Don’t mind me, I’ll just be hyperventilating in a bag for my favorite cover thus far for my favorite book of the series!
Scholastic reveals the 3rd Harry Potter 15th Anniversary Edition cover!
Don’t mind me, I’ll just be hyperventilating in a bag for my favorite cover thus far for my favorite book of the series!
Scholastic reveals the 3rd Harry Potter 15th Anniversary Edition cover!
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee 
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publishing Date: April 2009
Genre: young adult, mystery, historical fiction
ISBN: 9780763652890
Goodreads: 3.79
Rating: ★★★
Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan (and thief) Mary Quinn is surprised to be offered a singular education, instruction in fine manners — and an unusual vocation. Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls is a cover for an all-female investigative unit called The Agency, and at seventeen, Mary is about to put her training to the test. Assuming the guise of a lady’s companion, she must infiltrate a rich merchant’s home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the household is full of dangerous deceptions, and there is no one to trust — or is there?
Mary Lang is sentenced to death at age 12 for thievery when a young lady saves her and offers her a place at Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. Eager to start a new life, Mary accepts and changes her name to Quinn. By the time she’s 17, she is asked to become a member of an undercover all-female detective agency. She is placed in a prominent household as a companion to a spoiled daughter, and is supposed to uncover the truth about a series of shipwrecks pertaining to smuggled artifacts. But what she finds out, and who she works with, is the biggest surprise of all.
For diving into the book knowing absolutely nothing about it, I really enjoyed it. It was a quick read, and Lee certainly knows her Victorian history and culture. I was happy to see all aspects of Victorian London in the 1850s addressed: the snobbery of the upper class, the poor on the streets in filth, the Great Stink from the Thames, opium use, the influx of Asian sailors, and the oppression of women. Apart from Dickens, authors rarely remark upon the hushed-up or negative aspects of life of that time. If anything, these are mentioned in passing while the upper class characters go about their country holiday. This was, ironically, refreshing!
Mary is an exception in Victorian culture. She is part Chinese and part Irish, but her features both help and hinder her navigation through society. Porcelain white English women know she looks different and assume she has black Irish, Spanish, or French ancestors, and Chinese women consider her too white to be a part of their culture. Not only is her race enough to make her an outcast, but her orphaned life, childhood crimes, and headstrong will sets her apart as well. She has “ideas” and “notions” and likes to be independent. It makes her job in the Agency easy. She’s already tough for a woman, and no one will pay attention to her in the household because of her outcast status, so snooping should be easy.
Another aspect that I found refreshing in this mystery was the love interest — or lack thereof. James Easton is a charming man and thoroughly believes in Mary’s capabilities to be an independent woman. Mary stayed true to her character throughout the book and wouldn’t toss all responsibilities aside, though, and I’m grateful for that.
What prevented me from giving this book five stars was the lack of urgency on her assignment. It sounded, from the very beginning, like another agent already had most of the work done and Mary would only be in the way. And as Mary continued to search for clues, three or four different plots spun in different directions, to the point where I’d forgotten what Mary’s original assignment was. Thankfully they all linked together in a cohesive manner, but it almost felt as if Mary wasn’t needed in the first place.
Hachette Book Group Acquires the Hyperion Adult Imprint — Publishers Weekly — Jim Milliot
Disney is selling the majority of Hyperion titles to Hachette Book Group in a deal that is expected to close in mid-July. HBG will acquire more than 1,000 adult backlist titles plus another 25 books that it will release over the next few seasons. Disney will retain the most media-related titles such as its Castle series which ties into the ABC television show of the same name.
Some Hyperion employees will be transferred to HBG or they will be opened to other positions at Disney. Disney felt the adult imprint did not fit with the company’s long-range plans, so this is not a matter of publishing demise but publishing goals and direction.
Check out my blog post over at Quirk Books (publishers of Miss Peregrine and Pride & Prejudice and Zombies), titled “The Ultimate, Exhaustive, Totally Awesome YA Summer Reading List.”
Which, honestly, is way better than my original title. And they fixed up my Photoshop confusion too. Props to the person who worked on making this post nice and shiny for the public!
Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough 
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publishing Date: January 2012
Genre: young adult, horror, gothic, mystery
ISBN: 9780763658083
Goodreads: 3.70
Rating: ★★★★★
When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their elderly aunt in the isolated village of Bryers Guerdon, they receive a less-than-warm welcome. Auntie Ida is eccentric and rigid, and the girls are desperate to go back to London. But what they don’t know is that their aunt’s life was devastated the last time two young sisters were at Guerdon Hall, and she is determined to protect her nieces from an evil that has lain hidden for years. Along with Roger and Peter, two village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries – before it’s too late for little Mimi. Riveting and intensely atmospheric, this stunning debut will hold readers in its spell long after the last page is turned.
Cora and Mimi are sent by their father from London to Bryers Guerdon to temporarily live with their great-aunt Ida. Ida, however, does not want the girls and keeps trying to convince their father they should leave. Cora, headstrong and determined to make the best of this visit, makes friends with some neighbor boys, Roger and Peter and the rest of their family. As the days pass and Auntie Ida’s stern warnings to stay away from the church and to keep all doors and windows locked tight, Cora and Roger soon learn of a chilling family secret, and Mimi is the target victim of a long-standing family curse.
Holy Mother of God.
I could not put this book down, but I also could not read it without turning on all the lights and blasting happy Christmas music at night. Even in the day I kept seeking out more light and cheerful noise. Although the protagonists, Cora and Roger, are roughly age 10 and Mimi is 4, this is not a book for children. The content and the atmosphere are perfect for young adults, but may be a bit too terrifying for some.
Barraclough took an old folk song and spun a chilling tale from it. The poem itself gave me chills (small excerpt below):
Said my lord to my lady as he mounted his horse:
“Beware of Long Lankin that lives in the moss.”Said my lord to my lady as he rode away:
“Beware of Long Lankin that lives in the hay.“Let the doors be all bolted and the windows all pinned,
And leave not a hole for a mouse to creep in.”The doors were all bolted and the windows all pinned,
Except one little window where Long Lankin crept in…
Barraclough also captured all the classic gothic tricks in this chilling novel. First, an old and crumbling estate. Cora and Mimi are constantly fighting through cobwebs and choking on the rotting air. Second, a family history that needs to be uncovered. Cora is a curious sort, to her aunt’s disdain, and begins to ask all the adults in the area all sorts of questions about the crumbling church, the tree with rags and children’s shoes, why Ida still lives in a rotting mansion, why there is Latin writing all over the place, who knows who in the village and why are people worried Mimi will disappear, etc. Third, documents and religious implications are scattered throughout. Cora finds a tin box filled with writings on the history of Bryers Guerdon and the Guerdon family, all recorded by a parish rector from Ida’s time and dating back to the 1500s. Finally, sightings of haunted children, ghosts, and spirits, and things that rattle and slither and go bump in the night, fill these pages. Every sound is significant. Every sighting has a purpose.
Frightening, immensely chilling, well-plotted and deeply fascinating, this book is worth a read if one is looking for a perfect ghost story. I haven’t read any recently published ghost stories like this since Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black.
The Archived by Victoria Schwab 
Publisher: Hyperion
Publishing Date: January 2013
Genre: young adult, gothic, mystery
ISBN: 9781423157311
Goodreads: 3.99
Rating: ★★★★
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.
Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.
Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.
Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.
Mackenzie Bishop does the best she can to hang on to her dead brother’s memory while her family aches and attempts to move on. When her family rebuilds life in the Coronado, an old hotel-turned-apartment building, history begins to haunt her — literally. She is a Keeper, responsible for the lost souls trapped between life and death. It is her job to find them and send them back to peaceful rest. But as more and more Histories appear, and one History seems unable to listen to her demands to leave, Mac begins to unravel a decades-long mystery that could lead to an answer as to why the Archive seems to be crumbling to pieces.
Haunting, eerie, and filled with rich language and deep emotion, this book is a must-have for any reader interested in Victorian literature and Young Adult literature. It has the perfect combination of the slow-building and mysterious plot trademarked in Victorian literature, mixed with the first-person, raw emotions, and teenage heroes of today’s YA genre.
Schwab’s concept of a library archive as a place for the dead was incredibly believable and deeply fascinating. The bodies lie in drawers, and are records of that particular person’s memories and experiences. Librarians take care of them, and make sure they stay “asleep” and are left undisturbed. When awakened, these Histories escape into the Narrows, dark and eerie, maze-like hallways between the Archive and the Outer, or our world. It is the Keeper’s responsibility of that section of Narrows to find the History and return them. If a History escapes into the Outer, Crew is called upon to fight and work them back into the Archive.
When Mackenzie moves into the Coronado and meets Wes, a charming and funny character that I ached to see more of, she begins to realize that the older and more haunted a place, the busier her work load. But she has to hide all of her work from her parents, who grieve for their lost son. Mac’s struggles with awakening her brother or not plague her thoughts, and Wes does the best he can to keep her from dwelling in the past. Schwab does an excellent job of making Wes a likable character. One would think all of the self-confidence could be turned into arrogance, but Wes is nothing like that.
The flashbacks with Mac’s grandfather, Da, were appropriately placed as well. It allows for the reader to experience the new world and new rules without Mac’s first person to stop and explain. The flashbacks take the reader to a time when Da was explaining the Archive to her for the first time. It also shows her strong bond with her grandfather, and her desire to do good by him and make him proud.
This would be one of those books that I would have to say, “Read it to believe it.” The slow pace and suspenseful plot fits wonderfully with this sort of tale.
Sorry for the radio silence! I was visiting family in the Midwest for two weeks — lots of dinners, parties, a wedding, and a graduation — and now I’m back! I’ve got a book review post on its way, as well.
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.
Scribbles & Wanderlust 