Friday, August 31, 2012

Review: Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh

Title: Enshadowed
Author: Kelly Creagh
Publisher: Atheneum
Released Date: August 28th 2012
Find on: AmazonGoodreads

Quick Review: Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dream world -- a treacherous and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by the nightmares of Varen's creation, is the only one who can save him.
Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the "Poe Toaster" will make his annual homage at the legendary poet's grave.
Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But even greater dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of white, is watching, challenging her for Varen's affections. When Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.


Detailed Review: After I turned over the last page of this book, I was completely mad as well as excited. In the start, Isobel Lanley is back but without Varen. In the first few chapters, we learn about Isobel's life from where we left off at Nevermore. Later we find out about Reynolds also known as the Poe Toaster. She tries to convince her father to take her to Baltimore to see Poe's grave which is apparently where Reynolds is. Then Gwen comes into the picture. During the first book, we see Gwen who is supposedly rude but extremely friendly when she secretly visites Isobel after the incident. Isobel tells Gwen about her dreams and nightmares and the dreamworld she had visited in the first book. 

Isobel continues telling Gwen about a woman which beautiful black hair and a voice that's mesmerizing, finding out that Gwen knows she's Lilith! A demon queen who rules the Nocs, creatures of the dreamworld which is created by Poe himself and Varen. Gwen abandons Isobel while she later has dreams and of Varen and a car, rushing through the dreamworld and ending with horror, Isobel is desperate to get Varen back at all costs! We see her on her first day at school as the nightmares get worse and she dreams of Varen once again, but instead it's Pinfeathers, the Noc created by Varen. She realizes at these times that she's been seeing all of the dreamworld with reality. On the last time of dreaming, Isobel hears music and a woman singing, hearing these she follows -ending up in battle with Pinfeathers once again! A trophy in hand, Isobel tries to ward off the Noc. Finally leaving, the story spins once more as Gwen, Isobel's best friend returns with a present of Christmas day. The present was a something that could ward off demons; Lilith. 

Finally telling Isobel everything, she learns that Gwen is going with her to Baltimore in search of the Poe Toaster. Through the next part of the story we learn she meets up with Brad who tells her to look in mirrors. As she does so she sees Varen twice in mirrors but usually when she turns around he's not there, confusing her more! Which is definitely frustrating.

It continues to through finally getting tickets to Baltimore and leaving. Gwen devices at plan in the graveyard while Isobel eats with her dad at a restaurant. Lying to her dad, she leaves and goes with Gwen who is outside and soon they're on their way. 

'Isobel's ears perked up when one of the voices emanating from Greene Street, a man's sturdy barritone, lifted above all the others and began to recite lines from "The Raven".
'Nothing further then he uttered-
 not a
feather then he fluttered-
Till I scarcely more than muttered, 
 'Other
friends have flown before-
On the morrow he will leave me, as 
 my
Hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, 'Nevermore'."

That's when Reynolds aka The Poe Toaster finally appears. There she struggles through and enters the dreamworld. Going through the world she finds the Nocs and then Lilith. Finally capturing Isobel and letting her die. Isobel realizes that Reynolds is also called Gordan. A demon spawn of Lilith. There they fight and she escapes, finding Varen and Lilith, telling her he is changed and doesn't think he'll go back with her, Isobel goes to Varen anyway. When he finally sees her, he hugs her and guess what? Tosses her over the cliff. 

Awakening as a ghost in front of her brother, Danny. She tries to call for him but can't because she's a ghost and then Isobel sees her body on a table as people try to awake her but suddenly her heart stops and a man rolls a white sheet over her face. Confused and scared, Isobel tries again to fuse with her body, jutting awake in her own body, realizing she had just died. 

Ending the story, Varen in his dreamworld finds a pink butterfly watch and crushes it as he looks away, thinking Isobel didn't love him enough to hold onto the promise, even though she did.

Brief Summary: 'Like the first book, Nevermore; Enshadowed had promised an amazing, exciting and heart-pounding stopper that made it's story flow incredibly. A second epic conclusion will have the reader gasping for more!'  

My Rating: 5/5  'Totally Amazing!'

















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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Review: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Title: Nevermore 
Author: Kelly Creagh
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 31st 2010
Find on: AmazonGoodreads

Quick Review: Cheerleader Isobel Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with the piercing eyes another look. 

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. 

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own nightmares. 

His life depends on it.


Detailed Review: First part I was interested because not many authors write about cheerleaders falling in love with a goth. No ordinary goth either! It was interesting to read about how a cheerleader's life is well, Isobel Lanley's life. From being glamourous to nothing, Isobel knows how to hold it in. After being assigned to Varen Nethers to do a project where Varen chooses specifically the subject and poet 'Edgar Allen Poe'-at first we see that Isobel doesn't feel so comfortable with Varen. We see their relationship bloom. Her problems with her best friend and boyfriend and the rest of the crew. Next thing we know Isobel's sneaking out of her own house to finish her homework with Varen. As the story goes on when her boyfriend finds out, he starts to act a little strange. Over protective boyfriend? 

Later on, she dumps him when ice-cream trip goes wrong and her boyfriend's desperate to get back together! Further through the story, Isobel finally learns to stop being a snob and becomes someone no one thought she would be. Making friends with a girl who wears skirts to the floor and jingly bracelets, meet Gwen. Fun, quirky and wayyy different than the other girls, Isobel starts to learn the perks of being the underdog. There are so many moments with Varen as she starts to spend time with him. 

“You're really a blond," she said, her tone just short of accusatory.
"And if you tell anyone, I will come to you in the night and smote your everlasting soul.” 

Little secrets of Varen's existence does Isobel learn about. We learn that Varen has a black note book. His stories of Edgar Allen Poe and poems he's written about a wretched beauty called Bess, Lilith and many names belonging to her. For the first time a whole chain of events start. Meeting a mysterious figure who called himself, Reynolds. Living the nightmares of Varen's dreamworld. How long did it take for Isobel Lanley to break down? 

She never did. 

In the end, fights among the dreamworld start to merge with reality. Reynolds saves Isobel once again through the story and finally the conclusion in which Reynolds lies to Isobel about Varen's safe being. Instead she burns Varen's black book that links reality to dreamworld.

Now the link is destroyed, Isobel thought she could go back to her life with Varen but finding out later that he didn't make it out of the dreamworld. Isobel Lanley is miserable and now is on the quest to get back there! 

Ending the book with such an epic conclusion of Nevermore, it'll leave you wanting for more! 

Brief Summary: 'Epic, beautifully written and completely a wonder, you'll be left wondering about the dark secrets and mysteries to Varen's dreamworld and Isobel's insights to reality. I love Nevermore and can't wait till the next book comes out!' 

My Rating: 5/5  'Totally Amazing!' 














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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Review: League of Strays by L. B. Schulman

Title: League of Strays
Author: L. B. Schulman
Publisher: Amulet
Release Date: October 1st 2012
Find on: AmazonGoodreads

Quick Review: This suspenseful debut follows a group of teenage misfits in their delicious quest for revenge on those who have wronged them at their high school. When a mysterious note appears in Charlotte’s mailbox inviting her to join the League of Strays, she’s hopeful it will lead to making friends. What she discovers is a motley crew of loners and an alluring, manipulative ringleader named Kade. Kade convinces the group that they need one another both for friendship and to get back at the classmates and teachers who have betrayed them. But Kade has a bigger agenda. In addition to vandalizing their school and causing fights between other students, Kade’s real intention is a dangerous plot that will threaten lives and force Charlotte to choose between her loyalty to the League and her own conscience.

Detailed Review: LEAGUE OF STRAYS was a quite interesting book with a deep mystery ready to be unlocked. I loved the characters and the settings written throughout the book, making this book what it is now. Especially the main protagonist of the book, Charlotte with the rest of her friends and members from the LEAGUE OF STRAYS: Nora, Kade, Richie and Zoe. 

THE MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUE OF STRAYS

CHARLOTTE; quiet and different was a character who I loved from the start. Rebelling parents and fighting and crying for her causes, she was a character perfectly made, I say "Charlotte is a fun character I've read about in a long time."

KADE; strange and mysterious is a young man who is like a modern day Dr Jekyll and My Hyde. To me, he had type of innocence yet he also had that craziness in the way he talked and his actions showed but in the beginning he was like every other average guy until we start revealing the missing pieces of his life.

NORA; smart and lost. She is an incredibly smart girl who was bullied by her teacher with the help of the LEAGUE OF STRAYS there were some misdoings and adventure, she's pretty smart with her use of words and language, a typical brain power. 

RICHIE; loyal and follower, he's like a second partner in crime or side-kick. He's bestfriends with Kade which makes them a strange pair eventhough he got bullied for a long year, kicked in the butt and got suspended for bringing drugs to school, I think he was someone who needed someone else to follow after; someone like Kade...

ZOE; kick-ass and hard-hearted. I liked this character with her fiery actions and her liveliness to all the characters included. She added that something that pulled everyone together and through the years of being bullied, she still stood tall and fought her way through, someone you could trust and someone you could fight side by side with.

Brief Review: 'Mysterious, on-the-go and heart-thumping, League of Strays was entirely compulsive and brave. It was simply brilliant as I read the start till the end!'

My Rating: 4/5  'Really liked it.'













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Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: January 17th 2012
Find on: AmazonGoodreads

Quick Review: The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.


Detailed Review: Tempest was an interesting and mind boggling. Well in the first part of the story, we see Jackson's life as a 19 year old, living his days with his girlfriend, Holly and his bestfriend, Adam. It follows through the story where Jackson time travels or as it says 'time jumps'. Jackson doesn't know why he's like that but sooner than later he finds out. 

"She put my hand around him, then muttered something incoherent but it sounded like, 
"Tell me a secret" ... "I'm crazy about you" 


Now the story becomes even more interesting, when the scene opens up to Holly getting shot. I know right?!? I mean, poor Holly because Jackson immediately time jumps, leaving her! Obviously he feels very guilty about the prospect of leaving Holly but at the same time 2009 isn't letting come back. So he passes through other times where he sees his younger sister/twin sister, Courtney who died long time ago, where he feels ashamed. Then he learns how to fall in love with 2007 Holly. Then he meets Adam. Again. 

As he jumps through one of the time lines, he meets his father! Who apparently was going to smash Jackson's face! I mean, really! Sorry, Jackson but your father doesn't know you. But in the end he finds out his Dad's a spy, a creeper stalker followed him and his sister when they were younger. Who knew? Slowly Jackson learns about his true self and finally time jumps back to where it all begin. Where Holly became his girlfriend and changed how they meet, so they never met. 

Now, Jackson learns how to be a spy and how to keep his secrets away from his new friends along with Adam who becomes a super hacker for the CIA. 

Brief Review: 'Action-packed, time traveling and fast-thumping get-ups, I thought Tempest was wonderful and seriously wrapped up with all my favourite genres. Julie Cross you wrote a whole entity of surprise as I skimmed over the pages till the end of the book.'

My Rating: 4/5   'Really liked it'.














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----> Tempest Audio <----

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Release Date: September 27th 2011
Find on: AmazonGoodreads

Quick Review: Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. 

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Detailed Review: When I first saw this cover sitting on the shelf, I was completely in love with it and bought it. From the first page I was completely excited. It opens up to a character called Karou, a girl who has blue hair and loads of secrets inside of her. Literally! Well it opens up to her ex-boyfriend, Kazimir as he pretends to be a vampire! I laughed when I read this part because it was completely hilarious later on when Karou finally finds out what Kazimir means what he says... I felt like this book was impressive as I continued reading. I couldn't put it down for only about a few minutes, reading out Karou's life with her guardian, Brimstone. This surprised me as the characters start to become unusual but it was amazing. It surprised me from the first page... 

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well." 

As I continued through the story I felt even more excited as I read through Akiva's life. His fingers sculpted by the many killings of a chimaera and his love for chimaera, Madrigal. His wings and the first meeting with Karou and her painted eyes on the palms of her hand. 

As Akiva talked about her, I was deeply confused but it immediately surfaced at the end of the book where Karou finally finds about her true self. Who she really is. Who she is meant to be. Questions will be answered as the final chapter is read. Throughout this, she finds out about her life before this one. How Akiva fitted into her life has finally made sense. This was getting exciting until the ending. A huge cliff hanger! I know, cliffhangers don't make your day but all I could think about was how amazing this book was.

Deeply amazing.

Brief Review: 'I love love love Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was amazing and I was entranced from the very first page as I read through the pages in minutes. Definitely impressive and deeply amazingly brilliant!'

My Rating: 5/5  'Totally Amazing'












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