Category: books

Entice, by Carrie Jones

What’s the best thing to do on a snowy day? Curl up with a good book and try to stay warm. With the current weather in North Texas, a good book is just the thing. And if you happen to like the current weather and would like to read more about a winter wonderland…why not try Entice, by Carrie Jones? Set in the winter woods of Maine, it’s bound to make anyone feel better about our paltry two inches of frozen precipitation. The third book in the Need series, it’s about pixies…but not the cute little Tinkerbell-esque creatures most people think of when they see the word “pixie”.

Bedford, Maine isn’t exactly a hotbed of…well, anything. It’s cold. It snows a lot. It’s surrounded by woods. And those woods are full of all sorts of creatures from legend. Pixies. Wolves. Shapeshifters. Even the occasional elf. Despite all that, the inhabitants of Bedford manage to get along. Until a group of evil pixies moves in, and teenagers start disappearing. It’s enough to give pixies a bad name.

As usual, Zara is right in the middle of things. Her friends don’t trust her anymore because she’s been pixie-kissed…and not just by any pixie, but by pixie king, Astley. Her soul mate, Nick, is dead. Well, sort of. He’s been taken to Valhalla, a place for warriors that’s right out of legend, and Zara and her friends don’t know if they can get him back. With the end of the world looming on the horizon, and war imminent, Zara knows she has to find her warrior and bring him home. With Astley at her side, she sets out to find Valhalla and rescue Nick. There’s just one little problem: Nick hates pixies. Will he even want to leave Valhalla when he realizes what she’s done to save him?

P.S. Isn’t this the greatest cover ever?

Where’d the Week Go?

Seriously. How is already Saturday night? The week’s over, and I’m not really sure what I accomplished this week. Let’s see…I remember doing homework. More homework. And yes, MORE homework. That’s an awful lot of school work, especially since I can’t remember what else I did this week. *thinking….thinking*….Hmm. I wrote two book reviews for Examiner.com. Read a few books (the first four books in Michelle Sagara’s Chronicles of Elantra series. Really enjoying them.) Ah….what else? I can’t think of anything else. That’s just…ridiculous. Oh! I did get some writing done. Yes. About 3500 words this week. I know it’s not a lot, but it’s steady writing every day, and that’s my main goal.

My Muse is working on a new story idea. I can feel it! I should probably be writing some of the details she throws at me down. Things are coming together. I have a vague idea of a character, well, two, and the main conflict, so that’s cool. The setting is coming together, too, and it should be something radically different than I’ve ever written before. I’m actually starting to get really excited about the idea, but I’m trying not to rush my Muse. Bad idea, that.

No revisions done this week. Which gives me…two days to finish Lesson 4 of HTRYN. Guess I need to get on that, huh? Okay. I’m off to do more homework. Two exams next week, and some essay questions that are waiting for my attention (Not the kind of writing I enjoy. At all.) And I’ll have another book review up tomorrow.

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

Kaylee Cavanaugh finally has the screaming under control. Mostly. As a bean sidhe—a banshee—she’s compelled to scream when anyone around her dies. At least she was, until she met Nick. But she and Nick broke up while she dealt with his addiction, and now she’s on her own. Which is a bad thing to be, especially when chaos erupts at her school. Teachers are dying mysteriously. Kids are fighting in the parking lot and rioting in the halls. Everything is a mess. Right in the middle of it is Sabine, Nick’s ex-girlfriend. She’s new in town, and she’s desperate to get Nick back. And Sabine just so happens to be a Nightmare—able to read people’s deepest fears and bring them to life in their dreams–bringing new meaning to the phrase “scared to death.”

Now, with the fates of her schoolmates at stake, Kaylee doesn’t know where to turn. There’s Tod, Nick’s Grim Reaper brother, but just how much can a dead guy do? And Alec, who she rescued from the Netherworld, and the clutches of his Hellion master, Avari. Avari wants Alec back, and he wants Kaylee, too. And Avari can possess her body—or the bodies of those she cares about—while they’re sleeping and force them to do anything he wants. Now Kaylee has to figure out what’s going on, and who’s behind it. Can she trust Nick to fight his addiction and his history with Sabine, or must she face the Netherworld without him?

Set locally, in Arlington, Texas, My Soul to Steal is the fourth installment in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. Kaylee Cavanaugh may be a banshee, and her world may be filled with creatures from legend, but she’s still just a teenager, with a teenager’s dramas and problems. This compelling book will have you desperate to find out how she resolves them—and how she deals with Nick’s nightmarish ex-girlfriend.

Awakened, by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Zoey Redbird has issues. She’s a fledgling vampyre High Priestess, and blessed by the Goddess Nyx. She lost someone she loved, which almost tore her soul apart, and her best friend died–and now possesses unheard-of powers. Zoey is also one of the few who sees the true nature of Neferet, the evil High Priestess intent on destroying Zoey and her friends, and anyone else in the way of her quest for power—and war with humans. With the Vampyre High Council believing in Neferet’s innocence, Zoey is left to combat the evil alone.

Barely healed from the battle for her soul, Zoey returns to Tulsa with her warrior, Stark, at her side, determined to reveal Neferet for who she is: a servant of Darkness. Zoey’s best friend, Stevie Rae, is hiding something that could destroy them all, something that not even Aphrodite, a Prophetess, has foreseen. Now, when Zoey needs her friends the most, Neferet’s evil and Stevie Rae’s secret rips their circle apart forever, and they must stand alone to combat the ancient evil that she has awakened.

Awakened is the eight book in the best-selling House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. Full of secrets and a desperate battle against evil, the book is a fast-paced tale that drags the reader along for the ride—without giving them a chance to catch their breath.

What I’ve Read Lately

Okay, so I’ve been slipping lately. I haven’t blogged about books in…weeks. Sad. I know. I’ve been reading, I just haven’t had time to blog! But I’m going on vacation this week for two weeks (Yay for going home!), so I thought I’d do a quick and dirty review of what I’ve read lately.

Patrica Briggs, Silver Borne: I like this series a lot. Great MC, very nice love interest, and the character is always getting in way over her head. What’s not to like about werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, and the fey all rolled up in one well-written story?

Simone Elkeles, Rules of Attraction: I just discovered Ms Elkeles (courtesy of Kristen Nelson’s blog), and was hooked from the first page of Perfect Chemistry. Rules of Attraction is about the brother of the MC of that book, and I was hooked just as quickly and just as thoroughly this time around. Gritty, realistic writing about teenagers in general, and teenagers involved in gangs in particular. I’ll be checking out her other books as well.

Diana Rowland, Blood of the Demon: I have a somewhat nebulous connection to the author (I know her mother), which is how I discovered her first book (Mark of the Demon). I read the first book straight through in less than two hours, and this one as well. Lots of action, tension, a flawed but likeable MC, not to mention a murder mystery, a hot cop, and a smoking demon. You better believe I’ll be buying anything else Ms Rowland writes.

Rachel Caine, Kiss of Death: I love this series (Morganville Vampires). LOVE. I loved this before I started reading Ms Caine’s other series (Weather Warden, Outcast), which I also love…but not as much as these books. This one didn’t disappoint, either. (Okay, confession time: I got four much-anticipated books in the mail in one package, which made choosing which one I read first QUITE difficult, but this one won, hands down.) Claire’s a great MC, and I love her to death, but I love Shane, Michael, and Eve, too, and they’re always getting in more trouble than I can even imagine.

P.C. and Kristin Cast, Burned: Another series I love. Although the previous book in the series ended in a devastating (for me, anyway) way, and I wanted to fling the book across the room. This book…was more about internal conflict. All of the characters struggled with major issues, but there wasn’t a lot of overt action. Still a good read, though. Can’t wait for the next one. (And, for the record, I think this series and the Morganville series are both WAY better than Twilight. Just sayin’.)

Jenna Black, The Devil’s Playground: I sound like a broken record, but…I liked this book a lot. The series is fantastic. Great premise. An exorcist with an attitude in a world where demons are not only known about, but they can legally possess willing humans? You gotta love the originality of that idea!

Lisa Shearin, Bewitched & Betrayed: Not only does the MC of this series have an awesome name, Raine, she has a great family background—they’re all thieves—and a smart mouth which lands her in trouble frequently. This book…okay, at the risk of sounding juvenile, I’ll just say it…ROCKED! I. Couldn’t. Put. It. DOWN! It was like it was glued to my hand! I was just as frustrated as Raine was with all the crap that kept getting dumped on her head, but I knew she’d figure a way out of it. I just couldn’t imagine how. And…Mychael. I love Mychael. He is one of the best male characters I’ve run across, and I’ve now officially put him on the list of Fictional Guys I Adore with Rhett Butler and Jaime Fraiser. ‘nough said.

Jamie Ford: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: This book is not my usual fare, being more mainstream and literary than everything else on this list, which is definitely skewed sharply in favor of fantasy. (I can’t help it. I love fantasy.) But this book…was very moving. Touching. Made me laugh. Made me cry. Made me want everything to work out just right so BADLY! If you haven’t read it, you should.

More YA Books!


Okay, so this time I read two books by P.C. Cast: Elphame’s Choice and Brighid’s Quest, which takes us back to Ms. Cast’s mystical world of Partholon.

I read her original Partholon books, the Divine books, several years ago, and loved them. They made me laugh. They made me cry. And they made me want to visit Partholon. (Sexy centaurs? Being able to control your own dreams? I’m SO there!) These two YA books kept the same familiar feel of the Divine books, but added another layer to the world.

From Ms Cast’s website:

ELPHAME’S CHOICE

Worshiped. Set apart. Unable to connect with others.

Though most girls believe they are different, Elphame knows she is. Odd. Strange. Unique. No one in Partholon has her abilities – or her connection to their goddess. And she has a destiny she is about to discover…

A restlessness has infused her, leading her to the other side of her country. There, the remnants of an evil war still linger. Will Elphame be able to redeem both her country and her soul mate, a survivor of that war? The choice she makes now may bring disaster – or a future in which she may never again be alone.

The characters are what I truly love about these books. Elphame was a great character, very easy to relate to, despite her obvious differences. I felt strongly for her, and how she’d always been apart from everyone around her. Then there’s her brother, Cu, who’s a fun-loving rogue, popular with the ladies–until he falls in love. Brenna–the scarred healer who has never allowed herself to be seen. And Brighid, the centaur Huntress who has broken from her family and herd to live her own life.

Both these books are coming-of-age stories, about finding your own path in life and doing what makes YOU happy, no matter what other people think you should do. That’s a hard thing to learn for a lot of young people (and even for those of us not so young anymore), and Ms Cast handles it well, all set against the vivid backdrop of Partholon.

Magic Under Glass

Okay, so I finally managed to read an actual book this week: Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore.


From Ms. Dolamore’s website:

Nimira is a music-hall girl used to dancing for pennies. So when wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing accompaniment to a mysterious piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it will be the start of a better life.

In Parry’s world, long-buried secrets are about to stir. Unsettling rumors begin to swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry’s involvement in a group of corrupt sorcerers for whom the rules of the living and dead are meant to be broken for greater power.

When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing fairy gentleman is trapped within the automaton, she is determined to break the curse. But even as the two fall into a love that seems hopeless, breaking the curse becomes a perilous race against time. Because it’s not just the future of these star-crossed lovers that’s at stake, but the fate of the entire magical world.

I was drawn to Nimira from the opening lines of the book–I felt immediately sympathetic for her and her situation, and wanted desperately to see her dreams come true. She comes from a life of privilege, yet she’s forced to dance in a troup that barely earns enough to keep her alive while she dreams of more. And Holln Parry seems like the answer to her prayers.

Then she meets Erris, a fairy prince enchanted in the body of an automaton, and everything changes for her. I loved how expressive Erris was, even trapped in a wooden body, and I immediately fell for him myself, and wanted to help him. The world had a very Victorian, Old England feel, and it was vividly done, down to the details of the society that looked down on the “trouser girls” like Nimira. I will say I was so quickly drawn into the world of this story that I finished the entire book in one day. I loved it, and I can’t wait for the sequel to come out (whenever that is)!

The Shifter

I’ve only read one book this week. Too busy with everything else—real life was a real you-know-what this week—for me to have any time to read anything at all, much less anything for pleasure. However, I did read The Shifter, by Janice Hardy.

From her website: Fifteen-year-old Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker—with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person and storing it inside her own body. But unlike her sister Tali and the other Takers who become Healer’s league apprentices, Nya’s skill is flawed: she can’t push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store person to person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she’d be used as a human weapon against her own people. Rumors of another war make Nya’s life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purpose. At first, Nya refuses, but faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price, but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

From the moment this book opened—with Nya caught red-handed while stealing eggs—I was drawn into the story, completely hooked. The magic system, Healers who can take and transfer pain from injuries, was fresh and new to me, and I immediately sympathized with Nya’s need to keep her true abilities hidden, as well as her urge to protect her sister. Her struggle for survival in her war-riddled home was vividly done, and even the secondary characters felt real. This book was fast-paced and kept me turning pages long after I should have been asleep. Definitely a good read, and I recommend it.

Found: My New Favorite Author

That would be Maggie Stiefvater, by the way. Her two books, Lament and Shiver were part of my recent Amazon binge. And wow, am I glad I binged! (Trust me, that’s probably the only time you’ll ever hear THAT phrase come out of my mouth.) I read these two books this week, and loved, loved, loved them both! They were completely awesome, but if you’re looking for light, frivolous fiction, you won’t find that here. These books are darker, edger, and completely addictive (Sort of like good dark chocolate. Mmmm.)

I read Lament, the first of the Books of Faerie, first.

From Maggie’s website:

Deirdre, a gifted musician, finds herself infatuated with Luke, a mysterious boy who enters her life, at the same time she discovers she’s a Cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Trouble is, Luke is a faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark.

So, I was completely entranced from the opening scene, when Deirdre is on her way to a musical competition, and she’s so nervous she has to immediately run to the bathroom to throw up (As usual), except that this time, Luke, the boy from her dreams, is there to help her (Not so usual.) Completely, utterly entranced. I loved the characters in this book. Even the minor ones are well-done and vivid, and I found myself actively disliking Deidre’s mom. As for her aunt, well, “dislike” isn’t quite a strong enough word. I read this in less than a day, desperate to find out what happened to Deidre and Luke, and how it was all going to go down. And, hello, evil faeries are pretty dang cool, too! (Although I have to admit, I prefer my faeries a little more…nice, I suppose. Like the Disney version, but not Tinkerbell. More like Legolas in LOTR. Okay, now I’m really digressing. Back on-subject.) Great book. When I finished it, I immediately went through my TBR pile hoping that I’d gotten the second book in the series, Ballad, so I could find out what happened next. Alas, I had not.

However, I had bought Shiver, which turned out to be a completely new take on werewolves–and not one I was sure I was going to like at first. Turns out I did. A lot. This is the first in the Wolves of Mercy Falls books. (The second one, Linger, comes out in July, the third, Forever, comes out in July of 2011.)

From Maggie’s site:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl.

Grace and Sam are wonderful characters. This book is dark–at least I thought so–full of a sense of futility and inevitability that had me almost in tears a lot of the time. Grace is something of an outsider, obsessed with the wolves, which no one understands. Sam is different than the other wolves. He’s wolf, but he wants so badly to be human and have a human life. The story is told from both their viewpoints, and I have to admit, I’m HORRIBLE at paying attention to chapter headings, so this was occasionally confusing to me as I had to stop and check who I was with a few times. I loved this book. At first, I was a little unsure, but I got so into it and the cold that haunts its pages that it was almost a shock when I finished reading it and went outside into the 70 degree spring weather. If Linger was out now, I’d be happily reading it right this second. Sadly, it isn’t. But as soon as it is…It’s mine.

Chemistry and Angels

Okay, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. A lot of YA reading. And two books have really made a big impression on me in the last week: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, and Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles.

Hush, Hush is an urban fantasy about fallen angels and the ancient battle between good and evil, and everything in between. I enjoyed this book a lot. It had a fast pace, and it kept me guessing–although maybe a little bit too much. I read it almost straight through, trying to figure out what was going on, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nora Grey, the female MC is an interesting character and I really liked getting to see things through her eyes. Puck, the male MC was intriguing and sexy with a nice hint of danger. Good read, and I recommend it.

Perfect Chemistry has one thing in common with Hush, Hush: the female MC gets assigned a new lab partner in science class and the first assignment is to find out everything they can about their new partner.(Kind of weird that I should run across this twice in back-to-back books.) And that’s pretty much where the similarities end. I LOVED this book! I was up ’til 1 a.m. finishing it, desperate to find out what happened! It’s a re-telling of West Side Story, with Brittany Ellis, a blond, upper class cheerleader and Alex Fuentes, a Latino gang member. Brittany wants everyone to believe her life is perfect–perfect grades, perfect family, perfect boyfriend–and appearance is everything to her. Alex just wants to survive and take care of his family. They come from opposite sides of the tracks, and their two groups don’t mix. It just isn’t done. When the two of them interact, the sparks literally fly off the page! I can’t recommend this book highly enough! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want to shake some sense into the characters, but it was a great read. I can’t wait for the sequel, which is about Alex’s little brother. It comes out next month.

And that’s all for now.