Review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) by Jessica Spotswood
Released: 8 January 2013 (UK)
Publisher: Penguin
Source: Received for review
Reason for reading: Everyone raved about it when it released in the US last year
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

Everybody thinks Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship--or an early grave. Then Cate finds her mother's diary, and uncovers a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. But if what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe--not even from each other.

My thoughts:

Born Wicked was a book everyone read and loved when it was released in America last year. I decided to wait for the paperback release but then Penguin fortunately decided to publish it over here. It was a book I always had a feeling I'd enjoy and, fortunately, I did. At first, I wasn't too sure about our version of the cover, but I've warmed to it. 

Born Wicked is set during the Victorian era in America, but the alternative history setting makes it more interesting than any historical fiction book I've read. I loved the subtle changes, some positive, most alarming, that made me feel like I was learning about a whole new world instead of my own several hundred years ago. I liked how Jessica Spotswood sort of twisted the idea of Puritans settling in the States to build to her world, it was a clever move. 

Cate Cahill is the narrator of our story, but interestingly enough, didn't always feel like the star of it. I have such conflicted feelings about Cate. On one hand, I loved her dedication to her sisters; her level of self-sacrifice and her willingness to do whatever it took to keep them safe. On the other hand, I found her so infuriating at times! It's interesting, because she actually isn't the smartest or the brightest of her sisters. She says and does things that made me groan with frustration because they just weren't smart. She's clearly not one for strategy or forward-thinking. Normally, when you have a story about prophecy, it tends to be sorta obvious who it's about and at first I thought "well, obviously it's Cate" but the more I read, the more I wondered. Because of her tight leash on her sisters, you're never really sure what they can do, who is the strongest, who knows the most magic...and the prophecy is quite open-ended which leaves a lot of room for speculation. 

I liked how the 3 sisters were all really different. Maura and Cate stole the show a little bit from young Tess, but I think she may be my favourite. Maura was so volatile, so passionate but unpredictable that I felt a bit uncomfortable about her.  Weirdly enough, my favourite character was actually Sachi. There's a girl who knows how to be shrewd. She was cunning and clever and entirely not what I, or Cate, expected.

The love story element of this book is really interesting and for me, unusual. When Paul is first introduced into the story it seems quite a cut-and-dry plot line; but the introduction of Finn definitely shakes things up. A great portrayal of a long, simmering relationship verses an intense attraction and at first I was surprised the result, but not unpleasantly so. Both boys were fairly normal in the sense they weren't devastatingly attractive, strong, fearless and supernatural and this was very appealing. They fitted in well with the ideas of the story and the world it was set in.

About three quarters of the way through the tension, the stakes and the pacing really picked up for me. I could see how everything was going to unfold, how it should have unfolded, and the difference between that and what actually happened was so painful to experience. The false hope delivered, the way it seemed like everything was going to go just fine, only for it to be torn to shreds so easily and stupidly was almost unbearable to read. My heart was breaking for nearly every character by the time I turned the final page.

TL;DR: Born Wicked is a gem of a novel. A careful and accomplished story set in an alternative history that is both subtly chilling and highly realistic. 


Unrelated side note: where have I been? The screen on my laptop broke and the shop took a ridiculous 2 weeks to fix it. But I'm back, I hope ;)

Review: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Release date: 2nd October 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Source: Gift
Reason for reading: Liz told me to
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

My thoughts:

So, Asher reviewed this many months ago and I thought “well, it does sound really great and Asher really raved about it buuuut is it really my thing?” And I dismissed it. And then I kept seeing it everywhere and got really into fantasy again and thought “yeah okay, I’mma give it a go, maybe” and THEN Liz who is *clearly* some kind of mind reader bought it for me for Christmas and I thought “well, I have to read it NOW” don’t I? (Because every book Liz has ever recommended to me and I have read I have ended up adoring) And you know what? I adored it. So yes, you were right guys, well done. 

What I loved most about this book, was Ananna and Naji. Specifically, their faults. They weren’t perfect characters by any stretch. Both could get sulky and kinda moody, taking their moods out on each other and snapping. The flaws made them seem more real, more normal. I much preferred it to them being perfectly poised and always in control. They frustrated the hell out of each other at times and it was so entertaining. Naji was so…enigmatic. Hired to kill Ananna because she offended another pirate family by refusing to marry their son, the curse she activates means he’s got no choice but to protect her. He was so secretive, partly cause you know, he’s an assassin and they can’t share their assassiny secrets, but also cause that’s just the way he is. He never gave anything way, half the things he said were totally ambiguous and I loved it. How does he feel? I honestly don’t know. I know how the conventions of YA says he should feel, how I WANT him to feel, but does he *actually* feel that way? I do not know. He is so OPAQUE. Ananna was kinda the same, in that she didn’t give much a way, but she was less prickly about it. It was more of a ‘raised as a pirate, don’t trust anybody’ vibe really. She kept her cards close to her chest, all the way through the book, both in terms of what she admits to Naji and to herself. They had such a reciprocal relationship, each of them bringing skills and experiences to their journey, each of them saving the other at different points. In fact, Ananna probably ended up helping Naji more, the combination of the magic and the curse left him weak and sick at a lot of points and she often had to resort to literally dragging him places. I liked this reversal, it was very refreshing. 

This book is a superb lesson in ‘show, don’t tell’. Ananna never voices her feelings until right at the very very end. But you infer how she feels from her reactions, from how she acts, from throwaway comments and I loved that. Too often characters in books talk of how much they love each other, without ever showing any reason for such feelings.

I really enjoyed the plot, it had a good mix of journey and action, meaning it was fast-paced but left enough slow-time for character development and humorous moments. I have a couple of tiny nags, the first is, this book felt kinda unfinished. It’s fairly short, which coupled with the unfinished feel and the fact it’s (as far as I know) book 1 of 2, made me feel as though only half the book was written when the book was acquired and maybe the other half wasn’t finished in time for publication. My other minor issue was I felt the language was sometimes a little simplistic and repetitive, and it got a bit repetitive with all the stealing Ananna did. Ananna’s colloquialisms annoyed me, but that’s totally a personal thing, I have always found that irritating. 

TL;DR: Cassandra Rose Clarke has created an imaginative fantasy world, rich in detail but not too bogged down in specifics. If you’re looking for a tale of adventure with some kickass leads who aren’t afraid to be themselves, this is the book for you.

 

Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Easy by Tammara Webber
Published: 3rd January 2013 (UK edition)
Publisher: Peguin (UK)
Source: Bought for kindle
Reason for reading: Everyone and their dog has read it and loved it.
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

Jacqueline seems to have a knack for making the wrong choices. She followed her boyfriend to his choice of university, disregarding her preference. Then he dumped her. She chose a minor she thought she could combine with her music studies, but she's falling behind. And then, leaving a party alone one night, she is attacked. If it wasn't for the timely intervention of a stranger, she would have been raped. Now she must make a choice - give up and give in, or toughen up and fight on. Only the support of the man who is tutoring her and the allure of the guy who saved her from the attack convince her that it's worth fighting on. Will Jacqueline now have to make a choice between them too? And can she make the right decision? It's not easy . . .

My thoughts:

You know those books that you read, and you don't really expect anything from them and then BAM they're amazing? That was Easy for me. I read it in December after hearing about how amazing it was for 6 months, after having it on my kindle for six months, and I read it on a whim because I was in need of a change from all the fantasy I'd been reading.  It was exactly what I wanted to read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Jacqueline was a fantastic character. Her break up had really knocked her for six but I thought she dealt with it so well, I think skipping ONE class for two weeks is a pretty together-reaction to be honest. I have the utmost admiration for how she dealt with her situation, all the way through the book she was so strong and level-headed, despite everything that happened. It's kinda cool in a way to see books about people who are recovering from their first long-term serious relationship, cause at my age that's something I think I can associate with a  little better than a lot of YA where it's younger teens just getting into that same relationship. I definitely think Jacqueline dealt with it better than I did anyway!

Lucas was such an appealing love interest, he managed retained certain 'bad boy' elements such as how inscrutable he was,  his artistic streak, his good looks, emotional drawbacks, whilst thankfully lacking some of the more negative elements that often come with these characters now; the descructive behaviour and habits, the instability, the often abusive treatment. It was great to see a character who was both appealing and stable, the sort of person you'd actually want as a boyfriend. I loved how he continued to look out for Jacqueline and how their relationship progressed.

The relationship itself was so cute and normal, but so intense at the same time, on a really good level. It wasn't all about love at first sight but you could feel the attraction between them and it actually gave me like, butterflies in my stomach sometimes, reading the interactions between the two of them as they danced around the tension, and then eventually gave into it. It felt so organic, it was a perfect recreation of a new relationship I thought.

The book did deal with some pretty heavy issues, with the attempted rape of Jacqueline early on, and the continued harassment she experienced as well as the eventual climaxes of that particular plot point. This was handled so well by the author, it wasn't played down but it also wasn't so dramatic, by which I mean the character's reactions to everything weren't too over the top, and the whole story wasn't filled with so much angst you could practically swim in it. I did feel at some points that character's reactions were fairly textbook responses, because the author was clearly making a point about rape, about how a lot of people get raped by those they know and even trust, about how victim-bashing is unacceptable, and whilst I do feel those points needed to be made, especially in a YA book, I did feel the author's voice and influence coming through at certain points. 

The plot in terms of Jacqueline's journey to move on from her relationship, her interactions with her tutor and attempts to get her life back on track were really great to read. Her email exchanges with Landon in particular made me squeal a little when reading they were just so cute and flirty. Jacqueline is a fantastic role model, something I don't feel happens enough in YA nowadays. She was strong without being hard and detached like the heroines of dystopian novels I love so much, and she wasn't a pushover, willing to  do anything for the first guy who shows her attention. She was a normal girl, living her life and how she got everything back on track and reclaimed the power made me feel kinda proud and satisfied.

TL;DR: Easy is a perfect specimen of college-age, more mature YA. It has that realistic feel you get from a book that has less constrictions placed on it because of the market it is aimed at, but it also didn't go too overboard with the drama like others I've read. If you're looking for one of these mature YA reads, this is the one to go for. It's an easy choice to make. (sorry) 

 



 

Review: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
Release Date: 5th Otober 2012 (UK)
Publisher: MIRA (UK)
Source: Netgalley
Reason for Reading: It's Christmassy!
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.


My thoughts:

I'd been slogging my way through Game of Thrones (which I still haven't finished, I love it, but it just seems to last for ever...) and was in the mood for something a little lighter. This was Christmassy so I thought, I will give it a go! I love David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy so much so I figured it was a fairly safe bet, and I was totally right.

I loved how the Christmas setting made me feel really festive, though I was a little sad a large body of the story happened just after Christmas, I guess it needed to for everything not to feel so rushed. I love the idea of Christmas in New York, so the setting was a huge bonus for me.

I think I liked Dash a little more than Lily,even though he's a Christmas hater. He was mildly sociopathic, rather intelligent and pretty funny. Yeah okay, so maybe very few teenagers use huge words, but there are some out there that do (and I have known a few of them) so I can excuse that. Cause I know they exist.Lily I did like cause she was so exuberant and enthusiastic, and yes she was a little naive but I found that okay, she had been extremely sheltered her entire life. But I definitely found Lily's narrative the funnier of the two, especially her mentions of her 'Shrilly' alter ego. I actually laughed out loud, in public, several times which is always highly embarrassing.

**Somehow, my review managed to get deleted after this point, before or after I posted it I don't know, but I can't remember what I put exactly. Note to self: back reviews up somewhere**

I loved the story, the idea of a part treasure hunt, part game of dares, part confessional. It was cute and funny and really worked in a city like NY. I didn't find it over the top or unrealistic at all which was good.What I mostly loved was how down to earth both characters were about the outcome of the game they were playing, about the reality of their relationship. Neither of them acted as though they'd met their soul mate, or were madly in love. They questioned whether they'd actually work in person, work as a couple when all they knew of each other was contained within the pages of a red moleskin. They didn't hit it off immediately and were both very restrained which I really liked. It was also great to see an initial attraction based not off looks but off the intellectual stimulation and ideas and secrets and confessions shared in the notebook. I loved that it was a clear example of personalities winning out over anything else.

My one issue with it was down to what I have dubbed 'John Green Syndrome'. Whilst not as bad as a JG story, this book definitely had an element of that pretension and faux-philosophy I sorta resent. I hate the profound statements, the comments about life, the universe and everything. I find it fake and totally unnecessary, hence the dropped star from me.

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is fun, it's festive and it's a fantastic read. Perfect for the holiday season.

Series Review: The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan

The Magicians' Guild (The Black Magician Trilogy #1)
Released: 2001
The Novice (The Black Magician Trilogy #2)
Released: 2002
The High Lord (The Black Magician Trilogy #3)
Released: 2003
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Borrowed from friend
Reason for reading: Friend recommendation + trying to read more fantasy
Series Rating: 4/5

**As this is a series review, there may be spoilers, though I have tried to avoid them** 

Goodreads Synopsis for The Magicians' Guild:

"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . . . and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.

What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.

My thoughts:

No, I can't believe I didn't read this series before now, either. It was all over the library when I was a pre-teen/teen, but I wasn't into fantasy at that age (aside from CS Lewis/Garth Nix...) so they completely passed me by. But my good friend Laura lent them to me and I've been trying to read more fantasy (I'm finally reading Game of Thrones) so I decided to give them a go.

I'm really glad I did. You know when you go into a book/series with no expectations and it ends up like, completely ruling your life for however long it takes you to read them?  That was the case here. I wasn't a huge fan of The Magician's Guild at first, all the books are split into 2 parts and after the initial event of the first part, I found the rest of it pretty dull. I kept hoping Sonea would get captured so something interesting would happen, and I found myself getting annoyed by her thought processes. As an individual book I only gave TMG 3/5, because of this first part. However, once we got into part 2 things got a lot more interesting. I loved all the detail about how the magician's guild worked, and meeting all the magicians and learning about the history and the magic they do.

The Novice was on the whole a lot more interesting, we moved outside of the magician's guild with Dannyl's ambassadorial duties and whilst I did find it really interesting to read about his research and his journey, I sometimes wished we'd be back in the guild with Sonea. I had definitely warmed to her by this point, she was strong and intelligent and hardworking, but I did sometimes wish she would stick up for herself a little bit more. I also really liked Rothen, her guardian and father figure, but Akkarin was definitely my favourite character. Dark, mysterious, sexy, possibly evil, he's my perfect character. I love how other character's assumptions and speculations about him drive your perceptions of this guy. The end to The Novice was like "gaaahhh!" but if I thought that was bad...

The High Lord. Oh there's so many emotions for The High Lord. The Akkarin situation was fully explained, and was along the lines of what I had guessed from hints in the previous books, though it is always nice to get the full story on something you're dying to know more about. The developments in terms of his character and the characters around him weren't much of a shock either, and I did really like them. I did feel some aspects were a little rushed, but then given the circumstances this can be expected. The rest of the magicians acted like absolute idiots in this book, and if they weren't all being murdered I'd've been screaming "SEE?! SEE YOU RIDICULOUS PEOPLE?!". Their responses and prejudices were SO infuriating but it really helped engage me in the story and really feel for the characters I supported I loved how all the strings of the various storylines throughout the books came together, how all the characters had their parts to play and their moments. The inevitable battle scene was good, though I admit I was a little confused about the power distribution, I felt Sonea should have had enough without yep...that thing that happened. That thing that happened that I knew would happen and dreaded happening for like, most of the book. How do I feel about that? It was brave. Necessary as well, I think. I don't think post-battle life would have worked if it hadn't happened. What I didn't like was the WAY it happened, it was kinda harsh, really. And the actual end of the book felt a little rushed, which I didn't appreciate. 

I am so glad I finally read this trilogy. I experienced so many emotions from it, so many ups and downs, from the little things like the anger felt over Sonea being bullied, the exasperation of her not fighting back, the elation of her final victory over her bullies, to the big things, the shock at the revelations, the fluttery stomach at the romances, the suspicion of like, everyone, the anticipatory dread for the finale and the heart-pounding, stomach-clenching fear at the climax.  

If you haven't read this series yet, I urge you to give it a go. 

Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The False Prince (The Ascedance Triology #1) by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Released: 7th June 2012
Publisher: Scholastic UK
Source: Bought for Kindle
Reason for reading: Liz (Planet Print) kept going on about it and it was part of the Kindle summer promotion
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Description:

In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan. He will find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point. He must be chosen to play the prince, or he will certainly be killed. But as Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to the king’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold. Until, finally, a truth is revealed that may prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together…

My thoughts:

The False Prince is aimed at a slightly younger audience than the books I usually opt for, but I found it had the same charm and addictive feel of the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books, both of which I LOVE. Sage is smart-mouthed, quick-witted and all together too big for his boots, all of which makes him very easy to love. I found the cast of characters to be an interesting bunch, it was fantastic how not that many of them were actually that likeable, they all had flaws and weaknesses which added to the realism of them. From the other two boys 'competing' to Conner's servants to Conner himself, each had a well-rounded personality and story that helped bring the book to life. I liked how each of the boys reacted to each new stage or test or development as was fitting with their character, the consistency of this again added depth to the book.

I loved the plot concept, training up a boy to look, act and think like a long lost prince in order to 'save' the kingdom in the aftermath of a royal murder. I loved the political aspects to the plot as I think they made the whole story more interesting and more realistic and definitely more gripping. 
 The writing was masterful in the way aspects of the story were revealed and also witheld from the reader without it seeming odd. It was told in first person, but Sage's character fitted really well with the concealments as he was particularly tricky so it didn't seem strange at all. Sage was a hilarious narrator, always there with a quip or a funny comeback which made the book extremely entertaining to read. The writing was a little simplistic for my tastes, but as mentioned earlier it is aimed at more of a middle grade audience than a YA  one, so that explains that really. I did find it well written and gripping and I flew through it pretty quickly.   The world-building was detailed enough to be interesting, but not too bogged down in detail that it felt boring or confusing. 

My only niggles are that the plot was a little predictable; it wasn't easy to guess from the writing at all, but just because you could just see how it was all going to work out. I found that a little disappointing, but it couldn't really have gone any other way, and I didn't mind too much. The other issue I had was that I thought the ending was a little rushed and I definitely think this book could have benefitted from being a couple of pages longer. I also felt Sage had a pretty drastic character change which whilst necessary, was a little sudden. 

The False Prince is a gripping, interesting read full of perfectly crafted characters and plenty of personality. I will definitely be reading the sequel. 

Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (Lynburn Legacy #1)
Release Date: 13th September 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Simon&Schuster (UK)
Reason for reading: SRB is an all-time fave author and insanely funny!
Rating: 4/5
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads description:

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

My thoughts:

Sarah Rees Brennan secured her place as one of my favourite authors ever with her fantastically twisty, utterly brilliant The Demon's Lexicon trilogy and her parodies of various tv shows/movies (seriously, they're hilarious, I'm more excited that the return of TVD means the return of SRB's parodies than that I actually get to watch it again) so I was naturally insanely excited for Unspoken.

Kami was such a fantastic character; headstrong and determined, possibly a little too curious for her own good, very witty and with just the right amount of quirk. She was everything you could want in a main character, she took risks and made decisions and had feelings about things that were happening, all of which brought you into her world and made you love her. One thing I love about SRB's books is that she focuses on the concept of relationships quite a lot, which is something I find intriguing. Not just the whole boy-meets-girl-they-fall-in-love thing, but the intricacies and dynamics of a variety of different relationships.I sometimes feel that relationships in YA can be a little one-dimensional and often rather cliche, as though it's the last thing on the author's mind, but they are like a central point in Sarah's stories I think that adds a richness to them. I loved the exchanges between Kami and Angela, who were clearly close friends, and then the addition of both Rusty, Angela's brother, and Holly, another of their friends, into the mix. While I loved the connections between the Lynburns, the Lynburns and the villagers and Kami and the various people in her life, it was the connection between Kami and Jared that interested me most, because both thought the other was imaginary...until they ran into each other in an elevator. 

I think SRB handled this aspect of the story, the relationship between Kami and Jared, superbly. Kami wasn't all "Oh hey, you're like, the person who knows me best in the world and, whaddaya know, you're kinda cute, let's go out". It was so much more complicated than that, so much to do with how you handle the idea of not knowing where your emotions end and the other person's begin, of whether anything you feel is actually genuine or the result of this bond that you have no control over and whether you can actually get past all that. It was interesting that Kami and Jared had such different approaches to their bond. Kami, who has always had stable, loving relationships in the form of friends and family, wanted the bond severed, wanted to see what remained when that was taken away, whereas Jared, who'd never had anyone in his life who cared about him apart from Kami was desperate to keep it. He idolised the idea of their bond, building it up to be proof that they were soulmates, destined to be together rather than the result of anything else.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from a gothic mystery, but Unspoken definitely delivered. There was the mystery in the sense of Kami figuring out what the hell was going on in Sorry-in-the-Vale, but more so than that there were all the other, smaller mysteries that added up to create the big picture; just who or what are the Lynburns, what is Kami's mum hiding, why isn't Angela answering her phone and what is WITH that woman in the sweet shop? You never knew who to trust, who was lying, who had ulterior motives and whilst a lot of that was pieced together, there are still enough unanswered questions to make reading book 2 an enticing prospect. The gothic element was wonderfully captured through the mansion and the creepy, creepy dead stuff, but more than that through the atmosphere. Through the sense of foreboding that lingered at every turn and through  the symbolism and spookiness captured in the writing style. Being a gothic mystery it was quite slow-burning, but I didn't have an issue with the pacing at all. I still found it exciting and gripping, I was still itching to get home and read more (because I got an eARC so I had to read it on my computer only and couldn't take it to work, sob). I think the pacing actually added to the whole atmosphere of the story. 

You wouldn't have thought you could have a funny gothic mystery....but you really can. SRB brought her trademark wit to Unspoken, giving it some genuine laugh-out-loud moments that often broke the tension nicely. I don't often do this, but I'm going to include a quote, because I don't think I can accurately portray just how hilarious this book is without one:

‘ Kami wound her arm back, took careful aim, and threw.

The “pebble” crashed through both glass and curtain.

There was the creak of an old sash window being thrust open, and Jared’s head and shoulders appeared at the window. “Hark,” he said, his tone very dry. “What stone through yonder window breaks?”

Kami yelled up at him, “It is the east, and Juliet is a jerk!”

Jared abandoned Shakespeare, and demanded, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Throwing a pebble,” said Kami defensively. “Uh . . . and I’ll pay for the window.”

Jared vanished and Kami was ready to start shouting again when he reemerged with the pebble clenched in his fist. “This isn’t a pebble! This is a rock.”

“It’s possible that your behavior has inspired some negative feelings that caused me to pick a slightly overlarge pebble,” Kami admitted. ‘

The end....I really can't write a review without mentioning it. Oh it was so perfect. I bet everrrryone hated it but it was the sort of ending I adore. It was so tragic, so fitting. I can't wait to see what happens in the second book off the back of it.

So why is this not 5/5 I hear you ask, seeing as I loved it so? Well, it is really. There were just a few, totally personal niggles I had that reflect more on me than the book. Firstly, the writing felt a little off every now and again, and was quite Americanised in parts for a book based in the UK with mainly British characters, BUT I was reading a really early proof copy (and the US edition), so I'll be interested to see if that changes when I read my finished copy. Secondly, I figured out the vast majority of the plot before it happened.  I am that annoying person that tries to figure out plots. I don't know why, I'm always disappointed when I'm right. But I'm also always disappointed when I'm wrong. I'm just awkward that way. And I was always so floored by everything that happened in The Demon's Lexicon trilogy that I expected A LOT from this book which, again, my own fault. What's that quote about expectation? So that is why it gets a 4, but really, it's worthy of a 5.

Unspoken is an atmospheric, clevery crafted gothic masterpeice. If I could buy you all a copy, I would.

But you will just have to settle with a giveaway for one! Because I loved it so much (and because I've been AWOL for so long) I'm gonna give one awaaaaay. Just fill in the widget-y thing below, it's open internationally!


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Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Release date: July 31st 2012
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.


My thoughts:

I saw a couple of early, glowing reviews of this book (namely from Asher at Paranormal Indulgence) which led me to request it on Netgalley, and I’m SO glad I did.

At first I thought it might be a little stereotypical (albeit a stereotype I adore) what with the whole good girl/bad boy thing; and at times it was, but mostly it was so much more than that. There was plenty of build up to the relationship which I liked. It wasn’t just “I hate you, let’s make out”; everything developed in a very organic manner. I’ve seen some comparisons to Perfect Chemistry and whilst I can see the similarities, I personally preferred this. The relationship developed more naturally for me and Noah was a bit less cheesy.  I liked how they had an ulterior motive which drew them together, and created their relationship, I thought that aspect of it worked really well. 

Echo is a hot mess, she can’t remember where the scars on her arms came from and she resents her stepmother, feels neglected by her controlling father and is estranged from her mother. Her older brother was killed at war, and half her friends won’t acknowledge her in public because she’s so ‘weird’.  A lot of Echo’s story was a fight between what she wanted and what others thought she should want. I really identified with her need to be first in someone’s life, to be the most important thing to one other person. It’s a selfish desire but I think it’s one we all harbour.  I think she really grew as a person during the book, which was really good to see. 

I did really like Noah, I liked his attitude and how he treated Echo. I did get annoyed with him at points, because he was so naïve and unrealistic about certain things and I just wanted him to be a bit more logical and look at the situation properly. He did make the right call eventually, but I did want to shake him half the time and be like “sort yourself out, boy!”.

There was almost a mystery element to this book and I found that quite interesting for such a contemporary book.  I was so intrigued about where Echo’s scars came from, what happened to her, what happened with her mum. I thought everything was revealed fantastically, with enough build up to keep me interested but not too extreme that I was sceptical. The whole thing was quite sad really, and I definitely felt for Echo and what she had gone through.

I think the important thing in these sort of stories is to show how the 2 MC’s really help each other, how they improve each other and encourage growth and maturity without turning the other person into something they’re not, and I felt Pushing the Limits did that wonderfully. It definitely helped seeing the story from both Noah and Echo’s perspectives, although because I read an ARC the splits were really abrupt and not indicated well, so it sometimes took me a while to realise that I was reading from the other character’s POV. 

At times this was a little too intense for me in terms of plot and relationship between both Echo and Noah, but on the whole I found it totally addictive, totally intriguing and very well written. Definitely a new favourite in this genre. 

Today Liz also has a review of Pushing the Limits up, plus she's holding a giveaway for a copy ;)