Review: Unleashed (Wolf Springs Chronicles #1)

Unleashed (Wolf Springs Chronicles #1) by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
Publication Date: November 22, 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Press / Random House

Katelyn McBride’s life changed in an instant when her mother died. Uprooted from her California home, Katelyn was shipped to the middle of nowhere, Arkansas, to her only living relative, her grandfather. And now she has to start over in Wolf Springs, a tiny village in the Ozark Mountains. Like any small town, Wolf Springs has secrets. But the secrets hidden here are more sinister than Katelyn could ever imagine. It’s a town with a history that reaches back centuries, spans continents, and conceals terrifying truths. And Katelyn McBride is about to change everything.

Broken families, ageless grudges, forced alliances, and love that blooms in the darkest night—welcome to Wolf Springs.

If I took away one thing from Unleashed, it's that Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié must have a thing for men in tight jeans and form fitting shirts (preferably black). I don't think any guy in this book wore a loose piece of clothing.

I became excited when I got this book because I hadn't read anything by Nancy Holder since my "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" days when she wrote novel tie-ins (I briefly mention her here, as well) which I devoured like a madwoman. It's nice to know she hasn't lost her gift at sharp dialogue or writing strong female characters. Being the first book I have read with Holder and Viguié as a writing team, I was pleased.

I don't think I've ever read a YA book with so many dead or nonentity parents. This is a thing usually reserved for the middle reader genre. Katelyn's parents are dead, Justin's and Jesse's parents are dead, Caroline's mother is dead, Trick's parents are mentioned once...the list goes on. It was kind of weird. BUT, I love werewolves so I was excited to read something just involving them and nothing else. I love the setting of the story and the isolated feel of the environment. I love Katelyn and her budding relationship with her grandfather. I also love Trick, though he obviously has a huge secret that has yet to be divulged. He was freaking adorable. Speaking of Trick, a storm's a brewin' and I see fans quickly taking sides and forming Team Trick and Team Justin. P.S. Trick is better.

Unleashed would have been at least a 4 or 5 star book for me if I hadn't been disappointed by a few certain things. One, no questions are answered and nothing is solved. Like, at all. We get one and that's at the very end of the book with a cliffhanger that leaves you like "what?" Two, the story is slow to get moving. With the book's own title and synopsis and all of the hints being dropped on every page, it screams werewolf, but unfortunately it takes forever for someone to even mention the word. But once we reach that mark, the book picks up speed and gets moving. This is the point at which I couldn't put it down.

With the story now begun and the action set, I see the second book in the series being a thrilly angst-ridden journey if it keeps up the pace at which it ended. Unleashed may have been "just good" for me, but I am very excited about the next one! 

Review: The Vespertine

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell
Publication Date: March 7, 2011
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

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

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

Before I start with the review, how gorgeous is this cover? LOVE.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I read The Vespertine. I knew it was a paranormal/historical fiction book, but that was it. When I got into work one day it was sitting on the counter with my name on it and I don't ask questions when a book has my name on it, so I picked it up. I was pleasantly surprised!

Remember back in the 1800s when the word "dash" was a bad word? Only me? Am I the only immortal blogger on the internet? Or maybe I just felt like I was there. I can't tell the difference anymore, because Saundra Mitchell did such a great job of setting the scene for a Baltimore in 1889. While reading The Vespertine I could visually see and hear everything that was happening. LOVE (again). Another great aspect of the book is the narrator and main character, Amelia. She is witty and smart, but is also still very much a true Victorian young woman of the time. Does that make sense? I also enjoyed her interactions with her cousin Zora and Nathaniel. Amelia and Zora develop a really strong friendship and Nathaniel...oh, Nathaniel, how do I compare thee...? You remain a mystery but yet I still want your body *cough cough*, I mean, I want to know more about you.

Speaking of mystery, the only problem I had with the book is that it leaves the reader with a lot of questions, a lot of what and why. Where do these powers come from? Who exactly is Nathaniel? I don't necessarily feel that the paranormal aspect of the book should have been front and center, but I would have liked some more explanation(s). I'm hoping that this is because these questions will be answered in the third book, which does not have a synopsis or title yet (it comes out in 2013), so I have put together a title for Mitchell just in case she doesn't have one. The plot, obviously, comes with it:

Everything You Wanted to Know About Nathaniel (and Amelia Too, I Guess...) (Vespertine #3)

I've seen some reviewers talking about how all the characters seemed so accepting of Amelia's ability, but it didn't bother me at all. Victorian America was an era of mystics, spiritualists, and magic. Everyone was curious about it, so if it turns out that they have a friend who can see the future, awesome! And for free? Even more awesome! Or that's how I, at least, read it.

On a final note, The Vespertine isn't a book of action and it's not fast-paced. In fact, I would say the first two-thirds of the book is mainly set-up and not a lot happens until the end. I didn't care, though, because the author's dialogue and description were enough to keep me entertained until the final "BAM" moment.

In My Mailbox (3)

"In My Mailbox" is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren to share books we got in the mail or the library or the bookstore, etc. that week!

So, embarrassingly, my blog seems to have become a blog of memes and for that I apologize. I've been busy with school work, work, and a video game called Skyrim (I've become a bit addicted...). I'm really jealous of people who have things to post every day. Maybe I should hire interns to read books for me and then act them out.  ;) I will NOT do another meme until I've written at least two reviews, no matter how much I have fun with them! This is my punishment to me.

Now onto my mailbox!

FROM HARPER:

Partials by Dan Wells

FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER:

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

FROM HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT:

Illuminate (Gilded Wings #1) by Aimee Agresti

Digit by Annabel Monaghan

First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky

Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls by Mary Downing Hahn

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Croak by Gina Damico

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Thank you to Harper, Simon & Schuster, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARCs!

What did you get this week? Leave a link below and I'll be sure to check out your IMM!

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine which asks what book we're most looking forward to.

The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Seraphina’s first love made her immortal…her second might get her killed. Incarnation is a new series that introduces a fresh mythology perfect for fans of bestselling series like The Immortals by Alyson Noel and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

After spending six hundred years on earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world’s riches, but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to swap bodies with other humans, jumping from one vessel to the next, taking the human’s life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she’s done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year-old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she’s inhabiting—and falls for the human boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she’s his again, and every moment she stays, she’s putting herself and the people she’s grown to care for in great danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that’s eluded her for centuries: true love?

Look at that pretty cover! I actually just found out about this book today! My store and myself didn't receive an ARC and this makes me sad (I've become spoiled...). I'm intrigued by the premise of The Alchemy of Forever and it reminds me a bit of The Host by Stephenie Meyer which I enjoyed. I've always had a fascination with alchemy, so I'm curious as to what the author has done with it in the story.

What are you most looking forward to? Leave a link to your WoW in the comments and I'll come visit!

Dusty Reads (1)

"Dusty Reads" is a weekly meme hosted by Giselle at Xpresso Reads, in which we talk about a book that has been sitting on our shelf, unread, and probably crying for attention.

White Cat (The Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black

Publication Date: May 4th, 2010

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry / Simon & Schuster

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the con-men.

Don't look at me like that. I feel ashamed enough, thank you. I've had this book on my shelf for what feels like...forever. It's not that I don't want to read it (I do!), it's just other reads have always come before it and then I forgot about it. Funny enough, I also own the second one. I have a galley of both sitting all sad-like on a shelf. Hey, I have my first New Year's resolution!

The Curse Workers #2:

Review: Witchlanders

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley
Publication Date: August 30, 2011
Publisher: Antheneum / Simon & Schuster

High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future.

It’s all a fake.

At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated? But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—

Are about him.

There are two reasons I had fun reading Witchlanders:
        1. It had not one but TWO male narrators, which is very rare in YA fiction today.
        2. It had an older style feel to it and it reminded me of the fantasy I read as a teen.
Those are really the only two reasons why I liked Witchlanders. Otherwise, I found the book to be just okay.

Actually, you know what, I lied. I also really liked the prose of the book and the story wasn't half bad either. Also, Ryder and Falpian: they are two very different characters from two very different/opposite environments and I think Coakley developed their relationship really well. I enjoyed "watching" the progression of their initial dislike for each other to the friendship that comes out of the trials they struggle through and the magical connection the two have. The story twist came as a surprise to me, as well, and I enjoyed that. I hate when I can predict where the story is going and then have to wait until my prediction comes true. And my predictions always come true because I'm super S-M-R-T.  ;)

The thing I didn't enjoy was the pace of the book. I thought it started rather slowly, would pick up for a few pages, and then slow down again for many more pages. It wasn't a book I just had to keep picking up again every time I put it down. The end also bothered me. Without giving spoilers, I found the ending to be solved too easily. If it leads to another novel in a series, then I like Witchlanders a lot more than I originally thought. If this is a stand-alone then I still have the same opinion of the book as a whole.

Have you read it? What did you think?

In My Mailbox (2)

"In My Mailbox" is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren to share books we got in the mail or the library or the bookstore, etc. that week!

PURCHASED:

Reckoning by Lili St. Crow

FROM PUBLISHERS:

The List by Siobhan Vivian

Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Thank you Penguin (Harbinger), Hachette/Little, Brown (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight), and Scholastic (The List) for the galleys!

What did you get this week? Tell me below and I'll be sure to check out your IMM!