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
Summer Shorts – The Exterminator’s Daughter by Meg Cabot
Summer Shorts is a weekly feature on Dead Book Darling, reviewing great short stories every Saturday through July-August 2010. I’ve been reading quite a few fabulous anthologies lately, and I want to share the love!
The Exterminator’s Daughter
by Meg Cabot
Meg Cabot / Goodreads / Librarything
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts: I’ll admit it – I used to think Cabot was a writer for 12-year-old girls with learning disabilities. Harsh, I know. But hey, I come to you reformed!
The Exterminator’s Daughter was fun, fun, fun! The 50-page story kicks off when a stupid-but-sweet teenage girl is seduced by a rather evil vampire. Her BFF Mary (a.k.a. the Exterminator’s Daughter) just so happens to be a kick-ass vamp killer. Helping her swoop in to save the day is the awesome-and-totally normal Adam, and, oh yeah, they get to go to prom.
It is super funny, with a touch of rather adorable romance. But Cabot took the story one step further, writing some pretty well-rounded characters. Mary isn’t just charging to the rescue for the hell of it: she has suffered a pretty devastating personal loss and is on a pretty un-funny quest for revenge. It’s all rather tragic, but it made me connect with Mary about so much more than I would think possible in so few pages!
Bottom line? Cabot is certainly on my YA radar now – anyone who can leave me smiling and wishing for a sequel deserves to be read ASAP!
Shelf Analysis: Forbidden vs. The Dark and Hollow Places
Soo… I was checking out the lovely UK cover to Carrie Ryan’s third book The Dark and Hollow Places and I had a slight WTF moment. Just take a look:
Yup, that’s right. The Zombie Apocalypse book and the Incestuous Teen Romance have virtually the same cover. Totally gorgeous covers, I’ll admit – but seriously? *stares*
Now, apparently the whole barbed wire thing is quite relevant to The Dark and Hollow Places plot. And the whole forbidden romance thing is really expressed wonderfully on the cover of Forbidden.
Despite the ludicrous similarity – I am totally down with barbed wire hearts becoming the new Twilight cover. I much prefer this UK cover of The Dark and Hollow Places over the US cover. I still believe the cover to Forbidden is absolutely perfect for the content.
Waiting on Wednesday: Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She’s spent years keeping everyone at a distance—even her closest friends—and it seems her senior year will be more of the same…until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him. What she doesn’t know is that Luc works in Acquisitions—for Hell—and she possesses a unique skill set that has the King of Hell tingling with anticipation. All Luc has to do is get her to sin, and he’s as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance.
Goodreads – YA – September 14th 2010 by Tor TeenUnfortunately for Luc, Heaven has other plans, and the angel, Gabe, is going to do whatever it takes to make sure that Luc doesn’t get what he came for. And it isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just her soul.
But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay…for all of them.
This book sounds great – and not just because I seem to have completely jumped aboard the ooh-angels!trend in YA. What drew me to Personal Demons was the same thing that drew me to Mercy by Rebecca Lim – the choice between heaven and hell not being as clear cut as we imagine. People have been squeeing non-stop about this book, and I hope it will live up to the ever mounting expectations!
BTW, this cover an older non-final one for the book. The new one just creeps me out, as the characters look about 30 (which would be fine if they actually were, ya know, 30).
Review: Old Magic by Marianne Curley
Old Magic by Marianne CurleyPublished by Bloomsbury on 2012-09-13
Pages: 320
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
Add to Goodreads
Rating:
Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing, but Kate Warren doesn't know why.
The moment the new guy walks into the room, Kate senses something strange and intense about him. Something supernatural. Her instincts are proven correct a few minutes later when, bullied by his classmates, Jarrod unknowingly conjures up a freak thunderstorm inside their classroom.
Jarrod doesn't believe in the paranormal. When Kate tries to convince him that he has extraordinary powers that need to be harnessed, he only puts up with her "hocus pocus" notions because he finds her captivating. However, the dangerous, uncontrolled strengthening of his gift finally convinces Jarrod that he must take Kate's theories seriously. Together, they embark on a remarkable journey—one which will unravel the mystery that has haunted Jarrod's family for generations and pit the teens against immense forces in a battle to undo the past and reshape the future.
Spoiler Alert: This review has a few in it – but they are basically the facts that I wish someone had told me about before I started reading.
Thoughts: Old Magic is really damn hard to review. Because although it had a lot of elements in it that were enjoyable, it was ultimately a let down.
The main character Kate and Jarrod were relatively enjoyable, but not all that well developed. In fact, Jarrod’s main character trait was his extraordinary cowardice. Sure, that was entertaining and believable for about 100 pages – but after a while I wanted to slam his head into something hard. Because of his utter lack of spine, I found Kate’s attraction to him rather peculiar.
Despite that, I really enjoyed the first half of the novel. It is set in a sleepy town surrounded by woodlands. The atmosphere was rather dark and magical – reminding me of Need and Shiver in many parts. But then, half way through the book Kate and Jarrod time-travel back 1000 years.
Er, what? No! Take me back to that mysterious little town!
That was pretty much my only thought for the rest of the book. Curley introduces us to a dozen new characters, some rather over-the-top villains and some rather drawn-out plot. I don’t really have a problem with time-travelling in books – I just would rather it be the sole focus of the novel. Instead, I felt like I had been tossed into the poorly made sequel to the first half of the book. One where they had to recast the leads because the script was so bad…
Bottom line? Curley is a very believable writer. And while I was disappointed with Old Magic, I shall be picking up some of her other books in the near future.
Monday Reading (July 12th, 2010)
It’s Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event now hosted by One Persons Journey Through a World Of Books where we discuss our week of reading!
Recently Abandoned:
- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski – 275 pages in and I am giving up. Even though I enjoyed the first 150-so pages quite a bit, I did not sign up for a re-telling of Hamlet. I feel rather cheated. (Oh, and a lot of the opinions about dogs in this? Kinda bizarre.)
Finished this week:
- Ill Wind by Rachel Caine – Quite enjoyed, and have a feeling the sequel will be even better.
- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner – BLAH. I know this book is worshipped by most YA bloggers, but I really couldn’t see the attraction. It felt like a bad Indiana Jones rip-off… *hides*
- Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles – Bloody brilliant. I read this in a single go and adored it. I thought it was so much better than Perfect Chemistry (which I enjoyed) and totally rec it for YA fans!
- Captivate by Carrie Jones