Double Book Review - "Victoria's Victorian Victory" and "Dragon Rose"

In case you all haven't heard, I finished the first draft of my next book.  Hooray!  Which means I'm taking a few days off to read, read, and read some more!  I've finished two books recently that both have pretty short reviews, so I wanted to go ahead and combine them.

The first is Victoria's Victorian Victory by fellow Instagram author Abigail Shepherd.  Firstly, if you're not already following her - @abiwriting - you really should be.  Many of her posts are written and designed to encourage, inspire, and educate in small, succinct snippets.

Star Rating: 4/5
Genre: Middle Grade/YA, Historical Fiction
Buy the book: Amazon

It feels odd to say I loved how this book began because it began with a heartbreaking scene of Victoria and her family experiencing the grief of losing her father.  Rather, I'll say I appreciated the tact and respect with which Abigail handled this.  Let's be honest, death is a big catalyst in countless books.  Any time it's dealt with in a book for young people, though, it needs to be handled with more care than perhaps in some other genres, and I feel like Abigail did that very well.  There are several scenes where mourning and the loss is discussed (without getting too heavy) in a way that makes their grief so relatable, which I feel is so important, as grief can make people feel so very, very alone.

Beyond that, as I was reading, I was eventually reminded of the American Girls books I used to read as a kid...this could be a kind of International Girls twist on those.  The only thing I was missing was a mini history lesson at the end about life back in the Victorian time period.  In fact, I think Victoria could easily have an adventure with Samantha of the American Girl series, so fitting with this type of book was Abigail's writing.

This story, however, also sincerely made me laugh.  I find humor is often stunted in Victorian-era books just because of all the rules of propriety that surrounded everything back then, but little gibes were artfully woven into the story without breaking the authenticity of the tale.  I have to admit, though, this is where Victoria fell down a bit for me, making way for her younger sister Mary-Anne to shine.  Don't get me wrong, Victoria is everything I expect from an older sister (and I should know because I have one): responsible, a bit more serious, headstrong, and proud.  Abigail hit these characteristics perfectly, but I found myself relating to Mary-Anne and her snarkiness far more.  Could that be because I too am a snarky younger sister.  I dunno.  You should ask my big sister and see what she says, teehee!

Abigail's writing is clever, and I love her portrayal of her various characters, though the pacing was a little slow in the beginning, and some of her dialogue was a little unrealistic to my mind, but that only bothered me a little bit since it is a book for younger people first and foremost.  In the end, though, I highly encourage you to read this book.  It's really fun and well crafted and short and I'm pleased I did.  You should also connect with Abigail on social media because she is a gem!

As for my second review, it's quite a bit shorter.

Star Rating: 4/5
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Buy the book: Amazon

I also recently read Dragon Rose by Christine Pope.  It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which I am an absolute sucker for, so I went in pretty much knowing what to expect.  As I've read so many of these, the new challenge is to wow me with something new and different.

Tea and biscuits enhances the reading experience.

True fact.

Dragon Rose...didn't quite do that for me.  The book was free for Kindle one day, and I enjoyed reading it for the most part, so I didn't really lose much.  The writing was excellent, as was the characterization.  And I really liked the the Dragon, our mysterious love interest...hey, he's a man-shaped dragon.  Of course I'm gonna like him.  There were some things that dimmed my joy at reading, though: 1) some of the storytelling vehicles were a little too on the nose, 2) I didn't feel like I got a payoff with the romance, and 3) can we please stop with focusing so much on the female protagonist's appearance?!  Guh, this is such a pet peeve of mine.  I'm okay if it's mentioned once, maybe twice, but more than that and it begins to undermine the rest of her good traits.  Character, intelligence, talent, and then beauty is my ideal hierarchy of things to focus on in any character, so...yeah...that got old fast for me.

Still, it's a Beauty and the Beast story, so I still really enjoyed it.  Plus, it was riveting enough that I read the entire thing in one day, which always gets a book bonus points for me.

Thanks for reading!

Book Review - Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2 - 5)

Star Rating: 4/5
Genre: Middle Grade/YA, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Buy the book: Amazon

So a few months back I did a review for The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, and I loved it.  Sadly, I wasn't able to read any of the others in the series while I was there.  I've just been back home to visit for a week, however, and my awesome nephew was good enough to loan the rest of the series to me while I was there, and man did I chew through these babies.  Every minute I could get, I was reading.  In the car, late into the night, I needed to get this series done, and I'm really pleased I did.

I genuinely enjoyed the stories and the characters.  I thought the latter of these were the better of the two.  I also have an even deeper appreciation of Riordan's characterization work since watching the two Percy Jackson films that have come out last night.  Ugh...Hollywood can be such an evil place that absolutely mangles good characters.  Granted, sometimes they do a good job, but not with those films.  Nathan Fillion as Hermes is a saving grace.  Anyway, loved the characterizations as well as how deep he got into the mythology.  The books were all really engaging and kept me guessing as to who was going to do what.  Loved that.

I did have a few issues that strongly pervaded the books, however, and took me out of the stories.  Firstly, I ended up having a lot of issues seeing the Greek gods as caring parental figures because they're so capricious.  I know because they're immortal, mortal lives, even those of the children of their fellow gods, are nothing, but it really lost any sense of humanity the gods might have had for me.  Even Hermes, who seemed the most engaged with his kids, was still really distant.  And on that same note, they have so many kids!!!  Holy cow, guys, can't you keep it in your pants for five minutes?!  I cannot believe that any of the gods truly loved the mortals who bore them children because there were gobs of children all around the same age from the same parents.  That got to be a little unbelievable for me, made me lose connection with them.  And then there's Hephaestus.  So I was under the impression that he was loyal to Aphrodite.  I mean, he set a trap for her because she was cheating, but turns out he's got a gaggle of offspring of his own?  That was a big issue for me too.

All in all, though, the stories were really interesting and exciting and kept me hooked.  I liked them so much I want to read Riordan's other work, though I would probably buy them on Kindle...except that I really love physical books.  The struggle is real.

Thanks for reading!

Book Review - The Manningtree Account

I'm sorry I look so cross in this picture.  It has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the fact that I was thousands of feet up in the air.  I am not what you would call a happy flyer.

Star Rating: 5/5, plus a Book Magic achievement badge
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Historical
Buy the book: Amazon

If you read my last review, the one for James Fahy's Crescent Moon, you know I was struggling with the dreaded book hangover.  I wasn't sure where to turn to get my next fix - yes, I know how I sound.  After reading this lovely interview between James Fahy and Becky Wright, however, I decided I should go ahead and open up The Manningtree Account by Becky Wright, which I've had sitting on my Kindle for a little while now.

After the fact, I realize my timing in reading this book might not be entirely fair.  See, I was looking for something to distract me during a flight from Nashville to Virginia, which is not an easy task given my anxiety about flying and the fact that my mind annoyingly likes to wander to all the things that can go wrong during a flight and the potential aftermath.  With confidence, however, I can tell you that this book rises above all panic-inducing distractions (with the exception of one very big flight-bump) and serves the greatest purpose a book can: magic.

The Manningtree Account is a creepy, atmospheric, dark thriller, a proper ghost story.  I don't generally like films like Paranormal Activity, but I really, really liked this.  This had so much depth and history with roots in real witch trials from the 17th century.  I started it before I left for the airport yesterday, got a little more into it during the flight, and then, as we waited for permission to pull out out electronic devices again, I kept wanting to get back to the story.  <--That's a point in favor of physical books, but that's a whole other argument.

Heather, our first person narrator for most of the story, has a fantastic voice.  She's witty and down to earth and tough, just a few of my favorite traits in a character.  The story is told from several points of view, however, and the transitions are handled perfectly.  I was never left wondering where we were or who was speaking.

Likewise, the writing is beautiful, almost like poetry in some places.  For example:

"Hadn't she known, as dusk stroked the earth with slithering fingers, that this may be the night they came?"

I absolutely love that!  Meanwhile, in other places, it comes off like a really well done film, which is always an awesome feat in my mind.  This is mostly in the way some scenes are described.  I imagined the scene panning downwards after a particularly scary bit, cutting to other bits of the room to showcase various tableaus of devastation.  And then there was one moment wherein, like when you're watching a scary movie, you start wanting to shout at the characters: "No!  Don't do that!  That's how people end up dead!"

Another thing I loved about the writing was the way we're not really outright told anything.  Rather, everything is introduced via dialogue and action.  I didn't know who our main character, Heather, was for a while, and I liked it that way.  I think that helped to build the atmosphere of mystery.  Again, perfect distraction for me as I picked up a clue here and context there as we crept along in the story - not that the pace creeps.  The pace is perfect!  The atmosphere creeps like a cold fog rolling across the ground.  There's a feeling of something always being just behind your shoulder or around the next corner.

I was so into the book by the time our hour-long flight was almost over, I didn't hear the instructions to return my tray table to its proper, upright position.  My older sister (whose name, coincidentally, is also Heather!) had to get my attention and repeat what the flight attendants had just said.  And then I was thrilled when we were told that folks with connections needed to get off the plane first and so we should remain in our seats until after they had gone.  More reading time for me!  And then Heather (my Heather, not the book-Heather) started grousing at me because I had really taken the wait-for-other-passengers thing to heart and took my dear sweet time about putting the book away.

That's what I mean when I talk about magic!  I'm usually trying to get off the plane as quickly as possible, but this book was such a comfort to me, which is a really odd thing to say given how thoroughly creepy it was.  I'm sure some it would scare the pants off of some people, but I don't actually believe in ghosts, so that probably deadened (get it?) some of the fear I would have otherwise had for the story.

Finally, I don't want to give anything away, but something happened at the end that made my sister say to me, "What's wrong, Dae?  Your eyes just got as big as saucers."  Dun-dun-duuuuuuuun!  If you want to know what this is about, you're just going to have to read it yourself.

I highly recommend this book.  It's sooooooooo creepy and well written and chilling.  Highly enjoyable!  If you're easily freaked out or do believe in ghosts, though, maybe read it with the lights on or outside on a sunny day.  Thanks for reading!

Book Review - Crescent Moon

Star Rating: 5/5
Genre: Paranormal, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Buy the book: Amazon

***SPOILER ALERT FOR BOOK 1, Hell's Teeth***  Seeing as this is the second in a series, you're gonna find out some stuff in the below review that maybe you didn't want to know before reading the first.  Do yourself a favor and just buy Hell's Teeth right now.  It is seriously so good.  You can see my review of that book here if you don't believe me.  See?  Super good!  Okay, I'll give you some time to buy and read the book.
~Cue elevator music~
All done?  See what I mean?!  So good, right?  Great!  Let's carry on with the review.

Synopsis (summarized from Amazon): Phoebe Harkness’ life has changed forever. Thirty years after a cataclysmic world war that eviscerated one third of the human population, a new sub-species of vampire-like drones has set its teeth to the survivors of humanity.  They’re not the only ones: ‘Genetic Others’ such as vampires, werewolves and more roam the streets of New Oxford, trying – and sometimes failing – to live peacefully amongst humankind.  But that is all about to change.  A spate of serial killings have occurred, rocking the already fragile ecosystem of New Oxford.  Brutal murders and mutilation are now commonplace.  Phoebe must get to work. She is named as liaison between the Genetic Others and the Cabal, the ruling order of the walled city.  Crescent Moon is the gripping second instalment of the urban gothic Phoebe Harkness series. It follows the young doctor as she stalks through the corrupt dystopia of New Oxford.

Sooooooo I'm going to share something that might make some of you want to throw stuff at me.  If you do, please choose pillows, teddy bears, and other fluffy/not-dense objects because I have terrible reflexes and I like my face as is.  Here goes: I don't get hangovers from alcohol.  I just don't, never have really.  "Well, have you ever been really drunk?" you might ask.  To that let me just say I once spent a car ride home with the hubs giggling and vehemently insisting I absolutely didn't need to drink a glass of water because (and here comes some killer reasoning) the orange juice in the screwdrivers I had been making myself all night had pulp in it.  Pulp!  So it's all fine!  And guess who was as bouncy and bright eyed the next morning as usual?  Me.  So I don't know what a hangover feels like...until now.  Book hangover, which is new to me as well.

What.  The.  H?

This sucks so bad.  No, I don't have headaches and yucky feelings and some of the other stuff I've heard people complain about.  But what am I supposed to do with myself now?!  Okay, let me start at the beginning.

So Crescent Moon, the follow up to James Fahy's paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy thriller Hell's Teeth, jumps right in with an intro that unceremoniously hurls you like a shot put ball (just the shot, I guess?) into the middle of the plot without giving much of anything away.  I am immediately sucked in, leaning forward and thinking, Go ooooooon.  And on top of that, we immediately hear the narrator's fantastic voice - that would be the main character and ubermistress of dry wit, Phoebe Harkness.  She is absolutely hysterical.  Case in point: she identifies her age as thirtymumble.  Thank you, Mister Fahy.  I shall henceforth be stealing this to use in my real life interactions.

And we get that same, delightful characterization via Phoebe for the other characters as well, even minor ones, but it's done so well, so subtly.  We're never told outright, this person has a razor-edged tongue.  No, no.  We just hear that through their dialogue and actions.  It's the kind of characterization that just silently bleeds into the background and paints you a picture without ever telling you what to look for.  All the kudos!

And let us not forget all the fantastic references I gushed about in the review for Hell's Teeth.  So.  Many.  Of.  These!  Some of those I spotted might be pure coincidence, but in my head I like to think a character in this book called Anderson lowers the IQ of the entire street when he talks out loud.  Points for whoever knows what I'm talking about. ;)

You know what else I like about these books?  The fact that Phoebe is realistic.  For one thing, she's not a robot.  So often, strong, analytically-minded female characters are painted as really flat and totally don't need anyone or any form of comfort whatsoever, which I just don't think can be the case for anyone 100% of the time.  And it's not for her.  There's a moment where she admits (only to herself, of course) that all she wanted to do after this one particularly trying day was "snuggle down somewhere comfortable and have my hair stroked".  Aha!  And right there, in a single rare moment, we see her as deeper than Lady-Scientist-Bot 3000.  Yeah, that's more of that great character building as well.

On top of that, though, you know what else I love about her?  She has no idea what she's doing and she knows it and it shows.  Again, I think way too often when our hero is clueless, they still somehow sail through pretty much flawlessly.  But, as careful as she tries to be, Phoebe keeps making little (and sometimes big) blunders.  Not that it's really her fault, mind you, because she's just been given this new liaison job without really much of a choice and even less training...okay, zero training.  And I think it's so much more realistic that she does mess stuff up.  You know what I think I've just realized?  I wanna be Phoebe Harkness when I grow up.  Yup.  New life goal realized!

And in that same vein, I'm just gonna say the budding...relationship (if it can be called that) is everything I want in a book.  Aaaaaand this is where the hangover begins.  As this is a spoiler-free review, I can't get into the details, but I will say I was 78% into the book and realized [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS].  Are you freakin' kidding me?!  I'm dying.  I need the next book, like, yesterday.  I actually wrote in my notes: "You know what?  I wouldn't even care if he was using me.  Sexy!"  You just cannot help but think Alessandro is one of the smoothest vampires of all time.  I mean that, and I am including all entertainment mediums here.

And then the feels!  Oh, the feels.  I was actually shouting at my book when [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS], so much so that I scared  Badger and he went to hide in his closet.  It's okay, baby-dog.  Mummy just needs to be able to jump into the book and shake some sense into people.  Okay?  It was around this time (about halfway into the book) that I really started to wish I could read faster.  And then not too long after that, at the beginning of Chapter 23, I needed to stop reading and have a nap because this book was wearing me out.  That is the level of wild feelings/action-packed rollercoaster ride we're talking about.

And in the midst of all this, James Fahy included a masquerade ball (always improves a story, IMHO), avoided a massive cliche that he could have easily taken (but I'm so glad he didn't), addressed the issue of prejudice in such a succinct and poignant way (without being preachy in the least), seriously made me question what his browser history looks like (you do seem to know a lot about dead bodies, mate), and set up a huge cliffhanger for the next book!

I'm dead.  I need the next one so bad, and it's not out yet.  Uuuuuuugh, if this horrible fugue state is the mental equivalent of the physical symptoms of a hangover, how do you people do it?!  Yeah, if you thought this review sounded a bit disjointed and rambly, that's because I cannot seem to get my bearings.  Guh, I don't even know where to turn next in my reading adventures.

All in all, read the series.  Like, right now.  Do it.  It's amazing and massively entertaining and so well constructed and riveting and I love every character for so many different reasons and seriouslydudewhenisthenextbookcomingoutbecauseyourekillingmehere.  Thanks for reading!

Book Review - Lifesong

Such an appropriate backdrop for this book. :) Sorry for the bad lighting.  A storm was starting to roll in when I took this.

Currently drinking: Jasmine green tea with a slice of homemade Victoria sponge cake, made with fresh strawberries the hubs and I picked the other day.

Currently burning: Loki from Bubble and Geek, as it smells like pine and woods, and I want an outdoorsy scent whilst I write this.

Star Rating: 4/5
Genre: Science Fiction and Fantasy, Short Reads
Buy the book: Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon): She came from a different place, a world living in harmony with the lifesong that flows through everything, connecting all to the great song of the universe.  Suddenly, she's trapped on our world, a place hell bent on self-destruction, a place that destroys without thought, poisons its own water supply and pollutes the very air that it breathes. Horrified to discover we have no lifesong, the question burns – what kind of a world is this, that can treat itself so?  Hauntingly beautiful, this story will make you think and feel about our planet and our choices, and wonder if, ultimately, the love of one woman is enough to save an entire world?

There's something I love about a book I can knock out quickly.  Lifesong by Julia Blake* is definitely that.  I read it in about an hour, right on the heels of A Shining in the Shadows.  And I don't consider myself a particularly speedy reader.  That's why, if you compare one of the pictures I took for my last review to one I took for Lifesong, it looks like I hadn't moved...because I really hadn't.

*Julia is such a sweet person.  She's one of my Booksta-friends, and I highly recommend that you follow her - @juliablakeauthor - on Instagram for lovely, bookish content.

All that being said, this is not what I consider a "light" read.  Lifesong is beautiful and masterfully crafted story that addresses the issues of grief and environmentalism in it's short span - no small task by any stretch of the imagination.  There's a line early on in the book during the funeral of the main character's grandfather: "She was alone."  She's not actually, as we see later in the book because she has friends and customers, but grief makes you feel alone.  It's terrible and insidious, and Julia Blake captured that so poignantly in a single line.

The theme of environmentalism is also handled very well, as the story is told from the perspective of the main character, an alien female from another planet, the inhabitants of which are all in tune with the life song of every plant and creature there.  There's also a focus on violence, hunger, and the other heartbreaking issues of our planet.  Like I said, not a light read, but the message is vitally important.

Again, the world-crafting is astonishing for such a short story.  It opens with the mention of "twin moons" rising, which immediately sets us elsewhere, and Julia Blake uses the unique perspective of the main character as a newcomer to our planet to set the stage.

My only complaints with the book are these: 1) I thought the main character came off as a little sanctimonious at times, though I know that comes from a position of not understanding the perspective of a people so different from her own.  2) In somewhat the same vein, there's a bit where it's mentioned that in regards to human beings and earth, "Where children are bred indiscriminately..." because on their planet, children are only born to couples who truly want them**.  This bothered me because that's not the fault of human beings; that's just how nature works on this planet, and it came off as a bit unfairly judgemental to me.

**Although, despite my complaints, this would be amazing if this were the case on earth.  The debates about birth control wouldn't even be an issue.  Problem solved!  How do we make that happen?

To sum up, I think everyone should read this book.  It's not like it's going to cost you a lot of time with a piece this short after all.  The message is so important, and it's beautifully written.  Plus, it's only a couple of bucks on Amazon.  What do you have to lose?

Thanks for reading.