The Drollery Letters : The Case of The Devil's Interval by Emily Butler

                                      Arc provided by Egmont USA through Netgalley

                                                      Release Date: October 8 th

A delightful, fast paced and quirky adventure who happens to feature a sharp witted ghost as its main character.

Josephine Drollery had everything to lead a happy and successful life..okay, there is was the small matter of an arranged marriage with an idiot..but she was still twelve years old, a lot of things could happen until then.
He could die in the meantime! ;)

*Focus* And did I mentioned that she has a sharp tongue?
Well, she has, and that's something that Josephine doesn't lose, contrary to what happens with her pulse. Poor girl.

Here was someone dotted on by her parents and having a pretty good life. And what happens?
Someone kills them. All of them. Even the not so interesting fiancée...

One day, Josephine awakes. Her body is on the ground, and her spirit is no longer attached to it, and she has no idea of what just happened.

Luckily, the girl is more tough than Rambo and Terminator put together, and on the face of such tragedy, decides to undergo her own investigation.
Also, being a new ghost and such, has some perks _ which I am not going to divulge _ and she ends up being able of putting together a small and non-orthodox "task-force" in order to help her.

The author also plays with the so called "paranormal database", in the sense that this story manages to avoid the same old storylines, opting instead for creating a new dynamic and a whole set of characteristics _ normally associated with other paranormal beings _ for Josephine, who is unlike any other ghost I have ever read about.
Basically, I now see ghosts as cousins of vampires and Fae, lol.

This is a relatively small book and one of the things that shines throughout all the narrative its the quirkiness, intelligence and humour that it displays.

It manages to be funny without being crass or idiotic.
It doesn't take itself too seriously.
And it left me wanting more. Definitely a series that I hope to follow.

I'll leave you with a quote from the Arc:




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Currently Reading

While I try to force myself to finish Justine Larbalestier's book Razorhurst _it is not going well _, I decided it was about time for me to start reading Emily Butler's book, The Case of the Devil's Interval :

And to give you guys an inkling of what you're missing:

Promising, right? lol

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Release Date: October 8th 2015 by Egmont USA

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Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School) by Jen Calonita

                                Arc provided by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky through Netgalley

                                                            Release Date: March 3rd

If you're looking for a cute and funny middle grade book, look no further: Author Jen Calonita's story is bound to be a winner amongst its readers, whether they're younger or older.
The only necessary requisite?
One must have a sense of humour:

"(..)a room with a sign that says: Archery—Don’t lose an eye!
Announce yourself before entering."

With a feisty heroine, an interesting and fast paced plot, and great doses of humour, Flunked could be considered as the middle grade equivalent of Hex Hall, but instead of supernaturals, you have a special school run by fairy tale characters. Oh, and there's no romance..since the main character is twelve years old.

“I was caught using fairy magic for personal gain, and my family got all bent out of shape about it.” She rolls her eyes. “Is there anything wrong with wanting the baker’s son to have a crush on you? I think not!”

My reaction: Baker's Son? Peeta! *.* (in my experience a book can never go wrong with Peeta comparisons)

 

Characters who were at times considered as the "bad guys", are now upstanding citizens determined to reform the *cough* morally dubious ways of other wrongdoers by any means possible.
There's counselling sessions _with the ex-evil queen_ and use and abuse of self help books ~runs screaming~.

There's Cinderella' and Snow White's  stepmothers_ or as Gilly says: stepmonster _ , Wolf, as in: I ate your grandmother, Wolf, and the Sea Witch _ she has a big tank  don't worry!_ as the famous teachers of this prestigious prison school.

"Name: Xavier Wolfington (formerly known as “the Wolf”)
Occupation:Professor of history at Fairy Tale Reform School.)
Likes: Peace and quiet, reading history books(..)
Dislikes: Talk of his former life (Never ever mention Granny!)



My reaction when I read about characters named "Wolf"...yes, my age is showing, lol Unfortunately the Wolf in this story doesn't have all that much protagonist :/

As you can see, this has everything to work out..and it does! In a middle grade scale.

However, I can't help wishing that there had been more character development of the secondary characters, more interaction amongst all the characters...
Basically more development all around.

Also, there's quite a lot of tell instead of show in parts that would have been "awesome" if we could have "seen" them for ourselves. Especially with the classes these kids have!

This story appears to have been written as a stand alone, however, I for one, wouldn't mind seeing more of these characters in a near future.

* quotes removed from an Arc and prone to changes.

Author's Official Site

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Riveted ( The Iron Seas # 3) by Meljean Brook

I read this lovely book for the first time waaay back in 2012.

The thing is, I never did come around to writing a review for it, and since this is my fourth re-reading (yes, I know...) and I always end up loving it just a little bit more with each one, it was about time I stopped being lazy and just wrote a review.

The problem is... what do I have to say about a good book?
And that's the only kind of book Meljean Brook writes...

I love the characters, but I always love Brook's characters...
The plot is engaging, original, and addictive... like all of Brook's plots.
The worldbuilding is flawless... like everything Meljean Brook writes.

So... I recommend it, not that Brook's books need recommendation.

You see what I mean when I say I don't know what to say about a good book?

Author's Official Site

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Dead Heat (Alpha and Omega # 4) by Patricia Briggs

                               Arc provided by Ace /Penguin Group through Netgalley

                                                      Release Date: March 3rd

In a perfect world I would have had the time to re-read all the previous volumes, so I could fully compare all of them.
Not being able to do it, the best I could do was re-read my reviews of the previous books...and they weren't all that helpful. In fact, my previous reviews suck!
And this one, also isn't all that great.
-_-
Here's what I know for certain: With the exception of the third book, I have never been a big fan of Charles and Anna. Their relationship was just too quickly done having in mind what Anna had been gone through...
And since we're on the subject, what are the odds of having two series by a same author in which the main characters are raped?
Wasn't one enough? *sigh*
It changes the dynamics: Mercy went from a strong character to being the mate of Adam.
Anna is the mate of Charles, and what does she do?
She is an Omega, she's a walking Valium for weres.
And now she wants kids...
 At least Mercy is a mechanic...

But getting back on this book: It was slow. Painfully slow...
The characters _Anna and Charles _ came out even more dull than what they normally do.
There were way too many references about horses!
For the first thirty per cent of the story, one mainly has boring descriptions about horses.
I don't have anything against the animals, I just don't want to read a long book about them.

In the end, there were times I would forgot what the story's plot was supposed to be about _ Fae on the prowl for children _ because there wasn't a real sense of urgency conveyed on the pages.
Bottom line: as a urban fantasy series I found this story kind of week. There were coincidences, and things that weren't all that explained..
 That is not to say, that as a contemporary drama it doesn't work. It does, but this was supposed to be full urban fantasy.

Author Official Site

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Bookdepository.com
 

Please Remain Calm ( This Is Not A Test #2) by Courtney Summers

This may be a novella, but it carries the emotional punch of a full length story. And just like the first volume, this ends up being brutal.

Maybe I need to "gather my thoughts" a little longer, because despite having finishing it hours ago, I am still a emotional wreck...well done!

And I have absolutely no idea what to say besides: "go read this..even though it is going to break your heart into tiny little pieces."

Here on author Courtney Summers' world, there's no lucky breaks, no second chances, and definitely no happy endings.

"Please Remain Calm" picks up immediately after "This is not a Test" and we follow Rhys and Sloane on the run for survival.
Isa has already mentioned it, Read her review Here! but while the first volume ends up being more of a psychological thriller, this is definitely a zombie book, so get ready for a lot of blood, nail biting suspense....and heartbreak.
There is a lot of heartbreak in this story..in fact, OMG!! -_-
I couldn't even believe it when that happened!
And then the story ended! o_O
And now I need more!:/

Author's Official Site

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Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark

Arc provided by Mcmillan's Children Publishing Group

Release Date: March 24th

Well....I'll be... darn :/

You see, I find myself in a bit of a predicament, mainly because everything I feel like saying about this story... would not be polite, which in some sort of cosmic response would be more than appropriate, because this isn't a polite book.

This is more like a f****d up one, where the characters are supposed to be deep and intense, and because of that who cares if one of the main characters uses words like, "retarded", "that Asian", "the Asian "..that rare breed of slutty Asian (..), "slut" and "whore"

_________

Wait, I care!

 Its offensive, and it makes me wonder how in HELL did this managed to be published?!
I understand that even idiots deserve love, and as so, Juliette and Abram are pretty much perfect for one another.
Juliette may be more _lets say _ active in the offensive comments department, but Abram doesn't seem to have a compunction to what she says, and also goes along with the "that Asian" remarks.

The thing is, Abram could be interested in Julliette _ I don't know why in fact...apparently they had never talked to one another prior to their parents death _ and point out to her, that she was being a jerk with all that racists comments..but he doesn't, and later on, to make matters even worse ends up falling into a slut shaming situation.
(just because he doesn't say it aloud, it still counts)

As if all of this still wasn't enough, what had me practically screaming is that _unless I'm mistaken_, this book's target audience are teenage girls... who will be reading a book full of crap about women... when instead this should be directed at boys who don't know shit about them.

Amongst the many off-hand remarks casually thrown that made me want to gag _trying to keep up with the book's mentality, yay! _ are:

The comment that Juliette does, on how could Abram have been so patient for their make out session, when her body isn't you know? Perfect, because there's so many available sluts around!

Oh, and the one in which she asks herself why can't she be a whore for two seconds?

Oh, and the one in which she says she's on the pill purely due to some health issues, not because she's a whore!

Is this some kind of unspoken rule?

Does every single female leading character written by a guy have to be made into a mental case?

Yes?

Does it feed the White Knight syndrome?

Oh... I see... in that case, mission accomplished.

Misogynistic BS 
When one reaches the end of book and starts evaluating  characters and behaviours, one thing pops out. And that is the fact, that with the exception of Abram's mother and "facebook" aunt, the other female characters with bigger roles "aren't nice people" according to our troubled teens :

There's Juliette's mother who was a conniving bitch who cheated on her father poor indolent bastard who apparently didn't care about anything while his wife was alive, and as if that wasn't enough she also got her daughter addicted to pills, because nothing says "I love you honey" as: Here, take one of my Adderall's !
Apparently the mother had no problem in sharing what was hers with her daughter: clothes, shoes, belts, pills :/
Bad mother.
____

Then there's the ASIAN slutty girl"_ARGH! REALLY? You don't see nothing wrong with this?
This girl,_we are told_ apparently  lets Abram copy on classes _which makes her stupid_, also according to him she's a sex freak because she wanted his penis _which makes her naive_...but he succeeded in resisting her wiles! Because that's what teenage boys do..they save themselves for the LOVE of their lives at the age of seventeen ( I guess this is some sort of Christian fiction?)
In fact I can totally see Abram saying something along the lines of this to "that Asian girl":

*No, you shall not have my dick! I am saving my dick for Juliette!* ~sarcasm~

And here's slut shaming... directed at a "character" that never makes an appearance. We never see the girl as anything more than a recipient for Juliette's offences.

Finally there's Juliette and her mental basket popping pills and checking guys _well one guy...because if she checked more asses that would probably make her you know, slutty_ asses... case, because let's face it girls, there's nothing more appealing than this!!
(We get a lot of references to Abram's "fashion statement"...oh and in the case that that wasn't the idea, there's this wonderful thing called BELTS.)

 HOT, right ladies?

:/

______

So, yes, the only woman worth of anything in this book is Abram's mother, which leads me to this very important point...

Guy's mothers are sacred.

Everyone else... isn't... except, if you're a mental pixie girl case, in which case guys will be falling hard for you!;)

Why?
R: No idea. I guess it was in the script.

The writing is meh.

The plot... where was it?

The character development is missing in action.

The changing pov's are annoying because both characters sound the same!

A basic story on how the love of a good man boy will redeem a lost woman girl featuring a bat-shit load of crap, prejudices, and many other YA nonsenses.

p.s- I am very much aware that after this review, I'll probably never EVER be approved for any other arc provided by this publisher.

This is my honest review/rant.

@Author's Official Site

The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth

Arc provided by Penguin Classics through Netgalley

Release Date: February 24 th

 

"The newly discovered Fairy Tales" part in the title, was what made me request this...since I am a fairy tale addict.
Unfortunately, what I discovered was a confusing mishmash of other well known fairy-tales_ at least the first twenty that I read...
My mistake: I thought I would be reading original fairy tales and not adaptations of Perrault's and The Grimm Brothers' tales. Only these have male characters in the leading roles.

I could keep on reading this, but life is too short, and I am already familiar with most of them...

Bottom Line: Nothing wrong with it _ I wasn't crazy about the dispassionate writing style _ it's German, so most tales are bloody and gory, so better read it yourself and grab some other book for the kids.

What the Guardian says about it

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Nightbird by Alice Hoffman

                                   Arc provided by Random House Children's through Netgalley

                                                            Release Date: March 10 th


First of all...I usually inhale Alice Hoffman's novels
I love her writing style. I am crazy about it.

Of course I normally read her adult fiction stories which have a whole different depth _ although I do love her YA story Green Heart _, that I felt was missing here.

I don't know if the middle grade audience will appreciate this novel: From time to time it has Alice Hoffman's trademark writing style _ which for younger readers probably won't make all that much sense _ but which I love!
However during most of the novel, I found that there were one too many short and clipped sentences. Something that I am not crazy about. I found myself occasionally wondering if the author thought she would "lose" her readers, going full ~I am Queen of Metaphors~ style.

Then the character development is practically zero....which is something that the author normally does..to an extent, but in this case, with this story, and these characters, I didn't found that that worked.

Once again I am left with the feeling that the author may have underestimate her readers.
I have read complex and marvellous middle grade stories, and if I were to compare this book to those, I am afraid Nightbird would come out lacking.

Also that magical/ fairy tale vibe that Alice Hoffman uses to describes first love, is here, and its very "insta"..once again, something with which the author normally works, but in this case we're talking of a middle grade book.
 Of course I have to mention that that part is not heavily handed, and that the characters in question are about seventeen years old. But even so, I wasn't crazy about it.

So why three stars?
The writing _ despite my complaints _is above average.
The concept of this story was really good, despite the fact that it ends being developed in a somewhat simplistic manner.
Finally and most importantly because this novel is very adamant about friendship. Especially girls friendship. And we don't have enough stories of those.


Author's Official Site

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Prepare Your Senses...

..for something amazing.

Behold:

The book cover for "The Immortal Heights", the third volume in Sherry Thomas' acclaimed series "Elemental Trilogy"!

Isn't it Epic? *.*

Wow..
And a double Wow!

Author's FB page

This reminds me, that it is about time, for me to start re-reading the first one, so I can start with the second book "The Perilous Sea".
I love not having to wait years for long awaited sequels, so I just postpone reading them. That way I can read them all in a row! ;)