The Week Ahead (#8)

Last week was pretty review heavy but this week is only going to have 3.  Luckily, I’m having the wonderful Louise Turner over for an interview on Monday to keep things interesting.

Monday

  • An interview with Louise Turner, author of Fire and Sword.

Tuesday

Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton

  • A review of Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton.  I just couldn’t resist reading another take on Hatshepsut and when I saw Stephanie Thornton was touring with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours I signed up immediately.  Ancient Egypt is very, very hard to resist for me.
  • Cover Reveal: Black Orchid by Abigail Owen.

 

Wednesday

The Legend of the Blue Eyes by B. Kristin McMichael

 

  • A review of The Legend of the Blue Eyes by B. Kristin McMichael.  It was the cover that caught my attention on NetGalley and the blurb seemed full of promise so I figured I had nothing to lose in requesting it.  Maybe McMichael would have a new take on vampires.

 

Thursday

A Dangerous Madness by Michelle Diener

  • A review of A Dangerous Madness by Michelle Diener.  After seeing that I loved her Susanna Horenbout series so much, Michelle Diener invited me to read her latest book set in England in the 1800s.  Technically this is the third book in a series but they’re only a little bit related so you can read the books in any order.

 

Friday

  • Book Blast: Curses & Smoke by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Saturday

  • Discussion: Vampires.

Discussion: Violence in Literature

Yes, today I want to talk about violence in literature.  More specifically, my thoughts on it in YA literature.

I personally think teens are capable of handling much more than most people give them credit for.  Yes, violence in a story can be awful but as long as there’s justification for it in the narrative I don’t see what’s wrong with including it.  If it becomes gratuitous (i.e. there’s no real reason for it other than to gross the reader out) I think that’s a little too much for Young Adult literature.  It’s too much even for adult literature when it becomes gratuitous.

Basically, as long as the violence is ‘justified’ (makes sense in the context of the story and either conveys character or plot elements) I’m generally okay with it.  Sometimes I have to put a book down because it’s so disgusting, but in general I don’t think I’ve ever come across that in YA.

So what do you think of violence in literature?  Do you think the amount of violence in YA should have limits simply because of the target age group?  Or do you think it’s the parent’s job to monitor what their kids are reading?

The Curse by Jennifer Brassel

The Curse by Jennifer Brassel(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

His search for her has been timeless, eternal, and ultimately thwarted. Until now…

Seth Almose has spent countless lives trying to break the curse that robs him of his soul mate. Each time the cycle begins anew, he meets it with hope, and each time he is left with heartbreak. But as the cycle dawns again, with yet another incarnation, Seth can’t help himself. She is extraordinary; is she the one?

Julia Morrow has reason to be wary of men. After restarting her life to escape an increasingly dangerous stalker, she has no reason to believe Seth and his stories of reincarnation and curses. But his face haunts her dreams, and her canvasses. He claims that it is a matter of life and death — her death. Can she find it in herself to trust again, or will the cycle turn once again, leaving them both broken and alone?

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I really debated requesting The Curse on NetGalley but in the end my curiosity got the better of me.  Despite the cliché-filled blurb I thought I’d give this one a chance and approach it with an open mind.  After all, I did the same thing to Echo Prophecy by Lindsey Fairleigh and it turned out to be a great book.  The Curse isn’t a great book, though.  Don’t get me wrong—it’s far from a bad book.  It’s simply an average novel with nothing really to distinguish it from similar reincarnation curse stories.

The characters were very well developed.  I really felt for Julia having to move and change her name after being stalked for months before the story started.  Her behaviour is obviously affected by this incident but with the help of Seth she does seem to recover at a natural pace.  She’s strong and brave but at the same time isn’t an unrealistically kick-butt protagonist.  Seth was surprising for a male lead in that he isn’t the type of guy to rush out immediately when his beloved is kidnapped.  No, he called the police, something that normal human beings would do in that circumstance.  That was probably the biggest surprise of the whole novel but in hindsight it fits with his character.

Other than some surprises with the characters, there weren’t really all that many plot surprises.  The Curse followed a pretty typical reincarnation story arc where girl starts having dreams, meets boy, they get together after some initial misunderstandings and circumstances or evil forces try to pull them apart.  I wish Jennifer Brassel had put more of a spin on the old story arc but she really didn’t.  Her story is well-paced and the world-building is relatively good but it’s really just the same old thing I’ve read before.

I would have liked far more backstory not only for the villains of the story but also for Seth and Julia’s past lives.  We get flashes of it so we know the basic sketch of the story but I personally would have liked more details.  That’s probably just me so I can’t really fault the author for that, though.  The only real criticism I have about the backstory is that we didn’t really know very much about the villains and their motivations.  I wish the villains had more complex motives than they were presented as having because it would have made the climax far more exciting.  Oh well.

So like I said this isn’t a great book but it’s not a bad book either.  It’s somewhere in between and if you generally like this kind of stuff I’d recommend The Curse.  It’s just that it’s not all that unique.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

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Shattered Secrets by Krystal Wade

Shattered Secrets by Krystal Wade(Cover picture courtesy of Functioning Insanity.)

After being kidnapped, hogtied, and stuffed in the trunk of a car, seventeen-year-old Abigail Nichols’ boy problems seem unimportant.
She couldn’t be more wrong.

The boy who saves her holds her heart.

But Derick Crawford also holds secrets.

Magical beings who guide human emotions are fighting an invisible war dating back to the dawn of time, and Abigail’s one of them. The more she learns of her heritage, the less she wants to know. Armed with a very old, very massive book to teach them about their history, Abigail and Derick run away to a place where they think they can be safe and happy, only to have their troubles secretly hitch a ride.

Her history book is in a sharing mood, and it tells her to keep a secret of her own.

But has she put her trust in the wrong place?

And will the world survive if she has?

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

Way back I reviewed Krystal Wade’s debut trilogy Darkness Falls.  I fell in love with her style of writing and have been eagerly awaiting her next work.  Shattered Secrets didn’t really sound like what I’d normally pick up but since I enjoyed her previous work I requested it on NetGalley anyway.  The world-building was just as good, the characters were reasonably well fleshed-out and the plot was very fast-paced but in the end I just didn’t like this one as much.  It’s still good, mind you.  But it’s not as good as the first series.

My only real ‘problem’ with the story was Abigail, the narrator.  She’s rather naive and constantly screwing up her own life.  She tends to run headfirst into danger and although she can be intelligent at times (observing her surroundings when she was kidnapped) there are times I wanted to slap her.  To be fair she does get better as the book progresses but because of her early behaviour I wasn’t quite able to connect as well emotionally.  I wasn’t a huge fan of either male lead or the love triangle but at least both characters were well fleshed-out.  The love triangle is generally well done but I would have liked to see something different.

The plot was incredibly fast-paced, though.  There were twists and turns around every corner as more and more information was revealed.  What is Abigail really?  And how can she stop an impending apocalypse when everyone is telling her to do something different?  There are a fair amount of subplots that add tension to the main plot but it never really gets confusing.  That’s good because if it was confusing you’d be totally lost by the time you got to the end of the book.

Since most of the book is about Derick and Abigail discovering who they are I can’t give a solid judgment on the world-building but so far it’s really good.  Krystal Wade has actually thought up some unique ideas for her magical beings and mixed them in with existing ideas to create the type of rich fantasy world I’ve come to expect from her.  You really can’t fault her world-building.

All in all, this book was pretty good.  I’m definitely interested to see what happens next in the Book of Red series.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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Mine to Spell by Janeal Falor

Mine to Spell by Janeal Falor(Cover picture courtesy of Janeal Falor via email.)

Cynthia has always hidden from her father’s hexes behind her older sister. When her family gains independence unheard of for women, she’s relieved that her days of harsh punishments are over. But as her seventeenth birthday approaches—the typical age to be sold to a new master—death threats endanger her sisters. She now faces two options: run or meet society’s expectations.

For once, Cynthia isn’t going to let her older sister shield her from the problem. She’s going to prove to herself, her sisters, and society that her family isn’t a threat to their traditions. She willingly chooses to be purchased by a new master. A bold step that takes her somewhere she never thought she would go and to a man she might possibly fall in love with. With his help, she may just find a way to save her sisters while discovering how to stand up for herself. If she lives long enough.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.]

I very much liked Serena from the first installment of this series but now after reading Mine to Spell I’m rather favouring Cynthia.

Cynthia is a fascinating character.  Now that her older sister is the head of the family with the same status as a warlock she knows she doesn’t have to be sold on her seventeenth birthday.  But if she doesn’t meet society’s expectations and enter the marriage pool there are some very serious death threats against her family that could become reality.  So she chooses to enter the marriage pool and reveals that she isn’t the shrinking violet that always hides behind her older sister anymore.  In fact, she’s ready to show all of Chardonia what women are really capable of.

I loved seeing a bit of an expanded world in this second book.  We see the aftereffects of Zade freeing Serena and giving her status equal to any man.  We certainly see the effects of the attempts on Zade’s life in the previous book and how they’re not going away any time soon.  All those things add tension to the plot but it’s really Cynthia and her actions that drive the story forward.  She really is an incredible character that will surprise you at every turn.

The plot is much more fast-paced than it was in You Are Mine.  This is in part because we have a very different narrator but also because Janeal Falor’s writing has improved.  It was already good but now it’s even better and I think we can expect some great things from her in the future.  There are plot twists around every corner and while the ending isn’t totally unexpected it really is satisfying.

Usually the second book in a series is weaker than the first, but that was certainly not the case with this one!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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