Review: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this. It was dark, creepy, and different from the regular YA paranormal romance I read.  This is a genre I read frequently. This was highly recommended by author Penelope Douglass as a must read, and I totally agree.  This fulfills my advanced challenge prompt A book recommended by an author you love.  I love Pen's books, and I recommend her's as well.

I tore through this as fast as I could. The story follows Isobel and Varen, an unlikely pair working on an English project. Isobel is the popular cheerleader, Varen is the stoic Goth kid. Isobel drove me crazy, she was so worried about what her friends and her boyfriend would think about her working with Varen on her homework, but she redeemed herself when she stood up for the right things. Varen is a tortured soul, who loves Edgar Allen Poe, who he's chosen for their project. He's sweet, funny, and kind of doesn't care about what other people think and he doesn't the most surprising things. Varen introduces Isobel to the works and world of Poe for the project, which leads her down a rabbit hole she never wanted to go down. She finds herself dreaming about strange things and seeing strange things in reality. A man named Reynolds appears to her and tells her that reality is in danger, and she's the only one who can stop what Varen has started.  The fate of the real world is in her hands.  Fueled by her blooming feelings for Varen, Isobel launches herself into the dark dreamworld Varen has created in order to save him from himself. Can Isobel's love save them both?  Does Varen really want to be saved or does he want to escape his kind of crappy real life and live in the fantasy world he's created where he is the master and he's adored.

I can't wait to finish the series.  I loved the Poe references.  I've not read much Poe, but I want to now.  His works seem dark and creepy, but interesting.

View all my reviews

Review: The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini
Illustrated by Fabio Celoni and Mirka Andolfo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was excellent.  This is not your typical "comic" book.  I say that because my son asked me why I was reading a comic book when he saw my kindle  lying on the table yesterday, then proceeded to tell me about a comic he read at school.  The content is very adult and not whimsical at all if you don't know what this story is about.  It is very heavy and serious.

I am participating in a reading challenge and one of the prompts is "A book with pictures."  While browsing my library's digital media collection for graphic novels this popped up, and as I've been meaning to read this for quite some time and it was available I grabbed it. I'm so glad I did. I think the illustrations portrayed what the words would have, had you read the novel, which I'll be doing soon. My library is having a book sale that started the other day, so I picked up the full novel as I was so drawn in by this telling. This story is so heartbreaking. It tells the story of Hassan and Amir and the struggles they faced. The story takes place in Afghanistan prior to the Russian occupation and then afterwards when the Taliban takes up residence.  I think alot of the terrible things that happen to them are compressed in this version, but that's what you get in this format.  I'm hoping to get more out of the full novel because as soon as you start to get into the story it changes.  It was a very quick read, so for challenge purposes or book-a-thon reading I'd highly recommend it.

I did have a hard time keeping track of which character was which throughout the story. Some of the characters look very similar in their rendering, while others are very distinct. Later in the book it is a bit easier to tell them apart because only one specific character is present in the storyline.

Overall, my heart broke several times during the story, and it has inspired me to read the full novel and delve more into the world of graphic novels.


View all my reviews

Review: Dorothy Must Die: Stories by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die: Stories by Danielle Paige
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed these stories. I wish I had "read" them earlier, I listened to the audio books for all of the Dorothy Must Die books so far. I think if I had listened to these earlier some of book 3 would have made alot more sense. They were certainly nice additions, but not required reading.

The first story tells us how dear Dorothy got her lovely red shoes and how she got to be so mean. As you know she didn't start out that way, and I had a really hard time with the Dorothy Must Die series in the beginning with an evil Dorothy and Glinda. It all makes alot more sense now having gotten through book 3 and 6 of the short stories. In this story we find Dorothy preparing for her 16th birthday party on her farm with her beloved Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. She's been back in Kansas for some time now, and she still has a bit of fame from her tornado experience. Em and Henry are doing their best, but Dorothy wants more, she wants Oz. After a horrible birthday, Dorothy receives a magical present of the red shoes, from a mysterious benefactor. The shoes take Dorothy back to Oz, which is not as she left it. She's been gone for quite some time, Ozma is Queen, Glinda is missing, but otherwise Oz is a happy magical place. Dorothy is reunited with old friends and makes a new one in Ozma, but Dorothy is ever suspicious about Glinda's disappearance. She is also quite irked when her Aunt and Uncle just want to go home instead of staying in Oz. Alot happens in this story that lead up to how things are when Amy arrives in the first book, and this filled in alot of questions I had.

The second story is about Jellia, Dorothy's head maid. Jellia worked for Ozma, and then came to work for Dorothy after Ozma's accident. I don't remember Jellia from any of the main novels, so I'm anxious to see where she fits in. Her story is pretty interesting. Jellia can use magic, and it turns out she's pretty powerful, this catches the eye of Glinda. Glinda, always up to something, borrows Jellia for the summer for a sinister plot with the Scarcrow. When Jellia fails to prove useful, Glinda sends her back to the Emerald City. In swoops the Order of the Wicked, where we meet some familar characters before Amy comes to Oz. Based on this story, Jellia should be a significant player in the saga of Oz, so I'm anxious to see if she appears in book 4 which I haven't gotten to yet.

The final story in this compilation tells us about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or as he is known in this story, Hex. The wizard has been cast out by good Dorothy, and he has sailed away in his hot air balloon. Taken out by a storm, he's spent a long time in the field of poppies, only to be awakened by none other than Pete. If you know who Pete is you know that means Dorothy is back and she's evil this time. The wizard can't remember who he is or why he's been sleeping in a poppy field. Pete tells him he can get his memories back if he passes a test. Pete also tells him that he's basically a jerk and done alot of pretty bad things in his past, but he can make up for it if he wants to. I love that we get to see more of Pete in this story, even if its only a little. Hex, anxious to regain his memories, goes with Pete. He has a few interesting adventures mainly involving a spreadsheet loving monkey named Iris, then he ends up being tested by the fairies to get his memory back. He has to choose between going home to a live of luxury, or staying in Oz and having real magic and a chance to put things right. I thought this was a really interesting story. You never really knew what he was going to do.


View all my reviews

Review: Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh

Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This picked up where Nevermore left off, with Isobel still trying to save Varen from himself. Only this time she doesn't have Reynolds to help her get back to the dreamworld and she doesn't know how to get there herself. She's consumed by nightmares, and has a hard time distinguishing dreams from reality.

Varen has the ability to visit her in her dreams, and she knows he's trying to tell her something. Each time he visits he's getting darker and scarier to the point where she thinks it is Pinfeather's visiting not Varen. Pinfeather's tries to help her reach Varen, as Varen has been watching her from the dreamworld. Varen is only seeing Isobel push people away from her to keep them off her trail as she tries to find a way back to him, but he can't see that. She still loves him, but she won't tell anyone but Gwen a sort of part of the truth about what is going on.  Her acting skills are pretty believable and pretty hurtful.

Gwen, who is hilarious, has become Isobel's best friend since the whole ordeal started. Gwen actually has kind of figured out what is going on with Isobel and is all in trying to help her. This leads to nothing but mayhem, but she's nothing but comic relief. I loved Gwen for the hilarity she brought.

This book wasn't as good as the first one. It kind of just follow's Isobel around as she flounders about trying to figure out how to get back to Varen to save him. LIke the first book, Isobel is constantly making rash decisions without putting much thought into them or the consequences they may have.  Her impulsive personality is at an all time high in this book and you can tell she is going to do some thing really stupid eventually. When she finally gets to the dreamworld, everything happens so fast and its over so quickly you don't have time to register what happened. Don't get me wrong, I still liked it, but I wanted more of the Poe inspired world and wanted more Varen in this one. He was critically absent.  I even wanted more Pinfeathers, you rooted against him and his band of Nocs in teh first one, but he has this redeeming quality in the 2nd book that makes you almost want like him.  His character in this book is a complete 180 from the 1st, this time he's the last little bit of hope Varen is holding on to that he and Isobel might one day be together.  I'm anxiously awaiting the last book to come in at the library so I can find out how it ends.

This book is fulfilling challenge prompt "A book with an unreliable narrator" as Isobel rarely knew if she was awake or dreaming throughout the book.  Overall I'm at 17 of 52 books read or listened to for this challenge and I have books identified for almost all of the remaining prompts.  I picked up a bunch of books at the local used book sale this week specifically for the challenge and because well...all the books were $1 or less.

View all my reviews

Review: One Last Summer by Jo Noelle

One Last Summer by Jo Noelle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this in exchange for an honest review. This is a very quick read, I think it took me about 3 hours to read over the course of a day. It is sweet and clean novella, which you need sometimes to cleanse the palate if you will. Overall I really liked it.  I'm using this for the Popsugar reading challenge prompt: A book with one of the four season in the title.  It fits nicely I think.

The story alternates between perspectives of Jenna and Cole, who both have alot of baggage. They have been best friends since age 10 and they both love Misty Harbor cottages where Jenna's Uncle rents cabins not far from Seattle. Cole has lived there most of his life and Walter has been like a father to Cole. Cole's mom was not an upstanding citizen and not a great role model. Jenna's mom has hopped from husband to husband, filling Jenna's head with nothing but nonsense about men and relationships. Cole and Jenna have a strong friendship and they love each other. Cole expresses his feelings to her, but Jenna always runs hearing her mother's voice in her head. This summer is different, Uncle Walter wants to sell the cottages to Cole or Jenna and retire. He devises a competition, playing on both of their competitive natures, where winner takes all. Cole hopes he not only will win Misty Harbor, but that that he can use the summer and the competition to win Jenna's heart as well. Jenna wants to win, but she has other plans and a romance isn't part of her plan.

View all my reviews

Review: The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this. It was not what I was expecting at all. The Diabolic is about a girl named Nemesis. She was created to be a protector and essentially sold to the highest bidder. Diabolics are neurologically bonded to their charge to do whatever it takes to protect them. They are essentially treated like animals, caged and rewarded with treats until they learn and act appropriatly in accordance with their creation and duty. Upon purchase a Diabolic is bonded to their master and will live and die to protect them. Nemesis lives to protect Sidonia, aka Donia, the heir to her father's seat in the Senate. Donia's father hasn't made many friends, as he has spoken out against the ways of the empire, which are a little outdated. As punishment for his insubordination the Senator is ordered to send Sidonia to the Chrysanthemum, the hub of the empire. Sidonia's mother devises a scheme to send Nemesis in Donia's place to protect her only daughter from the dangers of the empire and the Emperor. Nemesis will do anything to protect Sidonia even if it means impersonating her.  No one has actually seen Sidonia in person, as everyone interacts with avatars virtually, unless they are physically in the same place.  Sidonia has never left the safety of her home planet.

Upon her arrival at the Chrysanthemum, Nemesis is overwhelmed with the political games and alliances surrounding her. She is built for protection, strength, and action while everything around her is led by emotion namely jealousy, self-preservation, hatred, and other emotions she doesn't understand.  Nemesis must navigate the actors and actresses, determine who she can trust and who is out to undermine her every move, and understand what is real and what it means to be a Diabolic.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mix of characters. The romance wasn't too much, and the story stands on it's own. I felt like the plot moved along at a decent pace and there were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.  I understand there may be more books coming, if there are I'll definitely be interested in seeing where the story goes, if not I felt like this ended and stands on its own and doesn't need anything to follow it up.

I'm using this book as my Popsugar reading challenge prompt: A Book about an Interesting Woman.

View all my reviews

Review: The Magician's Workshop, Volume One by Christopher Hansen and J.R. Fehr

The Magician's Workshop, Volume One by Christopher Hansen and J. R Fehr

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was provided this for an honest review.  I'm also using this for my Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt, A Book with Multiple Authors.  I've completed 11 of the 52 prompts so far.

This book has promise, its whimsical and the idea behind the magic system is really interesting. I think if I were a much younger reader, I would enjoy this book alot more.  I think my 9 year old would enjoy this, I thought of him throughout the book as I was reading it.  I can picture him laughing at the many antics the kids in the book are apart of. There's no real plot to the story, if there was I missed it. The story is called the Magician's Workshop, but it isn't about the Magician's Workshop at all, it is about way to many characters and the time leading up to their color test. A color determines if you are going to be a mage and maybe one day make it to the Workshop, this part isn't really clearly explained and kind of confusing. Every person in the land can use magic, or projections, but commoners are limited to what they can do were as mages are not. Everything is centered around projections in the society the characters live in entertainment, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, social status, wealth, etc.

Every two chapters or so you are following one of 8 or so characters in the book and their story line which is way too many people to keep track of, and it was cumbersome to keep switching back and forth between stories. The character lines aren't really flushed out either, they don't pick up where they left off and I just found them jumbled and confusing.  Each of the characters story lines leads up to the color ceremony day where they can take different tests to earn chips for their projections, but none of that actually matters because the tests don't determine if they have color or not. The book kind of just ends and says read volume two to find out what happens next. And you don't know if any of the kids are successful, void of color, and you only know that one of them actually registers to be tested.

I will say you want to find out what happens to them when you are done and you start to care about the characters which is good, but I was left feeling like "what is the actual point to this story" when I was done.  I have a huge issue with books with no closure at the end.  I prefer structured plots with a definitive ending, even if the story line will continue on in another book in the series.  A volume should stand on its own with a beginning, middle, and end.  This just misses the mark for me.


View all my reviews