Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug. She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po. She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace - or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone...

I really enjoyed Graceling by Kristin Cashore because it was a fun exciting novel that, while it was relatively long, had enough action and suspense to keep me reading and to want to find out the ending quickly. I believe in Australia Graceling is marketed as an adult book but is young adult overseas? I will have to confirm that but it definitely read as a young adult book in its simplicity and lack of an ultra-complicated storyline which I often find myself bogged down in with this type of fantasy-adventure genre adult novel but at the same time could definitely appeal to adult readers – the book is big!

There was actually quite a lot of violence in this book though I wasn’t really aware of it until after I’d finished and read the backcover where there was a mention of ‘graphic violence’ or something similar. As a fan of pretty violent cinema I might just be desensitised but the content of this book didn’t really strike me as overly violent, at least not to any extent where I would warn readers to be cautious (age dependent of course).

The medieval world were the story was set definitely intrigued me, along with the concept of people born with certain talents or ‘graces’. The two main characters, Katsa graced with killing, and Po graced with the ability to see things with his mind were very interesting and it’s very enjoyable to watch their talents develop. However, I do have the criticism that often there was a lot too much conversation going on with (often for chapters at a time) very little action to move the story along.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Graceling to anyone who’s looking for a fun, epic and adventurous journeys across fantastical lands with graced heroes leading the way.

Review: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells

I was intrigued by this book ever since I saw it mentioned somewhere online and was eager to read my own copy. Red-Headed Stepchild is about kick-ass mixed-blood, outcast vampire assassin Sabine Kane. She is put on a mission to infiltrate a cult that is threatening her vampire community which is where the story really starts with Sabina stuck with a demon who tried to kill her, being stalked by a hot mage and forced to let another vampire suck her blood, all while discovering some unsettling truths about things she had been told from birth. (Just a note this is not young adult fiction - there's plenty of sexual happenings in this book (but no actual sex, heh) plus swearing etc.)

Things To Do:
1. Infiltrate rival vampire cult and assassinate leader.
2. Get rid of demon houseguest.
3. Ditch the hot mage stalker.
4. Betray family.

This book is really sassy, Sabina is a sharp, witty leading lady. The banter in this book is hilarious, especially between Sabina and the demon. The action in this book is full on, Sabina is one tough half-vampire :) It's quite graphic, but not extremely so.

I really enjoyed the storyline, apparently it's 'urban fantasy'. Heaps of mythical creatures all make appearances in the book; vampires, mages, faeries, nymphs, demons etc. All living in secret surrounded by humans in a modern-day setting. It was really interesting, fast-paced reading. It raised plenty of questions and gladly supplied the answers, but there's still enough going on for a sequel, The Mage In Black, which I will be looking out for!

Highly enjoyable, somewhat addictive reading. If you're still into vampires but don't want to go through the teen romance, this one is well worth a read.

Published by Orbit, Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells is out now.

Review: Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast is (yet another, hehe) vampire book and while I have been reading a lot of vampire books lately I am not getting bored of them! Marked is the first book in The House of Night series and is about Zoey Redbird, a 16 year old girl who is 'marked' to become a vampyre and must go to 'The House of Night' a school for fledgling vampyres... or else she will die. At her new school Zoey quickly finds out she is different than the others, she has great powers and a bloodlust well beyond her years. Taking a unique approach, the vampyres in Marked worship the goddess Nyx and focuses on the occult.

The writing style of this book really appealed to me. It seemed quite opinionated and had a lot of attitude :) The book is written by P.C Cast and her daughter, Kristin Cast, and clearly the mother-and-daughter writing team works very well! I'd be very interested to find out more about their collaboration (they've gone on to write many more books in the series).

The characters in Marked are very likeable (with the obvious exception of Aphrodite who we love to hate). Zoey is a smart, strong protagonist and her group of friends are varied and interesting.

Marked has a fast moving pace which kept me very interesting, I found it very hard to put this book down. Though the final scenes in the book seemed to come about, and end, a little too fast. The book ended with a lot of purposely unanswered questions - so I'm definitely looking forward to finding out what will happen to Zoey in the future.

Easily one of my favourite books of the year!

Marked is available now in Australia from Hachette - you can find out more here.

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is probably the book I have been looking forward to the most this year because there has been so much hype! I have heard so many people say how good it is and it's already got a movie deal so when my copy came I somewhat prioritized it and read it really quickly :) I wasn't really sure what to expect because after I decide that I want to read a book I don't really want to find out more about it because I'm going to read it anyway! It's like if I've already decided I want to see a movie I don't want to watch trailers for it because they're just going to give things away! Getting back on track, my point is that for me a lot of reading If I Stay was balancing what I actually thought of the book with this super-best-book-ever-ever-ever idea I had framed in my mind. And did it live up to the hype?

It was a good book, I was definitely absorbed in it because I read it very quickly which is always a good sign with me. The story is about Mia who is in a coma but sort of outside her body and able to see what is going on in a kind of spirit-way. She has to make a choice, 'to stay' - to fight and try to survive - or else die! W(hich is actually quite morbid.) I didn't find myself as emotionally involved as I thought I might have been, I didn't cry for one and I got the impression that I should have! (Thought I might be getting cold-hearted in my old age as I watched Titanic the other day and I didn't shed a tear!) The book is told in a combination of the present with Mia seeing what's going on when people come visit her at the hospital and in flash-backs as Mia remembers things about her family and the people that are coming to see her.

As a bit of a side note, If I Stay is going to be made into a film. I'm really interested to see how they will do this as it wasn't the sort of book I read and could really envision as a film because a lot of the action is really just going with Mia's thoughts I guess. I suppose there will be a lot of flash-backs?! I will definitely go see it at any rate.

If I Stay was the sort of book that raises a lots of questions and hopefully will make you think about yourself and the sort of decisions you would make in these kind of impossible situations. While I may not have been entirely taken in with the characters, the story itself was an extremely thought-provoking one and I am glad to have read it.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is published by Random House in Australia and is out now. You can find out more here.

Review: Envy by Anna Godbersen

Envy by Anna Godbersen is the third book in the Luxe series, which is all about a group of beautiful, young, incredibly wealthy people living in New York City at the start of the 20th century. Envy, is probably my favourite book so far in the series (I didn't really enjoy the first book (The Luxe) but I liked Rumours and this one is even better).

To keep things fresh and interesting, Envy sees most of the characters go down to Florida for a holiday. I think the change of setting was a good move and made for interesting reading. The whole Luxe series is quite reminiscent of Gossip Girl (even down to the 'society columns' which could easily be interchanged to Gossip Girl's modern blog-posts) it has a set of characters who all know each other but are all doing their own things with each chapter focusing on one of the characters. However, I think the historical aspects of the Luxe series keep the books from feeling 'trashy' like the Gossip Girl books, even though admittedly the story-lines are at times a little trashy, hehe. It's all good!

I always have mixed feelings about books where the story only focuses on one character at a time. It's great in one way because the different story lines are interesting and it means that the plot doesn't have to be racing along to keep the story moving. It does annoy me a little sometimes though when I'm really interested in finding out about a certain character and I know I'm going to have to read a lot of other stories before I can find out more.

The character and storyline that I really enjoyed was Carolina's; she used to be a maid for Elizabeth Holland (another main character in the story) but is now trying to make a name for herself as a society girl. This storyline began in Rumours and to me was made the difference between not really enjoying The Luxe and to making Rumours highly enjoyable. I would have been happy to read an entire book about this one storyline!

The cover art of Envy is gorgeous with the decadent dress and the pretty flowers and font. Although of course I would have loved the girl on the cover to be wearing a green dress to suit 'envy'! Often in the book the author described the dresses the girls were wearing in EXTREME detail which felt a little clunky to me but was interesting nonetheless.

The Luxe series is continuing with the next book, Splendour.

Envy by Anna Godbersen (more info here) is published by Penguin and is out now in Australia!

Review: Evernight by Claudia Gray

This book really drew me in. At first I was slightly sceptical, after all it is another vampire book and after Twilight there YA vampire market has exploded so I was hoping that Evernight would bring something interesting and different to the table. And it did, it was great! I devoured it.... actually I pretty much inhaled it :)

Bianca is starting school at Evernight Academy‚ a prestigious boarding school deep in the countryside‚ and from the first day‚ she can′t wait to escape. Her parents‚ who are teachers there‚ are sure she′ll be happy‚ but Bianca has a feeling there′s something seriously wrong with the place. Something evil lurking in the shadowy woods at the edge of the school grounds...

So the boarding school setting has this awesome Harry Potter-esque vibe which I thought was very cool. With the whole old, stone building and dorm rooms and things like that. I thought Claudia Gray created this very spooky atmosphere, which is a perfect setting for vampires, and the school castle was a major part of that, as well as the creepy surrounding woods.

I felt the book was sort of in two parts, as there is a major plot twist in the middle which totally turns everything around. It was a good one too! So much so that I really didn't see it coming and felt a little cheated when it was revealed, but then I thought back and there were a lot of clever hints and things (that I totally missed) and it was actually really well done.

In fact, the whole plot and storyline was impressive; it was very detailed (but not in a confusing way) and when it came to the end and things started to get explained it was very satisfying to see all the bits and pieces start to fall in to place.

The main character, Bianca, was interesting and fresh although she was supposed to be shy but I didn't really see that too much! It's a pretty small thing, really, but I liked how Bianca thought of herself as beautiful, not in a full-of-herself kind of way, just in that she appreciated herself - it really stuck out for me. The secondary characters were also great, so much so that I'd be really interested to read about some of the other student's stories. (There was one character - Ranulf - who was barely in it but everytime he was mentioned I laughed out loud, it was a bit of a running joke)

I am so looking forward to the sequel, Stargazer, which isn't out in Australia until July. There is so much more that needs to happen and I can't wait to read about it. You can read more about Evernight here.

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

It's funny because Paper Towns is the first book by John Green that I have ever read except I would have definitely said that I was a fan of his before I even picked it up. It's because he seems like a very funny guy and his Nerdfighting youtube videos are hilarious.

It was very cool to see that same wit and cleverness in book-form. I loved all the character's in Paper Towns they were a bit geeky but very funny. This book had a lot of funny moments. Basically, it's about Quentin who devotes the end of his senior year to try and find Margo, his impossibly cool neighbour who has run away and left behind a serious of complicated clues for him to track her down.

What can I say? It's hard not to enjoy a book with a non-stop 24 hour roadtrip and a character who's parents own the world's largest collection of black Santas. Apart from having lots of funny moments, Paper Towns also offers plenty to think over and ponder...

So it's pretty much made of awesome :)

Oh and this is the cover we have in Australia. We only got one option, not two :(

Review: Pearl Versus The World by Sally Murphy

Australian children's author, Sally Murphy, is currently on a blog tour to promote her brand new book Pearl Versus The World. Written in verse, Pearl Versus The World, is about primary school student Pearl who feels very lonely at school and at home is living with her mother and her grandmother who is dying with Alzheimer's.

Pearl is a very insightful young girl with a unique voice. The book is very effective in showing the way such a young girl is feeling isolated at school and the way she deals with the loss of her grandmother. Although Pearl Versus The World is written for a younger audience than what I'd usually review here I still found it a highly enjoyable read. For me it was short and sweet but in the primary school age group it would make for a very touching and powerful read. The book is also illustrated by Heather Potter and the (watercolour I believe) illustrations are gorgeous and compliment the story wonderfully.

As well as being an author and poet (Pearl Verses the World is her twenty eighth published title!!), Sally Murphy is also a blogger and reviewer and has a myriad of websites that you can check out:

Author Site: http://www.sallymurphy.net
Writing for Children Blog: http://www.sallymurphy.blogspot.com/
Sally's Review Site: http://www.aussiereviews.com/

Pearl Versus The World by Sally Murphy came out on May 1st so it's in Australian bookshops now. To buy it online you can go here for Fishpond or here for Dymocks :)

Review: Willow by Julia Hoban

Willow by Julia Hoban is about 17 year-old Willow, struggling to deal with her feelings of guilt and grief over her parents death. Willow attempts to deal with her pain by secretly cutting herself. When one day Willow's secret is accidentally revealed to Guy, he feels morally obliged to help Willow and the two form a strong relationship without secrets.

Throughout Willow we are brought along on Willow's painful journey with an all-access pass. Julia Hoban doesn't shy away from showing the reader the reality of cutting instead of obscure references or hinting. The result is a very confronting and emotional book that is definitely not for younger readers or the easily shocked.

Willow is a strong, powerful book that shows us both personal destruction and the redemptive power of love and friendship. I highly recommend it!

Review: The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren by Wendy Toliver

The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren by Wendy Toliver is from the Simon Pulse rom com range, which I must say I am a fan of so far. Well actually, I've only read two books from it so far and they have both been by Wendy Toliver so it would probably be more accurate to say I am a fan of Wendy Toliver. Oh well, both are probabyl true :)

In The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, Roxy is a plain band geek - that is until her 16th birthday when she transforms into a beautful siren who can make men do whatever she wants just by playing her flute ("Geeky to gorgeous in sixty seconds..."). She quickly has all the guys lusting after her, and bewitches the popular guy she's been crushing on to start going out with her. It comes at a price though, all her old band friends feel like she's ditching them (which she is).

I read the first part of the book a bit tentatively, I thought it was either going to go one of two ways - either it would be incredibly vapid and superficial with Roxy just getting everything she wanted as a siren (with the moral I suppose that you have to be pretty to go anywhere, lol) or else that Roxy would discover that she didn't have to be stunningly beautiful and would decide to go back to her old ugly ways and have a huge moral lesson about inner beauty. Fortunately, the story didn't follow a predictable path and found a happy medium between the two.

It really enjoyed reading this book, it's light, fun and not too taxing, I pretty much read it in one sitting. Lots of funny moments, good doses of romance. Nice, interesting characters. The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren has everything you'll look for in a romantic comedy. I give it 4/5 stars.

You can read my interview with Wendy as well as my review of her other book Miss Match here.

Review: Watchmen by Alan Moore

Watchmen by Alan Moore is pretty much the first graphic novel I've ever read... so I am obviously not much of an authority on the format but I will try to write a review anyway! I pretty much chose to read it because it sort of dominates the 'best graphic novel' list, plus the film was coming out and I found it at my library so I thought I'd give it a go.

For those who don't know; the story is interesting, it's very dark and gloomy. There are a group of character's who used to fight crime in costumes (they don't have super powers) but have mostly retired and the story switches between them as they start getting killed off and discredited.

The artwork is amazing and the writing is fantastic. It was very well done and I can definitely understand why it's received so much praise since its publication in '86. However, I didn't really love it - I think that superheroes just aren't my thing so the story was never really going to appeal to me.

I give Watchmen 3/5 stars. For an introduction to graphic novels for me, it was an okay start! I'm going to read Maus by Art Spiegelmen next.

Review: The Lucky Ones by Tohby Riddle

Look! I'm finally reviewing an Australian book! See the bridge?! See!! And it's not a girly book! Amazing :)

The Lucky Ones by Tohby Riddle takes place in Sydney in the 80s. Tom is out of high school and going to art school, just kind of meandering along in life. His best friend is Cain, who is needy and troubled and very interesting. He's interested in Kara, but is too shy to do much about it.

The book is really laid back, not that it doesn't go anywhere (plenty happens!), just that it doesn't make you feel like you need to rush to any destination. It reads a bit like a memoir, everything's believable, it's like Tom is just filling us in on all these things that happen, telling it like it is. He makes keen observations and expresses things in really interesting ways.

I kept trying to imagine how these events could possibly have happened. I mean, one minute Cain and I are joking about our awkwardness with this girl, and the next minute he's catching the late bus to see her on a wild stormy night. It sounded like something from a Bronte sisters novel. What was Cain doing in a Bronte sisters novel?

As I mentioned above, this book has guy-appeal! Written by a male with a male persepective (but it's perfectly fine for the ladies too). I don't seem to ever see that many YA books for guys that aren't fantasy so I am pleased that this one is so great. It's also quite witty! I laughed quite a few times throughout the book.

I particularly liked the setting, Australia in the 80s, the book has an amazing atmosphere. (Plus the boys crash a Bob Dylan press conference, well worht reading!)

It was a fantastic read, especially if you're looking for something that's not generic and might make you think a little outside the box. I give it 4/5 stars :)

You can check out Tohby Riddles website at www.tohby.com.

Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols is a perfect example of when a romantic teen novel can be done oh-so right. A fresh storyline; Meg gets caught, trespassing and drunk, and is made to spend her spring break riding around with (spunky) tough cop John on the night shift for the week to learn her lesson. It's got deep, well-developed characters with secrets and desires and the capacity to make witty, sarcastic or cutting remarks. Plus there's plenty of teen angst and attitude and conflicting emotions.

Jennifer Echols is also great at dropping hints and clues that you can pick up on if you want to be all sleuthy and try to figure out some stuff if you like or else you can go with it and marvel at the sneaky things that you read but thought nothing of earlier.

It's really addictive stuff, I loved the story and the characters. Plus, it wasn't superficial, there was plenty of things going on that the character's had to work out and get over so I didn't feel like my IQ was slowing dropping but I still got that great buzz from reading a chick book! Aaaah book heaven :)

Highly recommended! 4/5 stars!

I don't think you can find much stuff by Jennifer Echols in Australia but I will now devote my time to trying to track down her other books :)

Also, check out Jennifer's website (http://www.jennifer-echols.com/) and blog (http://jenniferechols.livejournal.com/)

Review: Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills

Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills is about Alex who is spending her summer, like usual, working for her family's river rafting company. Having not been in the water since her father died in a rafting accident, Alex is still grieving her father and she's still not over her ex-boyfriend, Sean, who left soon after her father's death. When Sean returns to work at the rafting company for the summer, Alex is forced to confront her fears and work up the courage to really talk to Sean.

This is a really romantic novel - Tricia Mills usually writes romance novels under the name Trish Milburn - with the story centering around Alex and Sean's rekindling romance. Plus there's lots of other great characters who work with Alex, and they all react differently with each other (they rarely get along!) and make for great reading.

Why couldn't he wear his emotions out in the open? Didn't he realize that I needed to know what was going on in that head of his? Had he had any reaction at all to Tommy saying he wanted to kiss me?

Alex was dealing with some really complex emotions about her father and his death which grounded the story and gave it a more serious aspect rather than just Alex and her summer fling. It was a good fun read though and I definitely enjoyed it.

I give Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills 3.5/5 Stars, go check it out if you're in the mood for a romantic read! It's released in April!

Review: A Map Of The Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell is a beautifully written story about high school student, Cora who is struggling to return to some level of normalcy after the death of her older brother. Taking refuge in her art she forms an unlikely relationship with her dead brother's best friend, Damian who helps her make sense of things.

The language used throughout this book is a delight to read and has made me seek out other books by Lisa Ann Sandell (I have Song of the Sparrow on my TBR pile). I was immediately drawn in to Cora's story and pretty much read the entire book in one sitting I was so captivated. One part in particular, made me tear up a little :(

'This feels like I'm turning a corner, and once I make this turn, I can't go back. But what exactly am I leaving behind? Nothing good, I think. If this is a turning point, I'll take it.'

The story isn't always a happy one, Cora and her family are almost torn apart trying to cope with their loss, but ultimately the story is one of survival, creativity and staying true to yourself.

I give A Map of the Known World 4.5/5 stars it's definitely one of my favourite books of the year and I would highly recommend it to everyone, especially anyone who is a fan of Sarah Dessen as they'd go well together.

A Map of the Known World (Ages 12+) by Lisa Ann Sandell (lisaannsandell.com) is available in hardcover in April.

Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I didn't know what Inkheart was going to be about before I started reading it (and even when I started reading it I still didn't know what it was going to be about!) but I wanted to read it because I'd heard people talking about it and I'd seen posters for the film-adaptation and it just seemed like this could be a book I might really enjoy.

What I found was an increeeeeedibly slooooooww beginning. I swear that nothing excitement happened for the first 100 pages, I kept reading all that time with the faith that surely something amazing was going to happen very shortly and I would be captivating by the awesomeness of it all.

Well, it did pick up after that but I still felt that Inkheart was entirely too long, the length could have been cut in half and a lot of the slower bits could have been condensed. Even the exciting ending seemed to drag a bit for me :(

I'm tempted to say if I were younger I might have enjoyed it more, after all the protagonist, Meggie, is 12 years old. I'm not sure though if the length of the book would have bothered younger readers. I'd be interested to know what experiences other people have had with this book!

However, the book was incredibly well written. The words are written like poetry and the imagery from this book is beautiful. Inkheart is a book within a book about books and a love for the stories and books pours out of the pages.

The fantasy story is about a Meggie who's life changes dramatically when she discovers her father can read the characters out of books.

The climax was built up very well and I was incredibly satisfied with the ending of the story! Everything wrapped up well and I know there are two sequels, Inkspell and Inkdeath but the ending Inkheart didn't suggest anything of what might happen in the next volumes. I think I will read the next book but I'm not going to go out and get it anytime too soon, I need to have a nice rest after Inkheart! :)

I give Inkheart 3.5/5, it's the sort of book I would love to read to young children in small chapter size morsels over a long period of time. I do, however, think it would be a great story to translate into film (to cut out all the slow bits) so I'll probably check out the movie. Has anyone seen the film version?

Have you read it? Tell me what you thought about it, I'd be very interested to know...

Review: How To Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

As you may (or may not) know, I'm part of the Aussie YA Alliance with fellow Aussie book bloggers Adele and Allie. A few weeks ago we featured Justine Larbalestier's How To Ditch Your Fairy.

As part of the feature which included an interview with Justine, we all read the book and discussed it together, in an exciting and interesting 'reviewchat' in which we discussed and reviewed and said all sorts of fun things...

Adele: HTDYF is a departure for JL from her normal genre. Were either of you familiar with her other works?
Allie: No, this is my first novel by JL.
Adele: Mine too
Lisa: Familiar in that I've heard of them...haven't read them though.
Adele: So what did you expect the book to be like prior to reading?
Lisa: I figured there would actually be fairies, with personalities.
Adele: Yeah, I was expecting there to be clearly delineated fairy characters also.
Allie: I thought that it would be a cute fairies story. :)
Lisa: It was almost as though they were all crazy and it was all in their heads because none of the other places had fairies.
Allie: Everyone was a little brainwashed.
Allie: And arrogant...
Lisa: Well Charlie was at least
Adele: I loved it when Steffi told her that they were all self-obsessed and narrow minded. She needed to hear that
Lisa: Steffi was too good for her haha
Allie: She did need to hear it. Maybe a little more though, it took a while for it get through
Adele: I thought he was too good for her too. I didn't really see why he would be interested in her. The kissing scenes were a little off putting too, especially when he's in "zombie mode" but I guess that was the intention
Lisa: She was very self obsessed
Allie: Steffi was my favourite, but I didn't see why he didn't run from that crazy town. XD
Adele: Do you think the intention was to have someone have that kind of sports obsession one-track mind in all areas of her life? Let's face it we all know Aussie sports crazed individuals who would see their footy team like Charlie saw her home city of New Avalon....

Well, that's a taste. To read the rest of the reviewchat click here

For the record, I give How To Ditch Your Fairy 3/5 stars, it was fun but I had some issues with it.