Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath

Author: Brodi Ashton

Publisher: Balzer + Bray 2012

Genre: Young adult fantasy

Pages: 384

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fantasy; Read Your Name — E; Support Your Local Library

How I Got It: Library Loan

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Definitely done with the fantasy, young adult, love triangle bit.  I tired of Nikki’s wishy-washy behavior.  I tired of the ridiculous high school behavior.  I tired of Cole and Jack being oblivious yet forward.  Overall, not a horrible book, but I don’t think I will be reading any more of the series.  Romeo and Juliet, anyone?

 

Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean

Title: Palace Circle

Author: Rebecca Dean

Publisher:  Broadway 2009

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Pages: 425

Rating:  3  / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; What’s in a Name — House; Mount TBR

How I Got It: I own it!

Delia Chandler, an eighteen-year-old Southern girl, marries Viscount Ivor Conisborough just before World War II, becoming part of the Windsor court. It’s every girl’s dream come true. But Delia is jolted from her pleasant life when she realizes, after the birth of her two daughters, that Ivor chose her only to bear an heir to his estate. Shortly thereafter, she begins an affair with her husband’s handsome, titled, and frequently scandalous best friend.

When Conisborough is appointed as an adviser to King Fuad of Egypt, Delia exchanges one palace circle for another, far different one. While she sees Egypt as a place of exile, her two daughters regard Egypt as their home. Only when war comes to Cairo—and Delia finally reveals the secret she has kept for so long—can she begin to heal the divisions separating her from those she loves.

Based off of the summary, this is Delia’s story.  But upon reading the book, it’s not just Delia’s story.  The book jumps narration partway through.  We get sections narrated by Delia’s daughter Petra, her daughter Davina, family friend Jack, and even a new aquaintance Darius.  These switches created a very disjointed feel to the book.  As soon as I got used to a voice, it switched.  I was a bit disconcerted.  My other issue with this book was that it seemed like a five book series smashed into one book.  I would have happily explored each part for  300-400 pages.  Instead we go from 1910s to 1940s.  Too much material in too short of pages.

All of this is not to say I hated the book.  I actually liked the characters.  I liked the mix of fiction and historical events.  I liked Dean’s style of writing.  I just really wanted more.  More pages, more depth, more focus on big events.  Just more.  I will read more of Dean…  Hopefully her other books won’t have the same problems.

 

Blue Moon by Alyson Noel

Title: Blue Moon (Immortals #2)

Author: Alyson Noel

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 2009

Genre: YA Vampire

Pages: 304

Rating:  3  / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Fantasy; Read Your Name – N

How I Got It: I own it

Just as Ever is learning everything she can about her new abilities as an immortal, initiated into the dark, seductive world by her beloved Damen, something terrible is happening to him.  As Ever’s powers are increasing, Damen’s are fading—stricken by a mysterious illness that threatens his memory, his identity, his life.

Desperate to save him, Ever travels to the mystical dimension of Summerland, uncovering not only the secrets of Damen’s past—the brutal, tortured history he hoped to keep hidden—but also an ancient text revealing the workings of time. With the approaching blue moon heralding her only window for travel, Ever is forced to decide between turning back the clock and saving her family from the accident that claimed them—or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows weaker each day…

I tried to like this one, I really did.  I just couldn’t really get into the storyline or the characters.  I spent most of the book wanting to smack Ever (and Damen for that matter).  There’s just did not seem like a classic love story.  I ended up not caring if they lived happily ever after.  I just didn’t care.  Also, I need characters to grow through a series.  To have someone keep making the same mistakes and assumptions throughout just makes me angry.  I could take or leave this one.

 

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

Title: The Year of Living Biblically

Author: A.J. Jacobs

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 2008

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 416

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey Decimal — 200s; Mixing It Up — Journalism and Humor; A to Z — Y

How I Got It: Library Loan

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history’s most influential book with new eyes.

I read Jacob’s first experiment The Know-It-All about him reading the Encyclopedia.  I laughed out loud through most of the book.  So I went into this book with high hopes.  A secular Jewish man living in NYC decides to follow the Biblical rules.  I thought I would laugh at his escapades; at least chuckle.

Unfortunately, I grew more and more angry as the book progressed.  Jacobs begins noticing things about life in his episodes.  I can appreciate these.  For example, he realizes that his life is bombarded with media.  Once he turns it all off, he enjoys more life.  I can get it.  But then he gets way too obsessive over these rules.  I just can’t get behind these at all.  In discussing parenting, he comes to the conclusion that he must impart religion to his son otherwise he will end up an atheist criminal or a crazy fundamentalist.  This seems like a strong either-or concept  as opposed to a rational parenting choice.  Another point of contention is the whole creationism vs. evolution debate.  In discussing he comes to the conclusion:

“I believe that’s a key motivation to creationsim: the need to feel less inconsequential.  I remember Mark Looy–the publicist for the Creation Museum–saying, ‘Evolution says that we are the product of random processes.  That we evolved via pond scum.  When we say that, we’re not applying much value to humanity.  If we say we’re a product of accidents and random processes, how much purpose and hope does that give to our youth’” (page 107)

I have multiple issues with this: 1. Evolution is not ‘accidents and random processes,’ it’s adaptation to the purpose for better chances of survival.  2. Why does evolution lead to not valuing humanity? It doesn’t.  We  can value life for the sake of life.  3. Purpose and hope is a human concept.  One that we can consciously impart.  It’s these types of discussions that I just had trouble getting through.

In the end, Jacobs ends up as a “reverent agnostic” but one who still plans on observing the Sabbath and praying to God (which God, I’m not sure).  At times, I agree with his observations about modern life.  I applaud his taking the time to examine his life.  I just have issues in some of his conclusions.  For these reasons, I gave the book 3 stars.  It’s well-written… just not for me.

  

 

Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Title: Zombie Blondes

Author: Brian James

Publisher: Square Fish 2009

Genre: Zombie

Pages: 256

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Zombie; A to Z – Z; Mount TBR

How I Got It: I own it!

From the moment Hannah Sanders arrived in town, she felt there was something wrong.
A lot of houses were for sale, and the town seemed infected by an unearthly quiet. And then, on Hannah’s first day of classes, she ran into a group of cheerleaders—the most popular girls in school.
The odd thing was that they were nearly identical in appearance: blonde, beautiful, and deathly pale.
But Hannah wants desperately to fit in—regardless of what her friend Lukas is telling her: If she doesn’t watch her back, she’s going to be blonde and popular and dead—just like all the other zombies in this town. . . .

I’m describing this one as a Stepford Wives meets Heathers.  I enjoyed it, it had some great little parts here and there, but mostly I just wanted to smack Hannah.  If she didn’t want to believe Lukas that the blondes were zombies, fine, but did she have to be so desperate for popularity.  Parts of the book just seemed fake.  And then having the book written in first person was a bit much.  I just had trouble sympathizing with Hannah until the last 15 pages.  I guess okay, but this book was definitely aimed at a younger audience than me.  It just fell a bit flat for me.

  

 

The Queen’s Dollmaker by Christine Trent

Title: The Queen’s Dollmaker

Author: Christine Trent

Publisher: Kensintong 2010

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Historical Fiction; A to Z: Title Q

How I Got It: Library lend

On the brink of revolution, with a tide of hate turned against the decadent royal court, France is in turmoil – as is the life of one young woman forced to leave her beloved Paris. After a fire destroys her home and family, Claudette Laurent is struggling to survive in London. But one precious gift remains: her talent for creating exquisite dolls that Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France herself, cherishes. When the Queen requests a meeting, Claudette seizes the opportunity to promote her business, and to return home…Amid the violence and unrest, Claudette befriends the Queen, who bears no resemblance to the figurehead rapidly becoming the scapegoat of the Revolution. But when Claudette herself is lured into a web of deadly political intrigue, it becomes clear that friendship with France’s most despised woman has grim consequences. Now, overshadowed by the spectre of Madame Guillotine, the Queen’s dollmaker will face the ultimate test.

I started reading this book with high hopes.  I loved the premise, the characters were interesting, and I really like historical fiction.  Yet, most of this fell flat.  I loved the main character; Claudette was a real women with hopes, dreams, and insecurities.  Beatrice was tiresome, but her daughter was wonderful.  All the other side characters in Claudette’s life were interesting and intriguing.  I even liked the interactions between Claudette and Marie Antoinette.  The setting was unique.  I haven’t read a historical fiction novel set on the Eve of Revolution in France. I was really liking the story.  The part I disliked: the switches in point of view and voice to Marie Antoinette.  I felt like the author was trying to educate us mere mortals about the Revolution by following Marie Antoinette’s story also.  It felt very cluttered and unnecessary.  I don’t think the readers needed a history lesson that detailed.  So what?  We could have understood Claudette’s story and even how her story interacts with Marie Antoinette’s without the switches.  I kept having to reorient myself to various characters.  For that reason, I gave the book 3 stars.  I liked the main storyline and characters, just not the point of view changes.

 

Night World Vol. 2 by L.J. Smith

Title: Night World Vol. 2 (Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate)

Author: L.J. Smith

Publisher: Simon Pulse 2008

Genre: Vampires

Pages: 688

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Vampires

How I Got It: I own it!

Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters — they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart’s every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from.

Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts, and the will to resist a vampire’s mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother’s death in The Chosen. Then she meets Quinn, her soulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destroy.

Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger in Soulmate. But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World’s love strong enough to save her?

I have a confession to make: I didn’t actually finish this book.  I read the first two stories, but then I got upset and stopped reading the book.  Let’s discuss the first two stories and then I will get the issue that stopped me reading.

Dark Angel – I liked how this story started.  I liked Gillian and her radical change.  I also liked Angel.  His character was very interesting.  You start thinking he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Gillian.  But then little things started happening.  And you start thinking that there’s something wrong with this whole story.  I liked the story.  And then we find out that Gillian’s soulmate is David and the ending felt way too formulaic and a cop-out.  On to the next story…

The Chosen – Right away, this story struck me as wrong.  The beginning flashback of how Rashel became Rashel the vampire hunter was so clichéd.  I knew that the vampire that killed her mother would come back and guess what… he did.  Of course.  And then she met Quinn and of course they’re soulmates.  It just seemed so clichéd.  I finished the story, but that was it.

So my problem with the Night World stories… soulmates.  In the first volume, we are told that people finding their soulmates is incredibly weird.  Very rarely do people find each other.  And yet, in every story in the volumes, characters find their soulmate. And the soulmate is always from the wrong world.  One human, one Night World.  Therefore, I am done with this series.  I can’t keep the formula going.  So I’m done and moving on to something else.

 

The Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely

Title: The Elephant Mountains

Author:  Scott Ely

Publisher: Orca 2011

Genre: YA dystopian/survival

Pages: 203

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: A to Z Authors: E

How I Got It: ARC from LibraryThing Early Reviews Program

 Global warming and an unprecedented series of hurricanes have put New Orleans and most of the low-lying areas of the South underwater.  In the chaos and anarchy that results as cities and towns are abandoned, fifteen-year-old Stephen is suddenly left to fend for himself.  He soon encounters Angela, a college student whose parents have been killed.  Navigating the labyrinth of flooded fields and towns in an airboat, the two set out in search of Stephen’s mother and higher ground.  Armed with both guns and the skills his survivalist father has taught him, Stephen struggles to maintain hope and his humanity in the face of violence and desperation.

An interesting plotline, but I think the book failed to live up to the promise.  I love dystopian/survival literature.  I think it has to do with my love of zombies.  But really any survival stories are right up my alley.  I started this book seeing the scary potential future.  What Ely predicts could happen.  Hurricanes and global warming could rise the waters enough to swallow a lot of the low-lying southern lands.  New Orleans would be toast.  Florida would disappear.  And the rest would be under varying amounts of water.  People would have to flee to higher ground or attempt to ride out the water.  Anarchy and chaos would reign if it happened quick enough.  I bought all of the environmental changes.  I bought the desperation the changes brought.  I could imagine all this happening.  Those parts of the book rang true. 

Unfortunately, the characters fell flat.  Stephen, while the most interesting character, seemed lost; as if he didn’t have a personality apart from the “not quite a man” status.  I couldn’t quite connect to his inner struggles.  Angela started as an interesting character but quickly got lost.  She portrayed herself as a devout Christian, but then that aspect fell away.  I would have liked more consistency with the character.  And everyone else was only in the picture for a few pages each.  We met someone, shared a few stories, and then they disappeared or were killed.  I get that it is supposed to be a fairly solitary journey, but I would have liked to spend a little more time with some of those characters. 

Overall, an interesting premise.  But it didn’t quite follow through.  I would recommend to fans of dystopian/survival literature.

 

Just a Little White Lie by Lynnette Hallberg

Title: Just a Little White Lie

Author: Lynnette Hallberg

Publisher: Carina Press 2011 (e-book only)

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Pages: 194

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer Romance – Contemporary

How I Got It: Net Galley from Carina Press

Lucinda Darling thinks she’s ready to get married. Even though Donald doesn’t give her butterflies, the heiress is ready to make her marriage work. She’s got the dress, she’s at the church and her fiancé…is making out with his ex. So Lucinda stuffs her tulle skirts into her tiny sports car and hits the road…only to have her car break down.

Jake Parker knows he’s not ready to settle down. But Grandma Hattie is sick, so, to make her happy, he’s returning home to find himself a fake fiancée. When Jake rescues Lucy from the side of the highway, she goes from runaway bride to temporary fiancée.

Lucy hopes to escape the public eye in small-town Georgia, but she doesn’t expect to fall for Jake’s charming hometown, let alone Jake himself. Soon Jake and Lucy both start to wish their lie were true. But Lucy knows she must stop their pretense before Jake’s family—and her heart—are hurt so badly they’ll never recover.

My first thoughts: cute but not great.  A light-hearted romance complete with plot coincidences and sped up time.  I like the main characters: Lucinda has spunk, Jake is a great man’s man.  But the other characters fell flat.  We get the two-timing fiance, the desperate ex-girlfriend, the overprotective sister, and the misunderstanding fathers.  I just didn’t get the point of the other characters.  They felt like more plot devices than real people.  And all the plot coincidences just made me want to scream.

Rereading my first paragraph, the answer has come to me.  I know why I didn’t like this book: it didn’t feel like there was any real development.  Everything was rushed.  It was only 194 pages (according to my iPad), but this story could have been 400 pages.  I think 400 pages would have given us enough time to really get to know the characters (both main and side) and the “falling desperately in love” in 4 days wouldn’t have been an issue.  Contrived romances just rub me the wrong way.  I liked the idea of the story and the main characters, but this book left me wanting more.

 

The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather by Alexandra Potter

Title: The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather

Author: Alexandra Potter

Publisher: Plume 2010

Genre: Chick lit

Pages: 400

Rating:   3 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer Romance – Contemporary

How I Got It: borrowed from library

Imagine if you could go back ten years and meet your younger self–would you recognize her?  What advice would you give her? Wear sunscreen.  Back away from those pleather pants.  Don’t give that idiot your phone number.  Lemon juice won’t bleach your hair, it just attracts wasps.  He’s the one–don’t let hm get away.  For Charlotte Merryweather, there’s no need to imagine.  She’s about to find out for real… with some surprising consequences.

My first thought after finishing… “It was alright.”  I didn’t hate it, but I certainly didn’t love it.  It was okay.  It was mediocre.  It was something to read for a day, I guess.  My real problem lies with the characters.  Looking back over part book reviews, I am always talking about the characters.  I guess I really need good characters to love a book.  And this book gave me alright characters.  Charlotte, the present Charlotte, was way to neurotic.  I guess she’s supposed to be.  It’s the Christmas Carol syndrome.  Take a crazy/neurotic/angry/depress/etc person and show them their past, present, and probably future.  They do a 180 degree change, and everything works out in the end.  Just like in A Christmas Carol, I cannot stand the main character.  Charlotte is too crazy/neurotic/silly.  I can’t even want her to change.  I just want her to go away.  I understand the point is to show you what could have happened and what went wrong, but shouldn’t I be rooting for the character.?  I just wasn’t at all.  And so I don’t care about the book.  The premise was interesting, but the characters just didn’t make me care.

As I read back over this review, I may be a bit harsh on the book.  Once Charlotte meets Lottie (about 150 pages into the book), I started to see her as a real person and not a crazy stereotype.  By the end of the book, I started to somewhat care for her.  But I still stand by that she wasn’t a character I could connect to.  And I guess that’s why I’m sticking with my 3 star rating.