Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Publication Date: October 23rd, 2012

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I really enjoy Julie Kagawa's writing; particularly her world building.  The NeverNever- the world most of her The Iron Fey series takes place in- is one of my favorite fantastical worlds to date.  When I heard she was writing a spin-off series centered around Iron Queen Meghan's younger, human brother, I was intrigued.  I thought it wold be interesting to see Meghan, the fey, and their world through Ethan's eyes, and I was not wrong.  Ethan has FEELINGS about the fey and his sister's role in their word, and people, they are NOT positive ones.

Plagued by the fey since returning to the human realm, after his abduction to the NeverNever, many years prior, Ethan has had more than his share of problems.  Of course, no one is going to believe him when he says "invisible" gremlins are causing mischief, playing pranks on him, so he is very often blamed for the things they do.  Needless to say, he hates the fey, which kind of causes some really complicated feelings toward his sister.  He is angry.  Angry at Meghan foe abandoning him.  Angry at his parents for failing to understand.  Angry at the fey for existing.  Angry at the world for the hand he was dealt.  He pushes people away, and refuses to connect with anyone for fear that they will become targets.  After an unfortunate event involving some Redcaps and a fire in his former school library, Ethan is, once again, starting at a new school.  On his first day, much to his chagrin, he meets Todd, a half-breed, and Kenzie, a cute, persistent girl, intent on knowing him.  He wants nothing to do with either, but ends up knee-deep in a mystery involving exiles and half-breeds, including Todd,  and some very strange fey-like creatures. This mystery ends up being the catalyst that takes him back to NeverNever with Kenzie in tow.  Here we once again meet Grimalkin, one of my favorite characters from The Iron Fey.  He leads Ethan and Kenzie through NeverNever to the Iron Realm, and his sister, who he has not seen in many years.  This is where he meets Kierran, a half-breed, who has a few dynamite secrets of his own.  From there Ethan, Kenzie, and Kierran set out to find out what these creatures are, and how to stop them, and I have to tell you, it is one hell of an adventure!  Along the way we met up with other well-loved characters like Puck and Ash, and meet oodles of new ones as well.

I thought this book was a fantastic start to what promises to be a great new series!  I'm so pleased to know that, in no way, is Julie finished with this world.  As I mentioned before, I think Julie's greatest strength as a writer is her world building.  I can't get enough.  Fortunately, that is not her only strength.  I love her characters as well.  They are all complex bundles of emotion, strength  and weakness, and with almost all of them, it is impossible not to form a connection on some level.  Then there is the storytelling...  Rich with detail, expertly paced, and masterfully plotted, Julie makes nearly 400 pages seem like 50.  There were some great plot twists that I never saw coming, and there was always fantastic groundwork laid ahead of time, making what could very well have been unbelievable, extremely plausible.  I think The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten has the potential to be even better than its sister series.  I, for one, cannot wait for the second book, The Traitor Son, which is expected sometime in September of next year (especially because of who I suspect the "traitor son" is).

Overall, I have to say that if you are a fan of The Iron Fey, this is an absolute MUST-READ, but even if you haven't read the first series, I think Julie does a good enough job with the background information, that you don't need to have read it in order to enjoy this.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★  

Grade Level Recommendation: As far as romance is concerned, this book is pretty clean.  Language is minimal, violence is of the fantastical variety.  I would happily give this book to 4th grade an up (ages 9 and up).

ARC Review: The Goddess Legacy by Aimee Carter

Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Publication Date: July 31st, 2012

For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aime e Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.

Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness....

Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal....

Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another....

James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others-but never knew true loss before....

Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope....

Five original novellas of love, loss and longing and the will to survive throughout the ages. 

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I am a big fan of retellings.  I adore a good Fairy Tale Retelling, and lately retellings of Greek myths have really grown on me.  I never paid much attention when we studied Greek mythology in school, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that my teachers kind of glossed over, or skipped altogether, the more entertaining parts of the lore- the affairs, the debauchery, the betrayals, the sex...  Through my reading of these retellings, I have found a renewed interest, and I look at the original stories in an entirely different light now.  Aimee Carter's series, beginning with The Goddess Test, is one of the ones that sparked this renewed interest.  The Goddess Legacy is the third (actually, it's titled as number 2.5) book in the series, and thus far, is my favorite.  The Goddess Test begins with the story of Henry/Hades and Kate, and her quest to pass the tests set forth by the Olympians so that she may become one of them, Henry's bride, and Queen of the Underworld.  Goddess Interrupted picks up where The Goddess Test leaves off, and ends with one of those horrible cliffhangers that makes the reader ponder and pine for more (read my review HERE).  Both are centered around Kate and Henry's relationship, and while many of the other gods and goddesses have roles, their stories and motivations are not stated.  The Goddess Legacy gives those stories an opportunity to be told.  It consists of five novellas, each telling the story of a god or goddess who had an integral role in the first two books.  Each is told from the POV of the god or goddess in question, and while not all of their stories evoked my sympathy, they did earn my understanding of their motivations and behaviors.

In the first two books Hera/Calliope is painted in a rather negative light.  Her negative traits include bitterness, selfishness, and a manipulative nature, and that is only to name a few of many.  She is cast as the total villain, and rightly so.  In The Goddess Legacy, as her life story and motivations are revealed, it becomes glaringly obvious why she has become the goddess she has become.  Did I ever grow to like her or excuse her actions because of it?  No.  But I can better understand how she came to be the goddess she is in the first books.  She has experienced much pain and suffering at the hands of others, over the course of her eternity.  Because of her pride and principles, she made some very deplorable and misguided decisions, of which there seems to be no end in sight. I still don't like her, but I now feel some pity for her.

Next was Aphrodite/Ava's story, and my opinion of her actually changed, after getting the skinny on who she actually is.  In the first two books, I felt sorry for her.  She showed some selfish tendencies, and she often made some questionable choices, but I honestly thought that those things were mainly a result of her lack of intelligence.  Wrong!  She is one manipulative, cunning girl.  Obviously she is her daddy's (Zeus) favorite, and she milks it for all it's worth.  She is spoiled and self-absorbed, and almost always gets what she wants, come hell or high water.  One scene that sticks out in my mind is when she argues with Persephone over Adonis; she isn't getting her way, and she shouts, "Daddy!", and Zeus immediately arrives to sort things out.  She is like a mythological Veruca Salt (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, for those of you who have been living under rocks).  She is entertaining, but she is a brat.  Her only redeeming quality is the tenderness she shows toward Hephaestus and Eros, but in my mind, it isn't nearly enough.

After Aphrodite, we "meet" Persephone.  Compared to Persephone, Aphrodite's selfishness looks like martyrdom.  That said, I still felt more sympathetic toward her because she was truly a victim of the poor choices that others made on her behalf.  Zeus and her mother, Demeter, arranged the marriage she did not want, Hades allowed it to happen, and Hera clearly cursed the possibility of their union to ever working.  I'm glad Persephone found her happiness in the end, even as badly as I feel for Hades.

Next up is the story of Hermes/James...  In the first two books I didn't care much for him.  It wasn't that I disliked him, I just kind of felt indifferent.  Now, after reading his story, I really like him to the point that he is one of my favorite characters.  I enjoyed his story the most, and I really loved learning how each of the gods/goddesses got their "modern" names and why.  I felt like he had the most depth and humanity.

Finally, we learn more about Hades/Henry, and the circumstances leading up to his story in the first two books.  Having more of his background really helped me to understand him as it pertains to his cautious nature as far as Kate was concerned.  All of the gods/goddesses suffered to some degree, but he had it the worst.  At least they had one another to comfort them in their moments of pain, but he was alone in the Underworld.  Still, he almost always make selfless choices, even ones that the others didn't understand or hated him for.  I like the path Aimee Carter took when telling his story, and it makes me look forward to The Goddess Inheritance all the more.

Overall, this compilation of novellas really added to my enjoyment of this series.  If you've read and enjoyed Aimee's books to this point, make this one a priority on your TBR.  If you haven't read the first two books, that's okay, you can still read this one and fully understand what is going on.  The stories stand alone, but I will warn you, once you get a taste of Aimee's take on these characters, you will want to read more!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  

Grade Level Recommendation:  There is definitely some sex (Aphrodite is the goddess of it, after all) and a few of the characters definitely have some issues with morality, but otherwise this book is clean.  I stand by my grade level recommendation for the first two books.  Grades 6 and up (ages 11+).

**Don't forget to check out my giveaway for a chance to win a hardcover cop of Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry!  Click HERE to enter!  Ends at 12:00am, August 14th, 2012**

ARC Review and Giveaway: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Publication Date: July 31st, 2012

"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

If you've been a follower for awhile, you know that YA Contemporary is not my favorite genre, and I typically like YA Contemporary Romance even less.  This book has changed that for me!  I will now be more open to reading this type of book in the future because Pushing the Limits blew me away!  It was fantastic!  Once in awhile I come across a book that I can use a motivational tool- one that I can bribe myself to do much dreaded household chores with a one chapter reward for each chore done...  I cleaned my entire house, top to bottom, in less than a day because I NEEDED to know what the next chapter would bring. This book was that riveting!  Sooooo.... Would you like to know WHY I thought it was great?  Well, there were many reasons, but before I get to the actual review, I must comment on the cover.  The jacket is good.  I like it.  It's eye-catching, and I think the publisher captured how I imagined the main characters really well.  However, I didn't love it until I removed the jacket!  WHOA!  Do yourself a favor and buy the hardcover (or win it here), because it is awesome!  Now...

First off, I really enjoyed the characters, and their stories.  This story belongs to the two main characters, Echo and Noah, but I'm going to mention first the supporting characters; Aires, Beth, Isaiah, Ashley, Luke, Mrs. Collins, Lila, Grace, Natalie, Mr. Emerson, Jacob, Tyler, the Petersons- they all had rather minor roles in this story, but huge impacts on it.  I'm glad Katie McGarry took the time to develop them the way she did, intertwining their knowledge of who Echo and Noah were, when they weren't really sure themselves.  As for Echo and Noah?  Echo is a seriously damaged girl, who has every reason to feel lost and a little hopeless.  She had a pretty awesome life before the "incident", but is now a scarred, bitter shell of her former self, and she doesn't have an inkling how she got there.  All she knows is that some horrible thing happened to her, that it involved her bi-polar mother, who her father now has a restraining order against, and that she is left with horrible physical and emotional scars because of it.  She knows that whatever happened was so awful that she has repressed the memory, and that during the one attempt to recover the lost memories, her mind almost fractured from the stress.  Add to that the facts that her beloved older brother was killed in Afghanistan, the majority of her "friends" turned on her because of the rumors, and her super-controlling father is remarried to, and having a child with, her former (much younger) babysitter, and you have a recipe for a girl that has SERIOUS issues, through no fault of her own.  Then there is Noah, who is, on the surface, the stereotypical bad-boy product of the foster care system.  He smokes weed, drinks, and is known to be a total one-night-stand guy.  Everyone at school thinks Noah is a loser because of the person he projects, but in reality, he is as damaged as Echo, for very different reasons.  After losing his parents in a house fire, Noah went from foster home to foster home; he had some horrible experiences that turned him from the poster child for "happy" to the person he is today, but the worst was losing access to his two younger brothers.  Through individual counseling with a common therapist, and their growing, yet reluctant, attachment to one another, the layers of both Echo's and Noah's pasts are peeled back, revealing secrets and pain that no person should have to bear alone...  My heart ached for them, but at the same time, soared as they discovered one another in ways that only someone who can relate to your pain could.

I also liked the way the story was set up.  I thought telling this story in Echo's and Noah's alternating POVs really brought it to life.  It made them seem so much more real, and it accomplished the difficult feat of capturing how each one felt about, sometimes shared, sometimes solitary, events in their lives.  It was a great way to be an outsider looking in, and it made me sympathetic to both characters when I could very well have become annoyed with either had it been told from only one POV.

Finally, I have to comment on the ending... I started to get nervous toward the final third of the book.  I was really afraid that they were both going to make HUGE, life-shattering mistakes- mistakes that would effect the people in their lives like ripples on a pond.  I felt like it was going to be either that, or a rushed, cliched, happy ending that didn't fit the story, and in either situation, I would have been unhappy.  What I didn't expect was the satisfying, yet open to interpretation and new possibilities ending that I got.  It was absolutely flawless!

Honestly, I had intentions of reading this book because it was blurbed by Simone Elkeles, a YA Contemporary writer who I happen to really like.  I figured that if it was near as good as Perfect Chemistry, I would like it.  Well, no disrespect to Ms. Elkeles, but Pushing the Limits was BETTER- like, in a class of its own!  If you enjoyed her books, don't walk, RUN to the book store to buy this book, because you will not be disappointed!  I'm still a bit shocked, given my past feelings toward YA Contemporary Romance,  that this has been, to this point, one of my favorite books of 2012.  It's not to be missed!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ++++ 

Grade Level Recommendation:  There are some really heavy themes in this book.  Lots of teen drinking and drug use, some violence, abuse, and sex.  I would say this book is best suited for grades 9 and up (ages 14+).

**NOW... For the giveaway!  Thanks to HarlequinTeen both for providing my review copy of this fabulous book, and for providing a copy for me to give to one of ya'll!  Best of luck!!**

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Release Day Review: Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

Publication Date:  March 27th, 2012

Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she'll have to fight for it.Becoming immortal wasn't supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she's as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he's becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate's coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.Henry's first wife, Persephone.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

Aimee Carter, you are a cruel, cruel woman!  That being true, I will keep coming back for more as long as you choose to keeping dishing it up!!  I really liked the first book in this series, The Goddess Test; it wasn't my favorite book ever, but I felt like it was a solid start to what I think will be an amazing series (as far as Greek Mythology retellings go, I liked it a lot better than Percy Jackson).  I took far too long to read it after it was released, and when I did, I fell in love with the characters, the world, and the interesting and unique take on the Hades/Persephone story.  I was hooked when I read the prologue, and I found myself unable to put it down until I had finished the book in one sitting.  I liked the way it ended, and I didn't feel like there was this horrible cliffhanger to stew on.  Yes, I very much wanted to read Goddess Interrupted, but I didn't feel mad that I had to wait for it.  Such was not the case at the end of book number two.  The cliffhanger at the end of Goddess Interrupted is mean, and I will probably think on it for weeks... Book three, The Goddess Inheritance will definitely be ones of those books that I will grovel and beg for an ARC of, because I can't possibly imagine waiting until October to find out what happens next!  In fact, although as a rule, I don't usually read the "half" eBooks that have become all the rage (in this case they would be, The Goddess Hunt, book 1.5 and The Goddess Legacy, book 2.5), because of general lack of time, I plan to for this series because after reading Goddess Interrupted, I really can't get enough...

If my lamentation over the wait for The Goddess Inheritance and my gushfest over the series in general weren't enough of a review in favor of Goddess Interrupted, I will go a bit further (but not by much because I don't want to give spoilers for The Goddess Test or Goddess Interrupted)...  Goddess Interrupted begins six months after The Goddess Test ends.  Kate's winter with Henry at Eden Manor is over (obviously, since there is a book number two, she has passed the tests and made a choice about whether or not to marry him), she has spent her spring and summer on surface, touring Greece with James, and has returned to the Underworld to be with Henry for the fall and winter... This is when all hell breaks loose in a very literal sense.  From the beginning this book is packed with action and adventure.  It is also packed with emotion, mystery, and several twists and turns that I didn't expect (there were some predictable parts as well, but they are forgiven because I feel smart when I figure things out).  The end, in particular, threw me for a loop because while it was a cliffhanger, it was one I never in a bazillion years saw coming! 

This book was great, but not perfect.  There were times when I was very frustrated; Kate was a bit stupid and oblivious and beyond hard-headed at times, and there were times when I wasn't clear what was going on.  The confusion turned out to be fine in the end, because everything was made clear, and since the story is told from Kate's POV, it makes sense that I would feel confused when she did.  Her sometimes stupidity annoyed me though.  I will say that as she grew stronger as a character, I became less annoyed, so perhaps that won't be a stumbling block to the 5 stars I so want to give this book next time around.

Overall, I thought this book was an improvement on its very well done predecessor, The Goddess Test.  I liked the first book, I loved this one, and I have very high expectations that the third book, The Goddess Inheritance, will be even better!  Stay tuned, and I will let you know what I think when it comes out in October!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ 

Grade Level Recommendation:  This book is pretty clean.  There is some sex, but it is between a married couple.  There is talk about how some of the gods and goddesses have been known to sleep around, but that is pretty common knowledge, and was already covered in the MG series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  That said, I would place this book in the 6th grade and up category (ages 11+), and would even allow 5th graders who have already had "the talk" to read it.

Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

Publisher:  HarlequinTeen

Publication Date:  January 31st, 2012

They call me 'New Girl'...

Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.

Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy. And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.

Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.

And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I'm a sucker for a good retelling.  Jackson Pearce is a favorite author of mine, as are Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine.  When I heard Paige Harbison was doing a modern retelling of Daphne du Maurier's brilliant Rebecca, I was really excited to read it.  I read Rebecca in college and always thought it was a perfect Psychological Thriller; a 5-star read. I think in writing New Girl, Paige Harbison had some really big shoes to fill, and sadly, I think it fell a little short.  That said, I think if I hadn't read Rebecca first, I would have liked New Girl much better, but having done so, I spent most of the book making comparisons...

I'm going to try not to spend this entire review comparing the two books, but it will be difficult.  I liked that Harbison stuck to the original format, right down to the names she used and withholding the protagonist's name until the end; Rebecca, Manderley, Dana (Mrs. Danvers), Max- she worked the names and places in well.  I also really liked her take on the characters.  Rebecca Normandy was a total sociopath, manipulative to her very core, and I enjoyed reading her side of the story, which was told in alternating POVs (hers and New Girl's).  She was a total train wreck and you know how it is witnessing one of those- you just can't stop watching, as horrifying as it may be.  Some of the things the girl said and did were so disgusting and wrong, I wanted to be sick, but in the end, her antics were really what made this book so interesting.  Reading New Girl's character, or "Me", as her chapters were titled, was a bit different of an experience.  She was the quintessential nice girl who happened to be in an impossible situation, but she handled it as well as could be expected.  Where it got really interesting is when the romance between Max and New Girl began to blossom- it was beyond complicated because Becca had been the supposed love of his life.  The mystery surrounding Becca was intense and, as the reader, I never knew what to expect.  I liked that part a lot, and it was the book's saving grace for me.  I was happy with the way it ended too.  As I read the book, I couldn't help thinking that it was just a mediocre retelling of a book I love, but in writing this review, I see that if you take the amazingly done original (that is a long-standing classic for a reason) out of the equation, you have a pretty good book here.  Paige Harbison is a very good writer, and I will certainly keep my eye out for other books by her (I have Here Lies Bridget, but haven't read it yet).   I think anyone would be ambitious to tackle Rebecca and truly make it their own.  

Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like a good Mystery and/or Psychological Thriller.  If you've read Rebecca and loved it as much as I did, I would caution you that while it tries hard, it doesn't measure up.  If you've read it, but it's not a favorite, you may like this version better- it is definitely sexier and more modern.  Those who haven't read Rebecca are probably in the best position to read this because it won't be in the back of your mind, biasing your opinion, as it did mine.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½  

Grade Level Recommendation:  This is DEFINITELY a High School read.  There is loads of sex, and not just sex between couples who are in love, but sex used as a tool of manipulation.  There is also lots of teen drinking and drug use.  The kids at Manderley go to the boathouse on campus regularly to party and get absolutely wasted, with no consequence.  These parties are described in detail, and play a huge role in the story.  Aside from that, there is a part where a girl is drugged by a friend and date raped, and another part where a girl describes being sexually assaulted by a friend's older family friend.  Another inappropriate theme is that Becca is loved and admired because of the manipulative things she does.  A less mature reader might misconstrue that and try to emulate her behaviors in hopes that she would gain the type of popularity Becca had.  I would say this book is for 10th grade and up (ages 15+).