The Scorpion Rules ( Children of Peace #1) by Erin Bow

                         

                       Arc provided by Margaret K. McElderry Books through Netgalley
            
                                        Release Date: September 22 nd

Look, reading the first pages, I thought for sure that this was going to be a winner: the concept! For crying out loud!
I haven't read a book with an addictive concept like this one in ages.

Unfortunately, the execution feels as if it followed a god damn list: insert this... insert that... no soul whatsoever.

Here's the thing, I am all about diversity in books. And at first glance, this book seemed to have nailed it perfectly.

We have characters from different parts of the globe. One Asian character is in fact one of the main characters ( and part of a pointless love triangle), and were you to ask me which of them all I cared for the most, my choice would have to be Xie, because Greta annoyed the hell out of me.

We have GLBT relationships, although I didn't find any depth whatsoever in them.
In fact, I didn't find any depth in any of the characters or relationships between them.
There wasn't any character development.

Greta is supposed to be this great leader, someone that all the other kids follow and listen to, and I honestly don't see what's so special about her. She's as interesting as yesterday's bread.

What brings us to the actual story...
Imagine a bunch of kids on a farm, and they have to manage said farm if they want to eat... that implies farming, and animal husbandry (you even get treated to goat's insemination, yay -_-), namely goats.
I think I had read about seventy percent of this, when I decided to count how many goat references there were... I counted one hundred and twenty five.

Do not sell a book as a Hunger Games "wannabe", with flat characters and more than one hundred and twenty five references to goats.
 
This was boring and draining to read, and the only reason I didn't DNF it is because I've become too stubborn to do it.
As for the Evil guy, the master mind behind the reality these kids are living, the AI who controls the world?
o_O
Sorry, but it was filled with too many plot holes.
I can honestly say that I won't be continuing with this series.· 

Author's Official Site


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A Pocket Full of Murder (Uncommon Magic #1) by R.J. Anderson

                                     Arc provided by Atheneum Books through Edelweiss

                                                Book Status: Released September 8th

There was a time in which I had to write a review immediately after I had finished whatever book I was reading... now I kind of dread this moment, because I haven't felt all that much love for the arcs I've been reading lately.
This story unfortunately follows the same pattern. *sigh*

I have to admit that practically after page one I had to force myself to keep reading this. Never a good sign.
My main problem with this story is that I found it preachy, and that is something that I hate in books.

With a Charles Dickens' tone to it "woe is on us... and aren't we so poor... and everything bad happens to us", but with a Judaic connotation, this ended being a hot mess of a book.
_ One has the religious part, which ends up engulfing the whole book, because Isaveth (the main character) and her family are Moshites (which is the made up word for Judaism), and they're frowned upon _ and basically hated _ because of that.
_ Then there's the magical aspect of the story, which was basically reduced to cooking lessons: Magic is basically cooked...
I don't know. Maybe a younger reader will find this interesting. I just found it dull.
The world building ends up being built through the use of different words for things we're already familiar with.

Then I know that Isaveth is very young: she's only thirteen years old (I think). But I found her too much of a goody too shoes. I honestly couldn't care less about her.
Or about her older sister who is wasting away in her factory job... or about their younger sisters who need shoes and clothes. *inserts Kleenex*
Look, if an author makes it impossible for me to feel anything else but pity for the characters because their life seems like something out of  Jane Eyre, I am going to have a problem with that. Because unlike Jane Eyre's beginning in which characters die while Jane is in that "school", and you never again forget it, in this story this just felt like a crap artifice destined to fill a few more pages and to wring a few more tears.
When the good guys are just that good... and the bad guys are just that bad, just because. This will bore me.

The only reason I kept on reading it was because of Quiz: the boy with the eye patch and the not so mysterious story: almost from the moment that he appeared that I thought "Can he be....?"
I was right. It was him. *pats self on the back*
So basically I just kept reading until the end to see if I was right about Quiz.

On to the positives, the author continues to have characters who have some sort of physical impairment as the heroes of their own stories.
It's a story full of lessons: Respect every one's religions... don't be fooled by a pretty face... suffering leads to happiness. Sorry, I couldn't resist about this last one.

The writing is as competent as ever, I just couldn't feel a connection to the story, but maybe the younger crowd to whom the story is intended to, will like it seeing as they aren't as jaded as I am.

Myself, I'll keep waiting for a new instalment of the author's Fairies series.

Author's Official Site

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Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W. Petty

TW: VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN AND WOMEN, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE, ALCOHOLISM

I think many people went into this book expecting more of BBC's Sherlock or the original Arthur Conan Doyle's books, and they weren't happy with the result. 

Sherlock is indeed like Elementary and BBC's Sherlock but, thankfully, we never have to look at Bennyhill Chasemusic's face throughout the book, so I actually liked the character 100% more than I like BBC's Sherlock (which is 0%, as you can tell by doing the maths). I just pictured him as a young Jeremy Brett, by far my favourite of all Sherlock Holmes.

The one I REALLY loved in this book was Mori! She was clever, though not in an alienating way towards her peers (like Sherlock was), she cared and protected her brothers, she cared about her friend Sadie Mae. ...And she cared about little else.

We always get these mildly sociopathic male protagonists - House, Sherlock, etc. - but we seldom get the sociopathic female, though when we do... they're the best! Who doesn't like *SUPER SPOILER* from Gone Girl? Who doesn't like Alice from Luther? It's much more intriguing because these female characters are always written as being able to fake their personality and immerse themselves in society with none the wiser, while their male counterparts go out of their way to let everyone know they despise them. 

So onto the plot, this isn't a full 5 stars because I believe anyone could guess the whole "whodunnit" from the earlier chapters, but the story was still compelling. 

We have Mori, who has lost her mother and seen her life fall apart when her policeman father turns to drinking and starts beating her and her brothers. 

Mori who is looking for a way out. Mori who has lost any belief in the system after having every attempt to ask for help end up with her father's police friends quieting everything up. Mori who wants to get rid of her father but wants to find a way to do it without negatively impacting her brothers' lives. 

Then there's Sherlock. He's basically Sherlock from BBC, only younger, and less rude, and more aware of his social incompetence, so I guess more like Elementary’s Sherlock... And he's all for "the game's afoot!" and turning everything into a competition, as if people's lives are a game that needs solving the whys and hows, but he then loses interest as soon as he's figured them out. 

I liked that difference between Sherlock and Mori. I liked how, when he pulled her into the game, she saw everything he saw but also the vulnerability, how the others were human beings worthy of respect and privacy, how their pains weren't a game - even if she felt little for them. 

I've seen quite a lot of reviews complaining about insta-love, and I have to say, though rather quick, it seemed natural to me. It's difficult being an outsider, so it's easy to form an attachment to someone who's even a little like you. It's easy to cling to someone who's witnessing you at your most vulnerable. It's normal and human to form bonds while going through adrenaline filled situations. 

The romance itself wasn't the focus, with the story focusing mainly on the plot, so it was okay.  And I loved how they were so happy and proud when the other one was particularly brilliant!

I really liked the whole theme of the views of the privileged being called into question by those at a disadvantage. In fact, this is most definitively my favourite quote from the book:

"Sherlock shrugged. “I don’t understand the need for power, really. There are more important pursuits.”
“Only those who have never felt powerless can afford to think like you.” "

I've never done this, but here's how I pictured them (as mentioned above):

Jeremy Brett and Ruth Wilson

All in all, I loved it! I loved the way we were shown the violent family life - I know these experiences aren't universal, but to me, personally, it rang very true. How Mori would try to make excuses to avoid a worse situation. How Mori never surrendered. 

I liked the plot, the mystery - even easy as it was to solve, because the tension wasn't really on who did it, but on what that meant personally for the characters' lives. 

And I love how Sherlock was basically the love interest, even if a brilliant one, and everything we saw was through Mori's eyes. 

I can't wait for the next one, and I truly hope that Mori fully becomes the character Moriarti as we know it from the books. 

I recommend this with caution because I LOVED IT, but many didn't, so it's really a question of who's reading it. 

Heather W. Petty's official site

Buy Lock & Mori

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And please, please be a dear and if you have a Book Depository account ask to be warned when this edition is available, because that's the one I want, so they might hurry to get it if they see there's interest!

When a Scot Ties The Knot ( Castles Ever After #3) by Tessa Dare

Much like what happened with the first book in this series, I loved reading this story.
If you're a fan of intelligent heroines _ who may or may not feel a strong attachment to a pair of lobsters..._ and brooding heroes _ who don't think a kilt is a skirt_, this is just the story for you.

"Maddie was, by nature, an observer.(..) And she had a great deal of experience observing the mating rituals of many strange and wondrous creatures, from English aristocrats to cabbage moths."

Her lobsters are called Fluffy and Rex...
 Don't judge, we'd be giving names to our fleas if we lived back then!

So, young Maddie is one of us nerds. She prefers to read to basically... everything. Unless we're talking about drawing.  You see, Maddie is an artist.

And when confronted with the need to mingle with actual people, she gets a little a lot stressed out (okay, that's me -_-).
 Now in a time when a woman success was defined by the marriage she would make, one could say that Maddie was in a bit of a pickle.

So, what is a girl to do when your stubborn family insists that you should go out and mingle?
And more worrisome than that, insist that you find a significant other?

Ah! If only! :/
The family insists on a two legged specimen  -_-
Blast.

So, what is a girl to do besides inventing a boyfriend? Not much, right?
(not that I know anything about it! Although I did try to make up a boyfriend for my aunt ; but that's another story.)
That's how Capt. Logan Mckenzie comes to exist. A convenient fiancée ready to act as a buffer every time Maddie's family would insist that she would go out to balls and other couldn't be less interested about it stuff.
A couple years later the ruse is still on, and Maddie feels that it is time to end to whole deal.
So, so long Capt. McDreamy: Boom, you're dead.
;)

Maddie doesn't even mind the mourning period, because she gets to live in her own castle and having the time of her life doing what she likes best. Life is good.
But then one day this Highlander dude appears at her door claiming to be her fiancée.
Her dead fiancée.
Maddie is obviously stressed about it, because, hello?
DUDE, YOU DO NOT EXIST!

What follows next is just as crazy as you'd expect in a Tessa Dare novel. The pace is good _ although it does slow a little when some... characters go MIA _ the characters have a great chemistry, and all in all this is a great novel to read if you're in the mood for some insane historical romance.
Definitely recommended, because obviously I prefer crazy to big drama llama.

Author's Official Site

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Dreaming of You ( The Gamblers #2) by Lisa Kleypas

Looking at my friend's ratings on Goodreads, it is clear that I am once again the black sheep.


  

                                

The thing is, despite loving the Wallflower and the Hathaway series to bits, I tend to have some problems with Lisa Kleypas older books _apparently this was written back in 2003 o_O _, they feel very soap operish to me, and I'm sick and tired of idiotic heroines always placing themselves in dangerous situations, so that the hero can save them!

That's what happened here: Sarah is supposed to be an intelligent woman but she's always getting herself into big messes!

As for Derek, I wasn't crazy about him in the first book in this series, although he does redeem himself in this one. Also unlike Sarah, he has some serious background that explains why he acts the way he does.
In the end this was a fast read, but not a memorable one.

Author's Official Site

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Venomous (Alien Warrior #1) by Penelope Fletcher

 

Trigger warnings: 

graphic descriptions of rape, rape apologism, sexual coercion, rape culture, sexual violence, sexual slavery, violence against women

I was really excited about this book because many who liked The Last Hour of Gann loved this one too.
This isn't a bad book when it comes to writing, plot, and worldbuilding, but it was way too much:

• too much drama, and not feasible things, every time they sat down someone was abducting and about to rape Lumen
• too much of Lumen doing stupid things and never rescuing herself, always needing her lizard lovers to come to her rescue
• too many rants by everyone, Lumen especially
• TOO MUCH RAPE, like seriously! It's understandable in some instances as part of worldbuilding, but it lingers, and liiiiiingers, and it's graphic, and overly descriptive
• too much of making excuses for rape commited by the actual MAIN LOVE INTEREST
• too many villains: whenever one would go down another would pop up it all became repetitive and trivialised violence against women

I don't know, it was just too much of everything. 

Admittedly the worldbuilding is amazing. Fletcher really has a gift for it! 
And I did like the basic plot, Fletcher knows how to write. It's just that it plods on and on, always repeating the same dangers, merely changing the villain. I was on page 200 of 652 and I was ready for the book to end.

Listen, I don't mind ménage. Sometimes I even like it, if it's well written which, many times, it actually is!
But quite honestly Lumen falls in "love" with Venomous, then she's forced to accept Fiercely, and then Cobra. Bear in mind that Lumen wanted none of them, but ended up falling in "love" with all. 
Why is love in quotation marks, you ask?
Because Lumen's relationship with Venomous begins with him raping her. She begs and pleads, she cries. But he rapes her. It takes a while, by the way. With descriptions of how horribly it hurts her. Of how she'll never, ever forgive him. 
But then, bam! she loves him. 
Later on, closer to the end of the book, she even tells him he never apologised for raping her and he tells her he has no regrets because that made her his. 
Like... 

And Fiercely? And Cobra? 
She was coerced into accepting them as mates. She was forced to be raped in public to be "married" to them. Even though she spent more than just a few chapters begging everyone not to do it, that it was destroying her emotionally. 

I tried to like this book - it has a lot to like - but I don't understand how anyone can excuse all those trigger warnings above, especially when it's all unapologetic and written off as romantic in the end. 

I was horrified and sickened throughout the entire book. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't kill them or refuse to be with them. I understood why she wouldn't run away, since it was always made perfectly clear that without their "protection" everyone else would rape her. 
How romantic.


Penelope Fletcher's official site

Buy Venomous (Alien Warrior #1) 
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Poorly Drawn Lines by Reza Farazmand

arc provided by PENGUIN GROUP Blue Rider Press through Netgalley

I've been a fan of Poorly Drawn Lines for a while now, I like the art's simplicity and I like Farazmand's gift for the weird, the funny, and the endless void of morbid introspection.

However, while this book did have a few of my favourite (and most popular) comics:

 

The way it was put together wasn't balanced. You'd get pages of sadness and self-doubt, then you'd get pages of funny comics - it didn't follow a theme or narrative line, there was no progression, it seemed aleatory, which made reading it an uneven experience.

So, good comics but a disorganised book.

Also, this comic wasn't in it, but I have to share it, since it's one of my favourites!

 

Poorly Drawn Lines

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A Wish Upon Jasmine ( La Vie En Rose #2) by Laura Florand

                      

There's one thing you guys should know about these series. And that thing is, that even if you okay me have reached the dreaded point in which romance novels leave you somewhat nauseated or just tired of the whole romance schumzle (Yeah, I made it up), you'll most likely end up gobbling this series straight up!
Don't believe it?
Well, I didn't either.

Yes, this a Grinch approved series! ( Yes, I'm the Grinch. I'm the bookish Grinch -_-)
For someone who has started dreading reading romance novels, reading this series, takes me back to the old days in which I had so much fun and pleasure reading.

This story was intense, addictive and just plain sweet.
The author knows how to avoid tricky paths (well done) and in the end I loved this so much, that I could have given it a higher rating.
So, why didn´t I?
-_-
You know those stories in which the words form a melody of their own?
Patricia Mckillip and...you know... Patricia Mckillip. Well, the five stars are for them. *cough*

Okay, moving on... this book: The characters!

I wish I could insert a thousand exclamation marks. That's how much I liked them and their dynamics.

Their characterization, the way Damien and Jess (Jasmine) meet _ capital R in the Romance department _, the way their relationship evolves, everything was so intense. So good.
Also, I think I've developed a fetiche -_-
Cuff Links, man, Damien, my God, this guy knows how to remove a simple cuff link making it "read" as if he's removing so much more. Hot.
 Honestly, you have to read it!

Thing is, Damien and Jess couldn't be more perfect for each other. They are a really otp.

They're cute, and sweet _ and it never enters into the cheesy domain _ and their chemistry is of the charts. What more can a reader ask?

Oh, right, the secondary characters...
Well, you'll be happy to know that they're just as great, as the main couple.
You have characters whose stories you've already read. Others that you can't wait to sink your teeth into them _ for instance Tristan's story _ and when you reach the end of the book, you just feel like re-reading the whole thing over again.
Oh, and the aunt?
Amazing! Tante Collete, you rock! May you live many more years, because things will be extremely boring without your matchmaking schemes.

So, what are you waiting for to start reading this?

Author's Official Site

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Or do it like I did, and buy it through Kobo, because the paperback is a little pricey.

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A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder

                       Arc provided by Atheneum Books For Young Readers Through Edelweiss

                                                     Release Date: September 8 th


First of all: cover love!
This cover is so beautiful and so accurate to the story, that it is impossible for me not to love it.

As for the story, I actually found it good: This is mostly a story about bonds.
Family and friendship bonds. Did I like the way it was done?
I did.
The relationship between the sisters _ both of them _ was lovely to read.
The reaction to the events that end up happening, and the way family and friends react to it, all felt very real to me.
However I can not ignore the fact that the story didn't touch me, as I thought it would.
(The fact that I have read about two thousand books so far in my life, may have something to do with it, but things are the way they are.)

As such, part of the blame can be placed on me : I may have not been in the proper state of mind to read it... although I do tend to read many middle grade books...and love them.

I wasn't crazy about the writing. Also I can't help feeling that the intended audience will probably have a hard time with it.
Basically I thought this would be much more adventure oriented that it turned out to be.
As for the middle grade label, I don't know but there moments in which the writing style rubbed me the wrong way: there were times in which I felt that it sounded more "juvenile" than actually "middle grade".
Middle grade for me, most of the times tends to have more complex stories than ninety percent of so called YA/NA/Adult books out there.

Basically for the first time in my life, I wish I had a kid of my own so I could ask him/her, his/her thoughts regarding this book. -_-
Like I said, it may be a case of me being too old for this book, so give it a try, and I would love if you could share your thoughts of it with me!

Author's Official Site

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The Chocolate Rose ( La Vie En Rose prequel 0.5 / Amour et Chocolat #3) by Laura Florand

Recipe for an almost perfect contemporary romance:
_Prepare the setting: Provence
_Add roses and jasmine to taste

 

_Get ready to get lost in a small quirky village

(I also live in a small town but unfortunately the thing has no quirkiness at all to it. Also I would be crazy to walk amongst its tiny dark streets in the centre of the old part of the city at night...

 Fortunately I have my own Garden, so not all is lost! :D)

_Finally, get ready to meet the love of your life: He's really tall... and big... and sees himself as a Beast, but in truth he's just this big teddy bear who just wants to be loved, forever and ever.

Now we know, you have some trust issues, because parents *emotional vampires that they are* have sucked the life out of you (oh, wait, that's me -_-)... but remember that he'll always be waiting for you.

He'll give you everything you want... like... soft, creamy deserts in the shape of a rose:

 

Not this! Non! An amazing rose made of chocolate with beautiful petals hiding this creamy pastry of.... -_- something! :D 

The only thing he asks is that you'll be by his side forever and ever... and can you please stop mentioning other pretty handsome man? Jolie, you know he has the self confidence of a meringue!

 Poor guy :/

As you can see this was a sweet with bits of insane to it romance with likeable characters and laughing out loud dialogues as only the author knows out to do.
There were some points that threatened to become a little problematic _ the first time they look at one another  or even the way Gabriel asks her on a date _ but the author _ for me _ was able to avoid a disaster. That is not to say, that I wasn't a little concerned about what I was reading...
Luckilly the author knows how to balance the more serious aspects with some heavy doses of silliness so I just let it pass.

Also the fact that not one, but the two of them are constantly thinking about sex _ although Jolie might beat Gabriel at it _ was a funny change.

p.s. In case there's any doubt _ I think it's unlikely, but strange things happen _ you know the stuff in the dialogue balloons?

I made them up. Please do not bother the author about my atrocious writing skills.

Also, for those who aren't aware of it, this story can be read as part of two different series: As the prequel for the Vie en Rose series, or as the third volume in the "Amour et Chocolat" series.

Author's Official Site

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