Hi there! I’m Kay: an opinionated book blogger enamoured with the world of novels. Reader of Speculative Fiction (the posh word for Sci-Fi/Fantasy) and Young Adult novels. Believer in the many uses of the towel, the science of deduction and other fandom in-jokes.
This blog has been closed since early 2016. To the publishers and writers: thanks for all the support over the years. To my readers and fellow bloggers: keep in touch!
Recent Reviews
On coffee and princesses [TSS]
So, earlier this week, I was enjoying a nice, big, frothy latte and remembered an adorable YA book I’d read and enjoyed last year: The Espressologist by Kristina Springer. It was a light-yet-comforting read which was fun fun fun. I then I thought “what ever happened to the author”? So many YA authors get their 30 seconds of fame before their book is released but, unless it is followed by a sequel, often fade into obscurity after they debut. Since I had heard nothing about Kristina since, I was afraid that the same had happened to her – and, worst of all, I had’t even noticed.
Well, it turns out my fears were premature. Not only did Kristina have a book published in October last year, My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours (which doesn’t quite seem like my cup of tea, but let me know if you think I should give it a shot) she also has another YA novel coming out this fall: Just Your Average Princess.
Now, I’d seen the cover for Just Your Average Princess on one of those “upcoming books” posts that have become so popular on YA blogs – but the lack of details meant I’d ignored it. Cute cover, but not for me. But when I found out Kristina had written it, I thought a second look was in order. At the time, there was no description of the book on Goodreads, so I searched online for an alternative source for a summary. I found one soon enough on Kristina’s website. It sounds like it is going to be just as adorable as The Espressologist, and I absolutely cannot wait to read it.
So, what’s my point? Well, first off, I found that I am not as cover-driven as I thought I was. Even though I had loved the cover for Just Your Average Princess, I needed a better reason to add it to my wishlist. I’m really glad that my subconscious picked up on the author and got me to check up on what she’s been doing.
Second? It made me realise how fleeting our love affairs are with authors. And, like any relationship, they require work. Even though I had loved Kristina’s first book, I had rather abandoned her work. Or rather, without actively following her updates, or without her publisher staging an extreme PR campaign, I would never have remembered to keep up with Kristina.
Maybe it’s just me – but it seems like we rely on people telling us what to read. Pushing and prodding – getting us excited about a new book/author/series. But, really, we should look at the authors we’ve already grown to love – and consider ordering their back-listed books asap.
What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library’s vast reading room. It’s filled with people–students and faculty and strangers who’ve wandered in. They’re seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they’re all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they’ll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon’s literary intake….
Review: Green-Eyed Demon by Jaye Wells
Green-Eyed Demon by Jaye WellsSeries: Sabina Kane #3
Published by Orbit
Pages: 400
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Received for review from publishers
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Rating:
Also in this series: Red-Headed Stepchild, The Mage in Black, Silver-Tongued Devil
The clock is ticking for Sabina Kane. She has to save her sister from her mysterious captors. And in order to do that, she has to broker a deal between the mages and the vampires before all hell breaks loose.
But as much as Sabina is focused on surviving the present, the past won’t be ignored. Before she can save those she cares about, she’s got to save herself from the ghosts of her past. Because the past is haunting her. Literally.
Thoughts: It’s no secret that I am a fan of Jaye Wells – a big fan. This woman can make me laugh and cry and squee in delight, I love her. Green-Eyed Demon was fantabulous: lots of snarky dialogue by characters that I have grown to adore. It was not quite as strong as the first two books in the series, but I blame that on the fact that I read it on my computer… and I never love things I read on a computer. It’s my reading equivalent of watching a film on a plane – distracting and unpleasant. So that I loved it as much as I did? Pretty impressive.
Sabina is still as kick-ass as ever, although she has really grown since the first time we met her. Her first instinct is to killkillkill, but she is gradually starting to get that under control. She also takes quite a few “grown-up” decisions regarding her relationship with Adam. I am so proud of this chick for getting her act together while still remaining true to herself. However, there were a few times when I felt like the development was a bit too explicit: Sabina would compare “Old Sabina” to “New Sabina” and my eyes would glaze over in boredom. *sigh*
But Wells takes strides developing Adam and Maisie. They seemed to have it all in the first two books, but the events of Green-Eyed Demon will spark a profound change both of them. I can’t wait to see what Wells does with them in the next book, Silver-Tongued Devil. I am so glad that her series was extended another two books and can’t wait to see what she has in store for us!
I also adored the New Orleans setting in this book – drag queens, voodoo . I adore New Orleans – y’all probably don’t know, but I was born in the city and a bit of me never left. Jaye Wells just gets the deep south in a way that I didn’t think a non-Southerner could (sorry Ms. Wells, but Texas doesn’t quite count). If you love the Sookie Stackhouse books and you will love this installment of the Sabina Kane series.
Above all, it’s the humour which makes this series stand out. Jaye Wells is as snarky and flat-out hysterical as she’s ever been – mocking Twilight, making some kick-ass Star Trek references, giving a brief glimpse at a funny-yet-crazy-disturbing orgy, and giving demon!cat! Giguhl some lines that you will want to draw hearts over.
Bottom line? Sakina Kane still kicks some serious ass. Wells’ frank, tell-it-like-it-is style will have you chomping at the bits for more.
WoW: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Goodreads – August 2nd 2011 by Hyperion BooksThe Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near.
These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.
The Near Witch is another book I discovered through the YA Rebels channel. The Rebels are fab – and I’ve been eagerly awaiting Victoria’s book for, oh, about a year or so. Even though I am totally buying the hardcover, I can’t say I am too in love with the cover image. I’m nervous that people won’t pick it up! *bites nails* But it is going to be fantabulous, so please do!
Review: Ghost Town by Rachel Caine
Ghost Town by Rachel CaineSeries: Morganville Vampires #9
Published by Allison & Busby
Pages: 479
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
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Rating:
Also in this series: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Kiss of Death, Bite Club
While developing a new system to maintain Morganville's defenses, student Claire Danvers discovers a way to amplify vampire mental powers. Through this, she's able to re-establish the field around this vampire-infested Texas college town that protects it from outsiders.
But the new upgrades have an unexpected consequence: people inside the town begin to slowly forget who they are-even the vampires. Soon, the town's little memory problem has turned into a full-on epidemic. Now Claire needs to figure out a way to pull the plug on her experiment- before she forgets how to save Morganville...
Thoughts: I really cannot believe I am writing a non-glowing-verging-on-negative review for a Morganville book. This series has consistently been one of my favourite reads – I thought that there could be no such thing as a bad Morganville book. But after reading Ghost Town, I remembered the problems I had with the first book in the series (Glass House). Namely, it just didn’t make me care about the characters.
Claire and the gang are, as usual, in the midst of another action-packed drama – this time centred around Claire and Mrynin’s experimental new machine. Now, that should make my knees turn to jelly, because a) I am head-over-heels in love with Myrnin, and b) I absolutely adore the Claire/Myrnin relationship. And yet their dynamic in this book is pretty much centred around Ada – which was just one of those characters I wish Caine would drop already. Seeing Myrnin – of all people – so love-crazy (instead of regular crazy) just annoyed me. There were a few scenes between them at the start of the book that I loved, but then it was all downhill.
Same goes for Amelie and Oliver – usually two kick-ass characters who seemed to spend this book going on and on about their unbelievable emotional angst. Not to mention the fact that they have been having the same argument about Morganville for nine books. Every time they brought it up, my eyes would start to glaze over. I get it already! Geez.
As for the Glass House residents, I have been growing less and less attached to them with each book. Shane/Claire used to make my heart pitter-patter, and now I feel like skipping through all their lovey-dovey business. I guess they’ve reached that point in their relationship where the camera would usually fade to black and display a “happily ever after” banner. It’s great for them, but not so interesting for us readers. Not that I want angst, per say, but some kind of development would be nice.
Bottom line? Depressing installment to a great series. I remain a fan, but have lost my faith in the series.
Waiting on Wednesday: Possess by Gretchen McNeil
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
Possess by Gretchen McNeil
Goodreads – YA – August 23rd 2011 by Balzer + BrayFifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her overprotective mom, by the hunky son of the police officer who got her father killed, and by the eerie voices which she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Turns out the voices are demons–the Biblical kind, not the Buffy kind–and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them.
San Francisco’s senior exorcist and his newly assigned partner from the Vatican enlist Bridget’s help with increasingly bizarre and dangerous cases of demonic possession. But when one of Bridget’s oldest friends turns up dead in a ritualistic sacrifice that mirrors her father’s murder, Bridget realizes she can’t trust anyone. An interview with her father’s murderer reveals a link between Bridget and the Emim: a race of part-demons intent on raising their forefathers to the earth in human form. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the Emim’s plan before someone else close to her winds up dead, or worse–the human vessel for a Demon King.
So, this is one of those books I have had on my wishlist forever. Back in the days when Gretchen was still calling it “Banish” and a cover was no where in sight. Yes, I call the author Gretchen – because after almost a year of watching her on the YA Rebels Channel, I kinda feel like I know her. And you know what? She’s pretty damn awesome – and funny. If the book is just half as entertaining as she is, it is going to be fantabulous. And just to give you a taster…