Remember a few months ago when Scholastic announced the new cover artist for the 15th Anniversary Harry Potter Collector’s Set?
Well, the second cover is public!
What do you think?
Remember a few months ago when Scholastic announced the new cover artist for the 15th Anniversary Harry Potter Collector’s Set?
Well, the second cover is public!
What do you think?
Defiance by CJ Redwine 
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publishing Date: August 2012
Genre: young adult, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, fantasy
ISBN: 9780062117182
Goodreads: 3.8
Rating: ★★★★★
While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.
When Rachel’s father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city’s brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father’s apprentice, Logan–the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.
As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.
Rachel Adams — fierce, impulsive, strong, and daughter to the best courier and warrior of Baalboden — is filled with anger and grief when the brutal Commander declares her father dead and assigns her Protectorship to her father’s apprentice, Logan. Logan, a techie inventor who always has a plan, is just as determined as Rachel to prove Jared Adams is alive. But as Rachel throws caution to the wind and acts impulsively, all of Logan’s plans crumble, and the two are sent out of Baalboden on a death mission into the Wastelands, where the Cursed One is bound to turn up at any moment.
I eyed this book for months. I rolled my eyes at every dystopian or post-apocalyptic book I saw on the shelves because, really, it felt overdone. But this one, with the cover and fierce female protagonist and enticing first chapters, kept calling to me. I’m so glad I bought and read this book.
Rachel is impulsive to a fault, and she knows it. That’s the beauty of her character: she’s aware that she reacts without a plan, and it only heightens as more of her loved ones die. Every action screams rage, regret, and revenge — her desire to rid Baalboden of their dictator is justified. What started as anger and frustration and a need to defy authority turned into something realistically deeper and more meaningful. Her reactions are very much like a soldier’s, a war victim’s, a person with PTSD. Beautifully written, expertly explored, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Logan is really neat and clever! He’s easy to love. His character starts off as that quiet nerdy boy who loves to play with metal and wires, and bit by bit we discover he’s extremely protective, fiercely loyal, an excellent fighter and huntsman, and quick on his feet. There is always a plan, and you can count on Logan to come up with all sorts of scenarios and how to respond to them. Logic and fear control him, another natural response to a horror he witnessed when he was younger.
The world, of Baalboden and the Wastelands, is so fascinating! Set in the future, the continent was ravaged by Cursed Ones disturbed by noise and oil drills from above. The Cursed Ones are wingless dragons, and though they should be feared, they did remind me of cranky neighbors or roommates that constantly nag at you to shut up and be quiet. These beasts are unstoppable, and now there is only one left. Survivors of these attacks banded together and formed city-states, under the protector-ship of Commanders. However, like Medieval and Renaissance Italy, these city-states no longer trust one another. People are trapped within their walled cities, trade in markets, go back to male and female spheres, are Claimed for marriage, and have little access to advanced technology unless they work directly for the Commander. Past and future collide in this fantasy and it’s brilliant.
Action-packed with each chapter, bloodshed and fights and explosions, fear and love mix with plots for revenge, and a tracker or Cursed One looming around every corner — this book cannot be put down.
Deception will be out August 2013!
Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber 
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publishing Date: November 2011
Genre: young adult, paranormal, gothic
ISBN: 9781402260520
Goodreads: 3.67
Rating: ★★
I was obsessed.
It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen–everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable…utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.
There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.
Natalie Stewart, a mute and social outcast, works with her father in the Manhattan Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently acquired a beautiful painting of the stunningly handsome Lord Denbury. Natalie is drawn to the painting, and it’s not until she meets Mrs. Northe that she is able to understand why. A series of terrifying dreams, a stream of murders, and the only way to stay sane is to fall into a painting, this twist on Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray is magical to the core.
While I loved this new perspective on Wilde’s classic, seeing what it would be like to be trapped mentally within a painting while the evil and physical portion corrupts in the real world, I found Natalie’s voice lacking. Hieber’s choice to write in a diary form is justified — that form of documentation was common for women in the Victorian era and is a common aspect of gothic literature (all the truth is revealed in a woman’s diary) — it was poorly executed. Who truly remembers every single detail and word said in a conversation? Normally things like this are paraphrased.
The haunting aspects of this book are in Natalie’s dreams. She never witnesses murders, but is able to predict them and sees how they will be murdered while she’s dreaming. Her dreams also transport her to Lord Denbury’s painting, where he is alive and well and hoping to find a way out. This was very intriguing and I liked these dreams. The story was propelled forward then.
Natalie’s attachment to Lord Denbury was quick and odd. There’s intrigue and then there’s extreme obsession. Hieber keeps writing that Natalie is “drawn” to him, that “fate” brought them together. But throughout, I couldn’t help but feel Natalie and Denbury were interested in each other sexually and that was it. There was nothing about his character that seemed interesting or romantic. Natalie was a rather dull protagonist as well.
The heightened bits of this novel were the passion between Natalie and Denbury, and the nightmares that helped Natalie discover the mystery and magic of the painting. The plot was simple but dragged out, the protagonist was a little boring, the love interest lacking in personality. But the idea of the book, and the neat twist to the classic, was neat enough to see where it went.
These are children’s books that I spotted at work and couldn’t help but pick up, read, and then recommend to customers. And when that happens, it’s worth putting up a review and then qualify them in my yearly challenge.
Tea Rex by Molly Idle 
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publishing Date: April 2013
Genre: children’s, picture book
ISBN: 9780670014309
Goodreads: 4.10
Rating: ★★★★
Some tea parties are for grown-ups.
Some are for girls.
But this tea party is for a very special guest.
And it is important to follow some rules . . .
like providing comfortable chairs,
and good conversation,
and yummy food.
But sometimes that is not enough for special guests,
especially when their manners are more Cretaceous than gracious . . .
Averaging five words per page, this book is remarkable. The illustrations tell the story even more than the words, and those illustrations are fantastic. You see how large Rex is — so big Rex’s full body cannot fit on the page — and how frustrated the hostess becomes. Tea and flying crumpets and torn lace and everything, it’s all so humorously beautiful. The manners written in the book almost appear to be the exact opposite in the illustrations. For example: “good conversation” has a picture of the hostess jabbering away, making one guest doze off and the other sneaking another cup of tea. It’s cute, children are bound to love it.
I Want My Mommy! by Tracey Corderoy
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Publishing Date: February 2013
Genre: children’s, picture books
ISBN: 9781589251304
Goodreads: 3.61
Rating: ★★★★
It’s Arthur’s first day apart from his mommy and he really misses her. Even his fantastic dragon suit and favorite toy dragon don’t help cheer him up. Rargghh! he roars grumpily. But luckily Grandma knows just what to do!
So adorable and true to life, little mouse Arthur dresses up in a dragon costume and goes to Grandma’s for the day. Every time the doorbell rings he races to see if it’s Mommy. But Grandma’s plan to dress up as a Knight makes Arthur’s day pass super fast. Beautiful, soft artwork and a charming story. It’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face!
Revel by Maurissa Guibord 
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Publishing Date: February 2013
Genre: young adult, fantasy, paranormal romance
ISBN: 9780385741873
Goodreads: 3.84
Rating: ★
There’s an island off the coast of Maine that’s not on any modern map.
Shrouded in mist and protected by a deadly reef, Trespass Island is home to a community of people who guard the island and its secrets from outsiders. Seventeen-year-old Delia grew up in Kansas, but has come here in search of her family and answers to her questions: Why didn’t her mother ever talk about Trespass Island? Why did she fear the open water? But Delia’s not welcome and soon finds herself enmeshed in a frightening and supernatural world where ancient Greek symbols adorn the buildings and secret ceremonies take place on the beach at night.
Sean Gunn, a handsome young lobsterman, befriends Delia and seems willing to risk his life to protect her. But it’s Jax, the coldly elusive young man she meets at the water’s edge, who finally makes Delia understand the real dangers of life on the island. Delia is going to have to fight to survive. Because there are monsters here. And no one ever leaves Trespass alive.
Delia McGovern is determined to find out why and how her mother escaped the unmapped Trespass Island. When she arrives, the people find her dangerous and odd, an outsider bringing death and fear into their peaceful haven. As the Revel celebration approaches, Delia discovers a frightening secret lurking in the waters — imprisoning the inhabitants as well as keeping trespassers out.
I wanted to enjoy this. I loved the idea of some otherworldly sea creature preventing inhabitants from leaving and newcomers from entering. The ocean is a vast and alien world, a frontier not yet fully explored, so having some sort of monster there is alluring. Sure, throw in some Greek demigods as well for fun, but the mysterious, frightening aspects was what I was looking for.
Guibord failed me. First, Delia was just plain odd for a character. Her internal thoughts were intelligent and somewhat snarky, but everything that came out of her mouth was stilted. The dialogue was off — from everyone, not just Delia — and the actions were unjustified.
Second, this book could have been written in so many different (and better) ways. Toss out the love triangle, first of all. The horror and tension would have been much better if Jax was seen as a monster throughout. The pull to the water Delia experiences would have been more terrifying, it would make her have difficulty coming to terms with her identity. That would have been interesting. Another aspect would have been introducing the monsters later in the novel, rather than right at the beginning. Telling us immediately what makes this island odd doesn’t add suspense, it kills it. The mystery of the caves no longer seems dire. If Delia were to slowly discover the caves, slowly experience how she feels in the water, slowly piece things together about the island, Trespass would become a terrifying place, and the monsters even more frightening!
Finally, the excuse of a celebration — Revel — could have been the conclusion. Delia’s identity surrounds Revel. The book is called Revel. The plot Guibord writes, however, does not. And that’s such a disappointment.
Open with weird events and history of the island, progress to enjoying the water and discovering the caves, continue into the eerie aspect of Jax and the fierce protectiveness of the caves, climax at the discovery of the monsters, and a huge action/ending with Revel and self-discovery (all the while with little doses of Sean-love). That’s the book I thought I was going to read.
While the publishing industry is mostly filled with females, it’s still amazing that books are judged by its covers based upon whether the author is male or female. Female authors generally have books with covers that are light, fun, and somewhere — somehow — there is a girl or couple featured across the front.
Angered by the inequality and curious by the differences, Johnson charged her twitter followers with a challenge: take a popular book and create a new cover based upon the opposite gender of the author. Check out some of the amazing results — publishers, you need to get in touch with these designers! They’re fantastic!
One of my favorites…
Scribbles & Wanderlust 