Review: Entangled by Nikki Jefford

Book: Entangled
Author: Nikki Jefford
Series: Spellbound
Publication Date: February 20th, 2012
Publisher: Nikki Jefford (self-pubbed)
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

***Entangled is a young adult paranormal fantasy romance suitable for ages 15 and up.***

The supernatural version of Freaky Friday! Ah, I love that movie. The Pre-Lindsay Lohan Drug Addict & Rehabbed Drama Queen days. Entangled is about a teen witch named Graylee with a particularly depraved sister. Graylee dies and gets put back in her sister's body every other day, which naturally, causes a couple of problems. Some of which are her inability to understand French every other day in French class and that she has to kiss sexy warlock Raj in her sister's body.

It does take a while for Entangled to get to the good, death-and-switched-bodies part. Jefford spends a couple pages detailing what kind of world Graylee comes from and the characters that surround her. It was fun experiencing high school through Graylee's eyes, since she has a sarcastic, jaded voice that I really enjoyed. Fortunately, this voice doesn't go away as the book progresses; in fact, it gets stronger as Graylee has to deal with her sister Charlene's body and Charlene's gropey boyfriend and insipid friends.

The plot of the book is easy to follow; I finished the book in a couple days, and I was surprised by how easily I could get sucked into it within minutes of reading. There are some questions left unanswered, like what exactly those poisonous chocolates were for, or what happened to Charlene's annoying friends, Raj's family issues, and what Graylee's mom was up to. It's a light-hearted book, with problems to be found in being unable to conjure clothing into place, or muting people, or coveting invisibility. However, this brevity also takes away from some of the more intense problems. The end happens quickly, and I felt that there wasn't enough devoted to the resolution.

Raj and Gray share the narrator's position, and I really liked Raj. He's an example of a sensitive bad boy done well, though I thought his affection for Gray was a bit sudden. It was nice reading from both their perspectives, from Gray's biting tone to Raj's harder but more regretful one. I would've loved to know what exactly happened after he handed his Zippo over, but I guess I'll have to content myself that he and Graylee are now free to suck face forever.

If you want a light read about bitchy witches, make sure to check this one out!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me a chance to read and review this book.

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Review: Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Book: Something Strange and Deadly
Author: Susan Dennard
Series: Something Strange and Deadly
Publication Date: July 24th, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 3.5 Stars

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

It's one thing to fear death, but it's another to fear the Dead.

There's no denying that this book is kind of awesome. I liked the promise behind the setting. 1800s Philadelphia... Not Victorian England, but Philadelphia. AMERICA. I am proud.

Anyway, there's been hype around this book even before it was published, and I was excited to get to it. Especially since I don't read zombie books often, so this would've been new for me.

However, despite the fast-moving plot and somewhat-likable characters, this story still leaves quite a bit to be desired. There are many questions that are left unanswered, and I always got the feeling that the entire thing was a bit... anachronistic. It's not just the zombies in industrial-era Philadelphia thing, which would have been spectacular if it'd made more sense, but I guess the fact that the plot's motive is never really explained is what muddies up the whole story and makes the things that happen seem out of place. One part I couldn't reconcile was the connection between zombies and spirits and black magic. While creative, this mixture brings in a bunch of completely different subjects and attempts to meld them together, and though Dennard does a decent job, I wasn't ever fully convinced.

There's lots of action, but some of it is a bit choppy and hard to read, as well as overuse of the word, trot. In the midst of it is Eleanor Fitt, who plunges into this medley of ghost killers and slow and hungry zombies and necromancers with realizations that usually strike her quickly and illogically. She does have some moments where she kicks some faces in, and there is a surprise at the finale that really shocked me, but her character development wasn't all that believable to me.

Like Eleanor, the other characters are never fully developed, and I was never that invested in their lives. You know a story hasn't made much of an impact on you when a key character dies and you're just sitting there going "huh" instead of bawling your eyes out. I don't understand why Jie kept saying "yeah?" at the end of her sentences. If it's because she's Chinese, I have never in my life met someone Chinese who asks a question at the end of everything he/she says. Daniel's dialogue was also a bit stilted, but I've never liked the whole cut off end of word thing (saying runnin' instead of running, etc).

I do admit that I liked the romance, and it was one of the more interesting parts of the novel. The characters do suck face, but nothing between them settles down, even at the end. I liked that Daniel was all grumpy and sweet, and I found the love story likable, especially since it's not too central to the story but manages to develop nicely regardless. That doesn't detract from Eleanor's capacity for irritating me, but it was still cute.

That said, I want to know if Eleanor meets Daniel again. I also want to know if the little twist at the ending will change her at all. Dennard did leave the book on a bit of a bittersweet cliffhanger, so I'll definitely read the next one and hope it's better than the first.
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Review: Rapture by Lauren Kate

Book: Rapture
Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen
Publication Date: June 12th, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Press
My rating: 2 Stars

The sky is dark with wings....

Like sand through an hourglass, time is running out for Luce and Daniel. To stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the angels fell to earth.

Dark forces are after them, and Daniel doesn’t know if he can do this — live only to lose Luce again and again. Yet together they face an epic battle that will end with lifeless bodies...and angel dust. Great sacrifices are made. Hearts are destroyed.

And suddenly Luce knows what must happen. For she was meant to be with someone other than Daniel. The curse they’ve borne has always and only been about her — and the love she cast aside. The choice she makes now is the only one that truly matters.

In the fight for Luce, who will win?

Rapture is the astonishing conclusion to the FALLEN series. Heaven can’t wait any longer.

Not quite as bad as I expected. I'm disappointed, though. Let me tell you why.

If you're given this awesome pitch about this love that transcends time and space, that has happened over and over again and fallen apart the same way, wouldn't you be interested? I know the sappy romantic me would be. I'd heard about Fallen and its bad ratings before I read it, but there was that doubt in my mind. How bad could it be? With a plot like that...

After I read the first and second books, I got my answer.

Really, REALLY bad.

It's just... I began these books expecting this beautiful love that would make me cry, that would make me hold onto Daniel and Luce and never want them to go and always want them together and want to buy some Superglue so I could just stick them together forever.

Instead, I got a useless wimp and an emasculated, chauvinistic (how oxymoronic!) idiot.

So you can see how I'd be disappointed.

I think this could contend with Romeo & Juliet over Most Tragic Love Story That Actually Sucks.

Now, let's bring ourselves away from the series and focus on Rapture specifically.

It was actually halfway decent. I was surprised that Kate managed to tie up the loose ends that she apparently couldn't do in the third book. The third book was basically mindless fluff. I loved the time traveling, but it was pointless and didn't do anything else except further give examples of Daniel's and Luce's baseless love.

Anyway, there is stuff that happens. Angels die and there's this huge climactic moment (which isn't that climactic, really. We were all expecting it), and also a couple "big" reveals. You might be surprised, you might not. Kate has really amped up the description. I mean, she's never been that bad at it, but I really noticed it in this book. I actually quite enjoyed it, except for the parts where it got all weepy and melodramatic. I never really liked Dee. She just seemed a bit too deux ex machina for my tastes, and her dialogue was really awkward. I guess she was supposed to be a wise old owl among the little winged birdies, but she just sounded like she was pulling shit out of her ass.

I guess where this book really fails is the characterization part. Luce is as useless as ever, and I found her general limp noodle-ness, as well as her whole caring about others as an obvious attempt to cull readers' sympathy, extremely grating on my nerves.

 

Daniel, of course, it as emasculated as ever. He doesn't do anything besides fluttering around and going "Shh" whenever Luce tries to ask a question. I just don't understand why it took so long for her to figure out the truth about herself. Sure, in her past lives, she wasn't allowed, but why couldn't she know in her human one? This self-awareness thing sounds really phony to me.

Lucifer is... I don't even. Kate manages to make him sound not like the lonely, complex figure from Paradise Lost, but rather a really arrogant and hateful teenage boy. He actually says things like "Baby, that's your Achilles' heel."

What kind of evil mastermind calls people "baby"?! Or maybe they do, but they sound really sleazy and laughable in the process.

So, there's Lucifer. Then there's God. Or should I say GodDESS.

That's right. God is a woman. Kate is really having fun with this, isn't she? First Gabbe, and now God, of all people.

Let me be honest. I don't think anyone should try to portray God in a book. I'm not Christian or religious or anything, but I just find it difficult to be able to use the right words to capture the inspiration of so many religions of the world. Most authors will mess it up, and that's what happened here. Maybe it was an attempt to buoy the feminists, or she was just trying to twist things a bit, but it did nothing, especially since God didn't seem that frightening or like someone who created the universe. It just... didn't make sense. Also, there were these fluctuations in capitalization. Like sometimes God would be called You, then other times just "she" or "you." So the religious/angelology/demonology part of this book is still called into question. I guess my gif doesn't have much oomph now, if God is really the person who's portrayed in this book.

The ending was blah. It's been done before. If you've read Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn, you'd know what I'm talking about. Astonishing conclusion my ass. I care about Cam, too. What the hell happened to him? At least he had some spice to him. He appeared approximately two times before being overshadowed by Daniel again.

Ugh, Daniel. You ruin everything.

Anyhow. This series is finally over. Hopefully, Kate has learned some things.

Also, I think it would've been really funny if Luce's roommate Nora was Nora Grey from Hush, Hush. They could've shared all their issues with overprotective boyfriends and dysfunctional lives and cried together.

YAY FALLEN IS OVER LET'S ALL REJOICE.

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Waiting on Wednesday (7)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that allows us to appropriately squeal over upcoming releases.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Publication Date: September 4th, 2012

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

 

 

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

This book was actually published yesterday, but I'm looking forward to it nevertheless because I don't have my grubby little hands actually touching its neony-green cover yet. I've heard lots of good things from fellow reviewers about the haunting creepiness of this book, and boy am I in the mood for some of that. Can't wait to read it!

Review: If I Lie by Corrine Jackson

Book: If I Lie
Author: Corrine Jackson
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rating: 5 Stars

A powerful debut novel about the gray space between truth and perception.

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.

Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

I don't know if I can write a review that will fully articulate the impact that this book had on me.

If I Lie is a contemporary read that is fully contemporary. It has none of those charming happy endings or fluffy kisses. Instead, it contains nothing but reality and the fact that even when things become the worst that they can be, there's nothing to do but remain stoic and keep trying to escape.

Sophie's story is not an easy one to read. She is intensely ridiculed by her old friends, hated by everyone in her small town because she "cheated" on her boyfriend, Carey. Recently, I read a book, Speechless, that involved the same sort of high school ridicule. But Speechless has nothing on If I Lie. Sophie isn't just hiding a secret from everyone; she's also juggling the feelings she has for Carey's best friend, the stony silence of her father, and the way her mother abandoned her years ago. Jackson weaves a complex and heartbreaking plot, and there's no way for you not to sympathize for Sophie and admire her bravery for keeping Carey's secret safe despite everything. In addition, the loving relationship she has with George just tears you apart. I was very close to crying when I got to the end of this book.

There is extraordinary depth in this book. Not just to Sophie and the push and pull factors that lead her to keep her secret, but also to side characters like her mother and father. It's so hard to understand how they could treat their daughter the way they do, but you come to realize that it's all about that one defining moment when things change forever. Sometimes, you can't go back. All of the characters can be related to, with the exception of Jamie, who's just a bitch. There's nothing good about her, but you can understand that because of her position, as someone who's always loved someone who never loved her back, who's always had to stand out of the spotlight. It makes sense that she would fight back.

If I Lie has a bittersweet ending. It shows that there are some wounds that can't ever be healed, and that sometimes, we have to put ourselves first in order to be happy. But there's also the importance of friendship, and how, with the right people, those bonds will never fall apart. I think that's what Jackson wanted to emphasize: the power of friendship. The characters make millions of mistakes and are defined by their flaws, almost. In the end, this matters, but so do blood and loyalty, which also reflects the attitude in the army. Even if two men hate each other, they'll still save each other.

Jackson uses gorgeous language to express Sophie's emotions, and if you look at my status updates on Goodreads, you'll see some of them. She also calls attention to the "don't ask, don't tell," policy. Before this, I assumed that it was a good policy to just keep it on the DL, but now I've realized that's no way to live. Not sneaking around and getting beaten up for something you can't control.

Overall, this book... made me speechless. This isn't one of those "WOWZA SO GOOD" books, but it's one that makes you think about your perceptions of other people and makes you want to know their stories. Because we don't know each other's stories, and that's what handicaps us in our judgment. If you want to feel, then I suggest reading this, because you definitely will. There's quite a lot of crying, but it's understandable because of all the shit that Sophie's been through. One of my favorite parts was her relationship with an old veteran at the hospital, George. It was tear-worthy, especially their banter and the way George treats her like a daughter. Jackson has basically twisted my heartstrings into an ugly mess, and I'm recovering slowly.

Maybe I'll be able to stir up some motivation to read While He Was Away now, but I doubt it.

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