Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Posted on February 28, 2009 by janicu

Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, Book 1)

Carrie Vaughn

Kitty and the Midnight Hour was first published in 2005, but I hadn't started the series until now. I'd heard good things from people who I think have similar tastes in books, and happily, Hachette sent me the first five books to review. The sixth book, Kitty Raises Hell is right around the corner with a March 1st release date. My plan is to catch up to the whole series over the course of this month and review as I go.

The premise: Kitty Norville is a late night radio DJ and secretly two years into being a werewolf. One night she idly mentions a Bat Boy article, and this kicks off an impromptu talk show on creatures of the night. Suddenly, a weekly show about the supernatural is born. Kitty calls it The Midnight Hour, and it's a big success. Of course, not everyone is happy, like Arturo the head of the local vampire coven or Carl and Meg, her werewolf pack alpha and his mate, but Kitty finds herself increasingly proud of her show and will do anything to keep it.

Through the radio show, Kitty lays down the foundation of the world to the reader, and an idea of the practical "rules". Kitty is forthright with her listeners, sometimes dissuading those who may have lofty ideas of becoming a werewolf or vampire, providing advice to those who are, and educating everyone in the process.

Despite the amusing concept and Kitty's glib on air persona, there is an element of grit and darkness in this book. Kitty's change into a werewolf was not a happy story, and the werewolf lifestyle isn't for everyone. Kitty isn't a strong wolf, I think others prefer if she stayed as a cub, and so she's weak and vulnerable amongst her peers -at least when the book begins. To me it seemed like a constant battle between the human rational side, and the instinctive wolf side, and Kitty has to listen to both to survive.

Overall: Quite an enjoyable read – worth a try for all urban fantasy fans. Although there are some dark moments and grey areas which may turn off others, I breezed through this fairly fast, and I'm glad that I have the second book waiting. While this ended in a good place, there is definitely a lot more that you want to find out. Kitty and the Midnight Hour lays down the foundation. The world building is such that you understand what is going on, but you know that there is more, and you want to keep reading to find out what else is there.

A couple of people I know compared the writing to Patricia Briggs when I mentioned I was reading this. I think that there are some parallels to the Mercy Thompson series: werewolf packs and a society being introduced to the reality of supernatural creatures, but I thought the heroine was very different from Mercy. Kitty doesn't start off as a confident heroine. She's the alpha's pet, lowest wolf on the totem pole, and submissive to all the other wolves. At first I wasn't sure I liked her because of her submissiveness (and I definitely don't like Carl, who I felt was abusive), but as the book moves along, having the radio show gives Kitty purpose and she begins to question where she may not have before. The book starts off with me not really liking certain things, but as time moves along Kitty seems to make the right decisions regarding what bothered me. This is where I think the grey area is on whether others will like the book. I thought that Kitty had a pretty good self-awareness of her own weaknesses, which reminds me of another heroine in a radio station – Ciara Griffen of Jeri Smith-Ready's WVMP series. I would call that a good comparison. Kitty also has an intelligent sense of humor, and I liked reading about her radio segments - they brought up a lot of socio-political questions that I found interesting to think about.

This is definitely urban fantasy in that there's only a brief hint at romance and I don't think we'll see a HEA or HFN in that department, at least not for a while. As I said, there are some dark moments too. They secondary characters are interesting (Cormac, the were/vamp hunter, TJ, Kitty's best friend and fellow werewolf and others), and I want to see more of them, but I also warn you – don't get too attached to people, things don't really go the way you expect. I'm still hoping things go the way I want, and Kitty pulls through!

Carrie Vaughn's website

Calico_reactions Kitty reviews (she loves this series)

Cosy World's review (a different opinion, she didn't like it at all)

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Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Posted on February 22, 2009 by janicu

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson Novels)

Patricia Briggs

Thanks to a contest at Avidbookreader's blog, I won a copy of Bone Crossed. This is the fourth book (out of seven?) in the Mercy Thompson series:

Moon Called (my goodreads review)
Blood Bound (my goodreads review)
Iron Kissed (my review)
Bone Crossed – Excerpt of Chapter 1

Bone Crossed starts off soon after where Iron Kissed left off – Mercy is still recovering from the events in the last novel when the charred, tortured body of Stefan drops out of thin air into the middle of her trailer. The obvious conclusion is that Marsilia, ruling vampire of the Tri-Cities has found out about their involvement in the death of Andre, one of her own, and now Mercy and all her friends are in danger.

*** Spoilers for previous books will likely follow. ***

Overall: OK, this is one of my favorite series, and despite my not liking HC, I think even if I didn't win it, I was going to break down and buy the book. I think I'm predesposed to like this book before even reading it, despite my feeling upset over what happened in Iron Kissed. I, like Mercy, have recovered somewhat, and I want to see what happens next.

I think what draws me to these books are the characters. Mercy of course is a smart, self sufficient character, but she has a lot of support from a very strong supporting cast. I feel happy reading this series because I know I'll get to see the satellite characters again. Briggs' tends to create some very interesting people with mysterious backstories and it's rewarding to catch glimpses of what makes them tick. Mercy is learning about them at the same time, and makes some observations which I don't think I'd have really picked up on myself. Besides some insight into her enemies she also pays attention to Adam, Samuel, and Stefan. Adam seen as her mate is somewhat different from just one of her two suitors. This was great because I think Mercy has to also learn how to trust other people too, so her character is growing because of the relationship. Samuel has a new level of sadness which I think may need to be addressed soon; you worry about him. And Stefan has re-entered her life.

This is of course combined with whatever trouble Mercy has gotten herself into at the time. In Bone Crossed, Mercy is not only dealing with an angry Marsilia, but another problem – an college acquantance needs help with a nearby haunting in Spokane. Mercy's last real involvement with the vampires occured in Blood Bound, so I'd recommend reacquainting yourself with that book before you read this. I had to remember who certain characters were, but it wasn't very hard to figure things out again. Stefan is a likeable character and I sort of missed him. Mercy wasn't very happy with him because of what he did at the end of Blood Bound, so they had a couple of things to sort through, but I think they came to a better understanding after Bone Crossed.

It's pretty hard for me to come up with anything negative about this book. There are only two really nitty things I can think of. One was feeling somewhat suspicious of how seemingly easy it was to get Mercy to Spokane. The wolves thought it would make her safer to look into the ghost issue while Marsilia was angry, but I thought it somewhat unlike Mercy to leave. In the end the two story arcs worked well together so this was practically a non-issue. The other thing was one minor timeline thing which threw me out of what seemed like a pivotal emotional scene. Mercy went to the bathroom in one sentence and dresses, then the very next one she takes a step towards the bathroom. Threw me off. Yeah that's all I have (after racking my brain too)!

So in the end a satisfied sigh from me.

Other reviews:

Avidbookreader – (gave it an A)

Angieville (a glowing review)

The Book Smugglers (gave it an 8 – Excellent)

Dear Author (Jane gave it a B+)

Breezing Through Books (conversation review, gave it two A-, one A)

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Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Posted on February 18, 2009 by janicu

Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)

Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse is the third book in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know this is the story of Bella, a "normal" high school girl who falls in love with a vampire. Complications ensue because she's human and should be her boyfriend's dinner, and she has a werewolf for a best friend.

Some minor spoilers for this book and previous ones are in this review.

My review of New Moon is here. If you read that, you'll know that I found New Moon very angsty and it made me feel rather ranty about Bella and her depression. I also thought that Edward was rather controlling by deciding what was best for her and not letting her make her own choices. Despite really liking Twilight, I'm not sure I would have continued this series after New Moon. But that this series is so popular that my cousin gave me the whole series as a present so I own it now. Also my best friend has been nagging me to read it so she can rant to me about it. So I read it.

Where to begin. Well I thought that Eclipse was better than New Moon. I think that that is greatly due to my aversion to reading about a main character who is moping around and angsty, which is what you see a lot of in New Moon. I'm just not a fan of depression in my escapism. On the other hand, while in New Moon I found Bella and Edward somewhat annoying, in Eclipse I started also getting mad at other secondary characters like Charlie, who is Bella's father, and Jacob, Bella's best friend! Why is everyone annoying? Let me tell you:

Edward is trying to back off on his control issues here but he still slips with the excuse that he will do anything to keep Bella safe. He manipulates her to get what he wants. At least he was so overshadowed by other people who were driving me crazy in this book, he didn't bother me as much as he did in the past. His "patience and understanding" were laid on a bit thick though. I still don't quite understand what he sees in Bella. He just shakes his head and says Oh Bella, you don't know how wonderful you are.

Jacob: In earlier books, Jacob is this sort of happy-go-lucky guy that Bella just hangs out with, and he pulls her through her depression, letting her use him as a crutch through her bad time even though she knows he has feelings for her and she doesn't feel the same way. You know that Jacob doesn't like vampires, so he's constantly making nasty, petty remarks about them and about Edward. In Eclipse, this pettiness seemed to rise to extreme levels. I found Jacob's smugness and casual put-downs about people Bella cares about very immature. To top it off Jacob has Bella's number because he realizes she's easily manipulated through guilt. So he uses this several times to get what he wants. Also *spoiler here so look away if you care about that type of thing* Jacob forces a kiss on her. Bella hits him for that, but because he's a werewolf, all that does is break her hand. And then he *laughs* about it and is never really sorry! What a great guy. I was pretty pissed off to reading this part.

Charlie: He doesn't like Edward so of course every chance that he can he pushes Bella towards Jacob. When Jacob admits that he kissed Bella, instead of feeling concern for why his daughter is so mad, all he can do is be happy and praise Jacob for it! His comment regarding Bella's hand is something like I must not have taught you how to punch properly. He's a cop, but he's really uncaring about his daughter being sexually harassed. This is of course coupled with the same complaint I had in the last book – Bella is Charlie's servant; doing the cooking and cleaning while his excuse is that he is just a man so can't do housework. He can't heat up sauce in the microwave (puts metal in there), and he can't do his own laundry. Let's not even go into his parenting and his not having a clue as to what his daughter feels or what she's up to.

Bella: I kept noticing what felt like excuses for Bella's past behavior. Behavior that continues in Eclipse. It felt like the author was trying to address complaints from readers. The servitude is explained away as OCD. I lived with someone with OCD, and Bella does not have OCD. Even if she had *mild* OCD, her dad should still know how to microwave some damn sauce if he's lived alone before and he's an adult! Secondly, Bella spends a lot of time thinking she's a horrible person and has hurt Jacob so much, but feeling bad and still doing it doesn't really absolve you. I really dislike when people don't want to hurt someone, but instead they just give them hope by not trying hard enough to tell them the truth, so in the end it feels even worse. These people moan to everyone how they feel bad, but what they really want is for others to say that they aren't bad so they can continue what they were doing. Which I feel Bella does with Jacob. Not that Jacob is an innocent here, but Bella has already gone through this in New Moon, why are we repeating it again in Eclipse? Finally, Bella acts like a doormat. She gets manipulated by everyone. Edward tricks her into doing what he wants, so does Jacob, so does her dad. I found it really aggravating that the main character is a woman, surrounded by men who want to control her, and she let's them! She's submissive! Any fight she makes just feels like token resistance, because she gives in later. I actually wrote down a couple of times – Bella is mad, I bet she'll forgive him soon, and Bella says she doesn't want to, I bet she will later. And surprise, surprise - she did forgive, she did give in. Jacob underlines this for me because he actually says that he knew she was going to forgive him so he did what he wanted.

All this points to something which feels glaringly obvious; this book has very old fashioned values and views. Bella's role as housekeeper for her dad is a good example. Then we have the sex. Stephen King infamously commented on Meyer's writing recently, and said: "A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet." I was hardly surprised that Edward was unwilling to have sex with Bella before marriage. Already he's discussed his belief that as a vampire he has no soul and probably will go to hell when he dies, so it was no stretch to see him want Bella to marry him first. This is safe moral ground. It's a bit too pat but I have no real problem with this little bit of preaching in this story. What bothers me more is Bella being easily controlled – forgiving easily the asshat-ery of her male controllers. It disturbs me to see her accept what the men do, when I see it side by side with her domestic duties. It disturbs me to see Meyer's picture of men vs. women, Bella vs. Edward/Jacob/her father.

I admit, Meyer has to be doing something right. These books aren't on bestseller lists for nothing. I'd say it's the world building and the way she writes her dialog. It feels very natural and real and it's very readable. From what I remember of Twilight, the pacing there was quite fast. The pacing in Eclipse however felt a lot slower, with much of the action happening only in the last 100 or so pages. So despite my liking the way Meyer writes dialog, I felt like there was too much – it takes up a lot of room so pages and pages later you realize – nothing has happened. At 600+ pages, this book could have used some merciless editing.

Overall: An average to slightly above average read. Natural dialog, fascinating world building, great action when there is any (there was little), but I had some major issues with the characters and with Bella's subjugation by her male counterparts.

I now leave you with Southpark's Twilight parody "The Ungroundable", which aired recently and is online in its entirety for now (go watch, it's awesome).

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Hmm.. ogre killing Sleeping Beauty?

Posted on January 24, 2009 by janicu

Night's Rose

Annaliese Evans

Anyone heard anything about this book? Random Amazon surfing led me to find it. The author's website calls it "historical urban fantasy with a faerie tale twist". It's about a Sleeping Beauty who is an ogre killer! I would read that. There also looks to be hints of a love triangle – not sure I'm so hot on that, but I'm still intrigued. It comes out March 31st from Tor/Forge books.

There's an excerpt here.

Annaliese Evan's is a pseudonym for Anna J. Evans who writes erotic romance. I like her blog. It also sounds like she has another pseudonym as a young adult author, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

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Armed and Magical by Lisa Shearin

Posted on January 23, 2009 by janicu

Armed & Magical (Raine Benares, Book 2)

Lisa Shearin

Armed and Magical is book 2 of the Raine Benares series. I'm glad I picked up the series now because book 3 The Trouble with Demons is coming soon in April.

Armed and Magical picks up soon after Magic Lost, Trouble Found left off so skip this review if you don't want to be mildly spoiled about book 1. I reviewed book 1 over here (I enjoyed it).

Raine is in the Isle of Mid with her landlady's grandson Piaras (who she thinks of as a little brother). Mid is the location where magic users flock to because of the prestigious sorcery school there, and it's also where the Conclave, the magic governing body is. Piaras is there to audition with the best spellsinging teacher available, and Raine is there for help regarding the magical stone, The Saghred. The evil thing seems to be bonded to her now but Raine just wants to sever the connection. Meanwhile baddies from all sides (goblins, elves, mages, what have you), are eager to get to Raine and Piaras, both for the same reason – the power they would wield as magical weapon. On top of that, young college students are disappearing one by one and Raine feels compelled to use her abilities to help find them.

Overall: Almost as enjoyable as the first book – plenty of action and Raine's usual humor to keep the book going nicely. As in book 1, the voice is light and more urban fantasy than straight fantasy, and a lot of surprisingly modern words are used in this world. That's refreshing for some, maybe not so for others.

I did have a couple of nits however. One was on page 108 (yes, I did write it down!). There was a paragraph describing Raine's relationship with Tam that I swear was word for word exactly the same as the first book. I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't read these books almost back to back, but it really threw me out of the story. After that I started noticing vaguely familiar sentences, though nothing like the same word for word paragraph. It was weird. Another thing is that I still didn't quite understand in the end why the songspell students where kidnapped by who originally kidnapped them. I either missed something, or Raine did and it will be revealed in book 3. Who set that up and why? Just money? I am not sure. Raine seemed to not think much about it, but it felt like a glaring omission to me. In the end I had the feeling like the book wasn't complete. I hope the third book resolves some of the mystery.

Piaras continues to be a likable character, as is Raine's cousin Phaelan. Plus there are a few interesting new ones (archmagus Justinius, pirate Tanik Ozal, spellsinger Talon Tandu). There was a funny bit with one of Raine's new abilities that I can't go into but I enjoyed reading the whole scenario and other character's reactions. The love triangle – still there. Though Mychael seems to be spending more time with Raine than Tam, there are scenes with each that hint it could go either way. I have my suspicion on who she will end up with (if she does at all? Maybe she won't!). Tam's dark past brings a twist into this book, and Mychael's job may potentially become a bigger conflict. We shall see.

Looking forward to book 3. Raine is amassing an awful lot of enemies in this one – book 3 will likely be teeming with people wanting her blood! There's also the promise of meeting more of her famous Benares family to look forward to. Mychael will have his hands full.

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Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

Posted on January 16, 2009 by janicu

Magic Lost, Trouble Found

Lisa Shearin

I've been reading mostly good reviews for this book by people who I think have similar tastes to me. There was one person who didn't like the too modern voice, but that seems like one of those things that bothers some people and not others, so it didn't dissuade me (I'd pretty much decided to read it by then).

The cover: This cover has a cheesy, goofy vibe to it which put me off the book when I saw it in the bookstore, but I still read the back blurb which I felt was intruiging, but it didn't really sell me on the book.

So why did I read it? I was sold after reading recommendations because they pointed out a couple of things – 2 possible love interests, and a heroine with an urban fantasy voice.

Raine Benares is a seeker – she has the gift of finding things, plus a couple of minor magics (moving small things with her mind, great mental shields, and leaving an image of herself in a place she just left). She didn't know her parents well (her mother died when she was young and her father was unknown), but was raised by her family – notorious thieves. Thus, she seems to have the familial trait for trouble, and in this book she finds it again when she follows a friend, "ex-thief" Quentin, who she found out was tasked to steal an item from a necromancer's house. This turns out to be an amulet which Raine puts on (and then can't take off), and which everyone wants – from elven Conclave Guardian Mychael Eiliesor, to Goblin royalty.

Overall: I think that if you've read a lot of fantasy and expect a third person narrator and more formal speech, then this may not be the book for you, but I personally found it a refreshing change. Angiegirl described the voice well in her review when she said:

"This series seems to be most often described as regular fantasy with a decidedly urban fantasy heroine, complete with charming (at times self deprecating) sense of humor. I would agree with this assessment. Raine's internal dialogue is very much in keeping with urban fantasy trends"

The book is told from the first person point of view, but unlike a lot of urban fantasies where the heroine is often alone, Raine is usually surrounded by her friends and family as she tries to work out her problems. I liked the cast of characters and there was interesting development in the character of Piaras, a promising young spellsinger she knows.

The other thing I liked was a different spin on goblins. While we always hear about tall, pale elves like Legolas (and we have those here), the goblins here are tall, grey-blue, with angular faces, sensitivity to light, and fangs. Raine's two love interests are an elf and a goblin. Usually I can guess in the beginning of the book who the heroine ends up with, but I found myself liking both of them. Mychael Eiliesor seems like the good guy with lots of power, and Tamnais Nathrach seemed like the scoundrel (also with lots of power) who could be good. And they were friends with each other for once. The romance was very light and flirty in this book, so I don't know if anything serious is going to happen. Anyway, we'll see. I just hope the love triangle doesn't go on too long, that can be annoying in a series.

This book most reminds me of Ann Logston's Shadow series (well the heroine in there is a cheeky elven thief), but that series seems more straight fantasy than this one. This one had a fast pace, action, adventure, an interesting world, likeable characters, and I enjoyed reading it. I plan to read the second book, Armed and Magical very soon.

Other reviews:

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The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald

Posted on January 5, 2009 by janicu

The Outback Stars (Tor Science Fiction)

Sandra McDonald

I’ve been keeping this book in mind ever since I was recommended it by calico_reaction based on my love of space opera romances. I think she made the comment on one of my Linnea Sinclair reviews that I should read this book. Finally I broke down and got it, but only the hardcover copy was available when I did. Now, I love the book, but I want it in soft-cover, so I’m going to buy it *again* in paperback, and I want to give away the copy I read to someone who will enjoy it. I’m the type of person who uses bookmarks and gentle handles the book while reading, so the book is practically new, comes with the dust jacket, and it’s a really great read. If you don’t care that this book isn’t completely new, I’ll be hosting that giveaway in a few days.

First of all – isn’t this a great cover? It’s pretty cool and unearthly – conveys outer space, a female main character, and the colors are fantastic. I believe the second book in the series (The Stars Down Under) has a similar look.

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is an officer whose last ship, the Yangtze suffered massive fatalities when it blew apart. Scott was one of the few survivors, a hero who helped save many crewmembers on that ship. At the start of this novel, Jodenny is bored from being forced to spend months planetside recovering from the disaster, so she pulls some strings to board the Aral Sea as it’s newest crewmember. Unfortunately she is put in charge of Underway Stores, the most troubled department in the ship – rumored to be full of incompetents, criminals and misfits. Past supply officers in charge of Underway Stores are either missing or had mysterious accidents, and Jodenny has to confront suspicious activities going on with her division and elsewhere in the ship. All of this is set against a backdrop of a military with Australian origins, and odd mystical things that seem rooted in Australian folklore also happen.

Overall: I think if you are a fan of Elizabeth Moon you will like Sandra McDonald’s books, particularly because of the military aspects. If you like Linnea Sinclair and Ann Aguirre you may like this as well. The author was an officer in the U.S. Navy and her knowledge of the day to day workings of he military seems to really show in this novel. In The Outback Stars Jodenny has to deal with a mix of personalities both below and above her in the chain of command. Not everyone is a hard worker and trying to get the bad seeds working in harmony with everyone else is a challenge. However, it was refreshing to see Jodenny tackle the challenge with creativity and toughness, which didn’t always help her make friends, but did make me respect her. She’s a very competent character who knows her job and is good at it. I also liked seeing how she reserved judgement on people until she saw things for herself – particularly with Terry, an accused rapist. It was also interesting to read a book where the main culture was Australian, not American (even though the writer is American!), but there was a also a big mix of races and religions and ethnicities on the ship too. The romance itself was satisfying to read – it wasn’t the main focus, and is slow-building. The tension comes from the fact that Jodenny is interested in a subordinate, which is a no-no within the milirary, so she spends most of the book supressing her feelings. I sighed a happy sigh at the end of this book. Although it seems like it will continue in The Stars Down Under, this book ended in a good place, without cliffhangers. I didn’t feel like major strings were left undone, but there is enough undiscovered territory to keep me wanting to read book 2.

Links:

Reviews:

Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine

Posted on January 3, 2009 by janicu

Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, Book 4)

Rachel Caine

This is the fourth book of the young adult series about a town run by vampires and the humans who live there. Claire Danvers is a science genius who, along with her friends, finds herself an unwilling participant in an ongoing game between Morganville's founder, the vampire Amelie and Amelie's enemies.

If you have read any of the books in this series, you know that Rachel Caine is fond of throwing cliffhangers into the story. The last book was no different with the unexpected arrival of new vampires to the town of Morganville, lead by Bishop, an ancient, evil vampire who also happens to be Amelie's father. This book spends a lot of time describing what this new twist means to the town, while Claire contines on with her day to day activities like school and working for Amelie on a secret project. Claire's housemates – her boyfriend Shane, goth barrista Eve, and vampire musician Michael all start to feel strain on their relationships caused by the arrival of Bishop and his entourage. One of the biggest strains is the costume ball that is being held to honor Bishop, where every vampire has invited a human date.

Overall: I really feel like Caine does a good job in keeping the scenery changing and the story moving along, but while there are a lot of small scenes between Claire and other characters that occur throughout Claire's day, when I think about the book as a whole I would say only one major thing really happened, and most of the book was a slow set up to that event. In the end I didn't feel very satisfied, and felt like nothing was really resolved, so this book ended up feeling like a filler book within the series, and was there to set the scene for a more significant installment. I found myself putting the book down a lot and checking to see how many pages were left despite the deft scene changes to keep interest.

Claire keeps in character with her sometimes innocent trust of the vampires, but conversely still manages to be one of the smarter characters when it comes to realizing if shes in danger and acting quickly. She seems like the typical teen in her wanting more freedoms from her parents (more apparent in this book where her parents get thrown into the mix) – I could relate to her frustration with dealing with her parents who may not know the whole story, especially with Morganville. The most fascinating parts of this book for me where the scenes with the mercurial vampire Myrnin, and seeing some more facets to other characters (like Oliver, Amelie, and cop Richard Morrell), but I found Eve, Michael and Shane a bit dull in this book. Throughout this series I've found Claire's housemate's responsibility and her boyfriend's willpower in resisting doing anything beyond kissing a bit unbelievable, but I guess this book paints good rolemodels for teen readers there. I think I'll keep reading to see what happens next.

My reviews for:

Book 2 – The Dead Girls Dance (vox / livejournal)

Book 3 – Midnight Alley (vox / livejournal)

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An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

Posted on December 27, 2008 by janicu

An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly Mysteries, No. 3)

Charlaine Harris

A quick review because I'm spending time with the family this week and they keep interrupting my blogging!!

Charlaine Harris continues the adventures of Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver Lang in the third book of the series, set in Doraville, North Carolina. Harper has been hired to find the bodies of missing teen-aged boys – she soon does – eight young men buried in the same driveway next to an abandoned shack. All Harper wants to do is leave Doraville after this horrific job, but as usual, circumstances prevent it.

Despite this series being shelved in mystery, I think of it as being paranormal mystery because of Harper's ability to find the dead and identify how they died. There are also other reoccurring characters with some psychic ability that sometimes cross Harper's path. I always find these abilities fascinating within the story.

Overall: Every time I read one of these Harper Connelly mysteries, I expect a certain level of writing that will just let me kick back and enjoy – I always end up reading the book really quickly, not wanting to stop. So it wasn't a surprise that I liked this book. I think it's my favorite in the series so far. In the earlier books, especially book 1, I felt annoyed with the way people treated Harper because of her job, like she was a charlatan. It was a relief that in Doraville, Harper is treated much better so I wasn't annoyed by the other characters passing judgement on her. The mystery of who the killer was also kept me guessing, and there was enough of an element of danger to keep me absorbed, turning pages quickly to see what happens next. There's also enough of a cast of small town characters that Harper and Tolliver meet and a couple of old friends that stop by to help out to keep things interesting and the story moving along nicely. The weather also feels timely because as Harper dealt with an ice storm in An Ice Cold Grave, I was living through freezing rain and iced over roads in New York.

But be warned, this book goes to a weird place with Harper's personal life. I'm sure if you've read book 2 you'll have guessed what I'm talking about. Well, even though I expected this book to go there, I was still reeling when I read it. I'm still not quite comfortable either, but I guess I'll get used to it. Anyone else read this? What did you think? Am I right or what? Book 4 should be interesting – I'm still looking forward to reading it.

My past reviews:

Grave Sight (book 1)

Grave Surprise (book 2)

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Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Posted on December 16, 2008 by janicu

Ink Exchange

Melissa Marr

I just finished reading Ink Exchange. I read Wicked Lovely earlier this year and I was told this was a different book, so I decided to try it. Well, it wasn't for me either. There's nothing wrong with the writing, it has a lovely lyrical quality, but I think that somewhere along the line I stopped being able to suspend my disbelief over a supposed near-immortal (kings and their advisers as that) falling in love with a teenage girl. I think I just got too old.

In Ink Exchange, Leslie, who is a friend of Aislinn, the protagonist of Wicked Lovely, decides to get a tattoo. The tattoo she chooses is the tattoo of the king of the Dark Court, Irial, and it connects her to him in a magical way. In the meantime, Niall, adviser to the Summer King and Queen finds himself drawn to Leslie unlike any mortal before her. Leslie in turn is drawn to both men and seems to seesaw her way back and forth between them.

Leslie is first in great pain over her home life, a mom who left, a dad who gambles, and a brother who does drugs and uses Leslie to pay off his debts. Then after her tattoo, which leaches out her real feelings, she's so separate from herself and constantly numbed that it was very difficult to feel anything for her when she felt so little herself. At that point I just found it hard to connect with anyone in this book. I was having no trouble imagining their terrible beauty, but besides hearing how good they looked, their individual personalities and connections weren't developed enough for me. For example, whenever Leslie felt good to be with Irial and Niall I just felt like it was the product of what creatures they were, not real. And Niall's feelings of betrayal contrasted with his supposed experience with these people – why is he surprised? He became uncharacteristically more naive in this book compared to the last one. Despite all this, I was at least satisfied with the ending. I was close to thinking I preferred Wicked Lovely over this second book until I got to the end, but this ending felt more right. And yeah, I did see that Leslie realized something about those feelings that were leeched from her – the fear and hurt, the bad stuff, were needed as much as she needed the happier feelings, in order to feel whole. That growing up on her part, plus the darker aspects of this novel were positive parts of the book. But still, I don't know, it still didn't work overall for me. I was unsatisfied for some reason, but I know that most people who I have seen review this online have reviewed this positively, so I'm probably in the minority. It may be that this novel would have worked better for me if it was packaged in a short story or novella. Maybe then I would have accepted certain things I felt were missing or inferred them more than I have here.

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