Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 4 of 5 stars.

Welcome to a glorious realm 
of mystery, magic, heroism and danger.

In a world where a small percentage of people have an extreme skill called a Grace, King Leck's Grace allowed him to tell lies that everyone believed.

When Bitterblue became queen at ten years old, she thought her father's murder meant the end of his violent, sociopathic influence.

She was wrong.

The intensely anticipated companion to the New York Times bestsellers Graceling and Fire is even more "rageful, exhilarating, wistful," and romantic. Now eighteen and believing her advisers are overprotecting her, Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle at night to walk the streets of her own city, disguised and alone--risking her life as well as her heart. (Book blurb)

At the age of ten, Bitterblue inherited a kingdom still swathed in the mental fog created by her father's Graced lies. She herself can barely untangle truth from fallacy in her own mind when she struggles to grasp the reality behind her childhood memories. Coddled by her advisers and imprisoned behind her desk and stacks and stacks of papers requiring her signature, Bitterblue spends eight years unaware of the darkness still lingering in her castle and the terrible poverty clinging to her beautiful streets.

Curiosity and a sharp mind finally lead Bitterblue to explore what really lies in Bitterblue City. When she does she is faced with one mystery after the other. She becomes a truth-seeker wrapped up in a web of deceit and intrigue as she begins to discover just how deep and lasting her father's reign was. Or who is still affected by his power. The only people Bitterblue can fully trust in her increasingly dangerous world are her old friends Katsa and Po and their companions.

Kristin Cashore is an exquisitely simple writer who seems to have a "Grace" for world-building. Bitterblue is yet another example of her beautiful, tight prose wrapped up in a forever thrumming, character-driven plot. Cashore fans will devour this book, with it's lovely cast including everyone's all-time favorites Katsa and Po.

I enjoyed reading Bitterblue very much. I always love Cashore's prose, and I particularly liked the cast of characters in this novel which is both a sequel to Graceling and a companion to Fire. We were able to see characters from both of those books as well as meet some new ones like the charming and piratical Saf. What did surprise me, however, was that I had a hard time loving Bitterblue. She's a lovely character, but--for me--she pales in comparison to characters like Katsa and Fire.

Other than my slight dissatisfaction with the protagonist, I loved this book. I continue to love the world of Cashore's novels as it keeps getting even more solid and real in my mind. I enjoy the gruesome realism used to depict the atrocities that happened in Leck's time, and I think that Cashore does a wonderful job drawing a line just before things become too descriptive.

The vibrant characters, the satisfying pace of the plot, the intrigue, and the glittering, fantastic world are sure to be loved by any and all fantasy fans. There is virtually no one who I wouldn't suggest Bitterblue or any of Kristin Cashore's other novels to.

To order Bitterblue from Amazon.com, please click here.

• My review of Fire by Kristin Cashore
• My review of Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

 

The Falconer by Elizabeth May 5 of 5 stars.


One girl's nightmare 

is this girl's faery tale.

SHE'S A STUNNER.

Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title--and drop-dead beauty.

SHE'S A LIAR.

But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. She's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthichean--the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans--and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.

SHE'S A MURDERER.

Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her abilities and her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons--from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols--ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.

SHE'S A FALCONER.

The last in a line of female warrior born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder--but she'll have to save the world first. (Jacket blurb)

Lady Aileana Kameron has run on pure rage and hatred since the night she watched her mother's gruesome murder at the hands of a ruthless and deadly sìthichean. Covered in her mother's blood and armed with only an iron blade she had gone in search of vengeance only to be met by an unlikely savior, Kiaran McKay, a faery of the same race that murdered her mother.

Smothering her grief beneath her seething anger, Aileana enters into a bitter alliance with Kiaran in which he teaches her how to kill his kind. Aileana doesn't understand him or his motives because Kiaran is hiding from her the real reason why he is training her. And it is not for her own personal vengeance.

The Falconer by Elizabeth May is a vibrant, fast-paced steampunk novel that will hold you captive from the first moment and leave you breathless at the end. I loved ever single second of this novel. It was one of those books that as soon as I finish it, I immediately open it up and begin it again. It deserves an encore!

The characters are atypical and interesting, the lore surrounding the story is sound, and the prose is precise and quick. I loved the depth and personalities of the characters. I was cheering for Aileana the whole time and sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would become of Kiaran. Too often in YA fantasy the supposedly feral and sexy mythical hero turns out to be far too predictable and boring. Kiaran, however, remained a wildcard up to the very end and I loved that.

The end, by the way, is absolutely wretched. The kind of cliffhanger that haunts you and leaves you making up fanfic plots as you desperately wait for the next book.

Elizabeth May has fashioned a marvelous fantasy with a kick-ass heroine in a dark steampunk world with a plot that will keep you flipping the pages. I look forward to so much more from this brilliant debut author! The Falconer is, by far, my favorite book this year.

**This novel was sent to me for review by Chronicle Books. My opinions are completely unbiased. I would like to take a moment to say that Chronicle Books does an amazing job with their bindings. This book, like all the others I have received from them, is absolutely exquisite. Not only is the jacket pretty, but the engravings on the book itself are beautiful as well.

*To order The Falconer by Elizabeth May from Amazon.com, please click here.

To find out more about Elizabeth May, click here to check out her website!

Contains an Amazon Affiliates link.

The Page Turners by Kevin T. Johns

The Page Turners by Kevin T. Johns 5 of 5 stars.

Violent bullies. Broken homes. Black magic. Killer fiction.

Nate and his friends are thrilled to discover an ancient book of magic spells hidden in the school library--they now have the means to stand up to the villains who make high-school life such a battle. But, when the book's dark magic releases a fictional killer in the real world, the teens will need to prove they have what it takes to be heroes, or fall as bloody victims in their own horror story turned real. (Book blurb)

A rag-tag group of grade nine nerds, each with his own difficulties at home, gather together for a book club called The Page Turners. The boys have found that the only place they truly feel safe from the critical eyes of the small town Maplewright and the dangers of being on the low end of the totem pole in highschool is within the walls of fiction and fantasy. When the boys stumble across an ancient text of magic spells, however, they couldn't guess what sort of darkness would emerge when those walls come crumbling down. 

The Page Turners is an incredible coming-of-age story for teens who have found comfort and refuge in the pages of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. The story is dark, lyric, and seamless as it transitions from excerpts of one fantastical story to the all too real lives of the three boys to story centers around and back again. The narrative is rich in imagery and foreshadowing as it progresses and the writing alone is sure to keep the reader enthralled. It, in itself, is a page turner.

Kevin T. Johns has crafted a wonderful piece that is sure to appeal to the audience of ages 12-16 and anyone who can remember being a bit of a fantasy geek. The differing situations and genuine reactions of the characters are sure to be relatable, in some way, to all readers. The author has an amazing gift for metaphor and uses in quite liberally--though with good structure--throughout the novel, giving the narrative a very unique and captivating tone. The story will catch and hold your attention from the very beginning. The varying stories within the story were my favorite part, and I would love to see Kevin Johns write a high-fantasy epic or something of the sort.

I would like to take a moment to point out how wonderfully put-together and bound The Page Turners is as well. It goes above and beyond many self-published or independently published print novels. It is a truly gorgeous book and well worth the full-market price. I could certainly see it proudly displayed on the shelves of an indie book store. 

All in all, The Page Turners is a fantastic read that I would suggest specifically for younger teens and die-hard fantasy lovers.

If you missed out on Kevin T. John's guest post Thursday, check it out here. 

Get your copy of The Page Turners!

Visit The Page Turners website here.

A special thanks to the author for giving me a chance to review this book. It has been a pleasure working with you!

Authors: Don't Go It Alone! - Guest Post by Kevin T. Jones

Guest Post by Kevin T. Johns, author of The Page Turners

The debut episode of Mistakes Rookie Authors Make, a weekly short-video series featuring writing tips for first-time authors, premiered online last Monday. 

The series is hosted by yours truly.

Unless you’ve already purchased my novel, The Page Turners, you probably have no idea who I am, and you’re probably asking yourself, “Just what qualifies this Kevin T. Johns guy to host a web series about mistakes rookie authors make in the drafting of their manuscripts?

Well, the answer is simple, my friends. 

I’m qualified to talk about the mistake authors make because… I’ve made them all myself!

Too long a book, too many character, a mish-mash of genres, not backing up my master copy, having no B plot, forcing rough drafts on friends and family, letting technology stand in my way, allowing myself to get distracted by other projects, giving in to apathy and laziness and self-doubt and fear – I’ve done it all folks!

Writing a novel is not an easy task, your high school education probably didn’t equip you with the skill-set required to write a novel. Heck, I have a master’s degree in English Literature, and it still took me eight years to craft The Page Turners.

Amongst the myriad of missteps I made along the way to publication, I think the largest was not seeking support, advice, and training from those who had been there before me, and already walked the path I was blindly stumbling my way down. 

Your average person doesn’t dive into advanced physics and expect to excel without the support of a teacher, and yet so many of us approach novel writing in just that manner 

We have this image of “the artist” in our society as this loner individual, existing on the periphery of society, capturing the metaphysical energies of the muse, and translating that power down onto the canvass or the written page. 

But that isn’t how it really works.

There is nothing metaphysical about writing a novel. Like everything else in life, what it takes to write and publish a book is hard work, perseverance, an adequate knowledge-base, and an appropriately developed skill-set.

I encourage any aspiring or struggling authors reading this to check out Mistakes Rookie Authors Make and sign-up for the mailing list to get a new episode sent their way every week, but if I could give them one piece of advice right now, it is this: Don’t go it alone, and don’t sit around waiting for the muse to visit you (she tends to be an often tardy mistress). 

Seek out the supports you need. The internet in an absolute wealth of knowledge. Get help from veterans, experts, coaches and mentors. Take training and attend workshops. And, most important of all, put in the hard work necessary.

There is nothing magical about the process involved in writing a novel. But, if you are lucky, that end product, the book itself, just might work some magic for your readers.

Kevin Johns is the author of The Page Turners, and host of Mistakes Rookie Authors Make, a weekly short-video series featuring writing tips for first-time novelists. Just visit http://yournovelblueprint.com to watch the latest episode and join the mailing list to get a new episode in your in-box every Monday!

Blog Tour: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives--an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school's most eligible bachelor) and look forward to two glorious day of boys, booze, and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine? (Book blurb)

Meg Pritchard is a writer, an introvert. For her entire high school life she has lived to take care of her emotionally unstable best-friend Minnie, but Minnie's constant mood changes and possessiveness are beginning to wear on Meg's nerves. She's been accepted into a college thousands of miles away, and Minnie's anxiety at her leaving has only been growing as the time comes closer for Meg to leave. As a sort of last chance to bond, Meg--against her better judgement--agrees to go with Minnie to a house party on a small, ritzy island.

She expected the unchaperoned chaos of a house full of teenagers, but now she'll be lucky if she can make it out alive.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil is a summer thriller. It's a fast read filled with suspense and a creep-factor that will make you want to leave the light on as you read it. Nothing is predictable in McNeil's work as you wait on the booggy-man to jump out of the closet. This isn't your fainting heroine type of horror story though. The closer you are to the end of the book the more you want to shout your encouragement to Meg. Even if there are a few times you want to scream, "DON'T GO IN THERE!!"

I am not a fan of horror movies. However, some of my favorite YA books have turned out to be in that very sub genre. Ten by Gretchen McNeil, however, was a bit too much for me. I literally couldn't read it after nightfall. It was full of suspense and gorey, cold-blooded murders. No, thank you. I also found the narrator, Meg, a bit whiney at the start of the book.

But, despite all of this, I did enjoy it. The last scenes in the book completely redeemed it anywhere else it fell short to my slightly biased taste. Meg turned out to be a kick-ass heroine and even though in the end she's lost nearly everything, you can feel a sort of soldier-like depression but also a hardy resilience, and you know that the character you've been following will be okay.

McNeil's writing was simple throughout most of the book. There wasn't a great deal of profound depth, which makes it a perfect quick-read in the summer time or between hectic classes during the darker half of the year. Her real, shining talent is in writing the suspenseful scenes, like the fight scene at the end. That last fourth of the book blew me away. The words and the actions they portrayed had no awkwardness, they flowed perfectly and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Overall, a wonderful short read for your horror fan, a beyond perfect gift for Halloween, Ten definitely deserves the attention of a suspense-loving reader.

Don't forget to check out the other stops on the TEN Tour! 

Blog Tour: TEN by Gretchen McNeil - Character Interview

Hi, everyone!

Welcome to my first post of the TEN Tour, celebrating the release of the horrific new thriller Ten by Gretchen McNeil. TEN is a wonderfully dark novel as we quickly approach the dark half of the year. I, however, being the wimp that I am, read it over the summer. And ONLY in the daytime. You'll be reading my full review in a few days...

Gretchen McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown. Her YA horror POSSESS debuted with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins in 2011. Her follow up TEN – YA horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer – will be released September 18, 2012, and her third novel 3:59, sci fi horror pitched as The Parent Trap meets Event Horizon, is scheduled for Fall 2013.

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and is a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as "Monday." 

Now, let's get to know a couple of the characters. Shall we? 

Questions for Minnie:

How did you and Meg become friends?  

We were paired up in gym class in the 7^th grade.  Meg was the new girl and didn't have a lot of friends, but we instantly hit it off!

When did you fall in love with TJ?  

*sigh*  Damn, that boy is HAWT.  I can't remember a time I wasn't in love with him, but I do remember that time in 8^th grade when one of his teammates was saying some nasty crap to me in line at lunch and T.J. told him to cut it out.  I knew then – we were made for each other.

What's your favorite flavor of ice-cream?  

One? I have to pick just one?  Um, oreo cookie.  No wait, cookie dough.  Or can I put them both together and make one giant, unholy flavor?  Crap, I hate choosing!!!

Favorite outfit?  

Oh, that's worse than the ice cream question.  What's wrong with you???  Okay, I'll go with a strapless, flirty summer dress.  And kitten heels.  And a clutch.  And maybe some long dangly earrings that just graze my collarbone.

Questions for Ben:

How do you like high school?  

It's a necessary evil.  I mean, most of the teachers are jerks, but if you have to go, you might as well make the most of it.  Besides, you meet some REALLY cool people.

How did you get invited to the house party?  

Jessica, the host, and I know each other pretty well.  We, er, date sometimes.  It's casual.

Favorite horror movie?  

Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  The original, not that remake crap.

Favorite book?  

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

And their doom comes swiftly.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives – three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, both of which involve Kamiak High’s most eligible bachelor, T.J. Fletcher. But what starts out as a fun-filled weekend turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. 

Suddenly, people are dying and the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to drop in and wish you all a very happy Easter and a bright and beautiful Spring!