Welcome to another Sunday edition of our Smugglers’ Stash & News.

We shall start with some excellent news:

The Mysterious Benedict Society covers to be “Adjusted”:

The School Library Journal reported on the 26th that Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will be adjusting the covers of The Mysterious Benedict Society following complaints that the character Sticky Washington, which is described as having brown skin appear as white in the covers:

“We are adjusting the covers of all three titles immediately as they reprint in order to offer a more faithful rendering as soon as possible,” Melanie Chang, Little, Brown’s executive director of publicity and communications, told School Library Journal.

We couldn’t be more delighted with the news and as we said last week, proud to be a part of this awesome, vocal, dedicated group. However, let’s not forget that this has been going on for a long time and as awesomely urged by The Rejectionist in their post last week: No Retreat, Baby, No Surrender!

In Other News:

From the series: Things That Mystify and Baffle Us.

The Guardian reported that

Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for “oral sex”.

Yeah, you heard us right. The Webster Dictionary was pulled from shelves because a parent thought it was not age appropriate for her child. The Dictionary. What comes next? A ban on the alphabet?

Because who knows what those perverted little minds can spell? We are seriously considering creating a special tag for archiving surreal news such as these, like “Aliens” or “Snow in Rio de Janeiro”. Perhaps “X-files”. Anyways, the ban was (somewhat) overruled and the parents can now opt out whether their child can or can not have access to the Dictionary.

In other more, uplifting news:

The Nebula Awards are the annual awards by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to celebrate excellence in science fiction and fantasy writing. The 2009 Awards will be held May 14-16 at Cape Canaveral, Florida and nominations will start soon and be open till February 15th. Tor.com has a list of interesting titles for consideration.

In similar news, The British Science Fiction Association Award shortlist has been announced this week. We are ecstatic to see in the Best Novel category Ark by Stephen Baxter which was one of Thea’s top 10 books of 2009. Also, included are The City and the City by China Mieville and Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin, both books in our TBR piles – we must really get to read them soon!

The “Don’t Let Your Dream Fade” Contest:

Lisa McMann, author of the Wake trilogy and Simon & Schuster are running a really cool contest. Offering $1000 to a teen to further his or her dreams, whether it be for college, something arty, or even just not having to work a second job to have more time to focus on high school: they’ve asked teens to do a video blog (2 min or less) comparing their dreams to Janie’s, the main character in the Wake trilogy. You can read more about the contest here or check an example of one of vlogs already created for the competition on youtube.

A Teaser:

And finally, coming from Harper Teen this February:

28 Days of Winter Escapes

28 Fabulous Books. 28 Fabulous Authors. 28 Fabulous Blogs.

For 28 days this February, Harper Teen is offering up a book-a-day giveaway on its Winter Escapes website. For every day of the event, a different book will be featured and up for grabs on the official site – but also, the author of that particular book will be at a different partner blog to talk about their book. We are thrilled to announce that we Smugglers are part of the event, and will be having author Delia Ephron here on February 17th to talk about her featured book, The Girl With the Mermaid Hair.

It all starts tomorrow, with The Amanda Project: Book 1: Invisible I. Make sure to stop by the Winter Escapes website for a chance to win autographed copies of the books, and also be entered for a chance to win an iTouch.

Giveaway Winners:

We had two giveaways that ended yesterday!

Molly Harper Giveaway:

The two winners of an autographed set (each) of all three Jane Jameson books by Molly Harper are:

Wish Giveaway:

The winner of an autographed copy of Wish by Alexandra Bullen is:

Congratulations! You know the drill. Please send your snail mail address to contact (at) thebooksmugglers (dot) com and we will get the books to you ASAP.

This Week On The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Thea finally gets a chance to read and review, post apocalyptic novel Veracity by Laura Bynum, a book she has been eyeing for some time.

On Tuesday, Ana reviews highly anticipated Fantasy novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin.

Wednesday sees Thea reviewing the sci-fi thriller Impact by Douglas Preston.

And then on Thursday Ana finally resumes her Historical Romance reading with a review of The Bride and The Buccaneer by Darlene Marshall.

Finally on Friday, we post a joint review of a book we both have been wanting to read for a long time and which comes highly recommend from several sources. The YA/Fantasy novel, Blackbringer by Laini Taylor.*

And that’s it from us today.

Have a nice Sunday, folks!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

* EDITED above from Silksinger. We are reviewing the FIRST book in the series, titled Blackbringer.

“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a new feature for books that have caught our eye: books we heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. This is how the Smugglers’ Radar was born, and because there are far too many books that we want than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?) we thought we could make it into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Thea’s Radar:

Angie of Angieville reviewed this book this week, and I think my head exploded. I desperately need a copy of this book. Someone want to give me an ARC? Pretty please?

Everyone tells Isabel that she is the Shifter – the ancient shape-shifting creature who has protected the kings of Samorna for centuries. They need her to be the Shifter. Prince Rokan risked everything when he rode into the Mistwood to summon her to his side; Ven, the magician’s apprentice, has devoted his life to studying her legend; and even Princess Clarisse, who fears and hates her, depends on Isabel’s powers to further her own plans.

But Isabel doesn’t feel like the Shifter. She feels like a lonely human girl, beset by flashes of memory that do more to confuse than to help her. If she is the Shifter, why can’t she change her shape? Why doesn’t she remember what made her flee the castle so many years ago? As she is drawn deeper into a web of magic and assassination, Isabel will have no choice but to look for answers. But her search will lead her to the one question the Shifter hasn’t faced in a thousand years: where does she come from, and what does she really want?

This next one again comes via Angie. Pretty. AND apparently it’s a re-release, with an updated cover. I’m intrigued…

Among the towering trees of magical Avalon, where humans dare not tread, lives Niviene, daughter of the Lady of the Lake and apprentice to Merlin the mage. Her people, the Fey, are folk of the wood and avoid the violence and avarice of man. But the strife of King Arthur’s realm threatens even Avalon’s peace, and Merlin needs his apprentice to thwart the chaos devouring Camelot. And so Niviene must use her special talents to help save a kingdom and discover the treachery of men and the beauty of love. A mystical love story, now back in print, sure to become a modern teen classic.

I have been meaning to read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie for ages now, and with this second book in the series coming out, I might just have to get on it. I love these titles, and the premises behind both books sound fantastic. Has anyone else read these books? Yay/nay?

From Dagger Award–winning and internationally bestselling author Alan Bradley comes this utterly beguiling mystery starring one of fiction’s most remarkable sleuths: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders. This time, Flavia finds herself untangling two deaths—separated by time but linked by the unlikeliest of threads.

Flavia thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacy are over—and then Rupert Porson has an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. The beloved puppeteer has had his own strings sizzled, but who’d do such a thing and why? For Flavia, the questions are intriguing enough to make her put aside her chemistry experiments and schemes of vengeance against her insufferable big sisters. Astride Gladys, her trusty bicycle, Flavia sets out from the de Luces’ crumbling family mansion in search of Bishop’s Lacey’s deadliest secrets.

Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What of the vicar’s odd ministrations to the catatonic woman in the dovecote? Then there’s a German pilot obsessed with the Brontë sisters, a reproachful spinster aunt, and even a box of poisoned chocolates. Most troubling of all is Porson’s assistant, the charming but erratic Nialla. All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?

Saw this cover on Bookshelves of Doom and thought, WOW. No synopsis yet, but isn’t this cover preeeeetty?

This looks slightly ridiculous, but in a good camp kind of way. On a sidenote, compare the UK (left) and US (right) covers. Quite a difference there.

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn’t stop. What couldn’t you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Doctor Leiter and his devilish toys, Mathias finds himself on a quest to uncover a deadly secret.

And lookie, a brand new stand alone novel forthcoming from Diana Wynne Jones!

“As a boy, he had spent fascinated hours looking at the garden through each differently coloured pane. Depending, you got a rose pink sunset garden, hushed and windless; a stormy orange garden, where it was suddenly autumn; a tropical green garden, where there seemed likely to be parrots and monkeys any second. And so on. As an adult now, Andrew valued that glass even more. Magic apart, it was old old old. The glass had all sorts of internal wrinkles and trapped bubbles, and the long-dead maker had somehow managed to make the colours both intense and misty at once.”

When the magician Jocelyn Brandon Hope died he bequeathed Melstone House to his grandson Andrew. He also left his ‘field of care’: an area of strangeness surrounding the land around the house, whose boundary Andrew must walk in order to preserve its power.

Andrew had always loved the house, but he finds owning it a lot more complicated, aside from all the magic. There is Mrs Stock, the tyrannical housekeeper who won’t let him move the furniture and punishes him with her terrible cooking. Just as bad is the obsessive gardener who will only grow giant inedible vegetables. To add to his troubles, twelve year old orphan Aidan Cain suddenly arrives on the doorstep begging protection from magical stalkers, and Andrew’s sinister rich neighbour, Mr Brown, begins to encroach on the ‘field of care’. The one compensation is the gardener’s beautiful niece, Stashe. Things become stranger and stranger until all is made clear with the help of the enchanted glass itself.

On Ana’s Radar:

I have been trying. I swear I have. To resume reading Historical romance but I just spent about two hours on Amazon and none of the ones I seen so far have seem interesting. They look and sound the same to me unless the author is an old favorite like Julia Quinn, Loretta Chase, Lisa Kleypas, Meredith Duran…so I came back from my search with more Fantasy and YA goodies!

First up, this was released last week in the US and it sounds interesting:

In a remote mountain academy, the politically expendable younger sons of the Great Houses study for an extraordinary task. Most will fail, some will die, but the reward for the dedicated few is great: mastery of the andat, and the rank of Poet. Thanks to these men – part sorcerers, part scholars – the great city-states of the Khaiem enjoy wealth and power beyond measure, and the greatest of them all is Saraykeht: glittering jewel of the Summer Cities. There are those in the world, however, who envy such wealth. There are great riches to be had in the Summer and Winter Cities, and only the threat of the andat unleashed holds the enemies of the Khaiem in check. Conflict is brewing in the world. Alliances will be broken and friends betrayed. The lowly will be raised up, the mighty will fall and innocents will be slaughtered. And two men, bound to each other by an act of kindness and an act of brutality, may be all that stands between the civilised world and war. War and something worse …

From Vertigo, this Graphic novel by Mike Carey seems really interesting as well…

Tom Taylor’s life was screwed from go. His father created the Tommy Taylor fantasy series, boy-wizard novels with popularity on par with Harry Potter. The problem is Dad modeled the fictional epic so closely to Tom’s real life that fans are constantly comparing him to his counterpart, turning him into the lamest variety of Z-level celebrity. In the final novel, it’s even implied that the fictional Tommy will crossover into the real world, giving delusional fans more excuses to harass Tom.

When an enormous scandal reveals that Tom might really be a boy-wizard made flesh, Tom comes into contact with a very mysterious, very deadly group that’s secretly kept tabs on him all his life. Now, to protect his own life and discover the truth behind his origins, Tom will travel the world, eventually finding himself at locations all featured on a very special map — one kept by the deadly group that charts places throughout world history where fictions have impacted and tangibly shaped reality, those stories ranging from famous literary works to folktales to pop culture. And in the process of figuring out what it all means, Tom will find himself having to figure out a huge conspiracy mystery that spans the entirety of the history of fiction.

We received this in the post this week and I can not possibly convey how this cover is gorgeous! We are both looking forward to reading this one now.

It’s a difficult time for fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey – she’s settled into her latest foster placement, but her body is acting strangely. Then other strange things begin to happen: nature, it seems, is exerting an overpowering force on the world. Birds behave erratically; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. And Savannah discovers she has supernatural powers. Meanwhile, she feels drawn to the new boy Reece whose life is even stranger than hers. Quickly Savannah and Reece realise that nature has a purpose for them both. For they are on course to meet the vile and evil Ocrassa, who wants to destroy the world by corrupting nature. And it wants Savannah Grey to help realise its savage intent.

And it seems that my reading tastes are definitely taking a turn to the Dark Side (damn you, Thea) . Because this seems delicious:

In the final weeks of eighth grade, Lauren Wood made a choice. She betrayed her best friend, Helen, in a manner so publicly humiliating that Helen had to move to a new town just to save face. Ditching Helen was worth it, though, because Lauren started high school as one of the It Girls–and now, at the start of her senior year, she’s the cheerleading captain, the quarterback’s girlfriend, and the undisputed queen bee. Lauren has everything she’s ever wanted, and she has forgotten all about her ex-best friend.

But Helen could never forget Lauren. After three years of obsessing, she’s moving back to her old town. She has a new name and a new look, but she hasn’t dropped her old grudges. She has a detailed plan to bring down her former BFF by taking away everything that’s ever been important to Lauren—starting with her boyfriend.

Watch out, Lauren Wood. Things are about to get bitchy.

The second book in the Theatre Illuminata series by Lisa Mantchev is to be called Perchance to Dream. Since I loved the first book, Eyes Like Stars so much, I am dying to read this. The ARC cover is circulating around the Internet along with a blurb:

Act Two, Scene One

Growing up in the enchanted Thèâtre Illuminata, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith learned everything about every play ever written. She knew the Players and their parts, but she didn’t know that she, too, had magic. Now, she is the Mistress of Revels, the Teller of Tales, and determined to follow her stars. She is ready for the outside world.

Enter BERTIE AND COMPANY

But the outside world soon proves more topsy-turvy than any stage production. Bertie can make things happen by writing them, but outside the protective walls of the Thèâtre, nothing goes as planned. And her magic cannot help her make a decision between—

Nate: Her suave and swashbuckling pirate, now in mortal peril.

Ariel: A brooding, yet seductive, air spirit whose true motives remain unclear.

When Nate is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Sea Goddess, only Bertie can free him. She and her fairy sidekicks embark on a journey aboard the Thèâtre’s caravan, using Bertie’s word magic to guide them. Along the way, they collect a sneak-thief, who has in his possession something most valuable, and meet The Mysterious Stranger, Bertie’s father—and the creator of the scrimshaw medallion. Bertie’s dreams are haunted by Nate, whose love for Bertie is keeping him alive, but in the daytime, it’s Ariel who is tantalizingly close, and the one she is falling for. Who does Bertie love the most? And will her magic be powerful enough to save her once she enters the Sea Goddess’s lair?

What about you? Any goodies you would like to share?

Lost will be back this Tuesday with a two-hour premiere starting its sixth and final season. There will be another 16 episodes and then ALL WILL BE OVER.

Excuse us while we have a moment.

Ok, we are back. After 5 seasons of mind blowing happenings, twists and turns, ghosts, psychics, physics, pseudo-physics, religious overtures, polar bears and boars and horses, time travel, deaths, births, The (ZOMBIE) Love Quadrangle of Doom (that nearly drove us insane), numbers, coincidences, fate, mumble jumble, whispers, hatches, Others, other others, villains, double crossings, WTfuckery and whatnots, we repeat: All Will Be Over.

Needless to say, we, as die-hard fans of the show since its inception, have high expectations for this last season. And there are a few things that we would like to see happening in our little screen in order to make us happy:

1) A Grand Unified Theory of Everything.

Physics geeks FTW! Darlton (that’s the ’ship name for writer/creators Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse) have promised us a Lost GUT since the beginning, and we are going to be so incredibly pissed if it turns out to be any of the following: Snowglobe, Purgatory, Paradise Lost, All just a dream or whatever.

We’ll be even MORE PISSED if there is no Grand Unified Theory of Everything answer for everything that has happened so far.

We will be so mad if they give us nothing, or if they cop out with a Twilight Zone ending. If the writers simply say any of the following:

1. LOST island is just a weird island that moves around the south pacific because of electromagnetism
2. Jacob, Ghosts of People That Have Died, Smokey, et. al. are mere figments of the imagination brought on by electromagnetism
3. The whispers are completely forgotten (or are simply The Others)…or are sounds created by electromagnetism
4. Richard Alpert is just a lucky dude that has had a long life because he is on the island and can jump around because of…electromagnetism
5. The island heals people because….electromagnetism
6. Desmond can flash through time because….electromagnetism

TELL US WHAT THE POINT IS. No more pseudo “well, duh, it’s electromagnetism” crap! Is Lost Island an alien experiment that spawned all life and religion on earth? Is it Hell? You promised us a Grand Unified Theory DAMMIT, and you WILL DELIVER.

(Just so you know there are a grand total of 325 unanswered questions so far. You can read them all here)

That is really what we would like to see. Above all else. A measure of reasoning and sanity behind it all: the clear and unmistakable proof that there was a plan behind everything that we saw in this show. That we were not just jerked around for the sake of WTF!OMG!POLARBEAR moments. If we get ANSWERS, even if we don’t necessarily LIKE them, we will be happy campers indeed (ok maybe not happy campers per se, but you get our drift).

The rest will be icing on the cake, like:

2) A Measure of Happiness

These people have been through a lot. We mean, a lot. Yes, some of them do have reproachable pasts. Some of them did Really Bad Things. But the majority of the characters deserve at least, some measure of happiness. We are talking about Hurley, for example. If that dude, doesn’t get a happy ending, somehow, somewhere, we will be devastated.

Or Sun and Jin. Claire and Aaron. Locke. And Desmond. Speaking of which:

3 ) DESMOND

We would really like to know if Desmond is really as special as we think he is. All signs, in our opinion point to “Yes”. We have geeked out on a Grand Desmond Theory for years, ever since he first showed up in season 2. In season 5 he took a back seat (he hardly even showed up) that made us seriously doubt ourselves. And that cannot be. We are hoping he will come back with a bang in this last season and prove us right. Or the universe will collapse.

4) The End of the Quadrangle of DOOM once and for all.

The Love Quadrangle of Doom gave us stupid scenes like the one above. But we saw the end of it, when Sawyer found happiness with Juliet. They were cute together. They were in love. BUT at the end of season 5, Juliet fell to her death. That, coupled to the possible reset, prompted by the Hydrogen Bomb blowout may point out to a reset of the Quadrangle as well. We hope this is not the truth. (Although, deep in her heart of hearts, Ana still sort of hopes of a Sawyer-Kate ultimate hook-up) (And so does Thea. Even though she knows it’s not gonna happen).

5) Sawyer

He better have an heroic ending. No other character has had such an awesome arc as Sawyer. He went from a sleazy womaniser, self-absorbed con-man to a mature, responsible, leader that people could look up to. We would prefer he made it alive and well, but if he dies he better die a heroic death. No backtracking, please. We are just saying.

And one last thing: He Walks Amongst Us But Is Not One Of Us

(If you are sick and tired of us bitching and moaning about Jack, avert your eyes now!)

The ONE thing we are not prepared to see is for Jack to be the beginning and end of everything. If the Grand Unified Theory of Everything is …. Jack…..

…because he is the Incarnated Something from Somewhere (as his godforsaken tattoos from that scary Thai chick with the alien chest might signify) we actually think our collective brains will literally explode and our faith on TV shows will forever be tarnished by this blackness of profound lack of creativity. This can not happen. We don’t think we can ever recover after that.

And that is it! What about you, fellow Lost geeks? What do YOU want from the Final Season?

Title: Archangel’s Kiss

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Berkeley (US) / Gollancz (UK)
Publication Date: February 2010 (US) / March 2010 (UK)
Paperback: 352 pages

Stand Alone or Series: Book 2 in the ongoing Guild Hunter series

How Did We Get This Book: Review copies from author & publisher

Why Did We Read This Book: Both of us loved Angels’ Blood, the first book in the series. Ana is a confessed Nalini Singh-aholic, and Thea is on her way to becoming one too. The question should be, rather, what took us so long to read this book?

Summary: (from NaliniSingh.com)
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…

REVIEW:

First Impressions:

Thea: Anyone that reads our reviews knows that I have an aversion to romance novels, especially of the mushy, sexually explicit variety. I’ve read some pretty bad Paranormal Romance in particular that makes my eyes roll up to the back of my head, where they can see my brain, which is pissed off at having to read the offending material in the first place. I can deal with mush and sex, but not when it is at the expense of a cohesive and believable story. Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter books are the clear exception to my PNR-dislike, because, quite frankly, her writing rules. The thing that drew me in with Angels’ Blood was how textured and real her characters felt – how Raphael is actually a terrifying, cruel immortal and has no mortal feelings. How Elena is fragile and insignificant in the grand scope of the supernatural world – and she not only knows this but respects it. The biggest problem I have with a lot of PNR (and a lot of UF to be honest) is how there are these supposed millennia-old immortal/super-sexy/supposedly dangerous dudes – but they act like they are in their twenties or thirties, and they are all big softies with hearts of gold, and even if they committed atrocities that was all in the distant past and they are atoning for it, and they are saved from an eternity of brooding by this fiesty hot little human thang (who of course turns out to be some super powerful fey princess/most powerful/magical creature in the universe) who has a scent and a way of sassing that is IRRESISTIBLE to said leading male. In Angels’ Blood and Archangel’s Kiss, Ms. Sing creates a world where deadly creatures are actually deadly, and her heroine Elena is valued because of her human heart and her frailty – even as an immortal, she is a young one and easy to kill. I LOVED that about this book. I love that the relationship between Raphael and Elena is far from “happily ever after” and that their story is continued here. I loved it all enough that I didn’t even mind all the renegade nipples, running rampant throughout the book. Well, I didn’t mind much.

Ana: I read Archangel’s Kiss a few weeks ago which makes it my first official 2010 book. I came to it in the middle of a serious reading slump after I tried and couldn’t finish about 6 books. Nalini Singh once more saves me from the brink of despair. Her writing is kick-ass as usual, the particular world-building of the Guild Hunter book as interesting as ever and the relationship between Raphael and Elena is not only smoking hot (unlike Thea, I tend to like the sexually explicit content when it is well done and part of the story. And oh boy. Can Nalini Singh deliver on that area) but also fascinating.

On the Plot:

Thea: While Angels’ Blood had more of a death-defying, high stakes plot, Archangel’s Kiss is more subdued. There’s an overarching problem of some cruel angel that siccing his/her vampires on Raphael’s vampires, maiming and sending a taunting message meant to threaten Elena’s safety. There’s also the distant, looming test for Elena on the horizon as Lijuan, the most ancient and powerful of the archangels, has broken her disinterested seclusion in China and has extended an invitation to Raphael and his new “pet” hunter. Lijuan’s age and power, however, have changed her into something beyond immortal. She has evolved and has power over death itself, creating her own amusements in the form of an army of the dead reborn – an army that feeds on the flesh of the living to sustain itself. And Lijuan likes to feed her pets – with Elena in mind. While there are these two conflicts going on, the bulk of the novel involves Elena trying to get back her strength and become accustomed to her strange new body, especially after a year of lying in a coma. The focus in this second book is not so much on another rip-roaring adventure (though there is a fair amount of action and a dramatic conclusion) than it is a character-centric book. The highest points of Archangel’s Kiss are in the growing understanding and relationship between Elena and Raphael, as Elena learns what it means to be “immortal” and yet so incredibly weak.

Again, I found myself in awe of Nalini Singh’s worldbuilding skills. Her hierarchy of humans, vampires, angels and archangels is staggering in its complexity and in how utterly believable it all is. As I said before, these immortals are dangerous, cruel creatures and they act as such. I LOVED that Raphael’s Seven would try to kill Elena if she slipped in her vigilance – not because they hate Elena, but because her very presence weakens their leader. She is a liability, plain and simple, and I liked this aspect of the story (but more on that with characters later!). From a writing perspective, I only had a few minor complaints – there was a high level of repetition (especially regarding Elena’s suppressed memories, resurfacing) that needn’t have been there, and a whole bunch of not-sex/almost-sex scenes that I’m admittedly not a fan of (but, of course, this is personal taste! As Ana would say, it’s “hawt” but I’m an emotionally immature reader). Overall though, Ms. Singh’s writing level is awesome, and I found myself swept away in this wonderful novel.

Ana: As Thea says, plot-wise, there are several threads that run parallel in Archangel’s Kiss. The angels and archangels are scheming as ever and with a seat open in the Cadre of Ten, one is stepping up step up to fill up that place. This is expected and almost all Archangels are ok with it. Thea mentioned that the creatures created by Nalini Singh are cruel and terrifying immortals. This is even clearer in Archangel’s Kiss: as the mystery of who wants to be part of the Cadre builds up what seems to be the problem is not necessarily that people are being killed in a cruel manner. And that is fascinating even if albeit a bit uncomfortable.

The problem stems from the manner which this is being done, the overstepping of the boundaries and the fact that children are being targeted. Similarly when it comes to Lijuan’s age and power – a plotline that one day might be applicable to Raphael – the importance comes from the connection (or lack of) with what is like to an archangel versus being human – hence the relationship between Raphael and Elena being the central theme of the series.

I mentioned that Archangel’s Kiss saved me from a reading slump and it was so. But I did have a couple of problems with it. I actually agree with Thea that there was a high level of repetition -one more “mine” from Raphael and I would explode. Having said that, I absolutely adored the book.

On the Characters:

Thea: Here’s where things really get going. Archangel’s Kiss is very much a character-centric novel, exploring Elena and Raphael even more as characters, and building on their relationship together. Following the dramatic ending of Angels’ Blood, Elena has been Made an Angel and now is immortal. Except…immortality isn’t everything you think it is. She heals more quickly and will never grow old or fall to illness, but Elena is still at the very bottom of the power totem pole. She barely has the strength to walk (as she has been in a coma for a year), and she must learn how to carry and use her new wings. I absolutely loved that Elena isn’t automatically All Better (nor is she SUPER!POWERFUL!) because she’s an Angel – in fact, in many ways she’s even weaker and in a worse position as an immortal than she was as a hunter. As a mortal, Elena knew exactly who she was. She wasn’t a mark for an angelic power play, and she never had to worry about becoming overpowered or a slave to Raphael’s possessive will. But, as an Angel and as Raphael’s mate, she is essentially a walking bullseye for those who want to hurt or take Raphael down – which means even Raphael’s loyal servants want her killed, because she weakens him; she makes him vulnerable. But isn’t that the coolest thing? That’s what love does – it makes one vulnerable to be hurt, but that trust and vulnerability make it all the more special. And THAT is why I love this couple. Elena is strong willed and refuses to be Raphael’s slave, and Raphael – utterly inhuman Raphael – learns and respects this. It’s a beautiful dynamic.

Beyond the leading pair, all of the other characters are textured, diverse, and brilliant in their own ways. In particular, Ilium (one of Raphael’s Seven, the only one to love Elena) and Michaela (another powerful archangel in the Cadre of Ten) are standouts. Michaela’s character is one that you cannot help but despise, especially in her cruel, cold venom towards Elena, but the brilliance of Ms. Singh’s writing is that she shows another, more relatable side to this villain too. And I can dig that.

Ana: I have to agree with Thea again. I think that this is where Archangel’s Kiss truly shines. As Elena awakens from a year- long coma that changed her forever and is faced with a whole new set of challenges. She basically has to learn a new life. Heck she even starts to attend school for Angels. I love how different both Raphael and Elena are from who they used to be and how they both have evolved as characters. And it couldn’t be any different. Not only one year has passed but their love for each other and their personalities have influenced each other. They are BOTH softer people they once were and I think that is a good thing. Not only does Elena make Raphael vulnerable (and how amazing are the last lines of the book- Raphael gets the bests last liners!) but he makes her too. But at the same time, they haven’t completely changed their personalities: Raphael is still cold and ruthless and finds it hard to HAVE to respect Elena’s wishes for independence. It is a working, developing and yes, beautiful dynamics.

I really hope that this hasn’t be the last we see of them. Now that she has become an immortal angel, I want to see what happens with her role as a Hunter and how this dynamics will play when they return to New York.

As for the secondary characters, I am completely fascinated by Michaela who both terrifies and befuddles me. When I think she is completely evil and potty she does something that makes me feel sorry for her. This is the mark of a good villain. And then there is Illium (or Bluebell) and his blue eyelashes and the hint of a sad past AND NALINI SINGH YOU MUST TELL US MORE ABOUT ILLIUM.

I can’t stand Dimitri though – is it just me, dear readers?

Final Thoughts, Observations and Rating:

Thea: I truly enjoyed Archangel’s Kiss – heck, I loved it. It’s not as powerful as Angels’ Blood, but it is a solid, captivating second installment in the ongoing Guild Hunter series. I loved the deeper look at angels, their laws, their powers and their politics, just as I devoured the ongoing romance between two very moving protagonists. I cannot wait for the next book in the series – and the return to the world of mere mortals!

Ana: Although not as refreshingly powerful and original (have I lost that first spark?) as Angels’ Blood, Archangel’s Kiss delivers in every possible ways to make this a great Paranormal Romance series that even the naysayers can safely pick up: a solid world-building, good writing, a great character-driven central arc and an amazing romance.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the official excerpt:

Elena gripped the balcony railing and stared down at the gorge that fell away with jagged promise beneath. From here, the rocks looked like sharp teeth, ready to bite and tear and rip. She tightened her hold as the icy wind threatened to tumble her into their unforgiving jaws. “A year ago,” she murmured, “I didn’t know the Refuge existed, and today, here I stand.”

A sprawling city of marble and glass spread out in every direction, its elegant lines exquisite under the razor-sharp burn of the sun. Dark-leafed trees provided soothing patches of green on both sides of the gorge that cut a massive divide through the city, while snow-capped mountains ruled the sky line. There were no roads, no high-rises, nothing to disturb the otherworldly grace of it.

Yet, for all its beauty, there was something alien about this place, a vague sense that darkness lurked beneath the gilded surface. Drawing in a breath laced with the biting freshness of the mountain winds, she looked up . . . at the angels. So many angels. Their wings filled the skies above this city that seemed to have grown out of the rock itself.

The angelstruck, those mortals who were literally en thralled by the sight of angelic wings, would weep to be in this place filled with the beings they worshipped. But Elena had seen an archangel laugh as he plucked the eyes out of a vampire’s skull, as he pretended to eat, then crush the pulpy mass. This, she thought with a shiver, was not her idea of heaven.

A rustle of wings from behind her, a squeeze from the pow erful hands on her hips. “You’re tiring, Elena. Come inside.”

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Angels are everywhere these days – in books, in films, in video games… For example, last week Legion came out in theaters (which we haven’t seen yet, but Thea is feeling the urge even if it does look silly).

Do you have any favorite portrayals of angels in film or literature?

Rating:

Thea: 7 – Very Good. (But leaning toward an 8 )

Ana:8 Excellent

Reading Next: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

Title: Bleeding Violet

Author: Dia Reeves

Genre: YA/ UF

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 464 pages

Love can be a dangerous thing….Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna’s tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she’s far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

Stand Alone or series: Stand alone

Why did I read the Book: I saw this around the Internet last year and was intrigued by the blurb.

How did I get the book I requested a review copy from the publisher.

Review:

You are not welcome to Portero, Texas, unless you have a thick skin and you are here to stay. With hidden doors that open to other worlds (the Latin word for door: Porta) spread all over town and with all sorts of creatures (like leeches with tentacles for example and ghosts that live in the river and grant wishes if you can manage to breathe underwater enough to make the wish) crawling out or sucking you into them , Portero is definitely Weird Central of America. Its residents have all accepted their reality, living life to the best of their ability, under the Mayor’s authority and the hunters of Mortmaine’s protection. Everybody wears black as to not attract attention except for the Mortmaines who wear bright green; and if you stay long enough you are entitled to a key. This is how you know you belong.

Enter Hanna Jarvinen, first person narrator of this story and one of the most fascinating characters I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Half Finn, Half African American, Hanna is a biracial, bicultural, with bipolar disorder and violent tendencies, prone to hallucinations and who ran away from her aunt’s house before she was sent back to a mental institution. With her Finn father dead (although when she is not taking her pills, she talks to him in her head) all of Hanna’s hopes rest on her mother, Rosalee. Even though she has never seen her mother since she sent her father and her away when she was a baby, she fantasises that Rosalee will not only welcome her but accept her, weirdness and all. All her dreams come crashing down when she arrives in Portero. Rosalee is cold and unwelcoming. She means to send Hanna away, back to her aunt, to the mental institution, anywhere but Portero. She does not want anything to do with Hanna and is absolutely convinced that she will not adapt to the harsh reality of Portero:

“Let me get this straight: You want me to leave because you don’t think I can adapt?”
“I know you can’t”
Was she serious?
I was biracial and bicultural. A walking billboard for adaptation.

As much as Rosalee is unwelcoming, Hanna is unmoving and they are both forces to be reckoned with and so they strike a deal. If Hanna is not freaked out in the first two weeks, she gets to stay with Rosalee. On the very next morning Rosalee sends her to school where she is welcomed by the weirdest happenings and she realises that maybe Portero is weirder than she expected after all. Then, when she fully expected to fit in from day one, after all she was always able to use her looks and her personality to captivate men and women, she is ignored and scorned by the in-crowd lead by Wyatt, a Mortmaine. Hanna is a Transy, a Transient, someone who is just passing by and porterenses are used to see those leaving or dying too soon. But after she witnesses Wyatt using powers he is not supposed to when vanquishing a threat to the school, they become close. Now, Hanna thinks that the perfect way to impress not only the porterenses but above all her mother is to go on a hunt with Wyatt. When she comes back from the hunt, exhilarated, and unscathed, it is when things get really complicated.

Bleeding Violet is one of the best Young Adult novels I have ever read. The writing is lovely, the story is hands down amazing and the characters are everything I could have hoped for. Every time I open a book, I wish for the sort of all-encompassing experience that this book provided me.

I have read several reviews of Bleeding Violet around the internet and most of them focus their attention on how the story is weird , crazy and surreal. Yes, it is. To the point where I would say that the novel would definitely appeal to fans of QuentinTarantino and Vertigo’s graphic novels.

But although Portero is indeed an incredible setting and the situations that happen in this novel are really surreal, to me more than that surrealism, more than anything else what leaps from the pages are how REAL the characters are. Regardless of any gimmicks happening around them, or the way they might react to those situations, Bleeding Violet is extraordinarily realistic at a very basic level.

Take away the doors and the creatures (as fascinating and cool and vivid and creative as they are) and the book is a character-centric novel in which every.single.thing is character-driven. Everything that happens is because of these characters’ emotions and actions. Hanna is the main propeller of the plot, her emotional estate and that of those that surround her is what matter and what is at centre stage here.

Her need for motherly love and acceptance, to fit in start a sequence of events (which in turn re-set something that started a long time ago – but again, THOSE events wore also consequences of deeply felt emotions that converged in one horrible moment in time: greed, grief and fear). The way she speaks, thinks, reacts was …I don’t know. Awesome. I fell in love with Hanna from chapter one. She is so confident but at the same so lost. She has so many issues that need to be addressed and a definite mental illness that needs to be treated.

But Hanna is not the only character who has issues and deeply felt emotions: her mother, as cold as she was, was the result of a horrible childhood. Wyatt, had his own issues with authority and with heritage. This triad of characters and Hanna relationship with both and with herself are the meats and bones of the novel. On the romance side of things, how refreshing and realistic to see a couple starting off as any couple, dating and then having sex (because it is good and natural) sharing a connection and laughter without having to promise to be together- forever- and- ever- amen- because-they-belong-together. It is all the more believable when the two have to work through issues like still having feelings for an ex-girlfriend or not having feelings for any of the guys you had sex before. Or how Hanna sees the world in a confusion of colours and Wyatt tends to see it in black and white.

There are so many threads intertwined in the novel: deception, greed, power, sadness, death, acceptance, what is like to be biracial, what is like to be compassionate when you need to be ruthless, what is like to be young and have new ideas in the face of Tradition, what is like to love a mother who does not love you back. And it makes for a memorable, unique, fascinating, unapologetic, profoundly moving story.

Be aware though that this not a wholesome story. It is dark, gory, sensual, and violent. There are no definite, clear cut, simple answers. And it is certainly not for the squeamish ones: mental illness, teenage sex, a suicide attempt are present as well as moral ambiguity and not a few violent scenes.

I think it is testament to this writer’s ability (and perhaps fondness for her characters) that in spite of all the aforementioned violence and darkness, Bleeding Violent ends on a definite, unmistakable and believable high note. And as of now, this book has a secure spot on my top reads of 2010.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: My copy is replete with earmarks. I picked these two sequences as they contain the least spoilers at the same time that they reveal a lot about Hanna. The first shows how Hanna is weird in her way of looking at things. The other is an interaction between her and Wyatt.

“It wasn’t made for you. Don’t you dare get attached to that room.”
“You said I could stay”
“For two weeks and that’s -” Her spoon clattered to the floor.”You took my armoire?”
“I needed a place to store my clothes.”
“I had all my books in that armoire!”
“I saw.” Hundreds of books, several in German and Dutch, and endless stacks of bound manuscripts had crammed the armoire; I’d sweated through my chemise removing them all.
“I stacked them neatly on the floor,” I said, so she wouldn’t think I was a slob.
Rosalee pushed away from the table, chair legs squealing angrily against the tile. I thought she was going to go into her office to see what I’d done with her books, but she went up to my room instead and she did a slow 360-degree turn.
“Why is everything purple?”
“It was Poppa’s favorite color.”
“You painted my armoire purple!”
“It would have clashed otherwise.” she was making me feel like I’d murdered her best friend. “Why don’t we go finish that stew, hmmm? Before it congeals?”

What a freak! What an amazing and marvelous freak!
Hope brightened his face as he studied my expression. “You don’t think it’s weird?”
“It’s beyond weird,” I assured him breathlessly. “Beyond cool, even.”
“Only another weirdo would think that was cool.”
“Busted.”
“Bullshit. What’s weird about you?” He looked me over. “Besides your fixation with purple.”
“It doesn’t matter. Compared to what you can do, I’m boringly normal. So what are you?”
He put his half-finished sandwich on the tray as though he’d lost his appetite. I thought about what I’d said and immediately felt bad.
“I’m sorry. I can’t believe I asked you that. I hate it when people ask me that.”
He lifted his eyebrows, bemused.”Why would they ask you?”
“Because I’m biracial. People look at me and can’t figure me out, so they ask, `what are you?` Like I’m a whole other species. But you…are you another species?”
He did some more thinking. “You had to accept a lot today. I don’t wanna blow your mind.”
“It’s already blown”
“You think it is. I could vaporise it if I wanted to. But I don’t. Especially now that you know about me. And it doesn’t bother you.”
He crossed his legs in front of my feet, leaned forward, and rested his chin on my bare knee. The underside of his chin was sweaty, but I didn’t push him away; he was so cute, like a little boy, looking up at me. The late afternoon sun burned in his eyes, letting me see all the way inside him, but not in a spooky lure way. This was something else.

I also URGE you to go here and read the first chapter. It is AWESOME. And it got me hooked as soon as I finished reading it.

Additional Thoughts: Following the recent fiasco with the Whitewashed cover of Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore it is great to see a beautiful, accurate cover such as this. Kudos to Simon Pulse.

And as Bleeding Violet was written by a POC and has a POC as a main character, I am counting the book as my first entry in the POC Reading challenge!

And on a side note: Dia Reeves is writing another book set in Portero, Yay! I simply cannot wait. The potential, folks. THE POTENTIAL.

Verdict: A memorable, extremely well-written, character-driven novel with a fascinating and appealing narrator, against the backdrop of a surreal story. Dia Reeves debuts with a bang: a story that is certainly not for everyone but for those who dare, a guaranteed poignant, different, unique experience. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

Rating: 10. A resounding one with a standing ovation – what else? This may not be a perfect book for everyone, but is certainly, a perfect book, a perfect fit for me.

Reading Next: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N K Jemisin

Welcome to the first Guest Dare of 2010! For those new to the feature, our Guest Dare is a monthly endeavor in which we invite an unsuspecting victim to read a book totally outside of their comfort zone. You can read all previous Dare posts HERE.

This month’s victim is Renee – prolific blogger of Renee’s Book Addiction and reader of all things Romance, Romance, YA, M/M, Mystery , etc. When we contacted her for a guest dare, she came back to say she hasn’t read many Epic Fantasy – not even, gasp, Lord of the Rings. We immediately created a list which included not only Tolkien but Rothfuss, Sanderson and others. Her first choice was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, but after much nagging from her significant other, she caved and decided to read The Lord of the Rings.

Ladies and gents, please give it up for Renee!

________

Title: The Fellowship of the Ring

Author: JRR Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Ballantine (This is the edition I read, but there are many publishers.)
Publication Date: July 29, 1954 (UK)
Paperback: 527 pp

Stand alone or series: The Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Fellowship of the Rings

Why did we recommend this book: It is an Epic Fantasy classic and one our Favorite books of all time.

Summary:

Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power except one — the One Ring that rules them all — which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task when Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

Renee’s Review:

From the outset, high fantasy was one of the genres I suggested to Ana and Thea when we first discussed this guest dare. The Fellowship of the Ring was mentioned by Ana, but I blew off the suggestion, being far too intimidated by taking on such an icon of fantasy lit. Also, I tried reading The Hobbit a couple of times in my teens, and couldn’t get through it. When I told my husband about Ana’s suggestions, he said I was going to have to give back both my lit major card (we were both lit majors in college and met in a literature class) and my geek card if I didn’t remedy the fact that I hadn’t read this classic.

Typically, my reading tastes are varied, mostly enjoying romance of all flavors, YA, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, and other kinds of spec fiction. However, high fantasy has never been a genre that I have been interested in reading. I think of knights and wizards and trolls, and my eyes glaze over. (Movies, especially The Lord of the Rings trilogy, are another matter, for some reason. I love these movies to death.) In fact, I often think I’d be interested in a high fantasy book, buy it, and then reality sets in and it just sits on my shelf, unread.

Since I consider myself a self-respecting book-geek, I rose to the challenge, and took on The Fellowship of the Ring.

Most people are familiar with the story of The Fellowship of the Ring, either the book or film, so (for the most part) I’m focusing this review on my experience reading the book, rather than reiterating the plot points.

The Prologue: When I first started the book, I was really stressed out by the Prologue. The history and backstory set out in it was complex, and the number of names, events, and dates felt really overwhelming. I also worried the entire book was going to be like this. However, I was reassured that I didn’t need to memorize everything, and that the Prologue’s style was more to give a sense of entering a complete world. So, I relaxed and kept moving forward.

It took me well over a week to settle in to the book. It was frustratingly easy to get distracted by tv, my kid, the fact I had a cold, or conversations going on around me. I found that my mind would wander while I was reading, and I’d have to keep bringing my attention back to the page.

However, as I pushed on, something gradually changed. It was a shift of my mindset. Typically, I’m a fast reader, and usually have a couple of books going at any given time. I generally read books that have lots of fast paced dialogue or action. However, The Fellowship of the Ring is just not that kind of book. While many things do happen, they unfold slowly, and the action builds as the book progresses.

In the Shire: At first, I was impatient, waiting to get from plot-point to plot-point, as I remembered them from the movie. Yet, it felt like not much was happening. I’d glance at the page number, thinking, “I can’t believe they still haven’t left the Shire!” Part of what gives The Fellowship its slow pace is that each scene is crammed with an incredible amount of detail: physical detail—how the building looked, what was on the dinner table, what the weather was like; historical detail— who the characters are, how they are related, what this event’s significance is in the scheme of things; and, character detail—what each character said, did, or thought. The result is an amazingly vivid book that, once I allowed myself to slow down and enjoy the ride, began to come to life.

Awesome quote, describing Gandalf’s fireworks at Bilbo’s party:

There were rockets like a flight of scintillating birds singing with sweet voices. There were green trees with trunks of dark smoke: their leaves opened like a whole spring unfolding in a moment, and their shining branches dropped glowing flowers down upon the astonished hobbits, disappearing with a sweet scent just before they touched their upturned faces.

I loved learning things about the hobbits, like Sam’s impulsive and adventuresome nature. The beautiful interlude with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry was an unexpected surprise, since (inevitably) I kept comparing the book with the movie.

At The Prancing Pony, where they meet Strider (Aragorn): About halfway through the book, I realized what the experience of reading The Fellowship of the Rings was like for me. To use a food analogy, this was the literary equivalent of a “slow food” dinner. One where I needed to savor the words, the descriptions, and the songs. The point was not to get to the book’s climax, but savor the journey. This isn’t always a natural state for a goal-oriented person like me. Yet, even the songs (which I tend to skim over in most books) became enjoyable. I once had a lit professor tell us to read things like sermons and poetry out loud since they were written to be heard. So, in an effort to get into the swing of things with the songs in The Fellowship, I’d sing them to myself. (Greensleeves, Amazing Grace, and Scarborough Fair worked especially well!) This made a vast difference in my enjoyment of them.

Rivendell, at the Council of Elrond: This was my favorite part of the book! While it wasn’t the book’s climax, it really felt like the book comes together here. It’s funny, because often we talk about how a book needs to “show not tell”, yet to me I was so excited to get everyone’s story. It was like fitting a puzzle together, where before you only have a few of the (hobbit) pieces. Part of it the reason this “telling not showing” works is because the dramatic tension has been built slowly. The hobbits go through so much to finally get to Rivendell, and Frodo is so relieved, thinking that his adventure is near its conclusion. Yet, I (the reader) know that all this changes here at the Council. Frodo’s journey is just begun. The path for the rest of the trilogy is set down at this point and we get to see what must happen —the ring must be detroyed, the people of Gondor must be aided, Sauron must be defeated— and get to hear from the key players (the hobbits, men, elves, dwarves, and wizards).

Moria and Lothlórien: For me, this part of the book became more about the big events. The tragedy in the mines and meeting Galadriel were parts of the story which I had been dreading and anticipating (as the case may be). However, with both these sections, again Tolkien’s vivid writing make them wonderful. The “doom, doom doom” drumbeats of the orcs foreshadow what eventually happens in the mines as well as adding an auditory layer to the scenes in the mine. The unreal beauty of Lothlorien and Galadriel are such a contrast following the events in Moria.

Awesome quote #2, when Frodo asks Galadriel to take the ring:

‘In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!’

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. she stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful.

*chills*

The Breaking of the Fellowship: This part felt mostly like a set up to The Two Towers. I read about the events of Boromir and Frodo, and Frodo’s decision to break up the group with anticipation for the next part of the adventure. By now, I knew I was in it for the rest of the story. I will be definitely be finishing the rest of The Lord of the Rings.

It’s impossible to ignore the movies’ impact on my reading experience. While the movies gave me some very clear referential images, and helped me in understanding some of the more complicated historical relationships, I sort of regretted that I had seen the LotR movies first. I wonder what it would have been like to experience Middle Earth for the first time solely through JRR Tolkien’s words. (That being said, though, you know what I’ll be watching this weekend.)

I don’t usually grade my books at my place, but from about halfway through the book it was clear that The Fellowship of the Ring was a “10″ for me. Not because of its classic status, but because of Tolkien’s success in creating the incredibly ambitious world of Middle Earth. The magnitude of his scope is breath-taking, and once I allowed myself to slow down and enjoy the ride, I was rewarded with a truly memorable reading experience.

Thanks, Thea and Ana for daring me to take on The Fellowship of the Ring. I know I wouldn’t have read it without the extra little push.

__________

And thank you, Renee for saying yes, to the dare! And we are delighted that you enjoyed the book!

Next on the Guest Dare: Jeff one of the folks from Alert Nerd, reads a Romance Novel: The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran

Until next month!

Title: Captivate

Author: Carrie Jones

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury (USA & UK)
Publication Date: January 2010 (USA) / April 2010 (UK)
Hardcover: 336 pages

Zara and her friends knew they hadn’t solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king’s needs grow deeper every day he’s stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It’s made him vulnerable. And now there’s a new king in town.

A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he’s one of the good guys. Nick isn’t buying it, though Zara isn’t as sure — despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it’s a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It’s her life — and his.

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the ongoing “Need” series

How did I get this book: ARC from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I truly, honestly enjoyed Need, book 1 in the series, despite some questionable character motivations and plot inconsistencies. In spite of these problems, I found myself eagerly reaching for Captivate, hungry for more from Ms. Jones.

Review:

**PLEASE NOTE: This review contains spoilers for Book 1, Need. If you have not read Need or do not wish to be spoiled, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

Well, I can safely say that Captivate outdoes Need – in a very good way. After successfully entrapping all the pixies, including her biological father, deep in the surrounding woods, Zara and her friends have a brief respite from constant danger. But every day, Zara knows they are living peacefully on borrowed time – as her father, the Pixie King, weakens further, the Pixies grow more violent and desperate. And then more pixies begin to show up, including another Pixie King, named Astley. Zara’s boyfriend, the werewolf Nick manages to injure the newcomer pixie, leaving him for dead and bound in iron – but Zara, pacifist and humanitarian to the core, stumbles across him in the woods and decides to free him before he is taken away by a mysterious, fierce woman-creature that calls herself a Valkyrie. Zara feels an inexplicable connection to Astley, and though she might not trust him, she starts to listen when he says that not all pixies are twisted and evil, and that he comes to preserve balance before another, darker, sadistic Pixie King attempts to take over. Torn in indecision, soon Zara finds herself in the middle of a war; and she must make a choice if she is to save all those she holds dear.

While Need had some sizable holes, Captivate goes a long way in resolving a lot of these general plot and nonsensical issues. Some of the criticisms and questions I was left with finishing book 1 (i.e. why didn’t weres Nick and Devyn smell out the pixies at school?) were addressed here, rounding out and adding a level of cohesion to the overarching story and world. Even cooler, however, is that Captivate takes a dramatic turn and develops a clear direction for the series. A whole lot happens in this second novel, and it feels much more planned and fleshed out than its predecessor. I loved that a war is brewing (actually, there are two wars brewing, with the Valkyries dragging slain warriors off to Valhalla to fight with Odin in Ragnarök – to be examined in book 3, hopefully), and that the simple solution of imprisonment presented in Need has dire consequences in Captivate. There’s also one very shocking turn of events in this book that I did not see coming – frankly, few authors in any genre have the gall to go where Ms. Jones does, especially not so early in a series – and all I can say is: ME LIKEY.

As the plotting has improved in Captivate, so too have the characters. If you read the review Ana and I wrote for Need, you might have picked up on my annoyance with Zara and her TSTL tendencies. In this second book, I finally felt like I was able to connect with Zara as a character – she manages to stand up for herself in a way that resonated with me – I loved this pivotal scene with her friends:

[Gram] whirls on me and Issie. “I can’t believe you two did that. You cannot trust pixies.”

“So you can’t trust me?” I ask.

“You’re not a pixie. You’re human.” She snaps her medical kit shut.

“Right. So that’s why my skin is blue.” My stomach threatens to knock a hole through my skin and leave my body in protest.

“Zara…” Nick’s voice is a warning.

“She’s just sad,” Is says. “That’s why she’s being all snippy. Or else it’s the pain meds.”

“They are mood altering,” Devyn agrees.

“I am not snippy. I’m mad because nobody is listening to me.” My hands ball into fists. “What? Just because you don’t want to believe it, Nick, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I remember how you acted when you found out who my father is. I remember you running away, okay? I know how you totally hate pixies and if I’m a pixie that obviously means that you -”

His arms reach out to me, but his hands are fists. “Zara -”

“Just. Don’t. Say. Anything.” I stare at all of them, take a step back. “Nobody say anything. This is not your problem. This is my problem. Mine. I’m the freak here. Me.”

I loved that all of the characters in this book are challenged and grow – for better or for worse. Nick and Zara’s relationship is disgustingly sappy (they are THAT couple – you know the ones, you remember them, the PDA-aholics from high school), but it’s believable sap. Even when they call each other “baby” and “sweetheart,” it rings as genuine as they are two characters in the throes of young, first love. I loved that Nick is bossy and domineering and an alpha-jerk at times, because it’s in his nature as a lone were and as a dude with an enormous ego and hero complex. Even better, I love that Zara recognizes this, calls him out on it, and yet loves him for it anyway. There’s a lot of the ridiculous in this book, but the characters are self-aware of this ridiculousness (which makes it if not completely ok, at least more permissible).

To be completely honest, more than Zara, Nick, Isi or Devyn, I found myself absolutely loving the two new additions to the cast – a classmate named Cassidy, and the new Pixie King Astley. Astley especially. Yeah, he marks the beginning of another dreaded Love Triangle (gaah!), but I really liked him. Heck, stupid name aside (and Astley is a shockingly bad name) I prefer him to Nick! I loved the dimension of doubt and moral ambiguity that Astley brought to this book – it’s so easy to assume that ALL pixies are evil, but he humanizes them, which is disturbing for Zara (and especially for Nick). Rather than a blanket statement that pixies = evil, Ms. Jones uses this new King to question their most basic assumption. Like humans, or any other creature, Pixies have the capability to be good, bad, or occupy that murky gray area in between. And that’s really cool.

While there’s a lot to love about Captivate, I should mention that it still suffers from some not-overlookable problems. This second book departs from the phobias that characterized Need so beautifully, instead relying on a schloky “How to Survive A Pixie Attack” gimmick to introduce chapters (ex: “10. Think pixies are like Tinkerbell? You think wrong,” or “9. Pixies do not hang out with Peter Pan”). These Pixie hints felt cheesy and silly to me, and incongruous with the overall tone of the book. There’s also a lot of storming out angry emo huffiness (annoying), and the books first act plods along a tad slowly (though it heats up brilliantly by the second half). The only other big niggle for me was how much of a challenge it was to suspend disbelief in some instances – in particular, in any scene involving Zara fighting pixies. Zara as a human girl is a fast runner but not exactly coordinated, nor is she a “fighter” (her pacifist mindset pretty much prevents this). Thus, seeing her take down a few superhumanly strong, extremely vicious pixies with her physical prowess was a little hard to swallow. Also, pixies (apparently only when confronting Zara) have a tendency to monologue like bad b-movie villains. It is again, silly. If Zara is such a threat, why wouldn’t ANY pixie simply kiss her? Or kill her? Especially given her tendency to go outdoors alone and get herself into life-threatening situations?

Despite having its share of annoying scenes, however, Captivate is in fact captivating. Better than Need, and with a dramatic cliffhanger of an ending, I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the official excerpt:

I have the emotional maturity of a two-year-old. I know this! I know, but it doesn’t make me stop trying to escape my grandmother and friends and their pity eyes and Nick’s eyes… the eyes I suddenly can’t read.
So, I run as best I can through the sloshy snow and mud. My feet take me far enough into the woods so that I don’t hear cars any more. I don’t hear anything. No wind blows through the high up branches of the spruce and pine trees. Their thin, pale brown trunks don’t creak with the weight of snow and ice. No birds sing. No squirrels chitter and squeak and make all those noises that squirrels make.

Nothing.

No noise.

Nothing.

That is not normal. I sniff in through my nose and smell. It’s just wet wood and old pine needles. Olfactophobia is the fear of odors. Odor fears get more specific, though. Bromidrosiphobia is the fear of personal odor. You know, body odor. Luckily, I don’t have that. There is no name that I know of for the fear of a lack of odor. There is no name that I know of for the fear of lack of sound. The fear of sound itself is Acousticophobia.

Why are there no names for the fear of the absence of things? Why is there no name for the absence of humanity? Because that is my fear, right here, right now. I am worried that I am losing my humanity.

I’ve seen what happens then. Jay Dahlberg was tortured and bled and bitten when I found him in an upstairs bedroom at my father’s pixie mansion home. Jay doesn’t remember any of it. I do. I remember his body shaking as I tried to help him down the long flight of marble stairs. I remember the smell of his fear permeating everything.

Pixies did that.

I can’t be one of them.

I can’t.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: There’s a pretty sweet giveaway opportunity going on at author Carrie Jones’ website! Up for grabs are:

A Dell Mini computer
A Netflix gift card
5 hot teen books from Bloomsbury/Walker

Make sure to enter by May 31, 2010 by filling out the online form. Five winners will be picked, so get over there for a chance at the goodies! Also, if you’re in California, Washington or Tennessee, Carrie Jones will be in town on her book tour! We’ll keep you posted with details as they are available. Finally, check out the book trailer for Captivate:

Not a huge fan of the John Mayer-pixie-dust-disney-special combo, but that’s just me! I do, however, love the covers for both books. Pretty gold eyeshadow…

Verdict: Highly enjoyable sequel, I really enjoyed Captivate. I hope Ms. Jones can keep it up and deliver a knockout with the next book in the series!

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh

Title: Need

Author: Carrie Jones

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA / Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing date: December 2008 / February 2010
Paperback: 320 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of ongoing series

Why did we read the book: We have had our eyes on this book for a while now…

How did we get the book: Review Copies from the respective US & UK publishers

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays ’safe.’ Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie – and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

Review:

First Impressions:

Ana: I will be completely honest and say that I approached Need with caution since “official” reviews (like Publishers Weekly’s) and the promotional material we received from the publisher clearly pointed it to being similar to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I was a bit concerned that I was embarking on another journey to a paranormal world with a bland heroine, a strong and brooding hero, a love triangle and a not so interesting plotline. I was proved wrong. In fact, I think the comparisons to Twilight, do this novel a disservice as nearly nothing in Need can be compared to Twilight (except if being in the same genre counts). From the very beginning I fell in love with the heroine and her narrative voice. I did have a few mishaps throughout (which Thea and I will refer to later) but despite those, I ended up firmly on the “I love it” team. Firmly. You hear me, Thea?

Thea: I had my eye on Need for a very long time – I think since back last year, when I saw Angie of Angieville’s review of the book. The cover is very pretty, and I like the idea of killer pixies. Yeah, they glitter just like vampires of today, but it’s pixies. That’s pretty interesting stuff. And, for the most part, I found Need to be a solidly enjoyable novel. I actually disagree with Ana – I do think there are a lot of similarities between Need and Twilight, at least in terms of writing style. I actually liked the Twilight books (until Breaking Dawn ruined everything), in a guilty pleasure, I know this isn’t good for me but it’s so damn readable way. Both Stephenie Meyer and Carrie Jones have an ability to keep a reader glued to a book by some strange word-welding/storytelling voodoo. I call it voodoo because despite the fact that Zara commits myriad Too-Stupid-To-Live (“TSTL”) offenses, despite the mediocre writing, despite the ‘don’t-scrutinize-too-hard-or-the-story-falls-apart’ plot holes…I somehow, inexplicably found myself truly enjoying this book. I cannot explain it. It simply is.

On the plot:

Ana: Since the death of her beloved step-father, Zara has been depressed and not feeling like herself. In an attempt to get her out of her shell, her mother sends her to live with her step-grandmother in Maine. She starts school straight away and almost immediately strikes a friendship with quirky-girl Issy and finds a love interest in resident bad boy (although, not really), Nick. If being grief-stricken around the town her father grew up was not enough, a strange man keeps falling her around (and apparently all the way from Charleston) trying to lure her into the woods; and then kids start to disappear. It is clear that there is an element of paranormal happening but just exactly what is not disclosed to Zara or the reader till later on.

First things first: I quite liked the way the story evolved and the mood the author set from the opening lines. The prose was absolutely effective in conveying the grief and the cold that Zara was feeling. Then little by little, Zara starts to realise that not only the town she inhabits is different, the world she lives in is not what she thought it was. I felt the suspense of the story and even though I could certainly guess quite a few things (just what Nick was for example with all the growling and the “alpha” behaviour) but others, I was pleasantly surprised with. The beginning and the ending were fabulous in my opinion. So fabulous, I closed the book and I thought: how awesome.

Then, I started to think about the details. And this is when things went a little bit awry, because there are is a certain amount of details that do not add up (in order to not spoil important plot points, I will go back to this point later on). However, it says a lot that overall, despite any misgivings, I actually think the book is damn good and well worth a read and that is because of not only the atmospheric writing, the unpretentious romance, the presence of Killer Pixies but mostly, because of how cool and awesome, the main protagonist Zara, was.

Thea: I thoroughly enjoyed Need. I found the novelty of killer pixies to be ingenious. I too loved the snowy, otherworldly atmosphere that Ms. Jones gives to her small Maine town (and I also loved the heavy Stephen King name drops throughout). I enjoyed the central conflict to the story (a Pixie King is stalking Zara, young males are disappearing from the town, and Zara and her friends are dedicated to stopping the threat). I thought the use of phobias to introduce chapters was an ingenious touch too, adding to the magic of the book. And yet…how can I properly convey my experience with this book in a spoiler-free way. Hmm. The best comparison I can think of is:

Need is a lot like 28 Days Later.

Not because Need is overrun with humans infected with some deadly, instantly transmuted virus or anything like that (although, wait a second, Pixie-ism is pretty easily transmuted and quickly infectious…). Rather, both have a similarity in manner of plot. It’s easy to get caught up in both of these stories and rush through them, enjoying yourself the whole while. But there’s always that niggling knowledge during and after – the intellectual knowledge that the story just doesn’t add up. Such is Need.

I found myself noticing these holes while I was reading, but in spite of my disbelief, I was still able to finish the book and enjoy it. And that’s sayin’ something. (Although the more I scrutinize the plot, the most unstable the whole thing seems – but that’s fodder for later in the spoiler version of the post)

On the characters:

Ana: Despite committing at least two counts of serious Too Stupid To Live moments and having one or two moments that caused me perhaps want to strangle her, I really did like Zara as a protagonist and a narrator and the reason behind is that Carrie Jones infused her with a thing called A PERSONALITY. She is very keen on helping others (she even opens a chapter of Amnesty International), something she learnt from her step-father and which does not come without a struggle. At one point, she is asked what would she do if someone attacked her friends, she says she thinks she would not react violently but this is something that might change – because nothing is set in stone. I like that she stands up for herself, she fights for what she believes in. And she has this one quirky trait that I loved: she likes to learn about phobias and recites them to herself in times of stress.

Phobophobia
Fear of phobias

Everybody has fears, right?
I’m into that.
I collect fears like other people collect stamps, which makes me sound like more of a freak than I actually am. But I’m into it. The fears thing. Phobias.
There are all the typical, common phobias. Lots of people are afraid of heights and elevators and spiders. Those are boring. I’m a fan of good phobias. Stuff like nelophobia, the fear of glass. Or arachibutyrophobia, the fear that you will have peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
I do not have the fear of peanut butter, of course, but how cool is it that it’s named?

This means that Zara exists outside the sphere of her family, her friends and her love interest.

But going back to the TSTL moments. Yes, she did have quite a few. But you will notice I am not moved to mock or hold it against her. Because I understood the motivations and the reasoning behind them and above all I liked the way she reacted to the eventual repercussions (“OMG I am such an idiot”) .

As for the other characters: there are a mixture of stereotypes (the annoying bad girl at school for example) or the cool grandmother. I quite liked Nick, the love interest. But even though Zara insisted in thinking of him as bad boy I saw zero evidence (in fact all the grandmothers in town TOLD her how much of a good boy he was) of that. As a were, his job was to protect and that came naturally to him and not without some vulnerability as well – he is gruff and big and he never kissed anyone before Zara, endearing him to me almost instantly.

And then there is the Pixie King and the Need. But saying more is to seriously spoil the plot.

Thea: I have a thing against TSTL heroines. By definition, they are stupid, and incredibly annoying. However, in spite of Zara’s MANY (I counted at least 4 TSTL grievances) moments of incredible stupidity, I still, inexplicably, liked her as a character. I think this is because of the reasons Ana lists – because Zara has a personality, she knows that she’s making really bonehead decisions, and she chides herself for them. She doesn’t learn from them, which is incredibly irritating but believable (hey, that’s human nature!). I loved her quirk of reciting phobias; I loved her dedication to Amnesty International; I loved her pacifistic take on life and how naive and believably teenager-ish she is.

What irritated me more than anything with regard to Zara’s character, however, was how sloooooooow she was to put two and two together when all the evidence is clearly in front of her. To be fair, this is a plot device that many authors use (Richelle Mead most notably does this in her Vampire Academy and Georgina books – and I usually let it slide) – the “everyone knows what’s going on except the heroine and this will be protracted as long as humanly possible” technique. Zara is supposed to be an intelligent young woman, and yet she cannot piece together two very elementary clues to solve a puzzle? Come on. It’s belittling to the character, and even worse, it’s annoying to the reader. (Sorry for the mini-rant, it’s just a huge pet peeve of mine)

As for the other characters, there are some stereotypical appearances as Ana has mentioned (hip grannie, hot bitchy blonde popular girl), but I think the secondary cast works to Need’s favor. I loved Zara’s friends, especially Isi and Devyn. Even more importantly, they exist beyond the realm of “being Zara’s friends,” (a common pitfall in the YA genre that Ms. Jones nicely avoids). Nick is a little predictable, but sweet too, and the romance between him and Zara is undeniably fun.

The only deficiency in characters (besides Zara’s TSTL moments) lay in some character motivations, and a lack of explanation especially where Pixies are concerned. But, those are spoilery, and for later.

Final Thoughts, Observations and Ratings:

Ana: You will probably have noticed by now that Need is a novel I enjoyed immensely but it was “in spite of” and not “because of”. I do think this series has a lot of potential (plot-wise and character-wise) and I plan on reading Captivate as soon as possible.

Thea: What Ana said. I really enjoyed Need and eagerly dove into Captivate after finishing the first book. But I can recognize that the book has it’s fair share of issues. I’m willing to overlook them and encourage all readers to do the same (because it is such a fun book to read), but know that they are there…

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the official excerpt:

“So . . . ,” I say. “You guys were going to tell me about the man outside the cafeteria. Have you ever seen him before?”

Devyn swallows. “I’m not sure. He creeped me out, which is not manly, I know.”

“You are totally manly,” Is announces in a way that makes both Devyn and me blush. She stops twitching. “Devyn looked up some stuff. You are probably going to have a hard time believing this.”

I wait. “Uh-huh . . .”

“You want to tell her?” Issie asks.

Devyn sticks the spoon in the ice cream carton. It stands up straight. He toughs out the words, “We think he’s a pixie.”

You can read the full excerpt online, HERE.

Also, you can check out the (disney-abc-family-esque) book trailer out below:

Rating:

Ana: 6 – Good ( I wavered between a 6 and 7 until the last minute)

Thea: 6 – Good. (It would have been a 7 based on pleasure alone, but I cannot justify that rating, given how many problems there were with the story)

Additional Thoughts:

What you saw above is a clean version of our opinions about Need after we settled down and thought about and discussed the book like two adults. But we decided, for the first time ever, to disclose what really goes on behind the curtains when we read a book. For an unabridged version of our conversation by emails, complete with spoilers, silly smilies, swearing words and a glimpse of the true nature of the smugglers’ dynamics, all you have to do is carry on.

(more…)

Hey folks, we have a brand new segment! Our delightful buddy Harry, from Temple Library Reviews will be joining us once a month to review paranormal romance from a guy’s perspective. But we will let him introduce himself, please let’s give a warm welcome to Harry!

*******

I’m not sure whether Ana & Thea have made it public, but I’m the newest honorary addition to the Book Smugglers team [honest to God, I smuggle books home and then lie straight to my family's face about it]. I get the chance to play here at their blog once a month and my small spot will be called ‘A Dude does PNR’. The idea came to be in December, when I posted my Sherilyn Kenyon review and people were interested to see the male POV about Paranormal Romance. The public demands, the attention whore (that’s me) begs, and the smugglers comply. For my christening into the official Smuggler family I have been given “Circle of Fire” by Keri Arthur.

Title: Circle of Fire

Author: Keri Arthur

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Piatkus Books
Publishing Date: 06.08.2009
Paperback: 298 pages

Stand Alone or series: First book in the Damask Circle

Why did I read the book: Ana had lined three novels and the summary made this one a succulent choice.

How did I get the book: Ana mailed it to me.

Summary: Sixteen teenagers taken from their homes. Eleven bodies recovered, each completely drained of blood. Some believe vampires are responsible, but Jon Barnett knows it’s something far worse. To stop the killers in Taurin Bay, he becomes enmeshed in a web of black magic and realizes he needs help. But fate gives him only one choice in the form of recluse Madeline Smith.

Review:

What happened between my reader personality and Circle of Fire can be best described with a typical wedding reception scenario. I was sat on a table with a good looking lady, a promise to have a swell time drenched in conversation. However, after the introductions the conversation ran out of topics and although the time spent together had a few good gems, in the very end I was left utterly bored and the fine lady entertained her neighbor better. I call this the ‘click factor’. Either you almost hear the click sound, when your hands grab the book in standard reading position or you don’t. In the case with Circle of Fire, my ears were deaf, but even so the ride was not all lows. It had a few highs and perks.

Paranormal Romance is a feel-good genre. Compared to all the genres out there, the PNR is the spicy, exotic and sinful meal, which you feel instant guilt about afterwards, but damn it, if you don’t feel heavenly in the moment of consumption. So, I keep wondering, why the heck do all series I have had the opportunity to read feature ominous, big scale [epic] central or otherwise plot lines. Sure, I guess the big bad thing out there ready to bring some distant cousin of the Judgment Day ensures that the series will have a big number of installments, but I don’t see it as necessary. I thought it was refreshing that Arthur decided to have a modest start with one case, which was more or less isolated and personal rather than introductory and the inkling of a storm.

The story is straightforward. The objective is clear: find the missing children and for Maddie to bring her nephew home. In order to achieve that Maddie has to pair up with Jon, the resident brooding hero, who customary for the genre is a shapeshifter. Both aren’t the best match for this investigation, since Maddie [despite her precognitive and fire starting powers] is largely ignorant about the supernatural world. This trait puts her in danger and jeopardizes the whole investigation. Although the opening chapters seemed filled with promise, especially with the way how Maddie and Jon meet, after that I hit déjà vu lane at parade speed and knew just about everything that was going to happen. Call me precognitive…

You may argue that more or less, everything has been said and done as far as plot goes, but it isn’t impossible to give well known formulas a fresh polish, a new spin, some tuning. What worked against from this happening was the lack of meat on the story’s bones. Three hundred pages [barely 300, mind you] is not the healthy, solid bedrock to develop a high adrenaline adventure and a believable romance. Then there’s Arthur’s prose, which left me neutral. I did not feel grabbed by the way she expressed herself and for me prose is a determining factor to whether I enjoy a novel or not. With Circle of Fire I felt largely unattached with where it went and I felt like I was being told rather than shown. I still can’t shake the ‘clutches’. It’s just not how I roll these days.

World-building-wise things headed into a right direction, but never got anywhere. True, there is an avian shapeshifter and not the standard hairy, possessive alpha male. True, the big baddy has a diversified goody bag with ways to kill the protagonists, but there is no actual depth to make this exciting. I had questions about shapeshifters in general, the rules as far as magic is concerned and what not, but that was largely unanswered. I also couldn’t buy that Maddie could so easily figure out how to learn the ropes with her precognitive powers, after a single mention that control was possible. Given her background and the grief her powers had given her, I would suspect it was the opposite.

Last, but not least, the romance. From a logical standpoint, what Arthur did is sound. Maddie was a victim of physical and psychological abuse, so a sensual and naughty relationship was not the best route to take. The romance here is more or less platonic, melting the ice walls both protagonists have raised for different reasons and admitting that love stuck both ends of a long spaghetti strand in their mouths with the intention to get a kiss at the end. I admit that I am a fan of the idea and the actual ending of Circle of Fire was endearing, but getting there was a journey that seemed forced, raw and inorganic. Both protagonists switched between what the Freudian IT wanted [getting it on] and what the EGO [from bad experience] dictated as best course of action [aka straying away from love]. I understand from where this inner dilemma stems and yet the way it was handled did not suspend my disbelief or cemented my conviction that the happily ever after was rooted in reality.

Verdict: I didn’t click with it. I can’t call this a bad novel, because it isn’t. I am sure that this one will be a perfect fit for somebody else, but Circle of Fire can’t provide what I need from a book. Yeah, I am a picky and needy bastard.

Rating: 5 Meh, take it or leave it

Reading next: The Battle Sylph by LJ Macdonald

Title: Mr. Shivers

Author: Robert Jackson Bennett

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 336 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: Ever since I saw the mockup of the haunting cover and read the synopsis from Orbit, I was instantly hooked. Billed as an apocalyptic-style horror novel set during the American Great Depression (one of my favorite periods of study as a history major), I could not resist.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
It is the time of the Great Depression. The dustbowl has turned the western skies red and thousands leave their homes seeking a better life. Marcus Connelly seeks not a new life, but a death – a death for the mysterious scarred man who murdered his daughter. And soon he learns that he is not alone. Countless others have lost someone to the scarred man. They band together to track him, but as they get closer, Connelly begins to suspect that the man they are hunting is more than human. As the pursuit becomes increasingly desperate, Connelly must decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice to get his revenge.

Review:

Mr. Shivers was easily one of the most highly anticipated novels of early 2010 for me – the blend of horror, gritty realism, and the bleakness of the Great Depression setting instantly appealed to me, and I was ecstatic when I received an ARC for the title. Add to that the overwhelmingly positive reviews from the heavy-hitters like Publisher’s Weekly, the Guardian, and Library Journal, and I was one very excited girl.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers simply could not deliver. All sound and fury, but ultimately with little to say, I found myself hollowly disengaged and sadly disappointed with this debut novel from Mr. Robert Jackson Bennett.

Marcus Connelly (simply referred to throughout the book as Connelly) is a man that has lost everything. His young daughter has been killed by a mysterious, legend of a man whose face is marred by three long scars. Unable to move on with his life, Connelly’s marriage deteriorates, and he decides to leave to find – and exact revenge – on the gray man that murdered his daughter, the man that the hobos riding the rails call “the Shiver Man.” All Connelly knows is that he must travel west and he makes his way across an arid, devastated American landscape, from Tennessee to Oklahoma, hitching rides and stowing away on trains with other men in search of a better future. Along the way, Connelly learns that he is not alone in his quest as he comes across another trio of men out for blood, payment for the wake of death and destruction left in the scarred man’s path. As the group closes in their pursuit, hot on the Shiver Man’s trail, they gradually begin to realize he may not be any mere man – and Connelly learns, all but too late, that all revenge comes at an unimaginable cost.

Mr. Shivers is the debut novel from Robert Jackson Bennett, and it has a wicked good premise – at its onset, Mr. Shivers is a strong, attention-grabbing novel. The initial descriptions of the Depression-ravaged landscape, complete with Hoovervilles, dust storms, and the constant presence of the railroad are evocative and well-painted, as is the desolate, gray mood of the novel. Indeed, Mr. Shivers begins with a bang, banking on the strength of its morose setting. The historical perspective feels a little shaky at times (with regard to slang/colloquialisms and geography), but Mr. Bennett’s atmosphere in the novel is undeniably compelling. However, as the story unfolds, it’s very easy to see where it is going to end up. There’s a good deal of predictability here, which is unfortunate for so strong a start and premise (barely within the book’s first act, the old adage about those seeking monsters becoming them immediately comes to mind). This isn’t a particularly bad thing, provided that the characters and level of writing are strong. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

As a protagonist, Connelly is simply drawn. He’s a very tall & broad, intimidating, bearded man that does not like to speak. In many ways, he’s empty; a husk following the death of his daughter. This characterization is actually quite effective, at least in the beginning, but Connelly never manifests any semblance of a personality or tone as a character, nor do any of the other secondary cast members in the book (who read like flat stereotypes: an ex-priest, a Jew, a brash young man). There’s absolutely nothing in the way of character development here, which, unfortunately is another point against Mr. Shivers. This, however, would have been forgivable had the writing been impeccable…but once again, I found myself disappointed.

Mr. Bennett’s writing style, unfortunately, comes across as self-indulgent. Every conversation Connelly has in this book (or rather, that he listens to, as he does not speak much), every extended section of descriptive prose feels so melodramatically self-important as to seem…well, silly and derivative. For example,

He looked up at the stars again and considered this spot on the land, this tree he sat under. These empty square feet of land had always been here, would always be here. To this place he was no more than a dream. And he wondered about those who had come before, wandering over the plains, treading this spot. People that came before nature. Animals that came before sunlight. Perhaps it had been so. He touched the coarse earth. Once something had died here. It was a fact of chance. Some animal had dragged itself to this spot or many had fallen, limbs askew, its lifeblood leaking onto the earth. And then perhaps it had lifted its thoughtless eyes to the infinity above, looked at the endless, bejeweled dark, just as Connelly was now, and made some sound, some mewling cry. Asking a question. Begging for a few seconds more. And then expired, maybe leaving its questions behind.

This is perhaps a matter of personal taste, but the constant presence of these sorts of passages throughout the book were grating and felt amateur, the work of an author trying very hard to sound poetic and significant but failing, at least to me as a reader. I also found myself uncomfortable with some of the more religious and patriotic undertones to the novel, but this is, again, a matter of personal taste.

Mr. Shivers is also distinctly reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (Connelly is a character very similar to Shadow, and the traveling story and American backdrop is also very familiar), as it is of early Stephen King (in particular, The Gunslinger with Roland’s ages-old pursuit of The Man in Black versus Conelly’s Man in Gray). Unfortunately, Mr. Shivers lacks the resonance or skill of these two master storytellers, and the end result is something more derivative and bland. There are good ideas in this book, but Mr. Bennett stumbles, lacking in the execution of these ideas. The plot is cumbersome and the writing overwrought. I finished Mr. Shivers with an overall feeling of disappointment.

All these criticisms said, Mr. Bennett clearly does have promise as an author. This is only his debut novel (which probably accounts for the feeling that he’s trying too hard in this book), and there is potential here. Ultimately, Mr. Shivers isn’t a great book, but it’s not a terrible one either.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

By the time the number nineteen crossed the Missouri state line the sun had crawled low in the sky and afternoon was fading into evening. The train had built up a wild head of steam over the last few miles. As Tennessee fell behind it began picking up speed, the wheels chanting and chuckling, the ?elds blurring into jaundice- yellow streaks by the track. A fresh gout of black smoke unfurled from the train’s crown and folded back to clutch the cars like a great black cloak.

Connelly shut his eyes as the wave of smoke ?ew toward him and held on tighter to the side of the cattle car. He wasn’t sure how long he had been hanging there. Maybe a half hour. Maybe more. The crook of his arm was curled around one splintered slat of wood and he had wedged his boots into the cracks below. Every joint in his body ached.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Mr. Shivers has a pretty cool interactive website, which is definitely worth checking out. Also worth taking a look at is the haunting book trailer:

Verdict: Though I was eagerly anticipating this novel, Mr. Shivers failed to live up to the hype. Not without its merits, this is the type of book that may sing to some readers, but, unfortunately, I am not one of them. A plodding, predictable plot, flat characters, and overly-dramatic writing made this a forgettable read for me – though I will give Mr. Bennett’s future endeavors a try.

Rating: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: Need by Carrie Jones