Ruby Red by kerstin Gier

This book was so good! I’ve had my eye on it for a while. I kept almost buying the hard cover version in bookstores, but then changing my mind. I hated the original cover. But, when I saw this cover of the paperback version, I knew it was time to buy this. Really, it’s a gorgeous cover with a distorted version of London in the background. Also, the publishing company has never really done the story justice on the back and or side flap of the book. It’s so much better than they describe it to be.

I seriously read this in one sitting. It’s about Gwen, a girl who grows up relatively normal in a family of special. I’ve never read about time travel in this way before. There’s a gene that the girls in Gwen’s family can have that will allow them to time travel. And it’s been determined early on that the new generation of time travel will be inherited in Gwen’s cousin, Charlotte, who happened to be born on the right day to inherit the abilities. Charlotte has been the special one, attending secret meetings, training in sword-fighting and horseback riding, and overall just having a really unique and planned out childhood. And Gwen has been able to spend her time with her best friend, Lesley doing normal teen things.

As tends to happen in these YA books though, it’s not Charlotte who actually ends up having the gene. Apparently, Gwen’s mother lied about her birthday in order to let Gwen have a normal, safer, more carefree childhood. And also, she secretly hoped that Charlotte would be the one to carry the gene because she really didn’t want her daughter to have to go through so much. Well, as it turns out, Gwen ends up going back in time several times with no preparation or training to help her, which is actually really dangerous. She also has a hard time breaking it to her family, who have all been anxiously awaiting Charlotte’s first time travel.

The scene where Gwen’s aunt first sees that Charlotte (her daughter) is not the designated time traveler is priceless! Of course, Gwen is not as obedient as Charlotte either. For starters, she’s been listening behind doors since she could walk –to learn as much as she could about her eccentric family who never talk about their abilities. And she’s told her best friend, Lesley all about everything her family can do (including information about one relative who can see into the future). She’s not supposed to share this knowledge with the world. She also has not memorized entire chunks of history. She has no idea how to use a sword. And she has this thing where she always thinks for herself.

Gwen’s assigned time traveling partner, the handsome Gideon, quickly learns all these things about Gwen when they first travel together. However, nothing is as simple as Gwen is told it will be when she is finally briefed on how to behave. There’s a secret society, a creepy sounding rhyme that prophesizes a lot more power to come, plenty of historical facts thrown around, historical wardrobe changes, and so many rules about what you can take with you and what you are not allowed to change. Also, it doesn’t help that Gwen has some family members that have stolen some important time traveling machinery and gone back to an indeterminable time period with it.

Everyone wants the missing device. And everyone wants to fulfill the rhyme/prophecy. People are willing to die to make sure it happens (or doesn’t happen). There’s sword fights, carriage chases, fancy ball gowns, conversations with great great great relatives, there’s magic, and there’s a lot of growing up and learning to trust your instincts too.

I loved Gideon! So much sass for a boy! I hated Charlotte just enough. And I absolutely loved Lesley, the super smart best friend. I thought Gwen’s family made the whole book so entertaining! I loved all the secrecy, all the family mystery, and all the suspense about the stolen artifact!

The author had the magical ability to keep my interest just as much in the “normal” teen school scenes as she did in the scenes that took place in history. Really, I loved every second of this book. It was an easy/fluffy read, but easy/fluffy in all the right ways. My only complaint is that I wish the action started a little earlier. There was a lot of the typical needing to really accept that magical things were actually happening moments. And frankly, Gwen had been around her family too long to ever doubt what was happening to her, particularly for so long a time.

Other than that though, it was pure fun. I give it a 9/10, and I am so excited for the sequel to come out!

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

What a wonderful book! It was recommended to me by another blogger and I have read some good reviews for this one, but it’s been some time since its release this year and I haven’t seen much written about it since. I kind of forgot I even had it, but I am so glad I dug deeply into my TBR piles and pulled this one to the front. It’s just what I needed on the rainy day I picked it up.

Firstly, I must say that I have a strong addiction for books in which girls prove to the world that they are just as capable of doing anything boys can do. Scarlet is part of Robin Hood’s band of lovable thieves. Of course very few people know that Scarlet is in fact a girl because she dresses as a boy. She has learned that stealing, moving fast, and climbing trees is much preferable in pants and also that boy’s clothes are much easier to disguise oneself in. The band knows she’s a girl and while there are a lot of jokes had at her expense, for the most part, Scarlet is accepted for who she is.

On the other hand, no one really knows her. She’s the newest member of the band and Robin knows that she has some serious secrets. But, he accepts her because he knows she’s a good person and well, she’s really helped them in the stealing department. Robin and his band go around Sherwood Forest and the towns surrounding it, stealing money and valuables form the rich. They give a lot of things to the poor folk who cannot afford the high taxes set up by the sheriff. They help provide food, they rescue innocent people from prison, and most of all they stockpile goods to sell so everyone will be able to pay their taxes.

Scarlet isn’t too straightforward with the readers either. It’s clear from the very beginning that she feels a lot of guilt, that she has lost someone very close to her, and that she will do everything in her power to make up for whatever it is she has done. This works well with Robin who pretty much feels the exact same way. He was actually once a noble. He went off to fight in the Crusades, and while he was gone his father died. The government than was able to steal Robin’s rightful lands while he was away by claiming some false statements about it.  And instead of being justly angry when he returned, Robin seems soul-bent on making up for all the poor people he killed while at war.

The story really starts when the thief taker, Lord Gisbourne is hired by the sheriff to take down Robin’s men. It soon becomes painstakingly clear that Scarlet has had a past with Lord Gisbourne and that he seems to be the reason she has a scar on her face. A lot of action happens all at once. Between the arrests, the attacks, the fires, the injustice of the high taxes for the poor, and all the things from Scarlet’s past coming back to haunt her there’s never a dull moment.

There’s a bit of a love triangle that I loved every second of! There’s some amazing politics that are so relatable to today’s politics. It really has you thinking about the way the tax system works and doesn’t work. And Scarlet becomes more and more of a wonderfully complex character as the book goes on, and all of her secrets come out.

I love how cocky Scarlet is about stealing! And none of the male characters acted as though she didn’t deserve to be full of herself. She had rightly proven herself to a group of thieves! Her skills with knives were so much fun to read about. I wish there was more about her learning this skill than was mentioned just because I found it so much fun to read! I liked that her name was earned. She was scarlet, not just because of her scar, but because of he scarlet ribbons she used to tie to the end of her knives. I like that she’s based off of a real character (technically two characters) in the Robin Hood classic, and that most people really believed her to be a boy: Will Scarlet. And my favorite thing about her was her love of freedom! She refused to by trapped down by any man or set of beliefs and valued her freedom above almost all else.

I loved Robin too. He was such a leader and such a good person! I loved how people reacted to him, followed him, and trusted him so thoroughly. There’s this one scene when the gang stops a carriage with a noble lady inside. And before Robin says anything to the lady, she asks who he is. And when he introduces himself, the lady actually willingly takes off her jewels and demands her guards to step down and let Robin take what he may! Even some of the rich believed in what he was doing!

There was an epic ending with a tiny hint of a cliffhanger. I’m hoping the author will continue the story, but I can also see how it’s not totally necessary. I just think it would be a lot of fun if she did. I recommend this one to fans of Tamora Pierce and Maria V. Snyder. It was just so much fun from start to finish. It was rather predictable, but what Robin Hood retelling isn’t? Knowing the classic tale helped me to love this even more though by no means is it necessary to have read it first. This gets a 10/10 from me for sure.

A Good Week in Books (22)

I have definitely had another excellent book week! I received a large haul of egalleys from Net Galley (special thanks to: Penguin Young Reader’s Group, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Abrams, Curiosity Quills Press, and BenBella Books). I purchased one audio book over iTunes (and I’ve already started listening to it on my phone at the gym!). I purchased one of my favorite books of the year. And I received a finished copy of one book for review in the mail (thank you, Hyperion).

From Net Galley:

 
The Girl who was on Fire by Lea Wilson
Ever by Jessa Russo (10/1/12)
Splintered by A. G. Howard (1/1/13)
Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George (12/11/12)
Flash Point by Nancy Kress (11/8/12)

Purchased:

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr (audio book read by James Marsters –AKA: Spike from Buffy)!!!!

Received from the publisher:

Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

I got this book a long time ago. It’s been on my TBR list since its publication. My favorite reviewers/bloggers and even some of my favorite authors have done nothing but rave about this book. So of course, I dove into with high expectations, which can be a risky thing to do. And in this case, I think my expectations were a little too high.

I enjoyed it. It definitely stands out as a unique piece of YA fiction, but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I also think reviewing/summarizing it will be hard because there is just so much info I really don’t want to give away. And I’m sorry for any spoilers that might pop up in my review. I kind of see no way of going around them because the book starts in the middle. And the middle, as you can tell from the title, involves a lot of blood.

The middle: Nora going over to her best friend’s house to find blood everywhere, her best friend lying dead on the floor, her best friend’s girlfriend and therefore her friend mentally traumatized and pretty much comatose in shock, and her boyfriend MIA. Then everything goes back to a beginning where Nora, her best friend: Chris, Chris’s girlfriend Adriane, and Chris’s roommate, Max all get involved in the Latin translations of an ancient book.

Chris is a year older than Nora and Adriane (his girlfriend), and is at college. He gets Nora involved with the Latin translations because Nora is a Latin genius. Max is interested in Latin as well. And Adriane really doesn’t have much to do with the translations, but hangs out with everyone anyway –throwing in some yoga stretches every now and then. Nora is told to focus on some letters written in the time period of the book while the boys get to work with the actual book hands-on.

No one knows though that the letters are actually more important. The letters involve the key to finding the mystical device mentioned in the book, a device that allows human beings to literally converse with God. Everything is pretty much normal until the professor leading all the students with this project is attacked and all the manuscripts go missing.  From there comes break-ins, funerals, hospital visits, and a lot of confusion.

When Adriane finally comes to from her traumatizing experience, she of course remembers nothing. And the girls decided to continue on their class Paris trip even though the two boys they’d hoped on spending it with are gone. No one knows where Max is and the police seem pretty intent on keeping him as the prime suspect in Chris’ murder investigation. Luckily (or maybe not so luckily depending on how you look at it), Nora really connected to the woman who’s letters she was reading. The woman (century’s ago) had been really brave and eager to prove herself intellectually just like Nora, but more than that she had lost an older brother. Nora has lost her older brother too.

And because Nora felt that one particular letter was too private for anyone else to see, she kept it (illegally). And while this letter is the reason her best friend is dead, it also provides the starting point for one epic European goose chase. Nora and Adriane go off to search for the machine that so many people seem so willing to die and kill for. The book deals with death, mourning, murder, faith, science, education, love, friendship, and history. And I loved the scene where we finally get to see what the machine is or isn’t capable of! Yes, the girls make it that far, but that’s all I’m going to say.

So how could I not have loved this story? It was pretty epic. And I was dying to see how everything would turn out. I also loved how smart and relatable Nora was. I loved how believable and flirty Adriane was too.  I loved how the two of them sort of just became friends out of necessity even though they had nothing in common. I loved how every character valued knowledge so highly! Even Adriane who dumbs herself down sometimes for boys, was so clearly fascinated with where the letters were taking them.

I loved how smart this book was overall! I can see it being hard to read though for a lot of teens. There’s a lot of historical information and detail. There’s a lot of letters that kind of took me a little too far away from the real story sometimes and a lot of times felt unnecessary. It read like an adult book. And while I love adult themes in YA; the stuff seriously attracts more readers, I just see this kind of as an adult-ish book being hard for a lot of teens to finish. There’s so much detail, and it took me almost a week to read. My normal pace this past month has been a book a day. It didn’t take so long because it wasn’t interesting or wasn’t good. It just involved more work. Work can be good, but in this case I just wish it was little bit more fun. And believe me, I so think solving puzzles and translating ancient tomes is fun; it was just missing something, some spark that could make it more fun for young people.

The one thing that seriously bothered me (because its adultness/lack of spark still kind of worked for me) were the male characters. The only one I liked died. Chris was the only real guy for me. Max always seemed suspicious and unreal. And Eli just seemed too good to be true. And I never liked either of them. Nora was way too smart to fall for some of the stuff she did. I mean I just spent how many words talking about how adult the book was? Nora was so much an adult through everything that I found it hard to believe she was so childish when it came to all the boys who liked her.

And most of all, she was not angry enough about something one particular boy did! I just found her tolerance of what happened to be so unbelievable. She wasn’t given a lot of time to dwell, but still. There was so much dwelling on her brother and on Chris to the point where I really needed more progression in the book and considered putting it all down for good, and then when something major happens with her boyfriend, there’s no thinking about it at all.

Wasserman does get major credit from me for writing something so unique. I’ve seen this book repeatedly referred to as the YA The Da Vinci Code, and frankly, I think it was smarter than The Da Vinci Code, or at least more complex and thought out. I just wasn’t believing in or having any real empathy for the male characters. And there was a little too much focus for me on loss. It’s hard getting wrapped up in a thriller when there’s so much grief. I liked it sort of as a separate entity from the mystery, but by the end it kind of got in the way of my enjoyment of the mystery overall. I give this book a 7/10.

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

So, I have been on a serious reading frenzy, pretty much reading a book day for the last month or so (with one exception for a book I didn’t like as much as the others and will be reviewing later this week). This book by Brennan is kind of a book I wish I read more slowly and savored because it was just so wonderful and dark and funny and had the perfect amount of teen angst. It was also so British, and well I love all things British and it’s stuff like this book that reminds me why.

I’m reviewing my ARC copy, but the book came out Tuesday. And I think I may have to get a finished copy at some point. This is so a book I want to own a physical copy of. Any way, it’s about Kami, a girl who has grown up standing out in the small town, Sorry-in-the-Vale. She stands out because she is routinely caught standing by herself staring off into space and sometimes talking to someone no one else can see or hear. As a child, the town called Jared, the boy she was always talking to, her imaginary friend. But, you’re not supposed to have imaginary friends once you’re a teenager…

Kami tries to tone down her “imaginary” conversations when out in public, but the whole town already kind of sees her as crazy. This in no way, shape, or form prevents Kami from being one of my all time favorite YA main characters. She is so sarcastic and intelligent. She starts her own school paper, negotiates with the school to have a headquarters for the paper, and immediately goes into Lois Lane reporter mode. Kami is curious about everything and is so determined to figure out the mysteries of her centuries-old town. She has some amazing friends who all look to her as the leader because well, it’s always Kami who comes up with all the ideas and crazy plans to do things like steal files out of a lawyer’s office or investigate a hotel she’s not supposed to be in. She’s also the bravest one.

One of the reasons she’s always been so brave is because she has never ever really felt alone. When she discovers that someone in her town has been mutilating animals, does she run home like a normal person and tell the police? Well…, yes she does, but first she investigates. She likes to go into the woods by herself, breaks into a lot of places, and writes her stories. She has even been attacked by someone she couldn’t see, but refuses to stop investigating.

All this changes though, when the Lynburns move back to their giant manor. For starters, all the girls are in love with one or the other of the two Lynburn teenage boys who start school with them. For another, it becomes painstakingly clear that Kami’s mother is hiding something about the Lynburn family. Oh, and then there’s the scene in the elevator at the library where Kami realizes that the boy in her head, Jared, is actually a real person; he’s Lynburn. And she’s not actually crazy. (Hand’s down, this is the best scene in the book!)

Realizing she’s not crazy and simultaneously having to deal with Jared as a real person is a lot for a girl to have to mentally take care of. Also, it’s one thing to have no privacy from a possible figment of the imagination, and it’s quite another to have no privacy from a cute teenage boy, who you are most probably falling in love with. And Kami is definitely someone who likes her privacy, who likes being in control, and most definitely doesn’t like people knowing how she’s feeling all the time. And then of course the mutilated animals escalate to murdered human beings (particularly teenage girls). Throw in a little bit of paranormal sorcery and well this book takes awesome to a whole other level!

There’s a love triangle that is so good! Jared is such a fantastic character! All I want to do is help him! It’s clear that his family situation sucks. His mother never loved or wanted him and his father was an abusive jerk, leaving behind so many scars. And everyone seems so intent on hating him. I love his relationship with his cousin, Ash, and how competitive the boys were for Kami. I loved Kami’s lazy best friend who really only seemed interested in naps and spending time on couches. The sarcasm, the wit, and the humor in this book really had me laughing out loud for whole sections.

While there’s a love triangle and Kami is trying to figure things out romantically, it’s always clear to readers that boys do not come first. In fact, they don’t even seem to come in second. Kami definitely puts herself above everyone else(!!!!) She is such a strong, confident, leader and I loved her all the more for this. And she values her friends and family to the highest regard. It was also so nice to read about a main character who has two loving parents. Yes, her mom had some serious secrets, but still. Family was sacred to her.

There’s also this classic literature/gothic feel to the whole book that really makes it stand out for me. Brennan has this magical ability to sound like Charlotte Bronte, Libba Bray, Louise Rennison, and Maureen Johnson all at the same time. Seriously, her writing is just so amazing. To able to sound like a Gothic writing genius and somehow also be hilariously British, and have wonderful and believable teen drama too is just pure amazing. It was like a YA feast for the senses. I laughed, I cried, I gasped out loud at the end, and I am nothing but super impressed. I cannot wait for the second installment. In fact, I think I will be tracking down all other books written by this author and immediately adding them to my TBR pile. Of course this gets a 10/10. It’s one of my favorite books of the year.

Waiting on Wednesday (11)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that allows bloggers to share which books we are most anticipating.

This week, I am waiting on Wolf Pact by Melissa de la Cruz (9/25/12, though different sites are saying different dates):

Description on GoodReads:

“From the bestselling author of Blue Bloods, comes a series that will reinvent the myth of the werewolf in the same way that Blue Bloods did with vampires—with style and NYC flair!

Lawson and his brothers escaped from the underworld and now lead desperate, dangerous lives. They’re pursued by the Hounds of Hell from one town to the next, never calling any place home. But when the hounds finally catch up with them and capture the girl Lawson loves, the hunters become the hunted. Lawson will stop at nothing to track down the hounds, even if the chances of saving Tala are slim...

The only hope he has lies in Bliss Llewellyn. Bliss, too, has lost someone to the beasts and will do anything to get them back—even if it means joining forces with the insolent, dangerously good-looking boy with a wolf’s soul.”

How cool does this sound? I love all of the supernatural books that Melissa de la Cruz writes. Her Blue Bloods series is one of the best YA vampire series in existence, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to put the new Blue Bloods book coming out up for my WoW today or this one, but I decided to post about this book because it’s the start of a new series. Though, I love that it includes characters (Bliss) from the old series too. Romance, hellhounds, werewolves, vampires, and the setting of Manhattan all make this book sound super promising! It doesn’t have the best cover, but that’s okay; I will most definitely be purchasing this one.

Oh, and I think the publication date is iffy because I just realized the publisher is really pushing this as an eBook series. It’s going to come out in four parts (over the span of a couple of months, starting October 2, 2012). Each eBook will only be $2.99. And the paperback version of all the books either comes out this month or in April…Regardless of what format this is in, I will be reading it. Here’s what the first eBook looks like (and I’m still not a big fan of the cover, but now there are options…):

End of Summer/Need the Shelf Space Giveaway!

I have had 200 blog posts! It does not feel like I have been blogging this long, but I celebrated with a pumpkin spice late at Starbucks and, nothing feels so good!  I also have been piling up some YA titles that I would like to send to good homes, and what better way to do that than by celebrating 200 posts and embracing autumn?

What’s up for Grabs (click on the titles for the GoodReads descriptions):

In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth (Hardcover)
Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey (paperback)
The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith (Hardcover)
The Named by Marianne Curley (paperback)
Need by Carrie Jones (paperback)
The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams (paperback)
Starling by Lesley Livingston (ARC)
The Hunter’s Moon by O.R. Melling (paperback), #1 in the series
The Summer King by O.R. Melling (paperback), #2 in the series
The Light Bearer’s Daughter by O.R. Melling (paperback), #3 in the series

There will two winners! The first winner will have first choice at four of the above titles. And the second winner will be able to pick 3 titles from what is left. Whatever I have left after both winners choose, will be donated to my library!

My normal rules apply. The chosen winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email with their choices and their shipping address. If I don’t hear back within that time I will have to choose a different winner. Again, this is just for US followers because I cannot afford to ship these internationally. However, I am part of a giveaway hop coming up, where I am opening it up to international followers too!

Thanks for stopping by! And Good luck.

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