything.

A few months ago, on a blistery Sunday afternoon, I would have been found zoning out in front of the TV contemplating the lint in my belly button. It was on that day when I first saw the movie trailer for Beautiful Creatures. Honestly my first thought was something along the lines of complete and utter disinterest but then I had a second thought: I wondered if it was based on a book. Lo and behold my Scooby sense was right on target and after downloading to my Kindle, I promptly resumed the TV droolfest and didn't give the title another thought until recently.

But months of sitting on a title can be a dangerous thing. You see, the longer I wait on a certain title the more likely I am to stumble onto a pile of reviews and I can't help myself. I start making the rounds: What did fellow bloggers think? How did my friends on Goodreads like it? Anything interesting in the Amazon reviews? Before I know it I've got a head full of notions that aren't mine - and that happened a lot with this title. It seemed every blogger, reviewer or casual reader I knew of had something to say about 'Beautiful Creatures' by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.


By the time I'd gotten around to reading it I'd had my head filled with critiques and praises of equal measure. Some reviewers feeling as though the title was too long and the book should have been edited down to speed up the books flow and sharpen it's focus. Others chimed in saying that this was another case of 'insta-love' and the realism of the love story was compromised. Then there were people who stodgily defended the title, believing the characters and the setting were set out in amazing detail. Still more people were seemingly enraged by the portrayal of the closed minded, small town folk.

But you want my opinion? Sure, the book might have benefited from a little trimming, but while the pacing would have improved slightly I believe the story would have suffered. And to those feeling as though the teenage love affair sprung up too quickly, might I refer you to any high school in the country where relationships can go from non-existent to blazing in a matter of days, and when the elements that make Ethan and Lena's strange attraction are taken into account, the speediness at which they progress may not make a lot of sense to the adults in the room, but didn't strike me as being too far off the mark. Then there's the business of the closed minded towns people. Yeah, Ethan might have a superiority complex - but, hey, I'm glad that he was written that way. If he was sympathetic to some of the crap coming out of their mouths then I'd have been pretty likely to throw this title into the garbage.

Bottom Line: While the movie doesn't look particularly interesting, the book is engaging and showcases a believable breadth of characters that is usually lacking in this genre. If you're looking for a quick, one night read with in your face drama this one isn't for you. On the other hand, if you're interested in reading something that has a slightly more relaxed pace, with an intricately solid series groundwork being unfolded right in front of you, then this one is, most definitely, worth the read.

'Wraith' by Angel Lawson

Every so often I finish a book and the last thing I want to do is type up a review. In most cases this feeling is brought on by an extremely mediocre title, a Goldilocks title if you will. Having been not too good and not too bad, 'Wraith' by Angel Lawson falls right onto that fine line and doesn't really give me much to talk about. That said, I'd be shirking my reviewer responsibilities if I left it there, so let's forge on, shall we?

The Good: The love interest, Connor, of our protagonist Jane is one of the better drawn characters of his type in the genre. Believable, well rounded and surprisingly interesting, this character carries most of the story on his shoulders and keeps it moving at a nice, page-turning clip.

The Bad: The adults in this story are, for the most part, unbelievably stupid, one-dimensional and irrelevant. The one exception here is Jane's aunt and that's only because that particular adult was an obvious introspective mirror for Jane's character.

The Bottom Line: This title would be great for a much younger reader just getting their bearings on the YA genre. As for the rest of us hardened veterans... well, it might be worth the time if you're not too concerned about some of the characters making rationale, motivated choices but love a good bad boy romance.

'Reckless Magic' (Star-Crossed, #1) by Rachel Higginson

I finished this book sometime last week and have put off writing the review. This was mainly due to a procrastination of epic proportions and I just "couldn't find the time". Between being sick (true story), watching Star Trek Voyager like it was going out of style (well, I guess it did... like 10 years ago, but whatever, you get my point...), work and a couple of gym visits the blog got shuffled down on my list of priorities. But I did manage to get the contest wrapped up (congrats to our grand prize winner and all the runner-up winners - enjoy your titles!!) so it's not like I abandoned you guys entirely.

But I have to say, it was good to get some distance before I jumped head first into the review for 'Reckless Magic' by Rachel Higginson. If I had reviewed it the night I actually finished then what I might have written would be something like:

"Total waste of time - cookie cutter and unoriginal garbage!"

Having the chance to give my original thoughts some time to breathe has softened them up a bit, however, and before I go any further let me tell you that I've downloaded book two, 'Hopeless Magic', because I'm holding out hope (regardless of the title) that this series will improve. 

I can see your faces now, all scrunched up, confused, wanting to know why I'd go from a trash bin review to buying the second book. Well, if you've been around these parts long enough you know that I'll continue reading about any series just because I can. I hate not knowing the ending of a story - even if it's a poorly written pile of steaming sh - heh, well you get the point. The good news for the Star-Crossed series is that it isn't so much a cow pattie as it is a stale cookie: A stale cookie made from the crumbs of every other cookie that lives on the same shelf in the same super market. 

So I'm going to trek on into this series, even though Higginson's use of the word Immortal is so wrong she felt the need to explain how the aging thing works for this group of people like five times - instead of using a word like Epoch or Aeon that at least has a sense of aging... but you know.... over a long stretch of time. Whatever - I'm over it*. I'm going to continue reading even though book one was uninspiring unoriginal. But more importantly, I'm going to read on because I honestly feel like now that Higginson's scene has been set it will get better and more unique as the series continues. 

The Bottom Line: It can only go up from here! Higginson draws on elements popular to every single other YA romance/paranormal/fantasy book in creating book one of the Star Crossed series. I can't help but feel that if you've read any other YA novel than this one isn't going to bring anything new to the table. That said, if you're looking for a new series because you're currently out of other options - well... don't say I didn't warn you. And who knows? Maybe book two will be amazing.

*Not really... but I'll pretend.

'Whispers in Autumn' by Trisha Leigh

'Whispers in Autumn' is the first of four books that are part of Trisha Leigh's The Last Year series. The finale, 'Summer Ruins', debuts a mere four days from now (on 2/19), so I felt it was the perfect time to get involved. If I liked it than I wouldn't have an excruciating years wait between titles (I'm looking straight at you Cassandra Clare). If I didn't, well, no harm no foul.

So, will I be reading onward into 'Winter Omens'?
More than likely.

The characters are well-drawn and developed and the story line is intriguingly unique. Then there's the issue of the cliff-hanger ending which just about shoved me into the next installment. More importantly, while 'Whispers in Autumn' is firmly planted in the Young Adult category of literature, Trisha Leigh does a great job of surfacing some fairly complicated messages without over complicating the plot.

The Bottom Line: This book with its quirky, teenaged protagonist isn't for everyone - but if you're looking to sink your teeth into a new YA science fiction series with a dystopian twist, this one's for you. Fans of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone books, or the Divergent series by Veronica Roth would be an especially good fit.

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'Flat-Out Love' by Jessica Park

With it's over sized, rainbow colored bubble letters on plain white background, the cover of Jessica Park's 'Flat-Out Love' gives very little insight to the depth within*. On it's surface, the story Park tells is a romance, but even after having predicted the plot roughly 20% through, it still held my attention and kept me awake until 2am, on a work night no less. Once it was in my hands, I just couldn't put it down.

Predictable as it might be, this isn't a girl meets boy pulp composed of unnecessarily intimate scenes and sloppy encounters, a la' '50 Shades' - no this is a book that tells the story of two people who develop honest and earnest feelings for one another as the greater story of a broken family in the hard, seemingly impossible process of healing unfolds.

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a romance that holds something real, grounded, witty and thoughtful at its core, this one is for you.

*As a side note, the cover will make total and complete sense once you're near the end - for me, this is just another example of the kind of thought and depth that Park loaded into the novel itself.

'Days of Blood & Starlight' (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor

I'm not sure why, but it seems as though the Goodreads reviews of this book are uncharacteristically packed with animated GIFs and internet MEME references. And while a few of them are well done most are... well... nauseating and borderline offensive. See for yourself. Oh, go ahead, I don't mind - I'll be right here waiting.

See what I mean? Too much BLINK BLINK BLINK and not nearly enough substance. I'm sure that there are some great insights to be had in that epileptic stroke waiting to happen, but when you start to feel nauseous just scrolling through the page I'm not sure how much of them you'll see, never mind retain long enough to make any sense of it all.

But we aren't here to review the reviews and on that note the follow-up to 'Daughter of Smoke & Bone' left me jaw-gnashingly expectant of the final book in the trilogy and a thousand times more depressed than I'd every imagined. Launching into 'Days of Blood & Starlight' we find Karou living a life that fits her about as well as a potato sack mumu. It's an existence entirely devoid of happiness - her friends, family, life, love... all of this has has been pushed away aside and replaced with a single, brutal focus: war.

Overall, I'm still in love with all of the characters and getting to see a lot more of the chimaera and Karou's best friend Zuzana is a huge plus. While I did find myself missing the romance that was so heavily played out in book one, this second installment by Laini Taylor still finds plenty of ways to pull at your heartstrings. By finding a perfect balance between the apex of a brutal, soul-shredding war and heartwarming and emotional scenes that will, in all likelihood, carry us to an epic book three due out sometime in April 2014, this book is absolutely worth your time.

'The Evolution of Mara Dyer' (#2 of the Mara Dyer Series) by Michelle Hodkin

It was only a few months ago that I was introduced to Michelle Hodkin and her first novel and the first book of this series, 'The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer'. (If for whatever reason you missed it my review of that title can be found here.) And if you haven't read that title yet, I'd suggest stopping here for now and picking that one up.

For those of you who are already familiar with this series, you won't be disappointed. Now I've read some reviews that accuse 'The Evolution of Mara Dyer' of being somewhat slow, dry, or even whiny - but I can't imagine they were reading the same book and I certainly don't agree.

This title is the perfect 'book two'. Not only do we learn more about the main characters and get an opportunity to revel in their love story but, by the end of the novel, Michelle does a fantastic job of beginning to uncover the whys and the hows of what is really happening to them.

For what it's worth, I'm highly anticipating the third installment of the Mara Dyer series, 'The Retribution of Mara Dyer' due out in fall of 2013. It's a new, vivid take on 'boy meets girl' with a dash of science fiction/fantasy thrown in for good measure. If you liked the first, love this kind of YA, or just crave a good love story, this one is for you.  

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor

'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor has to be the best book in the YA, Fantasy genre I've read all year. In fact, it was so good that within minutes of finishing up the last page I swung into the Kindle Storefront and preordered the 'Days of Blood and Starlight' - book two due out on November 6th.

Main character Karou with her natural blue hair, hand drawn chimaera comics and secret double life is hard to resist. Likeable and dubbed with a name that literally translates into the very thing she comes to embody its easy to become submerged in her story and get swept away as the story unfolds.

Even the supporting characters like Brimstone, Akiva, Zuzana and Issa are vital to the story and have a tendency of being much different and more complicated than how they're originally presented. With the entire cast of characters serving their own desires and purposes genuinely, this book quickly comes to life as a story filled with everyone fighting their own internal battles while struggling to shape a better world - all with Karou somehow caught unaware and in the middle. 

If you're looking for the next, great fantasy with a romantic flair, you can't let this title pass you by... but you might want to wait until early November when you can pick up both titles and save yourself the wait!

'The Fever Series', 5 Books by Karen Marie Moning

Before starting this review I feel like I need to make an admission: I needed to force myself to write it. 

When I started writing these reviews a few months ago I promised myself (and the lovely ladies of B4R who will take away my book privileges if I don’t post a review for the monthly reads *gasp!*) that I’d review every title, in any genre, no matter what my opinion of the read. But after nearly a month of typing something out, deleting everything, starting over (with a disappointed little huff), and letting this review discourage me from getting on with my reading, my reviewing and my life, I realized that sometimes you just gotta plow ahead. Write what comes to mind and readers be damned (not you of course – just saying).

Not that I haven’t had trouble getting my opinion coherently expressed in a post before, but for whatever reason ‘The Fever Series’ by KarenMarie Moning was both tough to read through and equally as difficult to write about, but here’s the true conundrum folks: these books weren’t poorly written. They weren’t filled with plot holes. The characters were colorful and even the unlikeable ones were well developed. The idea unique and the world was new. 

So what was the problem? Well – it’s the little things that nag at me. Take the protagonist for instance. MacKayla Lane is cut from the same cloth, heck, she’s cut from the same exact fabric pattern, as Sookie Stackhouse. Now I know what you’re thinking. “But you love the Southern Vampire Novels!”

Yes. Yes I do. 

But Mac just feels wrong. I don’t know how else to put it. She takes all the snotty, stuck-up, self-centered and truly unremarkable pieces of Sookie and leaves most of the character growth and warmth behind. However, having an unlikeable pink princess for a lead isn’t the only piece of ‘Fever’ that left me scratching my head.

Ireland felt wrong too. It truly felt like the only places in the whole of Dublin were Temple Bar and not Temple Bar. None of the characters really spoke like the Irish – that is to say the author didn’t use any real modern Irish lingo to color their heritage appropriately. Instead, the dialogue would reflect a strange twang that seemed more uneducated than accent. 

Lastly, there’s the character of Barrons. Oh Barrons – a beast of a man that MacKayla can’t get her barring on. I could probably dissect the relationship here in detail but I’ll save you the long form and just say this: On some level Barrons reminded me of Christian Grey. Not because he had some kinky, distorted, bondage fascination, but because he possessed that same odd need to control everything about Mac.

And that’s it everyone. Overall, the five books in that make up the ‘Fever’ series are good enough to recommend to people who enjoy the fantasy, young adult genre. My personal feelings of the two main characters aside, it was well done and the ending was a clever surprise, but I won’t be rereading them anytime soon.

'Madly' (Madly #1) by M. Leighton

Before sitting down to 'Madly' book #1 in the aptly named Madly series by M. Leighton I'd absolutely no idea what it was about but a friend recommended it, and, if you've been around these parts for any length of time, I'll read just about anything that someone throws in my general direction. This title about Madly James and her world steeped in fairy tale lore is no exception.

At first, two things struck me. The cover being the first. Now I know what you're thinking - this is a book review, not a cover review. Don't worry, I'm not an artist or outragouesly talented marketer so I won't spend too long on it - but the cover turned me off.  Too me it looked cheap, more like a manga cover than any serious fiction I'd ever picked up. The second was how short it was. Only one hundred pages? I thought - well, if I didn't like it than at least it would be an extremely short term commitment.

While I still pretty much hate the cover art, this is a good lesson in putting covers aside and reading the material before passing judgement. Even more impressive was that I got to the last page of this fast paced introductory novella in just under an hour and was disappointed that I'd need to get my hands on the next volume to keep going.

Will I pick up Madly & Wolfhardt (Madly, #2)? Most likely, equally terrible cover and all.

Should you pick up 'Madly'? Well - if you've burned yourself out on young adult fantasy romance then I'd probably steer clear for now. But if you can get past the cover and want to read something in this genre that isn't about vampires or werewolves you've got the green light - just do yourself a favor and make sure to have book two queued up and ready to go!