Countdown by Michelle Maddox

Posted on October 18, 2008 by janicu

Michelle Maddox

Michelle Maddox is the pseudonym for Michelle Rowen. Under Rowen she who writes quirky paranormal books. Countdown is the first book for her Maddox identity.

This is another Shomi book, which makes it 4 for me! I quite like futuristic romances, which is pretty much what this imprint does. As usual the cover has a manga-like look, but I have to say the expressions on the faces of these people are very wooden! Actually, the people at genrereviews had more to say than I did about the cover.

Moving on. Countdown starts with our protagonist Kira Jordan waking up in a dark room, handcuffed to a wall. Then she realizes someone is in the room with her, and he's not happy about it either. He's Rogan Ellis, and he admits he was convicted of murder, and he signed up to play a game called "Countdown" – if he wins, he can go free instead of sitting out his 500 year sentence, but losers die in this game too. Kira has no idea what's going on, she never signed up for any game, but very soon she realizes she has no choice but to work with Rogan. If they are more than 90 feet from each other, implants in their heads explode, and if they don't work together to get to the end of 6 levels, they die. Meanwhile they are doggedly pursued from one level to another by floating cameras and a gameshow announcer's voice who cheerily describes what's going on to the rich subscribers of the game.

This is a standalone book with a first person point of view. Kira is constantly trying to figure out both how to survive and whether she can trust Rogan. Is he really a murderer? The people running the game want her to think so, and will lie to them to add to the overall watchability of the show, but Kira has an ability and reads Rogan as a good person. She's not sure what to believe and goes back and forth. Meahwhile she feels attracted to him in the middle of all that they're going through.

Overall: This was an action filled book that reminded me of a sci-fi movie from the 80s. Sort of Mad Max and Tank Girl with a mix of Running Man thrown in. Michelle Maddox admits that Running Man was an inspiration. I thought that overall it was a fast, escapist read. Perfect for when you aren't really in the mood for something heavy and just want to read something fun. It has a few bits I found a little cheesy, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. It succeeds in entertaining the reader, and I thought that there was just enough to make the plot interesting - the game, their budding romance, their pasts, what each is hiding from the other (what he know's about the game, her mild ability to "read" people) - things keep moving along and keep the pace of the story going.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I <3 Your Blog

Posted on October 18, 2008 by janicu

LoveYourBlog

Long time between postings, so this is overdue..

I got an "I Love Your Blog" award from a couple of people – Jace from Jace Scribbles and Angiegirl of Angieville. This is pretty awesome that they like my blog – and I read both of these blogs faithfully too, so right back at you!

So now on to passing this on. The rules are:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

I nominate:

1) Tez Says – Well Tez has a livejournal too, but this is her book blog. She's a sweetheart, and she's got a good sense of humor – every so often she writes something that makes me grin like a fool. Her book blog is slanted to urban fantasy and what I like to read so it's interesting to see her opinions. P.S. She has a cat who models books for her.

2) Lights, Camera, History – This isn't a book blog, but I love it! This was actually created by a couple of girls whose book blogs I read, and it focuses on period dramas. Sigh, I get so happy when I get introduced to a movie or miniseries want to watch. Then I force my husband to watch it with me.

3) Books and Other Thoughts – This is another book blog I read often, and she's added to my list of books I want to read one day. I think she's gotten the I love your blog award already but I'm just going to add to it!

4) Cosy World - This is one of the girls behind Lights, Camera, History. Her blog is a mix of things – books, movies, food. Always interesting.

5) Urban Fantasy – Deety's blog I think I ran into one day while googling .. something. I can't remember now. It was a newish blog then, and I immediately liked it. Now I've been reading it for a while and I'm always glad when she updates. Her reviews are always well written, and I'm always interested in what she thought of certain books because she's one of the people whose reviews I trust more than others.

6) J's Book blog – Maybe it's cheating to give this to someone you know, but eh. "J" and I started our book blogs at about the same time, and although her posts are sporadic, I still am gleeful when she posts something. She's a big reader of romantic suspense right now. Think of this as nagging to post more.

7) LesleyW's Book Nook – Another book blog with many urban fantasy books. More paranormals here too. There may be a trend in the blogs I love. She's also already gotten a I love your blog award already, but hey, here's another.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Selene by Lilith Saintcrow / Mercy Thompson news

Posted on October 5, 2008 by janicu

Selene – Lilith Saintcrow

Yup, yet another post today. Quick one – has anyone been following the online series by Lilith Saintcrow – "Selene"? It got finished. I've been reading it on google reader. Weird thing was that the epilogue didn't show up on the reader but is online. I read it all and each chapter is long, so you are getting a lot for FREE here. And I liked it. Urban fantasy and dark definitely. Selene has had a very hard and desperate life, partly because of her "curse" as a tantraiiken, and so is subject to her body's constant craving for sex to get power. I liked the ending too, even though it isn't fully complete (looks like the story will continue), I felt rather satisfied with it. Lilith Saintcrow's newsletter says:

"By 9AM (PST) today, the Epilogue to Selene goes live. You can now read the entire book (except the prequel in the Hotter than Hell anthology) from start to finish. This is the beginning of Selene and Nikolai's story, and no doubt a few of you are going to think it hasn't really ended.

You're right, it hasn't. There's one more Selene book, but we're going to have to wait for that. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed seeing how the Deadly Nichtvren Duo met–and I hope some of their relationship in the Valentine books is clearer!

Feel free to drop by the fan forum, where there's a special corner set up just for Selene. I do read the forum as much as I can, so it's a good way to let me know how you liked the book."

In other news, did you know that

1) The Mercy Thompson series is being put into graphic novel format (this is semi old news), but the new news is that the first 11 pages is online.

2) Again Mercy Thompson – was picked up by 50 Canon Entertainment. Is there a series or a movie in the works? I hope so! (via Dear Author)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Kin (The Good Neighbors) by Holly Black, Illustrated by Ted Naifeh

Posted on October 5, 2008 by janicu

Kin (Good Neighbors)

Holly Black

Once I found out that Holly Black was doing a graphic novel and it was similar to her Modern Faerie Tales series as in it centers on teens who get somehow involved with the faerie world, I wanted to read it. It's one of those books where I like the author but I wasn't paying attention. So when a new book comes out I am thrilled and also happy that I didn't have to go through the torture of anticipation for months! I thank the avidbookreader blog for pointing out that this book was available.

Anyway, this story is about Rue Silver, whose mother has been missing for weeks. Her father is depressed and does nothing all day, while Rue tries to keep doing her usual activities with her friends, like going to her boyfriend's concerts and breaking into vacant buildings to take pictures. One day the police surround her house and accuse her father of killing one of his students at the university – Sarasa Narayan. Sarasa's last known meeting was with her father, and now there are also suspicions he killed his wife. Rue begins to believe that Rue's dad broke a promise, and Rue's mom, had to leave because of it. Rue realizes her mother is a faerie and so she has faerie blood. Rue starts to see all kinds of strange things, while she tries to find her mother, in the meantime also running into her mother's family, who are dangerous beings with their own agenda.

Overall: I enjoyed this. Recommended to Holly Black fans. It was a quick read, with some things that make more sense the second time you flip back and reread them. The story is however not finished so after this book you'll want to read the next one. While we find out what happened to the dead university student, Rue still has to figure out a few other things. The artwork is good, but sometimes the faces were inconsistent which made me sometimes wonder who I was looking at for a second. The book is in black and white, I'd love to see this in color! The coverwork is gorgeous though, and I liked how the dustcover matches the cover of the book, but it also has a matte finish with some shiny parts. Very tactile. I find myself picking it up and rubbing my fingers against the raised shiney font a lot, it's lovely.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

Posted on October 5, 2008 by janicu

Any Given Doomsday (The Phoenix Chronicles)

Lori Handeland

There are a lot of ARCs of this book floating around, so if you still don't have a copy and are interested, there are a couple of contests going on that I know of.

1) Lady Vampire's Lair has this book among a trio of books she's giving away for a Halloween giveaway. Comments throughout October 6th-11th in answer to her questions count as entries. Here's the link.

2) Lori's Reading Corner has a contest until October 6th (tomorrow),comment to enter. Additional rules and the link is here.

According to Amazon, the book comes out November 4th.

This is a first book in a new series by Lori Handleland. I've read one other book by this author which I liked more than I expected because I wasn't really into a short story I read in the Dates from Hell anthology.

This series centers on Elizabeth Phoenix, a former foster child, and cop turned bartender with physic powers. She has the ability to touch things and tell where the owner is or has been. The story starts off with Liz feeling called by her foster mom Ruthie, and discovering her dying at her house. The prime suspect is Liz's ex Jimmy Sanducci, who she broke up with after discovering his infidelity through her gift (ouch!). This starts a series of events which open up a new world to Liz – she discovers that Ruthie was the head of a giant battle between good and evil, with supernatural creatures of all kinds and tales from the Book of Enoch being the basis of it all. The gist of it is that doomsday begins now, and Liz has to take Ruthie's place. Meanwhile she has to deal with her ex Jimmy, and her past teacher, Sawyer. Both men aren't completely human.

Overall: I thought the book was OK. There were fascinating world-building aspects like the Nephalim from the Book of Enoch, Liz's talent, and her dreams with Ruthie. There are also some hints of past history that I found interesting regarding Jimmy and Sawyer, but they were done in a way that I had just enough to understand it, rather than feeling like just enough was being held back to make me confused. The dialog is flippant at times, but flowed well, and it did seem to fit Liz's personality. The book does fit more under the urban fantasy genre than it does as a paranormal romance – there is no HEA, at least in this book, and the ending leaves a lot of room for further developments, but there are a few sex scenes and maybe more attention to relationships than I usually see in urban fantasy. Both relationships with Jimmy and Sawyer have a dark edge to them, mostly because everyone involved is pretty emotionally flawed. I am not sure who she will eventually end up with, but both of the men have not treated Liz well. I wasn't sure I liked either of them and sometimes I wasn't sure if I liked Liz either. Still, it does make the characters very interesting and I'd like to see how it develops. I'd like to see Liz more confident in her powers, which hopefully we will see in the next book. The author's letter to her readers in the back of the book mentions Laurell K Hamilton as an inspiration, and I could see maybe a hint of that regarding Liz's hidden power we learn about later. I have to say I sort of … mmm, I don't quite like it, because I think it has a potential to make the books take a turn into territory that many people complain about with Hamiliton's books, but this book is a far cry from that, so I'll just wait and see.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod

Posted on September 30, 2008 by janicu

The Sweet Scent of Blood (Spellcrackers)

Suzanne McLeod

I saw a post about this book on Urban Fantasy Land and I was very intruiged, but a bit frustrated because I didn't see it in a US book website at the time, only in Amazon UK. In the end I got it from thebookdepository.com but it looks like now you can see it on Amazon with a 2-4 week shipping time – probably because it's published in the UK right now, not in the US? The street date is September 4th, 2008.

"My name is Genny Taylor. I work for Spellcrackers.com. It’s a great job, pays the rent, lets me do the thing I’m good at – finding magic and cracking it – and the bonus is it’s run by witches, which stops the vamps from taking a bite out of me.

Not that vampires are the big bad any more, not since they launched a slick PR campaign – oh, and they brought the goblins on board. Now the vamps are sought-after celebrities, and Getting Fanged and taking the Gift are the new height of all things cool.

But only if you’re human.

And I’m not.

I’m Sidhe fae.

And I know firsthand just how deadly a vampire can be.’

When Mr October, a sexy calendar pin-up vamp, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, an old debt is called in and Genny is forced to help prove his innocence, risking her job and the protection it offers – and threatening to expose her own dark secrets. Searching for the killer plunges Genny deep into the hidden heart of vampire society. It’s not long before she realises that she and Mr October are both unwitting pawns in a centuries-old power struggle between London’s non-human communities . . . and it’s not just her own neck that’s at stake, but the lives of all London’s supernaturals."

This book seems to follow more of the urban fantasy tradition in the same vein as Kim Harrison, Karen Chance and C.E. Murphy. Basically you have a female protagonist with some special powers, who gets caught up in a mystery while trying to fend off the interest of big bads because of her unique assets. In this case Genny is the only Sidhe Fae in London – a particularly tasty snack for vampires, with a better constitution, so less likely to die for a long time, and she's already susceptible to craving vampire bites. Genny is reluctant to get involved with vampires but because of a debt, she has to help Mr. October prove his innocence. At first I thought that Mr. October might be a love interest, but he is a minor character, and the love interest seems to be someone she works with, although she also has a strange attraction to a certain vampire.

This book had a really interesting world – and I liked how vampires are treated like celebrities and tourists flock to look at them and have them drink their blood. It was interesting to have them use PR and advertising to project a certain image, while still being dangerous. I was a bit sceptical about how harmless they pretended to be while glorying in bloodplay, fear, rape and whatever else though, the difference seemed so extreme. A nit, I know. The other issue I had was how complicated this book started to feel – It started off really well. Chapter one in the cafe, was a great introduction into the world, but then later the information was doled out in crumbs, especially regarding Genny's past which get vaguely alluded to in either a small flashback or in a sentence or two in the middle of the investigation and in her strange actions (wait till you see her dual personality). It felt like there was a whole missing story that doesn't get told and we're inferring it from what's going on. Then the investigation itself – it seems that every vampire has his or her own agenda, no matter who they are affiliated with, and there are 5 or 6 vampires involved, plus we have witches, brownies, some humans, and the police, all muddying up the waters. When things finally go down and Genny discovers what's really going on, it got rather messy. I had this strange feeling like when you're in a dream and of course everything makes sense in the dream, but afterwards you realize it really doesn't. For example Genny finding herself tied up in the same room as someone else, then escaping and popping into a random person's bedroom? Who wants to help her? And then she gets caught up in a big… fight match thing? It sort of makes sense but not really. And in the end I still felt like there was a big plot hole explaining how Melissa's murder was carried out, but no one cares. I like it when an author lets you learn about the world by just putting you into it, but I felt in this case I'd have appreciated a more basic background details, and a little less trying to add as much as possible into the plot.

Overall: Recommended for urban fantasy fans. It does remind me of Kim Harrison's work, which is a good thing, and Genny is interesting – I want to learn more about her and to find out what happens next, but I wish that the plot flowed better. I say less surprise kinks and characters into the plot, more focus on building existing characters and the world, and I'd be happy. This is a debut author, so for a first book, it gets high points and is a promising series. There is a dark bent to this story so it is urban fantasy, and I'm not sure how many books there will be. The second book The Cold Kiss of Death comes out July 2009.

Excerpt of Chapter 1.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Cast In Fury by Michelle Sagara

Posted on September 30, 2008 by janicu

Cast in Fury (Chronicles of Elantra, Book 4)

Michelle Sagara

Cast In Fury is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Elantra series, and I've been waiting for it – I had it pre-ordered a while ago, and luckily for me, I got it a week early. I was in the middle of two other books, but I put them down and started reading this instead! The release date is officially October 1st.

This series is in a fantasy world populated by a few different races living together in the city of Elantra, which is ruled by a dragon emperor. The protagonist is Kaylin Neya, a once orphaned girl living in poverty but who has worked to become a Hawk, one of the three organizations that police her city. What makes her unusual is that she has mysterious words that suddenly showed up on her skin, and linked to them are powers she doesn't really understand, but somehow, when she really needs it, she manages to do amazing things. Her ignorance about how her power works is the reason why some let her live, but she is constantly caught up in power plays and secret politics within the different groups. Book three (Cast in Secret) centered on the Tha'alini, a race of empaths, and book two (Cast in Courtlight) on the Barrani – immortals who remind me of elves. This book touches on them as well but mostly it seems to focus on an issue amongst the Leontines. Her sergeant Marcus, who is Leontine is arrested for murder, which throws the Hawks off balance, and Kaylin is determined to help him, no matter how much he refuses it. There is also an ongoing assignment to babysit a playwright commissioned to write a play about the Tha'alini, who after the events in the previous book, people (incorrectly) fear. The hope is to calm the city with a positive story about them and what happened.

I have no idea what this cover art is supposed to represent – it's strange – the model doesn't look like the same one in other books, I don't recall Kaylin wearing dresses, and she doesn't deal with a huge wall of water being held back with the force of her hand at all. Not in this book. Very puzzling!

Overall: Well I think this was not as strong as some of the other books in this series, but as usual the world and character building is top notch. I felt that this installment did shed a lot of light on the Leontine race and Kaylin's special relationship with Marcus and his wives. The book showed a lot of how Kaylin's personality was influenced by this group – they truly seem like a foster family for her. The ongoing thread which started in the first book and which has continued in others regarding an Outcaste dragon trying to topple the empire also continues. There are a few more revelations about him and I expect that the series won't end until he gets defeated once and for all. Hopefully at the same time Kaylin manages to control and understand her powers.

Other than that, I felt like a trend is starting to develop here. Kaylin is thrown into a situation she knows nothing about regarding a certain race, and this race doesn't want to explain to her their particular history which is the key to solving whatever problem she's facing. Usually the world has to almost end before they finally reveal the big missing piece in the puzzle. In the meantime, she has to ask a lot of questions trying to solve the problem, and there is always someone around to look at her with an impatient air when she does. I'm getting annoyed on her behalf. I'd like to see something a bit different in the next book, and some more focus on her relationships and her powers. Not that I would mind learning more about the Aerians or the Dragons, which seem to be the two races without their own books, but I don't want yet another disaster that threatens a whole city to be the only way to learn about them. It will also be interesting to see what develops with her childhood friend turned steadfast and deadly partner Severn and the mysterious Lord Nightshade, who marked her as his Consort against her wishes. It seems like a subtle ongoing love triangle that gets hinted at throughout the books, and it's fascinating to watch it develop.

My review of Cast in Secret

I was trying to think of who to recommend if you like this author, but nothing quite springs to mind right now. Maybe Robin McKinley if she wrote series? I recommend her backlist.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Decoy Princess and Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook

Posted on September 21, 2008 by janicu

The Decoy Princess

Dawn Cook

Princess at Sea

Dawn Cook

I’ve had The Decoy Princess and the following book Princess at Sea in my TBR for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to reading them till now. It feels like it’s been a while since I read a straight fantasy so it was a nice change of genres. I also have Cooks Truth series and I read the first one of the four, First Truth. That one was a bit slow for me so I haven’t started Hidden Truth yet, but the Princess series is a newer work and the premise seemed more intriguing to me so I decided to take a look.

The title says it all – a princess discovers that she was really plucked from the streets as a baby, to be used as a decoy for the real princess of Costenopolie. Unfortunately, she discovers this truth at the same time her betrothed Prince Garrett does, and as second son of a neighboring kingdom with a chip on his sleeve, he reacts with violent anger at being duped. At first I thought that Tessa was superficial and spoiled, but once she discovers who she really is and things start to hit the fan, she quickly adapts and manages to escape the palace on her own. Her plan is to find her sister, the real princess, and Kravenlow, her parent’s chancellor, but she is being pursued by Garrett’s Captain of the guard, a formidable man named Jeck. Along the way she also meets a cheat named Duncan, who admires Tess for her smarts, but also urges her to throw off her responsibilities and run away with him. The story is told from the first person viewpoint of Tessa, which seems to add to the urgency of the writing. It also felt more real – there was so much detail about how dirty and beat up Tess got from her travelling I wanted to take a shower or soak in the bath. Adding to everything is that Tess, Jeck and Kravenlow are all part of a huge game controlled by hidden “players” who influence history according to their own rules. Book 2 continues about six months or so after book one, and without spoilers it all starts during her sister’s honeymoon voyage with her new husband on board Tess’ boat. Hmm, can’t say much more than that.

Both books followed the same pattern where at first I was just reading along but not really sucked in, and then something would happen and I just had to know what happened next. I admit I did skim ahead because I was really really curious, but then made myself come back and read it properly. There were a few surprises, and unexpected angst. I found most of the characters had layers which got slowly peeled back as time went by, and some things get revealed that I sort of expected, yet didn’t quite see it going down that way. Tess is also at turns quite quick thinking, but also blind/dumb when it came to people she really loved. So her weaknesses seem to be linked to naivete, and it’s quite painful for her when she realizes them. Once the end of the books came, it felt that the author had planned out the character arcs and plots really well. Both books hint through prophetic dreams at what will happen, but they didn’t give me much information and left me only tantalized. I felt rather satisfied by the final result, but I’d like to keep reading about Tess and I’m a bit sad I can’t find any information about a third book (I really hope there is one). Dawn Cook’s website is very sparse on the details. I know she writes under another name but those books aren’t straight fantasy like this. Sigh, I plan to keep my eye out. And to get around to reading the Truth series sooner.

Recommended if you like:
Moira Moore’s Hero series (the travelling and action seems similar)
Mindy Klasky’s Glasswright series (for the secret society that can trump even kings)
Maria V. Snyder’s Study series (Jeck/Tess’ relationship reminds me a little of Valek/Yelena’s)

Excerpt of book 1 – The Decoy Princess
Excerpt of book 2 – The Princess at Sea

Beauty is the Beast by Tomo Matsumoto

Posted on September 19, 2008 by janicu

Beauty is the Beast, Volume 1 (Beauty Is a Beast)

I used to read a lot more manga than I do now. Maybe 3 or 4 years ago it was, but then I started focusing more on books because you only have so many hours in the day when you aren't working, and there are so many open series going on right now that I'm afraid to start anything. 30+ books and the author is still going on? Nooo, I can't take it! Meanwhile my cousin is a connoisseur of all things manga, and is always trying to lure me back. Despite my hysterical "no, don't try to get me sucked in" conversations with her on the phone, she's taken to just sending me volumes of manga in the mail.

Last week out of the blue I received the complete 5 volume set of Beauty is the Beast. I think she decided on this series because:

1) It's finished so I won't be complaining about that

2) Each book is broken up into a series of short vignettes about eleventh grader Eimi Yamashita's life at the boarding house she lives in, so there are plenty of places for me to put the book down and take it slow.

3) The artwork is very nice

4) There is a love triangle with 2 cute guys and one girl.

Eimi is a humorous character – small and cute, always eating and without any real care for social boundaries, she has no problems befriending "The Beast" – who she nicknamed Wanichin. That's Takami Wanibuchi, a gorgeous but scary guy who lives in the boy's dorms and who no one knows much about so speculation runs wild. Everyone is amazed that he tolerates Eimi and allows her to give him a silly nickname (like she does everyone else). Eimi idolizes him, even though she has her own admirer – Satoshi Shimonuki, another good looking boy. Thier relationship evolves slowly throughout the volumes, but it's very lightly and humorously done. Meanwhile we also meet a lot of other friends and characters that live at the dorm, like Misao, Eimi's beautiful roommate who loves the female form, or Suzu a cool androgenous girl who is the object of many girl-crushes. It's a light-hearted glimpse into typical dorm room living in Japan. It didn't take me long to read, and while I wasn't turning the pages in a frenzy to find out what happens next it was a decent read. The focus of the volumes seemed more on showing what life was like in the dorms with the romantic relationships taking a backseat to friendships and bonds formed from living together. I found the mystique of Wanichun a bit silly, but I guess rumor can make a reputation very exaggerated, and he was considered special for being a "returnee". That's someone who lived outside Japan and came back (in his case he lived with his grandfather in Mexico for some time). I didn't find it that special, but anyway. The other complaint I had was how abruptly the series ends. There is little (maybe two pages) to let you know who ends up with who and no information as to how that happened. Just one moment Wanichin is talking to Satoshi, and the next we see the future years later. I suppose it's to make the reader fill things in with their imagination, but it was a bit of an artsy ending and I prefer something more to the point.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Posted on September 19, 2008 by janicu

New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

Stephenie Meyer

I have written a haiku:

Liked Twlight but then,
Heard Bella is annoying,
Now that’s all I see.

I read Twilight years ago and remember liking it. I thought it was a sweet high school romance, and I remember being pulled in by wondering what was going to happen next - especially the second half when the action kicked in. I enjoyed it. Since then I think the whole world has read the books, and I haven't gone out of my way to read other people's opinions, but it's kind of hard not to run into them. You know when someone points out something annoying about someone that you never noticed and then after that you do start to notice? I think a whole episode of How I Met Your Mother was centered around this. WELL NOW, the whole time I was reading New Moon I was thinking to myself – wow, Bella really is annoying! Was she like this in Twilight? And Edward really is controlling! I didn't think he was as bad in the first book, was I just completely unaware?

To be honest though, I have an aversion to reading about angsty teenagers. I read Harry Potter until book 5 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) when Harry suddenly got mood swings and I just couldn't finish it. That's where I stopped the series. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again, but it's not high on my list.

In New Moon, Edward decides for Bella that their relationship is dangerous for her so he removes himself, so almost all of the book is centered around Bella on her own, and we're basically in her head for months. Months and months of completely dramatic depression. The book felt very long despite the simple writing and the larger font. I kept checking to see how much more I had to read. I seen depressed people, but Bella takes the cake – "catatonic" is used to describe her – and I found myself unsympathetic to someone so self indulgent and childish. Maybe it's my own age and experience here that I don't find it very romantic when someone can't pay any attention to the other people in their lives and only center on their own issues. While Edward is gone Bella begins to use Jacob Black as a crutch. He makes her feel better, so while she knows that Jacob likes her romantically, Bella feels that she needs him and when he holds her hand, she tells herself that Jacob knows that she's not interested in him that way, so she lets him. Strangely Jacob still likes her, no idea why – she's depressed half the time and he notices. I couldn't see what she was giving him besides companionship that wasn't male. I felt that Bella was giving herself excuses to do whatever she wants at the expense of others. This is not a nice trait, and this is not just with Jacob. Whenever things did go the way Bella wanted, her reactions made me wonder if she's as grown up as she thinks she is. To top it off, Bella really believes that Edward lost interest and her response is to become a depressed zombie. Not anger at being thrown off like an old plaything. Yay, women's liberation. Speaking of, it ticked me off that Edward decided what was best for her, and keeps at it later. Their relationship is not healthy. I think in book 1, I was seeing this as one of those intense first loves. Edward wanted to protect her yadda yadda, but it wasn't in your face controlling to me, and at the end of the book there was a relatively happy ending and that was it. But, in New Moon, this intense love continues and the seriousness starts to become disturbing. That they think of themselves as having a love like Romeo and Juliet makes me want to slap them. To compare yourselves to star-crossed lovers who killed themselves is ridiculous!!

Speaking of odd relationships - I couldn't remember why Bella called her parents by their first names and had to cook and clean for her dad. There was a point where she was up to her arms in Comet while cleaning the bathroom. Yet her father was supposedly living by himself before her – is he that hopeless? Or does Meyer only know hopeless men who can't cook and clean for themselves? I'm baffled. Also baffled by how even when Bella is grounded she's still allowed to have her boyfriend to come over every day for an hour and a half. In her room. By themselves. My brow furrows.

Overall: Liked book 1 better. This one makes me feel ranty. In the end not too much happens, though we get some information about Jacob's tribe at La Push and we learn a bit more about other vampires in the world. There is a set up for book 3 because there are rising tensions between Jacob's family and Edward's, but besides that there is very little actual action, and even that is only towards the last 100 pages. This was more a book that focused on Bella's inner turmoil, which made me I feel like a lot of what I read could have been condensed. Even with the ease of reading the simple language, teenage angst is tedious reading material. I have Eclipse and Breaking Dawn on my TBR because they were gifts, so I will shoulder on, but not right away. I really hope that I'm less annoyed by the main characters when I do.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend