Review: WISH by Alexandra Bullen

TITLE: Wish
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bullen – Web, Blog
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

FANTASY ELEMENT: Wishes/Magic, GhostPUBLISHED: Point (Jan 12, 2010)FORMAT: Kindle eBookSOURCE: Freebie from Amazon

SYNOPSIS:

(Provided by Publisher)

For broken-hearted Olivia Larsen, nothing can change the fact that her twin sister, Violet, is gone... until a mysterious, beautiful gown arrives on her doorstep. The dress doesn't just look magical; it is magical. It has the power to grant her one wish, and the only thing Olivia wants is her sister back.

With Violet again by her side, both girls get a second chance at life. And as the sisters soon discover, they have two more dresses-and two more wishes left. But magic can't solve everything, and Olivia is forced to confront her ghosts to learn how to laugh, love, and live again.

REVIEW:

This book is a cute little story about loss and love. It’s not epic but it is interesting, beginning to end. The story idea is sweet and the dresses are beautiful and vibrant. I love how some authors can make you see the things in their stories. I liked the little twists and turns in the story line, especially the ones I wasn’t expecting.

Olivia is much like me: timid, afraid of new places, etc. I loved how her sister’s “ghost” helped her fit in her new school and showed her how to be more outgoing. I love how it helped her deal with the the grief of losing her sister. (I imagined half way through that had she had to grieve her sister alone, it would have taken much longer.)

RATING:

I was not expecting to like this book but it turned out pretty cool. I’d rate it at a 3. Good. No regrets. It was interesting how the popular kids in the school were actually pretty good kids. I liked how deep Calla was portrayed and I was actually rooting for her friendship.

When I finished this book on the Kindle, I found the first chapter of book 2 there… I had to read it of course. I was hesitant to care, because where could this story go? But it hooked me right away and doubled the wishing trouble!

RECOMMENDATIONS:

This is a great novel for teens who like a tender story. Sadly there is little parent involvement but the reason is believable. There is also drinking and a few kisses.

Review: DAUGHTER OF THE FLAMES by Zoe Marriott

TITLE: Daughter of the Flames
AUTHOR: Zoe Marriott – Web, Blog
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
PUBLISHED: Candlewick (Feb 10, 2009)

SYNOPSIS: 

(Provided by Publisher)

What if your deadliest enemy were the only one who could save you?


Inside an ancient temple in the mountains, fifteen-year-old Zira trains in the martial arts to become a warrior priestess who can defend the faith of the Ruan people. Bearing a scar on her face from the fire that killed her parents, the orphaned Zira is taught to distrust the occupying Sedornes. Terror strikes when the forces of the tyrannical Sedorne king destroy the only home she knows. To survive, Zira must unravel the secrets of her identity, decide her people’s fate — and accept her growing feelings for a man who should be her enemy.

REVIEW:

This fantasy novel was pretty good. I picked it up because of the nice cover and the martial arts of the fantasy world intrigued me. It was full of action beginning to end and was different in that aspect.

Zira/Zahira is an interesting character full of all the normal attributes of a 16 year old girl, flaws and all. But as the book progresses I love how she seems to just be possessed by her inner princess and turns out to be quite noble, strong and a great leader. For that, I liked this book. (And because the whole "normal-girl-who-realizes-she's-a-princess" thing has been done, A LOT. Zira really filled that transition deeply.)

But there were three things that were difficult for me. I’ll start by saying I love how Zira and Sorin met, I love his attitude in that part. He’s so mysterious and made my heart flutter. So my first issue was: as they are reunited I was disappointed that the author didn’t milk the emotions for all it was worth. I feel like we only got half the emotions, passion and love that this relationship deserved.

My second issue was that Sorin started out looking like’d be deep and interesting. But as the story rolled on, he fell flat. (I don’t know if it was intentional because of the certain poisonous events.)

Lastly, I love the added twist about Abheron’s actions at the end. (Don’t worry, no spoilers.) But It was a little abrubt and I’m not used to getting my way: I believe all people are inherently good. Maybe that’s not a bad thing… I guess maybe it should be a good thing.

RATED:

So I’m rating this book at a 3. GOOD. A good choice to read, even though there were a few bothersome points. It is mainly because of the main character that this story is any good. But also the plot is pretty good and the world is lovely and vivid, I might add.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Definitely a book that teen girls who love fantasy and action/adventure would like. Good, clean, fun.

Review: BODYGUARD OF LIES by Bob Mayer

TITLE: Bodyguard of Lies
AUTHOR: Bob Mayer ~ Web, Blog
GENRE: Suspense, Spy, Thriller
PUBLISHED: Who Dares Wins Publishing (2010)
FORMAT: Kindle
SOURCE: ARC Provided by Publisher

SYNOPSIS:

Hidden deep within the United States, the Cellar is a secret spy organization who polices the world of covert operations.

Two women from completely different walks of life are thrown into a dangerous fight for their lives like a modern day Thelma and Louise. Neeley is the lover and apprentice of one of the Cellar’s now dead operative, Anthony Gant. After his death, Neeley searches out the mysteries that Gant left behind. Hannah is a rich housewife whose husband mysteriously leaves her and is connected to Gant’s secret. When they meet a plan is set in motion to uncover the dangerous secrets that someone high up in the government is trying to keep buried.

REVIEW:

Neeley is a sexy, dangerous assassin who seems to not have a conscience. But as Hannah talks and opens her up, we see the layered person that she really is. I found her character even more intriguing than Lisbeth in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.’

Hannah is a surprising character to the degree that I need to read the second book to see how her life pans out. She starts out a depressed, everyday-average housewife whose husband disappears. When Neeley finds her they are forced together to escape death. But Hannah handles being pursued by dangerous, hired gun, Racine, sent by the Cellar, like she might handle a mix up at the grocery store.

Racine, the crazy assassin chasing them, is seriously screwed up. Everything he does is creepy, even the tone of his narrative creeped me out.

‘Bodyguard of Lies’ is very well told and the plot is exciting and fresh. With a dash of intrigue and a pinch of thriller, this book held me to the very last page. The first 25% of the book is character development, but worth it for the investment in Neeley and Hannah. If you can get past that, you’ll love the rest. I love endings that I don’t see coming. The end is guaranteed to surprise.

RATING:

I’d rate this book as a 4: Very Good. It was very good because of the thrilling surprises and deep characters. I got this book from Amazon for $2.99 and it was totally worth the time and money. 

"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." ~ Winston Churchill

RECOMMENDATIONS:

I’d recommend this book for adults only, because of the violence and two rather creepy incidences. If it were a movie, it would defiantly be rated R. If you like spy stories of intrigue and suspense, you're sure to love this book.

**UPDATE** When I first posted this review in January 2011, I had mentioned only “one bad thing” about this book was the cover. It was a drab military green with a faded American flag. They have since changed the cover and it’s vibrant and eye catching!

ReWriten Fairytales: Books Based on Old Stories

What’s the deal with authors rewriting fairytales, myths, legends and old movies? At first I poo-pooed the idea and refused to read them. I know there is nothing new out there and I thought people were reWriting these stories because of a lack of originality. But as I trip into reading them I’ve found that they can be quite interesting. They have taken a new twist on an old tale. Some are from a different point of view, some are from a different period of time than the original story. Haven't you ever wondered what happens after the "Happily Ever After"?

I love stories and can't help wanting to know more, read more. I sometimes hate when movies end. I want the story to keep going. These retold stories are just a great extension of the original.

My reReading began with CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEP SISTER by Gregory Maguire. If you’ve read that you know the kicker of the story. If you haven’t read it, I won’t ruin it for you. It’s the retelling of the Cinderella story from a different point of view.

I also just finished reading SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce which is a modern take of Little Red Riding Hood. It was a cool story and the Big Bad Wolf was a werewolf. (Coolness!)

They are stories we already love and when told from a different Point of View or during a different time that the original story really gets my curiosity buzzing. I chose most of these because of their ratings on Amazon and suggestions from friends.

Here is a list of reWritten stories I plan on reading in order of what I find most interesting:

1. BEAST by Donna Jo Napoli—The story of the Beast from Beauty in the Beast. This story looks totally awesome! (She has also has written about Rapunzel, Jack & the beanstalk, Hansel & Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin.)

2. WICKED by Gregory Maguire—A tale from the POV of with Wicked Witch of the West. (He’s also got more from the POV of the Cowardly Lion, Son of the wicked witch, and snow white.) I know this came out in the ninety's but hey, I'll catch up!

3. THE HEALER’S APPRENTICE by Melanie Dickerson—The story of Sleeping Beauty

4. WHAT-THE-DICKENS: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire—This sounds hilarious, as story about a rogue tooth fairy.







5. CINDER (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer—Each book in this series adds a new fairytale, starting with Cinderella.



So there’s where I’ll begin. Amazon has a couple of lists already that people have made of books based on fairytales. It will probably over-stimulate you. But if you have already read one or several that you’ve loved, please post a comment so I can add them to my list. I love getting good reports of good books.

Review: SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce

TITLE: Sisters Red
AUTHOR: Jackson Pearce ~ Web
GENRE: Young Adult, Fairytale Fiction, Paranormal
PARANORMAL ELEMENT: Werewolves
PUBLISHED: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (June 7, 2010)
FORMAT: Hard Cover
SOURCE: Library ~ For Local Book Club

SYNOPSIS:

The sisters of SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce (2010) are quite a pair. Scarlett, the oldest, lives to hunt. She defended her sister against the Fenris (werewolves) from a vicious attack. Rosie, the youngest, owes Scarlett her life. They hunt down and fight Fenris side by side with a bond that feels unbreakable—making it feel like they have one heart.

Rosie is drawn to Silas, a young man from their home town, and feels as though she is betraying her sister. The three go on a mission to find the “Potential” (the next man to be bit and turn into a werewolf) but they have no idea how to find him.

REVIEW:

The only bad thing was the predictability of the plot. But nonetheless, I liked the story. It was full of action. Just when I would want to put it down, something would happen and I would have to keep reading. And the love story was intoxicating—I love falling in love through a book.

The most interesting thing about this book is what the author did with Point-Of-View (POV). It’s quite fascinating and it couldn’t’ have been told better! The chapters alternate 1st Person POV between Scarlett, the strong, highly motivated, deeply scarred—and Rosie, the young, innocent, sweet. It was hard to shift gears for the first few chapters, but as I got into it, I couldn’t wait to hear what Rosie thought or what Scarlett would feel about a certain event. It really rounded out the story and gave a deeper look into the sisters’ lives. Had it been 3rd person POV, it wouldn’t have been as deep or thoughtful. If it was in 1st person POV of just one of the girls, we would have missed half the story.

I know book covers have nothing to do with the quality of the story, but it is sweeeeet! I admit, I choose books because of pretty covers and this one is nothing short of awesome!

RATING:

I’d rate this story at a 3. A good read. No regrets. I thought I would hate when authors rewrite fairytales like these, but I’ve really taken a liking to them. (Check out my post about Rewritten Fairytales.) I would have read this book just based on the awesome cover alone!

RECOMMENDATIONS:

This is a fun paranormal book with lots of action with a layer of romance. It's great for young readers but there is sadly no parent involvement but thankfully no sex.

Review: THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain

TITLE: The Dark Divine

AUTHOR: Bree Despain - Web, Blog

GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
PARANORMAL ELEMENT: Werewolves

PUBLISHED: EgmontUSA (December 22, 2009)

SYNOPSIS:

In THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain (2009) the main character, Grace Divine is a pastor’s daughter trying to live up to her name, which means “heavenly help.” She is kept in the dark about what happened to Daniel, the neighbor boy they took in from an abusive home. She just wants to know the truth about why her saintly brother Jude won’t let her see him now that he’s back after three years, why he disappeared after Jude was found bleeding to death, why her parents are acting weird about it all.

REVIEW:

The story is weaved around this pastor’s family with a deep Christian theme without being preachy. Congrats Bree, you succeeded in demonstrating Christian values, you even took me to your little church, made me sit through a Christmas cantata and I didn’t want to pull my hair out. It wasn’t too cheesey, it wasn’t too annoying. It was actually thoughtful and well planned to only “live” the theme, instead of “preach” the theme. For that I thank you!

Meanwhile, Grace is diving into a relationship with a bad boy. We (as the reader) are in the dark along with Grace about what is really going on and living off our own suspicions (because of the synopsis). There were a few elements that surprised me, I usually can guess what will happen next, but there was at least a few small surprises.

I love the combined romance and supernatural aspects of the book. I liked how Grace seemed to be flying by the seat of her pants for most of the book. She can’t help it, she just does what she does. I liked her character a lot. She cracked me up a couple of times too which relieved some of the pressure in this tense book of secrets and monsters. She doesn’t even know what she’s done after she’s done it and people have to keep explaining stuff to her. She doesn’t even understand what kind of sacrifice she had made in the end out of true love. (I relate very much with that kind of person, that’s how I was as a teen—flying by the seat of my pants.)

On the negative I must say it dragged a little bit in the beginning. But the story had to be built somewhere. But there is no sense of movement until dead center of the book. It was such a quick and easy read, it didn’t take too long to get past that.

Daniel, as a character, was a little less than par. He was a hot, brooding guy but his depth was on the shallow side. I didn’t care for him enough. I think if we had see more good flash backs of their childhood together it would have helped deepen him more, although I liked him nonetheless.

RATING:

I’d rate this one at a 3. It was good, no regrets. The story wasn’t epic, but it was a good little story. There are some stories that are epic and everything is compared to them. Of course people would compare this to Twilight because of the “werewolf” aspect. It was not similar to Twilight’s werewolves. There were different rules, different history, and different reasons for turning into one. It made it all quite interesting and stands apart.

Review: TORMENT by Lauren Kate

TITLE: Torment

AUTHOR: Lauren Kate

AUTHOR WEBSITE: www.LaurenKateBooks.net

GENRE: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance,

PARANORMAL ELEMENT: Fallen Angels

PUBLISHED: 2010

MY SOURCE: Local Library

MY RATING: 2 

REVIEW:

Book 2 of the Fallen Series, TORMENT continues the romance between a fallen angel, Daniel, and a human girl, Luce. In the first book (FALLEN) they miraculously break the cycle of Luce dying at age 17, only to be reincarnated again and again, only to fall in love over and over. {sigh} Their relationship is under fire again but this time the angels and demons join forces to protect Luce from the Outcasts. Daniel hides her at a boarding school for the Nephilim (who are children of humans and fallen angels.) The story is interesting enough the stakes are high but all we see is the waiting and waiting to find something out.

REVIEW:

We are given glimpses of the past lives of Luce but none are really that interesting. We just spend a whole book with Luce waiting and getting impatient and her breaking rules to find out what’s going on. I feel this story is interesting but the main character is a bonehead. It’s okay that she is rebellious, but what she rebels for has no worth to the story. Who cares if she sneaks off to spy on parents of a previous life? Who cares that she travels to see a sister of her past life? None of it ends up meaning anything. (At least not in this book… when it matters.)

The romance between Daniel and Luce has begun to get annoying too. She is developing a relationship/friendship with a boy at the school named Miles. She communicates better with him than she does with her own boyfriend. Do girls really think they can be friends with boys without #1 her boyfriend getting jealous and #2 without the other boy falling in love with her? The answer is always NO and it really makes her relationship with “hot stuff” seem stale and boring. In book 1 it was destiny… in book 2 it is demoted to trite. I literally stopped caring if they stayed together.

I’m not going to say anything about the ending except that it was like… “Of course Luce is going to be an idiot, again.” But the middle was hard to get through especially with “that kind of ending.” (Trying not to spoil.)

Supernatural/Paranormal Notes:

I understand this book is entirely fiction but Kate came up with some annoying rules of the supernatural that kinda bothered me. I read paranormal romance to see if there is anyone out there that even knows the facts about the spirit realm and use them in their stories even semi correctly. Angels and demons exist (fact) but she seems to have created a “fallen angel” that isn’t a demon (fiction.) In the supernatural there is no in-between, they made one and only one choice… God or Lucifer. There used to exist the Nephilim (fact) but are not necessary “cool” people because they are half human half demon… scary. They are the reason for the flood of Noah… God purified the world of Nephilim, they can’t possibly be good. Then she came up with these Outcasts (fiction.) They are only cool in the fact that they are like supernatural zombies (neat-o) it just bothered me that she decided to tell the world that there is a “grey area” in the spirit realm (fiction!) It was all kind of weird and quite a stretch. But hey, this is Fiction, not theology right? Oh well… it’s fun.

RATING:

I’d rate the storyline at a 2. Fair: Not quite worth the time. It didn’t kill me to read it, although I should have been doing something else. I will probably read the 3rd book called Passion just because of the first book and the covers are stinkin' awesome! 

More Books by Lauren Kate:

The Fallen Series:

Book 1: FALLEN

Book 2: TORMENT

Book 3: PASSION (Not reviewed)

Review: THIS PRESENT DARKNESS by Frank E. Peretti

TITLE: This Present Darkness
AUTHOR: Frank Peretti – Web
GENRE: Christian, Supernatural, Thriller
PARANORMAL ELEMENT: Demons & Angels
PUBLISHED: Crossway Books (1986)

REVIEW & SYNOPSIS:

After RE-reading THIS PRESENT DARKNESS by Frank E. Peretti (1986) I am amazed by the spiritual warfare road he had paved. Peretti took a wild chance and wrote a book about a war between angels and demons. While it is accurate that they do battle, I have to say that much of what he wrote about how it works in the supernatural realm is quite fictional.

In the small town of Ashton, a preacher and a newspaper reporter discover a New Age plot to control the town and eventually the world. While this plot is rather far-fetched, just the simple idea of demons taking control of a town is realistic, even if it didn’t have anything to with occultism. But as the story goes on to show that prayer is the only human action that can thwart evil, I’m a little wary of this concept. The idea of Spiritual Warfare was a new thing in the 80’s and reading this book then, was like a revolution of thought. Not much of the way things operated in his book is biblical, so I just say… good thing it’s fiction.

I love the descriptions of the supernatural beings—the beautiful angels, as well as the sulfer-breathing demons. I grew up seeing things like this hiding under my bed. Today, I function in a prophetic deliverance ministry, which leads me to my next critique. Peretti’s descriptions of the violent exorcisms (I call it deliverance) is seriously over-dramatic. BUT if the deliverances weren’t crazy, would we want to read it? Hopefully, but it would have been less exciting. Speaking from experience, deliverance isn’t violent—and shouldn’t be! (If you’ve been involved in a violent deliverance session—I dare say it was spiritual abuse. Check out this website for real deliverance: www.BCRcamp.com.)

Anyway, the whole time I was reading, I wondered where the Holy Spirit played into all of this. It was sad that His angels were visible and Holy Spirit/God was not only invisible but non-participatory. I’m pretty sure that angels don’t live in a video game where they gain “life” from our prayers. That was kind of weird. I feel kind of manipulated into praying because my angel might lose its strength. If there is going to be a story about spiritual warfare, the Holy Spirit should really be more involved.

BUT hey, big fat kudos to his spiritually revolutionary concept of writing about the spiritual realm.

RATING:

To rate this book: Just for fun, if it was 1986 I would have given it a 4: Very Good. But it’s not 1986, and Christian fiction should really be held to the same standards of secular writing. The characters were rather two-dimensional and the plot was predictable and dragged in the middle. I give this an overall score of 2: Fair. (Even though I will probably read it again for old time's sake.)