Review: Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

Details:

Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven’t given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians. And now their most threatening enemy yet—the chaos snake Apophis—is rising. If they don’t prevent him from breaking free in a few days’ time, the world will come to an end. In other words, it’s a typical week for the Kane family. To have any chance of battling the Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra. But that would be a feat more powerful than any magician has ever accomplished. First they have to search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is exactly? Narrated in two different wisecracking voices, featuring a large cast of new and unforgettable characters, and with adventures spanning the globe, this second installment in the Kane Chronicles is nothing short of a thrill ride.

Audio CD, Library Edition, 13 dics
Published May 3rd 2011 by Brilliance Audio (first published January 1st 2011)
ISBN: 1455808393 (ISBN13: 9781455808397)
series: Kane Chronicles #2
(Goodreads)
 
 

Review:

Having been unimpressed with The Red Pyramid, I was wary of checking out The Throne of Fire.  But I was desperate for a new audiobook, and the cover looked pretty good, so I risked it.

What an awesome book this is!

The second world-saving adventure falls on the thirteenth birthday of Sadie.  So, she’s mopy and self-centered at times, and I can totally understand why—I would feel the same way if this stuff happened on my day!  Carter come across a little bit like an oaf.  He’s not quite the hero as much as a love-struck-gotta-save-the-girl magician.  Sadie really is the go-to girl for the world-saving.  And I really like her in this role, but felt disappointed that Carter wasn’t more of a hero.  And maybe this was Sadie’s chance to shine, since Carter kinda had the lead in The Red Pyramid.

Either way, in true Riordan fashion, there is non-stop action from beginning to end.  There is an amazing cast of supporting characters and gods!  Riordan’s knowledge of Egyptian had me awestruck.  Some minor gods have some major roles in this book!  Take a bow, Mr. Riordan!

And, also in Riordan fashion, there’s not much I can without ruining the plot!  So, do yourself a favor, and read this book!

I cannot wait for the third installment in the Kane Chronicles!

5 Trees: This throne is on fire!

Get to reading,

Review: The Last Noel by Heather Graham

Description:

With a storm paralyzing New England, the O’Boyle household becomes prey to a pair of brutal escaped killers desperate to find refuge.
 
Skyler O’Boyle is convinced the only way they can live through the night is by playing a daring psychological game to throw the convicts off their guard. Threatened by a pair of Smith & Wessons, she has to pray that the rest of her family will play along, buying them time. Her one hope for rescue is that the men are unaware that her daughter, Kat, has escaped into the blizzard. But as the wind and snow continue to rage with all the vehemence of a maddened banshee, her prayers that Kat can somehow find help seem fragile indeed.
 
When Kat stumbles on a third felon, half-frozen and delirious, her shock deepens, because she recognizes Craig Devon immediately. What is the onetime love of her life doing back in town - and in such company? With the threat of death hanging over the O’Boyles, Craig is desperate to unload a vital secret that could change their destiny. But can he trust Kat with the truth? Because one false move and everything he’s sacrificed will shatter - and this could be everyone’s final Christmas alive.

Details:

Audio CD, 0 pages
Published October 23rd 2007 by Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged (first published 2007)
ISBN: 1423343891 (ISBN13: 9781423343899)

Review:

I have been intrigued by Heather Graham for some time, and wanted to check out something of hers, so I literally checked out an audiobook from the library and set to it.

I love suspense novels.  It is kinda like my bread and butter, the core of myself as a bookish nerd.  I have been reading this genre since I was a wee lad (said in my best Irish accent…read the book and you’ll understand.  Better yet listen to the audiobook!)—John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Terri Blackstock, among others.  I like finding new authors in a genre I already love, as well as new genres altogether.  I was happily satisfied with The Last Noel and will add Graham to my must read authors!

We got all the dysfunctionally functional family, uber bad guys, the craziness of a holiday, and forces or Mother Nature needed for a fun nail-biter.  From the start, you know this is going to be good.  The story is told from a narrator’s POV and you hear the thoughts and yearnings of many of the family members throughout the book.  It’s a great way to tell a very intricate story like this with so many different players.

Uncle Patty is my favorite character, and I honestly can’t put my finger on why.  He’s the comic relief, and a little eccentric, and a ton of fun.  He lightens the mood on an otherwise dark story.

The family dynamics and the way they work together and love each other in their own ways was very real.  I like that they we’re perfect or Rockwellian (spellcheck says that isn’t a real word…hmm…does it make sense, do you know what I’m trying to say there?).  Their flaws, however small they may be, made them real people with real fears and real hopes and dreams.  People you could connect with.

My real issue is with Craig.  And the ending.  Let’s start with the ending (and the prologue because that counts as ending).  It was too happy.  Not that everything was perfect in the end, but it was just, well, I couldn’t relate to it.  I could see myself responding the same way the family did through the entire story, but then felt that I wouldn’t have done what they did at the end.  It was too neat and pretty.  And prologue, it was even happier.  Very Hallmark movieish.  I liked one point where things happened, and were over, and it just kinda came to a stopping point.  That was a good place to stop.  I didn’t need the rainbows and butterflies ending.

Craig is a whole issue in itself/himself.  I don’t feel (and maybe I missed something) that his story was really explained.  The whole “why he’s there” issue was not something that I remember hearing, so if I missed it, please let me know!  It seems very convenient that he was there being who he was and how he knew them all.  Anyways, so I can’t take off for this, since I might have been the one that missed it, but still, I needed to throw that nugget at ya.

4 Trees: This one’s not getting coal for Christmas!

Get to reading,

Richard

Review: Getting Lucky by DC Brod

Details:

When a young reporter is killed in a hit and run accident, freelance writer Robyn Guthrie agrees to finish one of the stories the reporter had been writing for the local newspaper. But nothing is as simple as it seems when she finds out about shady land deals, an old high school nemesis, and Robyn's aging mother.

Hardcover, 336 pages
Expected publication: December 18th 2011 by F+W Media, Inc. (first published November 18th 2011)
ISBN: 1440531986 (ISBN13: 9781440531989)
 

Review:

I have been reading out of my genre-comfort zone for sometime now.  I have discovered series and authors of other genres that I am excited to continue, and other that I have disliked.  Reading Getting Lucky was like a warm homecoming.  Comfortable and welcoming like old family and friends.

This is a crime novel, but not anything like a police procedural.  There’s a hodgepodge cast of characters, all with their little quirks.  Some are stereotypes, others are unexpected, but all are just what they need to be to get this story across.  And really, there are no cops involved.

I did not read the first in the series, Getting Sassy.  There are some things I feel like I missed.  Like the fortune that Robyn’s mother has.  I would love to know where that came from!  Though there were some questions, I didn’t miss enough to not enjoy this book.  Robyn is a reporter, not a police officer, so her moral compass can skew a little, which makes her fun.  Mick, her maybe-ex-boyfriend, has mob connections.  Her mom is in the early stages of Alzheimer's.  There’s a kind of shady feel to the book, like Robyn bends any and all rules to reach her final goal.  Which, honestly, is kind of refreshing!  I’m used to fairly straight-laced cop-types who do their job by the book.  Robyn is sometimes off the grid and kept me guessing a lot!

Though Getting Lucky was slow going at first, once the plot got established, it moved at a nice even pace through to the end.  And even though it was fairly predictable, I enjoyed it thoroughly.  It left me with that happy euphoria after eating that welcome-home dinner of all your favorite foods—completely satisfied.

4 Trees: Enjoyable, fun, and easy read

Get to reading,

*This book was provided to me by the publicist*

Review: Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman

Details:

"The biggest mysteries in our genre are why Reed Coleman isn't already huge, and why Moe Prager isn't already an icon."—Lee Child
 
At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez. It seems Carmella's estranged sister Alta has been murdered, but no one in New York City seems to care. Why? Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his own life and death struggle. Making headway on the case is no mean feat as no one, including Alta's partner Maya Watson, wants to cooperate. Moe chips away until he discovers a cancer roiling just below the surface, a cancer whose symptoms include bureaucratic greed, sexual harassment, and blackmail. But is any of it connected to Alta's brutal murder?
 
Hardcover, 300 pages
Published December 18, 2011 by Tyrus Books
ISBN: 1935562649 (ISBN13: 9781935562641)
series: Moe Prager #7
(Goodreads)
 

Review:

So, my new favorite crime writer is Reed Farrel Coleman.  Hurt Machine is on my Best Of 2011 book list on Goodreads.  Add it to your TBR now.
 
This is my first Coleman novel, and thus my first in the Moe Prager series (did you notice that this is book #7?).  For this one, you don’t need to have read the others to understand this book.  It’s awesome the way that you immediately understand Moe and feel for him and with him.
 
Coleman writes with such depth and maturity, that I got emotional reading Hurt Machine.  And I’m not talking about weepy feminine emotional.  This is the dude’s kind of emotional, where you’re all like, “Dude, that sucks.”  Here are two examples from the ARC that really jumped at me:
 

Death and hurt were pretty present on my mind. I wondered when the former would come and if the latter would ever really disappear. I wasn’t so much concerned with my hurt. I’d been long-hardened to the slings and arrows. No, I was more focused on the hurt I would leave in my wake, the damage I’d done and left unaddressed or unrepaired. Humans are like hurt machines. No matter how hard we try not to do it, we seem to inflict hurt on one another as naturally as we breathe. (From Chapter One)

 

Only in retrospect is life a simple series of easily connected dots. Humans yearn for simple answers to complex questions, but it just ain’t the way things work. Nothing involving human beings is simple. Nothing! (From page 74)

 
And the whole book is written like that.  Prose that tears you to the core, rips your being into pieces, then puts all the parts back.  There is a real sense of going through this with Moe, kind of like the feeling of a memoir.  I just hurt for him, felt the wake of his hurt machine.  Especially in the epilogue, Coleman’s writing so heartfelt, honest.  So, human.  The book is dark (Moe has been diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his abdomen) and there is a lot of introspection, but in a good way, it never feels too weighty or overly self-serving.
 
By this point in a review I have usually dealt with the characters, who I liked and didn’t like.  Um, ok, so I have only one of the many that I don’t like.  I really don’t so much dislike Carm as much as I hate her.  Want to talk about self-serving, she’s completely selfish and inconsiderate.  Take note from the description when she approaches Moe.  Yeah, that’s par for the course with her. 
 
Moe is my new hero—in that fictional-character kinda way (my dad is actually my hero).  I know he’s completely fictional, but he went through a lot and then at the end, fumbled his way into solving the case!  Way to go, Moe!
 
Do yourself a favor and read this book…NOW!
 

5 Trees: Hurt Machine is actually an awesome machine!

Get to reading,

*This book was provided to me by the publicist through netGalley*

Review: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Details:

Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that?

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
 
Audiobook, 13 pages
Published April 8th 2008 by Recorded Books (first published February 8th 2005)
series: Uglies #1
literary awards: South Carolina Book Award Nominee for Young Adult Book Award (2008), Georgia Peach Honor Book Award (2008), Abraham Lincoln Award (2007)
(Goodreads)
 

 

Review:

Ok, so you know when there is a super-hyped book and you’re like, “Well, with all the major hype, I just don’t know if I should give in and read it.”?  Well, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld was one of those books for me.  And I’m glad I read it, because I know what all the hype’s about.  But I just didn’t enjoy it the way I thought I would.  Honestly, it really frustrated me.

Part of the irritation could be from the narrator.  She made Tally very whiney at times.  I detest whiney characters, especially those who are whiney for no reason like Tally was.  Blind obedience turning into quiet defiance then to full-fledged rebellion is a normal theme in YA dystopian, so I was cool with that.  What got under my skin so much is Tally.  I mean honestly, she just couldn’t see that what she was doing was wrong.  Her motivation of being pretty just got old very fast.

So, I basically just wanted it over.  But it was like the book that never ended!  Over all I was really very irritated by Uglies. I will give Pretties a try, but depending on my mood after finishing it, I may or may not ever read Westerfeld again.

*Packs up soapbox and heads home*

2 Trees: Mildly entertaining, left me with an ugly feeling about it.

Get to reading,

Review: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Description:
Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store). Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company. She's got no experience. But that doesn't matter. Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli. From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e. And now the hot guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't. Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand. All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man.

Details:
Audio CD
Published 1995 by Recorded Books LLC (first published 1994)
ISBN: 140253938X (ISBN13: 9781402539381)
Series: Stephanie Plum #1
literary awards: The Crime Writers' Association New Blood Dagger (1995)
 
Review:
I have eyed the Stephanie Plum books for a long time.  I found a paperback copy in our favorite used book store.  Then, in desperate need of a new audiobook, I looked at my library, and found this.  So, instead of reading it, I got to listen to it.  I have reviewed a newer release by Evanovich (Wicked Appetite) that I really enjoyed, so I had an inkling that the Stephanie Plum books would tickle my reading bone.  I was right.
 
Stephanie is desperate to make some money and the last resort is working for her cousin’s bonding company as a bounty hunter.  First of all, the way Evanovich describes Stephanie is so real, so genuine.  Second, it’s believable.  This is not one of those books you have to suspend reality to buy into.  From the get-go I was all-in.  Last, it’s just fun.
 
Stephanie at times seemed to go out of her way to get into trouble.  And Morelli kept coming to her rescue.  But she never let it stop her.  She picked herself up, learned, and moved forward.  She didn’t figure out the bad buy until I did, and that was when he revealed himself.  I never saw it coming.
 

4 Trees: This is just Plum entertaining

Get to reading,
Richard

Follow Friday (18): Thanksgiving Edition

Q: It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading?

A: I don’t think that Parajunkee and Alison knew what they’re getting themselves into with question!  Answers to this question might be quite long!

First, I am thankful for my wife, Rebecca.  Without her decision to begin book blogging, I would never have gotten into this whole monster that consumes my life…in a good way!  Book blogging & reading have become my hobbies.  And I was desperately in need of a hobby!

I am thankful for there being such an encouraging and welcoming community of fellow bookish-types out there.  Though we all have the same ultimate goal (to get good galleys!), there’s no hatred, intense competition, etc.  Just awesome people doing awesome things!

The various blog hops out there bring us all together, so I am thankful for all the hosts and all the time and effort they put into to making them awesome!

And this post wouldn’t be complete without throwing some thanks out the authors  and the publishing companies of the books we read and review.  What would a book blog be without the books to review?  Um, yeah, I had the same though about the answer to that question.  I know my blog would be so sad without all the book reviews!

Ms. Rachel, thanks needs to be given to you, too for mentioning me in your post!

What books am I thankful for reading?  Honestly, I’m thankful that Stephanie Meyer wrote the Twilight series.  For, if I had not read it, I wouldn’t have been compelled to find something better to read (hence the name of my blog).  If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I hate the Twilight books.  But, yes, they did inspire me to keep reading.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

Get to reading,

Review: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

This past week we took a trip in honor of our middle child’s birthday to the Kingdom of Magic in the city that Walt built.  On purpose, I left my laptop at home, but forgot to take a notebook.  So, notes and ideas for this review were written on a paper plate.  At least it wasn’t on a paper towel or something!

Now…on to the review:

Details:

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love

470 pages
Published October 18th 2011 by Del Rey
ISBN: 0345523318 (ISBN13: 9780345523310)
series: Gone With the Respiration #1
 

Review:

Dearly, Departed has put me in an interesting position.  I have longed for this book since first learning of it.  And now, having read it, I’m torn.  I don’t quite know how to feel about it.

I know what I don’t feel.  I never felt invested in the characters or the plot.  Pamela was the only person in the book I really cared what happened to.  There are people I wanted to be hit by a Steampunk bus, but no others that I truly cared about.  Even the main characters of Nora and Bram.  It's frustrating to read a whole book and not care.  Sad, I know.

I spent much of my time reading this trying to remember from who's perspective I was reading.  Every chapter is written from a different character’s perspective.  Incredibly confusing, especially when all the characters are in the same scene.

This was an interesting concept on zombies and I was incredibly excited to read Habel’s take.  And I knew there would be the zombmance, but overall it just didn’t work for me.  As a whole there was a major disconnect from scene to scene, perspective to perspective.  This presented itself as a debut novel.  I don’t plan on reading the sequel.

2 Trees: I am departing from this series.

Get to reading,



*This book was provided to me by the publishers through netGalley* 

Review: The Undertaker by William F. Brown

Description:
Curiosity can kill more than cats, but when Pete Talbott found himself at the wrong end of Gino Parini's .45 reading his own obituary, it was a mystery he couldn't leave alone. From the cornfields of Ohio to the gritty slums of Chicago, a bloody kitchen in a Back Bay townhouse, New York's Washington Square, and the nation's Capitol itself, the hunt is on. Someone with a penchant for sharp scalpels and embalming tables is planting bodies under other people's names, and if Talbott doesn't stop them, he and his quirky new girlfriend Sandy Kasmarek will be next on the Undertaker's list.

Details:
ebook, 322 pages
Published February 1st 2011 by William F. Brown
ISBN: 1617505110 (ISBN13: 9781617505119)
 
Review:
The Undertaker has the humor of a Stephanie Plum novel, with the action, blood, and gore that men appreciate.  So, dudes, take note, this is a book you would like.
 
So, I have to get my biggest complaint out of the way: there are some major rookie editing mistakes.  Brown is a fairly accomplished author and there are some quite inexcusable editing faux pas.  The Undertaker should have been edited again.  And maybe again.
 
We open with a very sinister vibe.  With the feelings of horror and of terror.  As the story progresses what unravels, and I feel that maybe the plot unraveled in a bad way, is a mystery/suspense/government conspiracy type of thing.  Not a bad thing, per se, but maybe a little off kilter from where the book started.  I had expected something more serial-killer than officials on the take.
 
I read this easily, and could have read it in a couple of sitting had life not interrupted so often.  Peter has wit and charm, balanced against Sandy’s cynicism and bravado.  They worked well together and their developing romance (you see this coming from a mile away) provides a nice break from the running, guns, Mob, Tinkerton, whatever was chasing them at the moment.  The story progressed easily from the action, to the non-action, and back again.  I was never bored
 
I was, however, perplexed by a couple thing, things that I don’t feel were discussed or used to their full potential.  1. Peter was in the Army, even if for a short time, and it was mentioned a couple times that his “training” came to his aid, but there were times where his Army background should have made a bigger impact, and it just didn’t. 2. Why did Tinkerton et al. decide to do what they did?  I won’t give anything, but I just don’t think this was fleshed out enough.  There’s enough there to wrap the story up, but just left some unanswered questions.
 
What might have been a 4 Tree book, ended up being 3 Trees.  I was not disappointed in the story or the plot, but surprised by the overall quality of the the finished book.
 

3 Trees: let this one take you under, you will enjoy it!

Get to reading,

*This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review*

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Description:
Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
 
It can.
 
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
 
There is.
 
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
 
She's wrong.
 
Details:
Hardcover, 452 pages
Published September 27th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN: 1442421762 (ISBN13: 9781442421769)
url: http://maradyer.com/
series: Mara Dyer #1
(Goodreads)
 
Review:
I have thought about this review all day.  Mostly because my emotional reaction to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is confusion.  Sheer and utter confusion.
 
Now, this is not to say that Mara Dyer is not a good book.  It is.  There is lots of good in there: good writing,  good mystery.  But that’s about it.  Mara Dyer is just good.  Barely average.  Parts were somewhat disjointed as though we were inside Mara's brain and the book was written the same as her thought process--like there were missing details, purposefully removed to add to the confusion.
 
The characters are shallow and thin as rice paper.  Mara is whiney and inconsistent.  Aiden and Anna were plastic copies of other evil stereotypical just-there-for-angst characters of many YA novels.  Noah was unrealistic and multiple-personalitied.  From chapter to chapter I just didn’t know who I was going to get.  Jamie was the only character who seemed to be thought through and remained himself.  And I liked him and Daniel the most of all the people in the book.
 
Torn between hating it and liking it with mild curiosity, I was left confused and vaguely disappointed. There were so many almosts, but nothing really developed or came to light in the some 400 pages.  Mara Dyer felt like a 400+ page introduction.  There was a major cliffhanger at the end.  Which is enough to have me put book 2 on my TBR.  I can't decide if I hate Hodkin or appreciate her cunning.
 
I don't know how I feel about it, except that confusion pretty much describes it.  Maybe that’s how we’re supposed to feel?
 

2 Trees: For all the hype, I was let down.

Get to reading,

Richard

*Update to this review: After seeing Hodkin at Yall Fest, I am even more intrigued than before about who Mara Dyer is.  Not that she lessened my confusion about the book, but peaked my interest even more for book 2.  She did not change my mind about my 2 Tree rating, however.*

Yall Fest 2011 Rewind & Book Haul

So, we totally busted up in the Yall Fest on Saturday and had a great time! All the author panels, and discussions, and information, and book signings…it was so much awesomeness all in one place! If you’re from the South, and missed it, you should def plan to attend next year’s (for I surely hope there is a next year’s to attend!) Authors Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl helped organize the event in conjunction with Blue Bicycle Books and many other sponsors. What a success!

Rebecca, Cana, & I left very early Saturday morning and got back very late that night, but it was worth it! I found new authors to read, new authors to learn more about their works, and have even decided that I’m not longer too scared to try to read Ellen Hopkin’s Crank series after hearing her talk about it.

I was also inspired. No, not to write, but to create my own Yall Fest-inspired blog event. I, of course, having just decided to embark on this journey this very morning, don’t have many details yet, but watch the blog for more info on my untitled Southern Book Tour event (maybe that’s just what it will be called) to feature Southern authors, Southern books, and Southern book bloggers.
 

Now for the Book Haul…

The book I picked up this weekend is The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell. She was so much fun on the panels, and even when she was just in the audience! Hearing her talk about this book was enough to get me to buy it, have it AUTOGRAPHED(!!), and put it on my TBR.  I also got my copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer signed!
 

Details:

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.

Hardcover, 293 pages
Published March 7th 2011 by Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN: 0547482477 (ISBN13: 9780547482477)
original title: The Vespertine
url: http://www.thevespertine.com
series: The Vespertine #1
(Goodreads)
 
What awesomeness did you get this week?
 
Get to reading,