Review - Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #2

Published by Bloomsbury on August 27 2013

Genres: fantasy, young adult

Pages: 420

Rating: 4/5 stars

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil. 

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart. 

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Crown of Midnight excelled in almost all of the places where Throne of Glass failed, and it definitely earned the extra star. I’m so glad to have been able to read Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight back to back, because if I hadn’t had Crown of Midnight on hand right after finishing Throne of Glass, I may never have bothered to read it. That said, it was so worth reading.

As you probably know, I’m a busy university student. I’m doing a double major in English and Women’s Studies, and I started this book right around the time that the fall semester (AKA the beginning of my fourth year of university) began. Let me tell you, I have had zero time for reading thus far this semester. I have managed to read all of three books in the three weeks. Over the summer, I read an average of about 2.5 books per week. Clearly, that has slowed down. The point that I’m getting at here is that amidst all of the craziness of getting back into the swing of studying nonstop, I managed to read this book in less than four days. I know that may not sound like much, but that’s a big deal right now.

This book definitely raised the stakes from Throne of Glass. It was on a higher level on both a political plane and an emotional one. I’m not ashamed to admit that it made me shed a tear or two. I got a little weepy. The character development shown in Crown of Midnight surpasses anything I could ever wish for. Celaena grows tremendously over the course of the book, and you can see her thought processes changing and she slowly learns to listen to and trust the people she cares about.

I’m going to keep this review short because I simply don’t know how to gush over this book without releasing all of the spoilers, but I am really impressed with Maas’s progression as a writer and as a storyteller. Where Throne of Glass often lacked a certain finesse, Crown of Midnight was practically flawless in execution. It flowed wonderfully, the pacing consistent and quick-moving, and the slow unraveling of the mysteries was tantalizing in a way that was completely unmatched by the smaller scale mysteries of the first book. I’m so excited to see where this story will go in Heir of Fire (which I need to get my hands on NOW). I’d also really like to read The Assassin’s Blade, though I’m typically not a fan of prequels or add-in short stories/novellas. I’ve heard great things about these ones, and I might just order the whole series (to date) on my next pay day.

Review - Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

Series: Standalone

Published by Little, Brown and Company on May 4 2005

Genres: contemporary, young adult, LGBT

Pages: 250

Rating: 4/5

With a steady boyfriend, the position of Student Council President, and a chance to go to an Ivy League college, high school life is just fine for Holland Jaeger. At least it seems to be. But when Cece Goddard comes to school, everything changes. Cece and Holland have undeniable feelings for each other, but how will others react to their developing relationship? This moving love story between two girls is a worthy successor to Nancy Garden's classic young adult coming out novel, Annie on My Mind. With her characteristic humor and breezy style, Peters has captured the compelling emotions of young love.

As you may or may not have noticed, I read pretty much any and every lesbian YA novel that comes my way. Because I can. This one has been on my radar for years – I mean, Julie Anne Peters is a mainstay of queer YA contemporaries, and this is one of her more popular books. Possibly the most popular? I’m not too sure. Regardless, there is a distinctly familiar tone to this book that leads me to think that I may have read it in high school and completely forgotten doing so. It happens.

Keeping You a Secret isn’t the most creative book in the world, but it is an important book nonetheless. Given that it was published nearly ten years ago, I’m pretty impressed with it. I can’t say that I’d be pleased to read something with this plot if it were a new release, but I’ll get into that in a moment.

The main draw of Keeping You a Secret, in my opinion, is the relationships between its characters. To start out, we have the main character, Holland. Holland has a lot of very complicated relationships – her boyfriend, who feels more like an obligation than a pleasure; her friends, who are sometimes judgemental and with whom Holland doesn’t feel comfortable sharing her true feelings; her mom, newly remarried and suddenly preoccupied with a ‘new’ family; her stepsister, a Goth whom Holland just can’t relate to (not that she really wants to). What I really loved about this book was that it went beyond the conventions of a simple love story – while the blooming love between Holland and Cece takes center stage, there is much more going on in Holland’s life. She is constantly navigating how to manage her relationships without throwing things off balance.

Holland’s relationship with her mother is one of the best and hardest parts of this book. After a lot of sneaking around with Cece and trying to keep the lid on their relationship, Holland’s mother finds out in a not-so-ideal way. Her reaction is absolutely terrifying. Holland’s mom has the reaction that every gay child has nightmares about. It isn’t unexpected – upon meeting Cece for the first time, she demands that Holland stop being friends with her. Her homophobia isn’t well hidden, but it is still shocking to see how she treats her own daughter. Just thinking about it makes my eyes well up. I don’t want to give away the details, but Holland’s life is plunged into a low that most people cannot relate to. The sad truth is that Holland’s circumstances are all too common for LGBT youth with bigoted parents.

The issue I have with Keeping You a Secret is that it is very middle-of-the-road. I’ve read books worse, but I’ve also read many books that are much, much better. The writing is mediocre and simplistic, which is good for readability but bad for memorability. I was never completely immersed in the story, mostly due to the fact that it was very formulaic and clichéd in many ways. I also found Cece to be a rather two-dimensional love interest, which was off-putting and disappointing. As I said before, I think that this is a very important book, but there are better LGBT YA books out there (Malinda Lo’s books are marvellous, The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth is wonderful, I’ve heard very great things about Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour, even Peters’ newest release Lies My Girlfriend Told Me sounds more innovative).

If like me you’re someone who devours every book about queer teenage girls that you can find, this one is worth reading, but if you’re less passionate about the subject, this might be one to skip.

ARC Review - Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Series: Standalone

To Be Published by Algonquin Young Readers on Oct 7 2014

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 304

Rating: 4/5 stars

High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia's confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is one of the most enjoyable F/F romances I’ve read this year (and I’ve read quite a few). To tell you exactly how enjoyable it is, I shall paint you a little word-picture. Me, sitting on a rather uncomfortably stiff forest green couch in my mother’s living room. It is growing late, but I’m not in any hurry to go to bed. Instead, my eyes scan across the pages of the PDF document over and over again, for hours on end. The muted television does not even catch my gaze, I’m so enthralled by this adorable little book on my laptop screen. My laptop is hot on my legs, but I need to reach the end of the book. I can’t go to sleep until it’s done. Just a little bit longer…

I read this entire book in one rather lengthy sitting. I couldn’t open the document on my e-reader, which forced me to read it on my computer screen. Let me tell you, most of the time that is reason enough for me not to read a book, but once I got started with Farizan’s sophomore novel, I just couldn’t stop.

I’ll admit that it’s not a particularly original story – girl meets girl, girl has giant crush on girl, girl gets heart broken by other girl, etc. But I really liked the way that Farizan took a somewhat cliché story and put her own spin on it – partially through Leila’s Persian heritage and her somewhat difficult family, and through one of the cutest love interests ever.

It’s pretty obvious from the beginning that Saskia, as glamorous and incredible as Leila thinks she is, is bad news. She’s not a nice girl, and I wish that there had been more character development and background for what made Saskia the way she was. I was curious as to why she treated those around her like pawns, like she was the only real person and everyone else was collateral damage in the game of Saskia’s life. Part of the explanation for this limited look into Saskia’s life can be put on Laila’s narration, as she is without question a very self-involved teenager with a limited ability to put herself in others’ shoes. I really can’t blame her for it – she’s a sixteen year old girl. It’s normal for her to be self-involved. Aren’t most people at that age?

I think that Farizan’s writing style may not be for everyone, as her narrator came off as a bit young and immature and the writing was sometimes a bit simplistic, but I loved the jokes Laila told herself in her head. On page three is this gem: “Why would I ever care about frictionless acceleration anyway? How is that ever going to get me a girlfriend?” I make those kinds of jokes on a pretty much daily basis. I really related to Laila, though I’m much older and less insecure (now, at least. I was SO insecure as a teenager!).

I think what I liked most about this book was the fact that it was so fluffy. So often books about queer teenagers are so depressing, and it was nice to find a book with such an unequivocally happy ending. As Gwendoline Nelson (@writing_kills) said on Twitter, “Lots of good LGBT YA out there, but it’s pretty dark. If I want to read something light and fun, I have to read about straight people.” Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel was a lovely, much appreciated change of pace, and I’m very grateful for it. I was smiling so hard through the last three or four chapters that my cheeks started to hurt. It was a cute, sweet book and I’m definitely ready to read Farizan’s first book, If You Could Be Mine (which has been on my TBR since long before it was released over a year ago).

Review - The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand

The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand

Series: Standalone

Published by Simon & Schuster on August 27 2013

Genres: Middle Grade, Paranormal

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Olivia wants a new life, and it might take ghosts to get it. A heartfelt, gently Gothic novel from Claire Legrand. 

Olivia Stellatella is having a rough year. 

Her mother's left; her neglectful father, the maestro of a failing orchestra, has moved her and her grandmother into the city's dark, broken-down concert hall to save money, and her only friend is Igor, an ornery stray cat. 

Just when she thinks life couldn't get any weirder, she meets four ghosts who haunt the hall. They need Olivia's help; if the hall is torn down, they'll be stuck as ghosts forever, never able to move on. 

Olivia has to do the impossible for her shadowy new friends: save the concert hall. But helping the dead has powerful consequences for the living; and soon it's not just the concert hall that needs saving.

Olivia Stellatella is prickly. She’s stubborn and hurt and sometimes mean, and altogether a difficult twelve-year-old girl. Which makes complete sense, considering her mother left, her father walks around in a musical haze, her grandmother is a bit dotty and not in the greatest of health, and her family has absolutely no money to speak of. Not to mention the fact that she now lives in the rehearsal space of the old concert hall in which her father, an orchestra conductor, works. Someone mentioned that Olivia reminded them of Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice, which I agree with 100%. Olivia is a lot like a younger Lydia, which was as entertaining as you might expect.

Yes, it’s safe to say that Olivia isn’t the most pleasant person to be around. Thankfully, despite her best efforts to the contrary, she manages to snag a host of new friends throughout her year of living in Emerson Hall – Henry, a boy who gets straight As and spends all of his free time roaming the hall; Igor, a grumpy black cat whom Olivia imagines speaks like Cary Grant; Joan, a friendless girl who likes to spend her spare time protesting and talking about solidarity; and four ghosts stuck haunting Emerson Hall until they recover whatever object that is holding them in place and right it.

I honestly can’t think of another word to describe this book other than sweet. It’s not as light as a lot of middle grade books I’ve read, which is something I really appreciated. Olivia’s problems are real problems, and the fact that she’s twelve years old doesn’t negate them. This book really tugged at my heartstrings and made me feel for the characters (even the Maestro!). One smaller aspect of the book that I liked and thought was special was the way that Olivia repeatedly referred to The Economy to explain her predicament. It was clear that it was a term she’d picked up from the adults around her and that she wasn’t entirely certain of what it meant, only that it was to blame for the failure of the orchestra. I feel like many people throw around the term The Economy in a very similar manner – not quite sure what they’re talking about all the time, but thinking that it makes them sound knowledgeable. It was a minor detail, but one that I appreciated.

The ghosts are another notable feature in this book - they are all so interesting and unique. Their backstories are all absolutely heartbreaking (especially Mr. Worthington!) and I thought that the way that Olivia and her friends were able to help them was very creative. I loved being able to glimpse short snippets of their lives, and seeing them move on was bittersweet.

I can’t say that I’d recommend this to everybody, but I’d definitely pass it around to anyone who likes middle grade books or books about ghosts. It gets pretty dark at times, so that’s something to consider. I know that a lot of people who read middle grade like it because it tends to be a bit lighter and fluffier than some of the other options out there. This is not the book for you if that’s what you’re looking for.

Review - World After by Susan Ee

World After by Susan Ee

Series: Penryn & the End of Days #2

Published by Skyscape on November 19 2013

Genres: Young Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Paranormal

Pages: 314

Rating: 4/5 stars

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world. 

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken. 

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go. 

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

I’ll admit that I went into World After with very high expectations that I really didn't think it could meet. I honestly didn’t remember much of what happened in Angelfall (c’mon, I read it almost two years ago give me a break), but I knew that it was a book that had impressed me and I couldn’t bear for book 2 to let me down. As second books often do.

Much to my dismay, World After held its own against my extreme demands. It didn’t really do anything to help me readjust to Penryn’s world, which was both a positive and a negative. I’m not a fan of books that rehash everything that happened in the previous book because I think it’s tacky, but I do think that World After could have used a little bit more reference to the events of Angelfall, simply because the beginning of the book left me very confused. I didn’t know what was going on a lot of the time, and I felt like I was supposed to.

I really missed Raffe in this book. He was such a huge part of Angelfall, and his presence was sorely missed in a large portion of World After, by both Penryn (though she tried to deny it) and by me as the reader. I found myself wishing for a bit of banter to break up the extreme tension throughout the novel. Penryn is dealing with a lot, and I think that just a tiny bit of humour would have gone a long way. Of course, I imagine we’ll be seeing more of Raffe in the third book in the series.

That said, I was quite impressed by Penryn. She’s a stubborn young lady, but she’s not stupid about it. Generally speaking, she makes good decisions. And she has a lot of tough choices to make. One of the aspects that I love so much about this series is that it puts such a focus on family. Despite the fact that her mother is completely off her rocker and that her sister has been turned into a flesh eating monster, Penryn’s first priority is still her family. There’s a moment between Penryn and Paige towards the end of the book that I found truly moving. Their relationship, strange as it may be, really works for me.

On the whole, I thought that the pacing was pretty good. I’d give it a high B. It wasn’t as speedy as Angelfall – the beginning dragged quite a bit, but as soon as Penryn leaves the compound things really start to heat up and they stay hot right until the end. I really admire the way that Susan Ee can write such action-packed books that can still pack a very emotional punch. I must say, I never thought I’d be enthralled by a series about angels that take over Earth and kill humans like vermin. It’s unexpected and I like it. A lot.

All it all, this was a really solid book. I’m still really enjoying this series, and I’m not-so-patiently awaiting book three. There were a few things that could have been tweaked and tightened up here and there, but I was definitely happy with the final product.

Review - Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Series: Standalone

Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Younger Readers on May 4 2010

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Road Trip

Pages: 344

Rating: 4/5 stars

Amy Curry is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way.

I’m rather embarrassed that I waited four years (FOUR YEARS) to read this book. It isn’t that I didn’t think I’d like it – I know better. It’s a book about a road trip written by Morgan Matson. How could it possibly go wrong? Not to mention that it’s pretty much universally liked (not one of my Goodreads friends has rated it less than three stars, so there). It’s certainly not the best book I’ve ever read, but it was exactly what it claimed to be, what I expected it to be: a sweet, quick summer read.

Though the characterization wasn’t exceptional, it also wasn’t threadbare. I knew the characters motivations and I thought that I got a good glimpse into Amy’s head (and to a certain degree, Roger’s). I still don’t quite get what Roger’s deal was with his ex-girlfriend. He seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t get drawn in by her manic pixie dream girl charms. That said, I liked that he had his own reasons for wanting to go on this cross country road trip and that it wasn’t entirely a charitable act. Amy’s grief was also handled well, in my opinion. It was something that was constantly present in her life, but it wasn’t a total angst-fest. I didn’t really understand why she was so adamant that it was her fault, but I can see how grief twists logic into unrecognisable shapes. Reason can’t always overcome guilt.

I also enjoyed the minor characters we meet during the journey from California to Connecticut. (Sidebar: I did not know until this very moment that there were three c’s in Connecticut. I always thought it was Conneticut. What the fuck. I’ve read this word hundreds of times. How did I never notice this. My whole life has been a lie.) The side characters aren’t particularly fleshed out, and the mostly act as props for Amy and Roger, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I was particularly enthralled by Roger’s college friend Bronwyn, and his ex’s brother. Like I said, these weren’t the most developed characters, but they were sweet. I liked them.

One of my favourite special features of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is Roger’s playlists. They’re pretty fantastic. I mean, he has Ida Maria on the first one. I wish everyone had Roger’s (well, Morgan Matson’s…) taste in music. Because A+.

While there were some things that I didn’t quite love about this book, it left me with an overall favourable impression. I would have liked it to have a more solid ending (possibly a conversation between Amy and her mother, as that was a relationship that I really would have liked to have seen resolved to some extent), but on the whole it was a lovely book. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a light but not vapid summer read. It also inspired me to start saving money (in the fall) to do my own cross-Canada road trip next summer. Buuuut I suppose I have to get my driver’s license first! I’ll get right on that!

P.S. The Amelia Earhart part was my favourite part of the entire book. I know, I'm a weirdo.

Review - The Worst Girlfriend in the World by Sarra Manning

The Worst Girlfriend in the World by Sarra Manning

Series: Standalone

Published by Atom on May 1 2014

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

My best friend was now my deadliest enemy, the one person I'd hate beyond all measure for the rest of my life . . . 

Franny Barker's best friend, Alice, is the worst girlfriend in the world according to the many boys of Merrycliffe-on-Sea. She toys with them, then dumps them. But she'll never dump fashion-obsessed Franny. Nothing and no one can come between them.  

Not even tousle-haired rock god, Louis Allen, who Franny's been crushing on hard. Until Alice, bored with immature boys and jealous of Franny's new college friends, sets her sights on Louis. Suddenly, best friends are bitter rivals. 

Is winning Louis's heart worth more than their friendship? There's only one way for Franny to find out.

Sarra Manning has a gift for writing incredibly relatable characters. I have yet to dislike anything she has written, and I highly doubt I ever will. Because she writes really awesome books. The Worst Girlfriend in the World was no exception. I was so excited to read it, and I loved every moment of doing so.

I had a bad case of one-more-chapter syndrome while reading this. I picked it up around midnight one night and read nearly a quarter of it then and there, despite telling myself I’d read only one chapter or two. I was instantly drawn into Franny’s world and would happily have stayed there much longer.

Though there were moments when I desperately wanted to shake Franny and tell her to open her eyes and stop obsessing over somebody who clearly wasn’t worth her time (Louis), I completely understood her infatuation. I was exactly the same way in high school – idolizing people from afar because they intimidated me and there was nothing I feared more than rejection. For instance, I had a crush on a guy from grade nine to twelve (and beyond!) and I’m pretty sure we exchanged no more than three sentences during all that time. I mean, he was two years older and I didn’t see him as often after tenth grade, but you get the picture. So I totally related to that aspect of Franny’s life. We’re pretty much soul twins – I was obsessed with fashion (wanted to go to school to be a fashion merchandiser, not designer because I can’t draw AT ALL), had a best friend with an overbearing personality with whom I had a major falling out. The only thing I didn’t have in my high school life that Franny was blessed with is a Francis! I’m a big fan of Francis, and of the romance in this book on a whole. It wasn’t overbearing and was perfectly cute and slow burning and delightful.

Another important element of The Worst Girlfriend in the World is the titular character, Franny’s best friend Alice. Now, I can see how people could easily dislike Alice, but I just couldn’t. She was clearly so incredibly insecure and it just broke my heart. She pushed everyone away, with the exception of Franny, and when she felt that she was losing Franny she chose to push her away as well rather than let herself be vulnerable for once. I get that impulse, and I really loved Alice’s character arc. I also liked that we see both sides of Alice – we see the Alice that Franny has been best friends with since infanthood, but we also see the catty morally-unsound girl who is hated by every girl in and around her hometown. Honestly, I see Alice’s point re: other girls’ boyfriends. Maybe she takes it a little far, but her reasoning is logical.

All said, this was a really solid book. It was everything I expect of a Sarra Manning YA title, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. Yes, so bits were a bit cheesy and far-fetched (particularly the scene in London), but I’m willing to let that slide in light of the excellent writing, dialogue, and character development. I’m particularly impressed with the way that Manning wrote Louis and Alice, as it would have been too easy to make them clichéd and awful but she chose to make them different and totally plausible.

Review - Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey

Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey

Series: Agent of Hel #1

Published by Roc Hardcover on October 2 2012

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Adult Fiction

Pages: 356

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Midwestern resort town of Pemkowet boasts a diverse population: eccentric locals, wealthy summer people, and tourists by the busload—not to mention fairies, sprites, vampires, naiads, ogres, and a whole host of eldritch folk, presided over by Hel, a reclusive Norse goddess.    

To Daisy Johanssen, fathered by an incubus and raised by a single mother, it’s home. And as Hel’s enforcer and the designated liaison to the Pemkowet Police Department, it’s up to her to ensure relations between the mundane and eldritch communities run smoothly.  

But when a young man from a nearby college drowns—and signs point to eldritch involvement—the town’s booming paranormal tourism trade is at stake. Teamed up with her childhood crush, Officer Cody Fairfax, a sexy werewolf on the down-low, Daisy must solve the crime—and keep a tight rein on the darker side of her nature. For if she’s ever tempted to invoke her demonic birthright, it could accidentally unleash nothing less than Armageddon. 

Even though Jacqueline Carey is one of my all-time favourite authors, I was fully prepared not to like Dark Currents. It isn’t a genre I venture into often nowadays – I find urban fantasy can be heavy on the romance and sex and light on the character development and concise plotting. It has a tendency to prop up the female protagonists with weapons and fighting rather than actual intelligence and decent decision making skills, and that offends my feminist sensibilities. I don’t believe that “strong female characters” can be reduced to female characters who are good at fighting. From my experience, it also tends to be a bit repetitive, but I didn’t find that to be the case with this book. Dark Currents is possibly the best urban fantasy novel I’ve ever read. It was a refreshing read, something of a palate cleanser.

The protagonist, Daisy Johanssen, is delightful. She is a very feminine character, with her preference for dresses (due to short though sometimes annoying tail), but that never defined her. She is a figure of power in her community, which is something I love to see. She is independent but knows when to ask for help, she values her friends and family highly, and she has incredible self-control (considering strong emotions tend to make things explode).

Daisy’s (platonic) relationships with women are one of the numerous bright spots in this novel. Daisy’s friendship with Jen is lovely, as is her relationship with her mother. As the daughter of a human and a lesser demon (and sometimes incubus), it would be easy for Carey to write a version of Daisy with an uneasy relationship with her mother. That is not the case. Daisy’s mom is an incredibly nice person, a good person, who happened to get caught up in something beyond her means of understanding at a young age. She and Daisy have an incredibly strong relationship, living in the same town and talking on the phone often. Daisy actually visits her mother a handful of times throughout the novel. I also loved the way that the majority of the other women in the book were written, from the beautiful lamia Lurine to Mrs. Browne, the brownie who owns the bakery beneath Daisy’s apartment.

The plot itself was a strong aspect of the book. It’s very plot heavy, and I found the mystery to be quite fascinating. Just as a warning: I’m really really bad at figuring out mysteries before they’re explained to me. I mean, REALLY BAD. So I had no clue where this one was going, but I loved the journey. I really enjoyed the integration of different types of mythologies from different countries and continents, and though the strain between the eldritch community and the humans outside of Pemkowet was difficult to read at times (just a personal issue), it was very realistic and well developed. I loved the world-building in this book. I think that Carey has more than proven her ability to create a vast and fascinating world (just look at her wonderful, marvellous Kushiel books if you need another example).

I also appreciated the lack of romance in this book – though I shouldn’t necessarily say lack. It was more that romance just wasn’t a priority. Daisy had more important things on her mind than who she wanted to sleep with. I mean, it did come up a number of times, but it was never something that was pushed in our faces. Daisy is attracted to three different men throughout the book, and does not so much as kiss any of them. Go Daisy! Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with kissing, but it’s uncommon to read about people who are willing/amiable to taking it slow in urban fantasy. I find that, in the books I’ve read, the characters tend to jump into bed ten minutes after meeting each other. Which is completely okay, but it’s nice to see something different. Also, I love that you get to see different sides of these characters because they haven’t complicated things with romance (at this point). You could definitely feel the sexual tension sometimes, though! I loved the measure of respect that was shown to Daisy throughout (most of) the novel by her love interests.

My only complaint is that there was a bit of not-so-nice treatment of some women, particularly those who were under thrall by supernatural creatures like vampires and ghouls. This is apparent in Daisy’s judgement of Jen’s sister, who believes that her vampire boyfriend will eventually grant her eternal life. The problem I had with this is that it so closely reflects attitudes I’ve seen towards women in abusive relationships – Daisy and Jen get Beverly away from the vampires temporarily, but seem to give up on her the moment she returns to her boyfriend. They proceed to act as though she is weak for not standing up to him, when it’s by no means her fault that this creature is taking advantage of her. Do you see the parallels that I see?

Review - The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Series: Standalone

Published by Viking Juvenile on June 4 2013

Genres: young adult, contemporary

Pages: 435

Rating: 4/5 stars

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.
Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby. 

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby? 

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going? 

Sarah Dessen’s strong suit has always been characters, and she does not fail here. You’d think after so many books, she’d run out of steam eventually, but this is not that book. I haven’t related to a character the way that I relate to Emaline in a very long time. She may be a Type-A while I’m pretty laid back and carefree, but we have a lot more in common than I could have anticipated. This is primarily due to our shared strained relationships with our fathers. Like Emaline, I grew up in a (very) blended family with two older siblings and one younger. We were both raised by stepfathers who did a much better job at parenting than our biological fathers ever even attempted. Reading about Emaline’s conflicted feelings about her relationship with her father was like rehashing the last few years of my life.

While Emaline was clearly the best part of the novel for me, the supporting cast was all well-developed and interesting, as usual. The unusual relationship between Emaline’s best friends Daisy and Morris was particularly interesting, especially their decision to keep in touch via snail mail in the fall. It was a sweet relationship that I thought contrasted well with Emaline’s relationships with both Luke and Theo. They were both nice boys, but it was clear that personality-wise those relationships were doomed from the start. The vast differences between Emaline and Theo made for interesting events, and he was pretty adorable a lot of the time (I’m a sucker for unabashed enthusiasm) but I can see how his ambitious nature and desire for excess would conflict with Emaline’s less straight-forward worldview. I loved that the book ended with Emaline being single – it made sense for her. She needed to discover what she wanted, not what other people wanted for her. Also, it’s never a good idea to jump right from one committed relationship to another (in my opinion).

While not a plot-driven book, The Moon and More was swift-moving and captivating. Following the events of the summer after Emaline’s graduation from high school, there was enough going on at all times to keep the reader entertained without being overly involved. Between working for her family’s summer rental agency, boy drama, maintaining her friendships with Daisy and Morris, entertaining little brother Benji, and dealing with her tentative relationship with her father, Emaline is a very busy girl. This book is about her mental and emotional evolution into an independent young adult. I loved that it was about so much more than a summer romance.

The writing is just what this book called for, if that makes sense. It’s fluid and accessible, with a spattering of lovely turns of phrase. Like most contemporary YA, it relies more on dialogue and transitory action rather than description. And it does it well. Sarah Dessen has a lot of experiencing crafting contemporary YA, and she’s renowned for a reason. Her writing and stories are what other contemporary YA strives to; she’s the best of the best.

Review - Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Series: Lunar Chronicles #1

Published by Macmillan Young Listeners

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Retellings

Pages: NA (Audiobook)

Rating: 4/5 stars

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I am so excited to get my hands on the next book in this series. I can't even handle it. There were some things that I wasn't so keen on, but on the whole it was a fantastic book. I can definitely see why it was so hyped up!

The characters in Cinder were excellent. The eponymous character is one of the best protagonists I’ve ever read, simply because she is so different and unexpected. I mean, the girl is a futuristic cyborg. There is so much room for error there, but Meyer managed to pull it off beautifully. I thought that Cinder’s struggles with her identity and finding her place in society were very well-portrayed, and her relationships with the other characters (particularly Iko and Peony) were brilliant. I love reading about friendship in YA novels, mostly because it so often gets sidelined in favour of romantic relationships. But friends are so important, and it’s something (I think) that more people can really relate to. I also loved the sense of sisterhood between Cinder and Peony, and the contrast between Cinder’s relationship with Peony and that with Pearl. There was one scene that really broke my heart; when Pearl accused Cinder of never really caring about Peony and suggested that she had in fact killed her. It was just made worse when she added that Peony was never Cinder’s sister and that Cinder must be incapable of loving her the way that she and Adri did.

I was less fond of Cinder and Prince Kai’s relationship. I liked it, but it didn’t feel as strong to me as that of the women (and android!) in the novel. I thought Prince Kai was a decent enough love interest, but I was annoyed at how long it took for him to find out Cinder’s secrets (and the fact that she didn’t just tell him in the first place…).

The plot of Cinder wasn't quite as good as I'd have liked it to be. It was an interesting take on the Cinderella story and I liked the extra things that Meyer added (cyborgs, androids, a moon colony of people with psychic powers). I found that I had a lot of issues with decisions Cinder made throughout the novel, particularly when it came to withholding information. The twist regarding Cinder and the Lunar Queen was pretty freaking obvious. I kind of felt like hitting Cinder upside the head and forcing her to put 2 and 2 together, for god’s sake!

Review - Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Series: Eon #1

Published by Viking Juveline on Dec 26 2008

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 531

Rating: 4/5 stars

Swordplay, dragon magic--and a hero with a desperate secret

Twelve-year-old Eon has been in training for years. His intensive study of Dragon Magic,, based on East Asian astrology, involves two kinds of skills: sword-work and magical aptitude. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye--an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.  

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a boy for the chance to become a Dragoneye. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured. 

When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.

I’ve been humming and hawing over this review for weeks and I still don’t know what to write. I was really excited to read Eon when I drew it as my next book to read (I randomly select books so that I don’t have to choose!). I’d been meaning to read it for years and hadn’t gotten around to it yet and had seen that lots of my GR friends had given it really high ratings.

I loved the setting of Eon. Fantasy books in non-traditional fantasy settings (ie. Medieval England) are like crack to me. I can’t get enough of them. That said, I haven’t read many of them. The world-building and sheer research Alison Goodman put into Eon is phenomenal. I was so impressed with the detail of her creation, from the clothing to etiquette to food. Everything felt completely appropriate.

My favourite thing about Eon: Dragoneye Reborn is it’s complete lack of romantic plot! I love a good romance as much as the next girl, but I really wish YA would lay off on them a little bit. I don’t need romance in every single book that I read. Sometimes there really are more important things to worry about than a boy. That is particularly true when you have a conspiracy against your life. It also makes me feel slightly less pathetic about my perennial single-ness. Unfortunately, I’ve read some spoilers about Eona that say that this is, sadly, not the case in book 2. As much as I liked Eon, that actually made me far less inclined to pick up Eona.

By far my favourite character was Lady Dela. From the moment she was introduced she stole every scene she was in. I really appreciated how her gender was handled in the text (Lady Dela is a MTF trans lady). I was a little disappointed in the gender relations of the culture, as everyone (even Eona herself) is very misogynistic. I would really love to see a more liberated society in fantasy – it seems like every fantasy novel I’ve read (with the exception of Jacqueline Carey’s books) takes place in very misogynistic or backwards settings.

Oh Eona. Why are you so dense?? It was painfully obvious from the first moment what the secret of the mirror dragon was (and that she would be chosen by said dragon in the first place). The only turn in the book that truly surprised me was the change in Ido at the end.

In retrospect, it wasn’t the greatest book I’ve read nor was it terrible. It was well-paced and the writing left little to be desired. The characters and plot were overall engaging and kept me reading, which is really the most important thing right? I’m not sure if I’ll be reading Eona, but I do think that it is a story that will stick in my memory for a while, or at least parts of it.

Review - The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood of Eden #2

Published by Harlequin Teen on April 30 2013

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Dystopian

Pages: 434

Rating: 4/5 stars

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood  

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence. 

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

Damn.

That was quite a book.

I’ve been meaning to sink my teeth into (haha, vampire jokes for a vampire book, aren’t I hilarious??) The Eternity Cure since it was first released, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating it since I read The Immortal Rules just over a year ago. It did not disappoint.

I’m just going to start off with a little tidbit that may inform whether or not you’ll find my review to your liking or not: I don’t like Zeke.

I’m not saying that I dislike him! I just find him a bit… tepid. He doesn’t really do anything for me. This may be partially due to his getting in the way of the badass vampiring I wanted to see Allison do in The Immortal Rules (though I suppose she wasn’t quite ready for that yet), but he just irritates me for some reason.

That said, it’s got to be a pretty good book for me to give it 4 stars when I don’t like the love interest!

Allie is one of my favourite YA protagonists. Lady gets shit done, and I appreciate that. She doesn’t take lip from anybody and she’s pretty deadly with a katana, which gets her bonus points.

If The Eternity Cure had just been the bantering adventures of Allie and Jackal, I would have been a happy camper. Er, reader. I had completely forgotten about Jackal’s role in The Immortal Rules until he was reintroduced early on, and I had to do a big “oooooh” when their relationship was recapped for me (Thanks for that, Julie Kagawa!). Jackal was bar-none my favourite thing in The Eternity Cure. I like smarmy, overconfident man-boys apparently. I think I like Jackal so much because it’s apparent to me that he isn’t to be taken seriously. He comes off as a total parody of all of the vampire clichés out there (Damon from TVD, anybody?). I mean, dude wears a duster.

I was pretty enraged by the end of the book. You know what I’m talking about, but I’m not enraged the way that most people are. I’m enraged because I was really looking forward to seeing Allie break her compassionate streak, and now I know that it won’t last. I really wish the last page or so of the epilogue hadn’t been included in this book. I would have preferred that information be revealed in book 3 (though really, who didn’t see it coming? This isn’t written by GRRM).