How to use this Page

Conjured. Sarah Beth Durst. 2013. Walker. 368 pages. [Source: Library]

I definitely found Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst to be a compelling and surprisingly romantic read. What I enjoyed most about this dark YA novel is the mystery. Readers are kept clueless, just as clueless as the heroine herself. Her name, so she's been told, is Eve. What can Eve remember? Not much. And the two people "closest" to her, well, they're odd sorts. One, Malcolm, seems honorable enough, but still crazy mysterious. The other, Nicki, seems mysterious too, but, also antagonistic. Both seem anxious for Eve to recover her memories, but, are trying to pretend that it's no big deal, that the memories will come--or not--as they will. Eve definitely feels PRESSURE from almost everyone in her life.

Eve has, for better or worse, started a job at a library. She meets a boy around her own age, Zach. I would say that he's unlike any other boy she's ever met, but, since Eve has no memories at all of her past, and surprisingly few of her present, that would not be worth much. But Zach is special, and, he thinks Eve is very, very special indeed. Zach isn't the only "young person" she's met since leaving the hospital. She's also met a few others, that are STRANGE, STRANGE, SUPER-STRANGE.

Conjured is a book that celebrates MYSTERY. Eve is on a journey of self-discovery, and, the mystery she's trying to solve is herself...
© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

Archivist Wasp. Nicole Kornher-Stace. 2015. Big Mouth House. 268 pages. [Source: Library]

Two words describe Archivist Wasp, in my opinion, confusing and compelling. It's not often a book is equal parts confusing and compelling. Even though I found myself with more questions than answers and lingering confusion, I couldn't stop reading Archivist Wasp. Two more words to describe the book? How about post-apocalyptic and ghosts?

Our heroine is an archivist calling herself "Wasp." I'll be honest, Wasp doesn't have the best of lives, even, when she's not fighting for her life, fighting to stay the Archivist. (She's challenged every year by three Upstarts. That's how she got the job as well, by killing the previous Archivist.) Archivists have a marginally better life than Upstarts. But essentially, no one in this post-apocalyptic world has a happy, easy life. The villagers, well, they have their problems too. But at least they aren't tortured/tormented by the Catchkeep's Priest and brainwashed into a life of hate and violence.

So what does an Archivist do? She hunts ghosts, recording what she learns from each ghost, disposes of ghosts after studying, except, for when a villager wants to buy a ghost for whatever reason. It's a bleak, lonely life. And Wasp does spend a good bit of the book recovering from various injuries.

So the book is about what happens when Wasp meets an out-of-the-ordinary ghost, one that is actually able to communicate with her, one that has a tragic tale to tell and a huge request for her. This nameless ghost (he can't remember his identity, I believe) wants her help in finding another ghost, Catherine Foster. He wants them both to travel to the underworld and search the spirit-world. She agrees, and, in the process learns that life below isn't any more bleak than life above. In fact, in some ways it might even be slightly better. But the search won't be easy. And it will have its own dangers.

The book is about what she learns through this search, it will change her certainly....

Do I understand everything that happened in Archivist Wasp? Not really. The quest was really confusing in places, and, she is thrown in and out of other people's memories. She sees the past on her quest, in bits and pieces, and probably not sequential flashbacks either. She has to piece it all together. And she does a much better job than I did with that!

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

The Night Gardener. Jonathan Auxier. 2014. Abrams. 350 pages. [Source: Library]

I loved, loved, LOVED Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener. It may just be my favorite new book published in 2014. I loved so many things about it: the atmospheric setting, the creepy world-building, the storytelling, the writing, and the characterization. (Yes, those overlap, I imagine.) I could just say that I loved all the elements of this one; that I loved it absolutely from cover to cover. (Which does more justice for the book?)

Here's how the story opens. I'm curious if it will grab you like it did me!

The calendar said early March, but the smell in the air said late October. A crisp sun shone over Cellar Hollow, melting the final bits of ice from the bare trees. Steam rose from the soil like a phantom, carrying with it a whisper of autumn smoke that had been lying dormant in the frosty underground. Squinting through the trees, you could just make out the winding path that ran from the village all the way to the woods in the south. People seldom traveled in that direction, but on this March-morning-that-felt-like-October, a horse and cart rattled down the road. It was a fish cart with a broken back wheel and no fish. Riding atop the bench were two children, a girl and a boy, both with striking red hair. The girl was named Molly, and the boy, her brother, was Kip. And they were riding to their deaths. This, at least, was what Molly had been told by no fewer than a dozen people as they traveled from farm to farm in search of the Windsor estate.

I loved Molly and Kip. It wasn't that either protagonist was perfect. It was that I felt both were oh-so-human. These two do find the Windsor estate. And they do manage to stay on as help. Even though they don't necessarily receive wages--just room and board. This country estate is...well, I don't want to spoil it. But the people who warned them to stay away from the estate, from the sour woods, well they had good intentions. The book is creepy in all the right ways. It is a WONDERFUL read if you love rich, detailed storytelling.

I also loved Hester Kettle. She is the old woman--Kip thought she was a witch at first glance--who tells them the directions to the estate. She also proves to be a friend and kindred spirit. She is, like Molly, a story-teller.

Hester touched the button, "Funny things, wishes. You can't hold'em in your hand, and yet just one could unmake the world." She looked up at Molly. (214)

"You asked me for a story; now you call it a lie." She folded her arms. "So tell me, then: What marks the difference between the two?"
Agitated as she was, Molly couldn't help but consider the question. It was something she had asked herself in one form or another many times in her life. Still, Molly could tell the difference between the two as easily as she could tell hot from cold--a lie put a sting in her throat that made the words catch. It had been some time, however, since she had felt that sting. "A lie hurts people," she finally answered. "A story helps 'em."
"True enough! But helps them do what?" She wagged a finger. "That's the real question..." (214)

I loved the story. I loved the pacing. It was a great read!!! Definitely recommended!

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

The Glass Casket. McCormick Templeman. 2014. Random House. 352 pages. [Source: Review copy]

The Glass Casket has a great opening line,

"One bleak morning in the eye of winter, five horses and five riders thundered into the remote mountain village of Nag's End." 

It caught my interest and kept me reading until the very, very end, without a single break. For the record, I do NOT like horror novels. I do NOT like thrillers. Witches. Monsters. Vampires. Not my thing AT ALL. Yet, for some reason, I found myself unable to walk away from this fantasy novel. In other words, I found myself LOVING it.

After these strange riders fail to return, several men go up into the woods and investigate. What they found shocks them to say the least. One man is bloodied and his eyes and tongue are missing. The remaining four were found NAKED and frozen. One could reason that wolves might have killed one of the five men. BUT what would lead four men to strip off their clothes, fold them up, and allow themselves to freeze to death?! And what was up with the last journal entry found in their belongings that reads: It's starting. Tom Parstle is, I believe, the one who finds that journal entry. And he also removes something else from the scene, something that any fan of Pirates of the Caribbean could warn him against, a coin or medallion. "It was a circle enclosing a smaller circle. They were linked by seven spokes, empty spaces between them. He was leaning in to examine it more closely when he found himself suddenly queasy, as if beset by a noxious force" (19). The men return with some answers but more questions.

Rowan Rose is our heroine. She is Tom's best friend. She's super smart. She doesn't only know how to read and write, she knows how to read and write in several languages. She assists her father in his translating work. In fact, she is BETTER at translating than her father is. She does not want to marry. She wants to be a scholar. She thinks her father is supportive of her plans for the future.

Jude Parstle is Tom's brother. Jude has long been thought to be the lesser of the brothers. No one expects much of him, Tom, well Tom is "the good brother." Jude, well, Jude is allowed to do whatever. Rowan and Jude have a tense relationship: they are ALWAYS bickering. Everyone thinks that Jude hates Rowan, that he perhaps hates her because she's so brainy, though that is more Tom's theory. (Tom thinks his brother is only interested in one thing from a woman.)

Those five riders weren't the ONLY strangers to come to town. There were three other strangers: a glassblower, his wife, and a young woman that is OH-SO-EXTRAORDINARILY-BEAUTIFUL. Her name is Fiona Eira. Not everyone is pleased with these strangers. Rowan's father, Henry, is the most opposed. He insists that Rowan have NOTHING AT ALL to do with Fiona.

So what is Rowan to do when her best friend, Tom, falls madly, deeply in instant-love with Fiona? He HAS to meet her. He just HAS to. He begs and pleads with her to be the go-between, to seek her out, to introduce herself, to speak well of Tom, to arrange a meeting for them the next day. Rowan is creeped out by Tom's obsession in all honesty. But. She dares to disobey her father. She'll do it for her friend. At the very least, her helping Tom may help him calm down a bit.

But this wouldn't be much of a horror novel if Tom and Fiona live happily ever after...

The Glass Casket is definitely packed with action and suspense. There is a big mystery to solve. It is intensely violent. The scenes depicting violence--murder--are very graphic. It is also graphic when it comes to passion. Yet despite the fact that this one is in many ways plot-driven, I feel Templeman did a good job with characterization. I definitely had favorite characters.

Rowan and Obsessed-Tom talking about LOVE:

"Rowan," he said, "do you think it possible to love someone upon first laying eyes on them?"
"Well, the poets certainly thought it so if they're to be believed, a woman's eyes can know a future lover upon seeing him, and if the man sees the fire in those eyes, sees himself there, then he can fall in love before they've even spoken a word."
"But what do you think? Do you think it's possible?"
"I don't know. I suppose I like the idea of some part of our bodies knowing and recognizing our futures even if our minds cannot. That appeals to me. But no, I don't think it possible."
"You don't? Really? If your future husband came riding into the village one day, you don't think you'd recognize him immediately?"
"I don't think that's how it works."
"How does it work, then?"
"I think in order to love someone, you must know their heart. You need to witness their goodness, and you can't know something like that unless you've known someone for a while. I think familiarity breeds love."
"That's not very romantic of you."
"Isn't it?"
"I'm talking about love, grand love--that thing that makes you feel like your knees are about to give way, that certainty that you've seen the essence of your future in a pair of red lips."
"Tom, beauty isn't the same thing as goodness; it isn't the same thing as love." (52, 53)

Rowan on Jude:

Staring at him, she felt rage burning in her chest. How was it that he could make her so angry? How was it that he always seemed to know how she felt without her saying a word? It was unfair. He had no right to her feelings. Her temper getting the better of her, she strode over to him, her hands clenched into fists, and took a single wretched swing at him. The force she'd put behind the blow was intense, but she never connected, for he caught her forearm gently in his hand, and looking deep into her eyes, he held her gaze. (75)

Sample of atmosphere:

The funeral should have been the next day. It ought to have been. The village ought to have gathered in Fiona Eira's home and the elders ought to have performed the rites. She should have been covered in the funerary shroud, hiding the sight of human flesh so as not to offend the Goddess. Her body laid up on Cairn Hill at the Mouth of the Goddess, stones carefully arranged atop her resting spot. These were the things that ought to have been done. But sometimes things don't go as planned. (117)

It was a coffin. A glass coffin, intricately carved, and set out in the yard for all to see. Inside it was the girl, her black hair splayed out around her, her lips like rotting cherries set against a newly ashen complexion. (129)

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Add a Comment

Orleans. Sherri L. Smith. 2013. Penguin. 336 pages.

Orleans is intense and I suspect unforgettable. The novel is set after the Delta and/or the Gulf Coast have been cut off from the rest of the United States. (There being an actual wall to prevent people from entering/exiting.) The reason is simple: Delta Fever is too contagious and there isn't a cure. Everyone is infected with the fever, but each blood type responds differently to the disease or virus. This separates everyone into groups or tribes according to blood type.

Fen, our heroine, is O positive. But soon after the novel begins, her tribe is attacked. Her chieftain, Lydia, goes into premature labor because of the attack. The baby survives, she doesn't. Fen and the baby are what is left of this tribe, and Fen is desperate to provide a better life for this baby. Her goal is ambitious and dangerous. She wants to find a way to smuggle the baby out before it catches the fever. She wants to reach the wall.

Sometimes helping, sometimes hindering, Fen's ambitions is a young scientist named Daniel. Daniel dreams big too. He is desperate to find a cure. That is why he is there illegally.

Orleans is incredibly intense and impossible to put down. If you enjoy disaster and/or survivor fiction, then this one is a must read! It is extremely creepy in places, which I think will definitely appeal to some readers! But even if you don't like horror elements, you may find yourself hooked.

Read Orleans

• If you enjoy great world-building
• If you enjoy meeting strong heroines
• If you enjoy survivor or disaster novels
• If you enjoy dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction
• If you like darker stories with some horror elements

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

The Book of Blood and Shadow. Robin Wasserman. 2012. Random House. 448 pages.

I thought this one started out with a lot of potential. The opening chapter was great, I thought. I definitely wanted to love this one, but, by the end, I had lost my enthusiasm. (I do think others may enjoy this one more than I did.) This unsolved mystery case, which spans several centuries, begins as a translation project for several college students, Max and Chris, and a high school student, our heroine, Nora. The guys are assigned one part of the project, Nora another. Her project includes translating the private letters of Elizabeth Weston. She's looking for clues as to what she has to say about her father's work, and/or her brother's work on this mystery book. Nora becomes involved in her project and Elizabeth's life starts to fascinate her. (Nora's friends aren't always excited to hear about it.) But Nora's "unimportant" private letters become extremely important, but it takes attempted murder (the professor), theft (of the letters), and murder (of her very very best friend) for it all to become clear to her. With each chapter things become more and more complicated. It has plenty of action and suspense plus secrets, lies, betrayals, etc.

If I had cared about the characters more, I think this one would have been a better read for me. The mystery with its dozens of clues wasn't enough to hold my interest. I do think it may work for others better.

Read The Book of Blood and Shadows

• If you like mystery/suspense/thriller novels with puzzles, mysteries, riddles, codes to solve, etc.
• If you are looking for a gothic/horror read
• If you have a special fondness for heroines and heroes that love Latin 

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Rootless. Chris Howard. 2012. Scholastic. 336 pages.

They figured me too young for a tree builder. I could see it in their eyes.

Rootless is a great example of a not-for-me book. I was not the right audience for this one, but you might be. If you enjoy dark horror stories, then this one may be just right for you. Banyan, our narrator, is a young man struggling to survive. Like his father before him, he is a tree builder; he builds artificial trees, artificial forests.

In this futuristic world, much has changed, and nothing has changed for the better. This is explored, to a certain degree, throughout the novel, as the mystery is revealed and readers come to learn about how the world is and how it came to be that way.

I would say this book is all about surviving, but, that wouldn't exactly be true. It isn't necessarily about avoiding all risks in order to survive. Banyan, our hero, even seeks out danger at times because he wants answers, he wants the truth. He has seen a picture of his father chained to a tree, a REAL tree, and he wants to know more. On his journey to "the truth" he'll meet a handful of characters, some he'll come to care about a lot. He even finds a love interest.

Rootless is incredibly dark and bleak. The world-building is strong, but it is so very haunting and violent. For some, this book may be a great read.

The back cover description: There aren't many books left. People burned most of them to keep warm during the Darkness. And after the Darkness, there were no new books because there was no more paper. The locusts had come. And there were no more trees.

Read Rootless

• If you enjoy post-apocalypse fiction
• If you enjoy survival/action/adventure stories
• If you like horror novels or thrillers

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

The Lunatic's Curse. F.E. Higgins. 2011. Feiwel & Friends. 352 pages.

In nightshirt and robe, slippers and nightcap, Rex Grammaticus quietly entered the large dark-paneled dining room. On the far side of the room, lit in candle glow, he could see his stepmother, Acantha, and his father, Ambrose, at the table eating their evening meal. Rex had eaten earlier, at his stepmother's request, in the kitchen. One more change that she had made since marrying his father; one more way to push him out of the picture. It had only been eight weeks since the marriage, but Acantha moved about the house as if she had lived there all her life. It was Rex who felt like the newcomer. 

This review will contain spoilers. I will let you know exactly when to start expecting them.

While I've enjoyed the other books in F.E. Higgins' series, I cannot say the same for The Lunatic's Curse. For better or worse, I just can't bring myself to say anything good about a book this disturbing. While the other books have flirted with the dark side, they've been well-balanced. Equal parts charm, humor, and dark side. The descriptive writing and atmospheric writing have added to all of the above.

The Lunatic's Curse is set in the same strange world, for the most part. But not really. It is much, much, much, much darker. And there isn't one drop of humor in it. There isn't even a glimpse of lightness, of humor, of hope. And while the other books dependably showed justice being served, The Lunatic's Curse did NOT redeem itself by any stretch of the imagination. It is not only dark and depressing, it is EXCEEDINGLY dark and COMPLETELY depressing.

I don't know that I'd say The Lunatics Curse is as depressingly evil and pointless as say Animal Farm or Jude the Obscure. But. The very fact that they've come to mind, speaks volumes.

S
p
o
i
l
e
r

While the rest of the series rests comfortably in the MG camp, I don't know that I'd say the same with The Lunatic's Curse. For it is ALL about cannibalism. Truly. And our narrator? Well, he's a cannibal-in-the-making. And the oh-so-depressing big six-year-later-reveal shows that he is indeed a cannibal. That he could not escape the "curse" brought upon him by his oh-so-incredibly wicked stepmother and his father who had succumbed to his wife's "stew" and unknowingly developed a taste for human flesh. And I HATED learning what happened to his companion. I mean SERIOUSLY. Was that even necessary? Although I guess I should be grateful that he didn't EAT her on his way out of the maze.

Anyway, if you love reading about insanity, lunatics, insane asylums run by cannibals, big scary underwater monsters who live on human flesh, and did I mention cannibals?, then maybe this one is for you.

Read The Lunatic's Curse

• If you LIKE to be disturbed; some people do like horror novels. I'm not one of them. But you may be.
• If you like dark-disturbing-creepy horror novels supposedly written for the MG/YA crowd
• If you're a fan of F.E. Higgins and are prepared to go to really dark places

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews Display Comments Add a Comment

The Name of the Star. Maureen Johnson. 2011. Penguin. 384 pages.

The eyes of London were watching Claire Jenkins. She didn't notice them, of course. No one paid attention to the cameras. It was an accepted fact that London has one of the most extensive CCTV systems in the world. 

Considering the genre, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. I wouldn't necessarily say I loved it. But. If you judge a book based on your need to finish it, then it was well worth it!

The heroine of The Name of the Star is Rory, a teen girl from Louisiana, who decides to give an English boarding school a try when her parents get an offer to go to Bristol for a year to teach American law. Rory chooses a London boarding school. She never could have predicted--who would have?!--the danger she'll face in that particular neighborhood. For around the time she arrives, there are a series of murders in the style of Jack the Ripper. The murderer is obviously duplicating almost every little thing about the murders, and so the murders follow a certain pattern, a certain schedule. But that doesn't make the neighborhood any "safer." As Rory learns when she catches a glimpse of the killer.

So The Name of the Star isn't quite my genre. It's a paranormal horror novel! And I still am not a fan of the genre. I'm not. It's just not the way I like to spend my time. But this novel kept me reading.

Read The Name of the Star

• If you love ghost stories, OR I-can-speak-to-ghost stories
• If you love horror novels or thrillers. This one isn't so much a mystery--although I suppose it has mystery in it--but it's more of a chasing novel where the heroine is at risk of becoming a victim than a detective novel with a mystery to solve. I prefer mysteries.
• If you are interested in anything/everything Jack the Ripper
• If you like stories with a boarding school setting

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Mister Creecher. Chris Priestly. 2011. Bloomsbury. 390 pages.

Billy pulled his clammy coat collar tightly to his throat. It was damp with the fog and felt like the tongue of a dead animal lolling against his neck. His thin body shivered and trembled. He was fifteen but looked eight. A fever sweat glistened on his forehead. His breaths were short; they puffed from his mouth in feeble wisps.

When the novel opens, our hero, Billy, is getting ready to rob a corpse. The corpse in question turns out not to be a corpse at all, but a "Mr. Creecher." A dead-looking man of large proportion. He "saves" Billy just moments later when a mean gang of thieves (Billy's also a thief of course) shows up threatening him. But his "savior" wants Billy to do a little work for him. He wants Billy to follow two men about town. A Mr. Frankenstein and a Mr. Clerval. Billy easily agrees to this. And so it begins...an odd friendship of sorts...partly based on convenience and circumstance.

At first Billy barely knows a thing about Creecher. And he doesn't mind not knowing. What little he has heard, what little mumblings (or grumblings) he's heard, he's been able to ignore. And even when the truth--the Creecher's truth--is revealed, Billy has a hard time REALLY believing that such a thing is so, that something like that is even possible. But as the story progresses, Billy hears more and more of the Creecher's tale. At times Billy thinks he talks WAY TOO MUCH. He accuses him of talking like a girl, a woman. Of being too in-touch with his feelings, of loving novels and reading too much. I didn't agree with every little thing Billy said. (I was later very glad I didn't!!!) But. It provided an interesting perspective of viewing Mary Shelley's creation or creature.

'Shut up!' Billy snapped. 'Why do you have to be such a...'
He snarled and kicked a moss-covered branch and sent it tumbling into the darkness. Without the coachlights, the moon provided the only illumination to the scene.
'You see how it is for me,' said Creecher. 'I try to help and--'
'It's always about you, isn't it?' said Billy. 'Oh, poor me--I'm ugly and no one likes me. Boo hoo, boo hoo. Well, life ain't a bowl of cherries for the rest of us neither!'
'But you can live among them...'
Billy fumed for a few moments, unable to express his feelings. The truth was he had never felt part of 'them.' He had never belonged.
'Oh yeah. I can get treated like filth,' he replied. 'I can starve or steal. I can hang. If you want someone to feel sorry for you, you've come to the wrong place.' (191)

The novel is set in the middle of Frankenstein. The creature has requested Frankenstein create a mate for him, and Victor has agreed. The novel ends with them on their way to Scotland.

I liked this one. I really, really liked it. I'm not sure that I absolutely loved it. I'm not sure it will make my favorites list. But I am SO GLAD I read it. I found it a great read. Very quick, very enjoyable. The tone of this one was just right. It was just a great, great read. It definitely made me think!

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Human.4 Mike A. Lancaster. 2011. Egmont USA. 240 pages.

When Danny Birnie told us that he had hypnotized his sister we all though he was mad. Or lying. Or both.

Our narrator, Kyle Straker, is living in a strange, strange world where he and three others have suddenly become irrelevant. It started when he volunteered at a local talent show to be hypnotized. It wasn't that he wanted to volunteer, just that in a moment of weakness he had pity on Danny while he was doing his act. His former girlfriend, Lilly, also happened to volunteer just about the same time he did. Two adults, Mrs. O'Donnell and Mr. Peterson, also volunteered. All were hypnotized. All woke up in this strange, strange new reality.

This book is part science fiction, part horror, and part mystery. It was a quick read! I liked it. I wouldn't say I loved it. But for a quick premise-driven read, it was a good choice.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Hahn, Mary Downing. 1995. Look For Me By Moonlight. Houghton Mifflin. 198 pages.

Sometimes you can pinpoint the exact moment in your life when things begin to go wrong.

Before Bella there was Cynda. Can Cynda out-Bella Bella? Read and see for yourself in Mary Downing Hahn's Look For Me By Moonlight.

Cynda is sixteen and going to live with her father. Her mother, you see, has remarried. And Cynda isn't all that fond of her new step-dad, Steve. Her father has remarried as well--in fact, he remarried first. Cynda will be meeting her stepmom, Susan, and her half-brother, Todd, for the first time. Where will she be living? In an out-of-the-way corner of the globe, at least in the middle of winter, an old, historic (reputedly haunted) inn in Maine. The winter is typically slow for the family business--the summer being the busier season for tourists. But their inn is about to have an unexpected guest, a strangely handsome (and silver-car-driving) one at that. His name... (Get ready for it...) is Vincent Morthanos. He's 30ish. But to Cynda, he's perfect. Just listen to her...

A stranger stood on the porch. The light shone full on his face, shadowing his eyes but accentuating his pale skin and high cheekbones. Sparkles of windblown snow clung to his dark hair and black overcoat. Even though he was at least thirty, he was the handsomest man I'd ever seen, the sort you stop and stare at in disbelief. (48)

His voice was deep and rich, colored with a faint accent. British, I thought. With that accent, anything he said, even the tritest phrase, would sound beautiful and fresh and new, as if no one had ever spoken it before*. (48)

The sound of his name was dark and sweet in my mouth, richer than the richest chocolate. (50)

And this one might just be my favorite of the bunch. Maybe.

Poetry--how perfect. It was just what I imagined Mr. Morthanos writing. Unlike Dad, he wouldn't depend on a word processor or even a typewriter. He'd use a fountain pen with a fine, gold point. Sepia ink on ivory parchment, the kind calligraphers buy. His handwriting would swirl gracefully across the page. (52)

She has quite an imagination doesn't she! I think she's living in her own little world. So naive. So innocent. So immature. So gullible.

More than once I'd caught him looking at me with an intensity I didn't understand. His eyes were dark, unreadable--did he find me attractive or simply amusing? It was hard to imagine a man his age being interested in me, yet I could have sworn something intangible quivered in the air between us, a knowledge, a familiarity, a scary sense of destiny fulfilled. When I fell asleep at last, Vincent followed me into my dreams... (59)

Those were his footsteps I heard, soft and deliberate, crisscrossing the floor overhead.
I sat still and listened, entranced by Vincent's nearness. The clock ticked, the wind blew, shadows shifted on the wall. Our guest continued to pace.
By noon I'd accomplished very little. Unless you counted the hundreds of times I'd written Vincent's name in my notebook. (63)

Are you cringing yet on her behalf??? Maybe this will get you...

Vincent took my hand and we walked on. "As you come to know me better," he said, "you'll discover I have a morbid streak which may not be to your liking."
I stared up at him, thrilled by his nearness and the touch of his hand. "I can't imagine disliking anything about you, Vincent."
His grip tightened. "You've just met me, Cynda. You have no idea what sort of man I am." He was smiling, teasing me, his voice full of humor.
"That's true," I said, trying to match his bantering tone. "I don't know where you were born, where you live, what sort of family you have. Why, I don't even known how old you are."
"I'm older than you think," Vincent said lightly.
"You can't be more than thirty."
He laughed. "Give or take a few centuries."
I laughed too, sharing the joke, and he gave my hand a squeeze. (75-76)

The title of this one comes from a line of poetry--from The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, you may be familiar with it.

Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight,
though hell should bar the way.

And it's used thematically throughout the book. Which works for the most part. At one point, Vincent reads the poem aloud to her and says...

"What a girl Bess was. Can you imagine loving a man enough to die for him?" (80)

Can you guess her response?

There were so many things I enjoyed about this one. It's definitely a darker romance. A romance with consequences**. Hahn chose to go with the more traditional (hence infinitely more dangerous, and definitely less sparkly) vampire hero. So expect blood, blood, and more blood. Also expect some ego.*** I'd definitely recommend this one.

Big thanks go to Leila who reviewed this one for the R.I.P. IV Challenge. She really, really sold me on it :)

*I love the fact that Cynda thinks this at a time when she's only ever heard him say one sentence.
**(Something I found severely lacking in Meyer's works, by the way. Little Miss Bella always got everything she ever wanted without ever having to sacrifice anything. She was rewarded for being whiny and naive.)
***The scene where Vincent is telling his history to Cynda just made me giggle. It's in chapter 16.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Jones, Patrick. 2009. The Tear Collector. Walker (Bloomsbury) Books. 272 pages. September 2009.

"Are you crying?" I ask as I tap on the driver's side window of the white Chevy Impala.

The Tear Collector has an interesting premise. From the back cover, "readers beware of a new kind of vampire--one that feeds off tears instead of blood." Our narrator, Cassandra Gray, depends on human sorrow--tears--to survive. Which wouldn't be so horribly bad if she wasn't the one responsible for collecting tears for her great-grandmother, Veronica. She's collecting for two, you see. Fortunately, tears are relatively easy to come by. Cass works as a volunteer at the hospital--and it's easy for her to find folks grieving there. And then, of course, there's high school. On any given day, any given week, Cass is always finding heartbreak and sorrow there. So Cass plays sympathetic friend. Cry on my shoulder--my bare shoulder--says she. Sometimes Cass has to help things along--tell a lie, start a rumor, spread some gossip, etc. But Cass thinks she knows the boundaries. There are things she'd never, ever do. Unlike her cousin. She suspects he'd do anything to collect tears. But she's different...or is she?

Cass doesn't make for a sympathetic heroine. She's cold, calculated, manipulative. She excuses this with the I'm-not-human-don't-blame-me routine. The Tear Collector is about her quest to change all that, her quest to become more human. Can she make a real friend? Can she really fall in love? Or is her life destined to be all make believe.

I had a hard time connecting with Cass. Then again, Cass had a hard time making genuine connections. So I think it was just part of who she was as a character. Is she trustworthy and reliable as a narrator? Was she meant to be? I don't know. I personally didn't trust her. But that could be just my take on it. Could the reason I loathe Cass be because Cass loathes Cass? Here is a character that despises who she is. That despises the life she lives. Despises the choices she's forced to make.

I found some of the scenarios a bit far fetched as well. The overflowing sloppiness of the tears.

"It's okay to cry, Robyn," I say softly, encouraging another emotional outburst. she listens, letting loose a torrent of tears. I slip off my jacket--actually my soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Cody's varsity jacket--then pull her close, letting her tears fall on my bare left shoulder. I'm wearing a simple gray tank top set off by the tie-dyed bandanna holding back my long multi-colored hair. My hair is like my life: mostly dark, but with a few streaks of light and color added in.
I don't say anything; instead, I let her cathartic tears soak into my skin. (3)

"Sometimes I think it would be better if I were dead."
I don't respond; instead, I let more drops soak into my shoulder and I feel a rush from the energy in the tears, probably like an addict feels getting his fix from his drug of choice.
When I'm so full that I'm almost disoriented, I take a white linen monogrammed handkerchief from my back pocket. I gently transfer the tears from her face to this old-fashioned invaluable family heirloom. I pull her close, so she can't see the smile forming on my face as a waterfall of tears continues to cascade from her eyes. Robyn needs to cry, but what she doesn't know--and nobody outside of my family could imagine--is that I need her to cry even more. Just as a vampire needs to suck blood to live, I need these human tears in order to survive. (9)

I think it is an interesting premise. It was nice to see some role reversal going on. A "vampire" girl in pursuit of the ordinary boy-next-door.

I think for those that seek this genre, sub-genre of books--darker romances with supernatural and/or horror elements...that this one might make for a nice read.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Anderson, M.T. 1997. Thirsty. Candlewick. 237 pages.

In the spring, there are vampires in the wind.

Is that not a great first line? It continues,

People see them scuffling along by the side of country roads. At night, they move through the empty forests. They do not wear black, of course, but things they have taken off bodies or bought on sale. The news says that they are mostly in the western part of the state, where it is lonely and rural. My father claims we have them this year because it was a mild winter, but he may be thinking of tent caterpillars.

Vampires are real, and they don't sparkle. So when our hero, Chris, begins his journey towards becoming a vampire, he's not happy about it. All he wants is for his life to go back to normal. Okay, he wishes it would be a little bit better than normal. He wishes he could get the girl, Rebecca, to notice him. To like him. He wishes he didn't stammer and act stupid around her. He wishes his friends were less weird and/or jerky. But he wants to be human.

The novel covers a few months. Months of torment for Chris as his body begins to change ever-so-gradually. Months of worry as he begins to fear what is to come. He has trouble sleeping. He's always thirsty. And water just isn't thick enough to satisfy. His reflection comes and goes. His fangs come and go. And he starts getting some really weird invites in the mail.

Is there any hope for Chris? Is there anyone who can save him from the horror his life is becoming? What choice will Chris make? Can he determine his own fate? And what led him to this place anyway? How did he become cursed?

This one is intense and exciting. It's masterfully written by an award-winning author. The style is sparse: each word counts. Except for the red-white-black cover, there is no comparison whatsoever to Twilight.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
If you're reading this post on another site, or another feed, the content has been stolen.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Liparulo, Robert. 2008. House of Dark Shadows.

I knew just from reading the premise of this one that I would find much to love in House Of Dark Shadows. (Though the same could be true of reading the premise of 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.) In this case, however, I was proven correct. I only have one bad thing to say about House of Dark Shadows---and that is that it is the first of a series. And the ending...well...it leaves you wanting more. But even that bad news has a silver lining, the sequel Watcher in the Woods is already available. Don't you wish all series books were published like that!

Xander and David are two brothers who are in for the greatest thrills of their young lives--at fifteen and twelve respectively. Though the reader won't be surprised by the adventure and danger elements of the story--the cover, the premise, the prologue--the characters themselves, Xander and David, NEVER expected to find danger of the life and death variety in this small and dinky hick town. But danger is what is lurking in every room of their new house. The house itself is the cause of the danger. Of the adrenaline.

The book is action-packed. It's well paced. If you like adventures of the spooky sort. Part science fiction. Part adventure. Part mystery. It offers much to readers of almost all ages. (I'd say ten and up if I had to label it at all.)

Though the book is published by a Christian publishing house--it's a clean read, by the way--there is nothing religious or spiritual about it. Just two kids exploring a spooky, old house and finding their ordinary lives turned upside down and inside out. No sermons to be found within its pages. There is nothing un-Christian about it. But there is nothing specifically Christian about it either. It's a book anyone could enjoy. I feel the need to say this because sometimes Christian fiction has the reputation (sometimes unfairly so) of being...well....dinky in nature, poorly written, weak plots, flimsy characters, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend it. It would be great for challenges as well--assuming that Carl has his Sci-Fi Experiment again this winter OR his R.I.P. challenge next fall.

Here's the premise:

When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.

But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into--as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house.

They soon discover there's something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong directions. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school.

Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places--in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen's dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Marr, Melissa. 2008. Ink Exchange.

Ink Exchange is the follow-up novel to Wicked Lovely. (Same fictional world, different narrators. Wicked Lovely, by the way, is a book that I could have sworn that I'd read last year...but for some reason or other...it isn't showing up in my archives. Which leaves me with the puzzlement...did I really read it? Regardless of if that is yes or no...I can say that I was able to get swept away into this book, this story, this world.)

Leslie is a mortal girl who is very troubled. Her father's essentially a broken man, a man who's almost completely out of her life. Her brother, Ren, is a drug addict/drug dealer. He's not beyond selling his sister's body--without her consent--to get what he wants or what he needs. Leslie is angry, hurt, and confused. Very angst-filled teen with good reason. She seeks an escape. She seeks a new identity. And for Leslie, step number one of this new life is getting a tattoo.

Leslie's right in a way. The tattoo will change her life. But Leslie had no idea what she was really in for. What a tangled mess she was getting into when she requested this one particular tattoo.

This tattoo links her body-and-soul with the king of the dark court. This faery king needs a mortal to "feed" his court, his followers. (It's only half as bad as it sounds. The dark faeries feed on emotions felt by humans. So it's exploitive and manipulative and sometimes cruel and sometimes just plain awful.)

Irial and Niall aren't mortals, they're part of the faerie world. Each desires Leslie. Each recognizes to a certain extent that they'd be bad for Leslie in that interactions between mortals and faeries almost always end badly for humans. But they're both drawn to her. Both lust for her. Both love her. Or claim to love her. Both have a bad track record with human women.

One of the things I enjoyed about this dark little story were the characters. Each was flawed. Each had good qualities; each had bad qualities. No one character was completely good or completely evil. Each was selfish and looking out for themselves, but most also were loving enough to want what was best for those around them whom they loved as well. Few (if any)was so completely self-absorbed that they were a monster.

This book was also way more complex than I was bargaining for. The characters had so much baggage, so much depth, so much I don't quite what the right word is. The characters were complicated which made them feel real to me as opposed to feeling that they were flat and lifeless or stereotypical or boring or whatever.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

Display Comments Add a Comment

Holt, Simon. 2008. The Devouring: Sorry Night.

"Stop, Reggie!" Henry barked from beneath his quilt. "Don't read anymore!" Regina Halloway shut the book. (5)

Regina--called Reggie by most of her friends and family--loves to read horror. Loves it. So much so that she works at a used bookstore devoted to the genre. But perhaps Reggie should have been a bit more thoughtful as to what she was reading her younger--and much more gullible--brother, Henry. Then again, Regina hadn't any idea that her latest book, an old journal she found while unpacking boxes for the store, was nonfiction. That the Vours were real.

When Dark creeps in and eats the light, Bury your fears on Sorry Night. For in the winter's blackest hours Comes the feasting of the Vours. No one can see it, the life they stole, Your body's here but not your soul...(4)

See. Not the stuff for bedtime stories for your younger brother, right? Maybe this would have turned out just fine...if only...if only she wasn't reading it the night before "Sorry Night" the Winter Solstice, December 22nd. If only her brother hadn't been so very frightened at the thought that the Vours were real and coming for him...if only Reggie hadn't left him alone the next night to go off in pursuit of her own chills and thrills...

Then again, if she had, The Devouring wouldn't be such a chilling book.

For more about The Devouring, read my weekly geeks post where Nymeth interviewed me about the book.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment

James, Brian. 2008. Zombie Blondes.

I loved this book. I just LOVED this book. It was just so readable. Compelling I guess is the proper word for it. I was just hooked from the very beginning. "There aren't any rules to running away from your problems. No checklist of things to cross off. No instructions. Eeny, meeny, pick a path and go. That's how my dad does it anyway because apparently there's no age limit to running away, either." Our narrator, a teen girl named Hannah Sanders, is tired of running away. Dragged away is more like it. Her father, a former cop, is always on the move. But when the two move to the seemingly quiet town of Maplecrest, it will be Hannah who wants to run. And not without good reason.

Zombie Blondes could have been named ... Pretties or I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader or Geek Magnet, for example. (I'm not saying that the book resembles the plot lines of those books. Just that taken at face value, the titles could work for Zombie Blondes.) Hannah was hoping--really hoping--that in a town as small as this one, a town as dead as this one--that she'd have a chance to be one of the pretty people, the beautiful people, the popular people. Instead, against all the odds, the town is full of strangely attractive beautiful-and-popular people (from the cheerleaders, the football players, the teachers and coaches, the town sheriff, etc.) Some of these people seem to have a mesmerizing, hypnotic effect on others. (Especially when the cheerleaders perform their routines.)

This is something Hannah notices on her first day of school. How beautiful the popular girls are. How they all look the same. How they do everything the same really. And it's something that Lukas, a geeky boy who is unmistakably drawn to Hannah, points out to her as well. He offers his friendship, yes, but more importantly he offers her advice. Again and again and again and again. His advice is strange to her ears. Very strange indeed. He keeps rambling on and on about how the cheerleaders are zombies. About how she needs to stay away from them...and above all else she MUST not join them or she'll be turned.

IF you were Hannah, you'd be thinking this Lukas is one strange guy. Don't deny it. After all, Hannah doesn't have the benefit of knowing that she's in a book called ZOMBIE BLONDES.

So when one of the cheerleaders offers her a chance to try out....Hannah decides that it's worth a try. What could go wrong, right?

Do I recommend Zombie Blondes? Yes!!! A bit predictable....maybe. But it's fun. Part of the appeal, at least the way I see it, is that it reads like realistic fiction. Hannah is a person that is easy to relate to. Who doesn't wish to have a best friend? to have a boyfriend? to be loved? Hannah wants something that most of us would readily admit to wanting back in high school--a place she fits in, a place to belong, a place to blend in and feel comfortable. She wants to NOT be different. She wants to be "normal." And Hannah's home life, in a way, also adds another layer to the novel. Her father is absent even when present. He's emotionally shut down, unavailable, checked out. And Hannah is tired of being the grown up in the house. Very tired of this relationship being stuck in the same old patterns.

First sentence: "I can usually pick out the popular kids soon after setting foot into a new school. The girls, anyway. They wear popularity like a uniform for everyone to see. From their hairstyles to their expensive shoes. Everything about them is torn from the glossy pages of the latest teen fashion magazines. Everything about them is perfect. At least on the outside, anyway."

Back cover:

He’s about to walk away but stops. Turns to me and opens his mouth and starts to stutter like he’s not sure if he should say what he wants to. Then finally deciding to go ahead and say it, but refusing to take his eyes off the floor when he does. “It’s just . . . you’re kind of pretty . . . and she might try to turn you into one of them . . . one of her clones,” he says. “I don’t want to see that happen to you, that’s all.”

232 pages.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Display Comments Add a Comment