Review: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

 Grad Student here, reporting on my latest read, The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab. Ignore that cover, since it is totally unrelated, and lets get into it.

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen.
The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true. The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him. As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy (Good Reads).

Originality: 6. This is a ghost story about a spurned witch. It squeeks over the mediocre been-there-done-that by having a really evocative setting—the wild, windy moor.

Absurdity: 2. The horror element is soft but well-done. The magic is earthy and not overwrought. No need to say SERIOUSLY YOUR MAGIC MADE THE CAROUSEL IN CENTRAL PARK COME ALIVE!?! (eye roll to the Wondrous Strange series (review))

Level of Paranormal Romance: 7. Did a strong female lead with a taste for magic fall in love with a mysterious loner dude who most likely has magical powers? Check. Did they quickly progress to small kisses on the neck? Yes. So paranormal and a tiny bit of insta-love. (Don’t get me wrong, Cole is fairly dreamy, but I am calling it like it is).

Level of Harry Potter-ness: 5. This book has POTENTIAL. The great creepy setting of rolling moors and malevolent wind, children going missing—this could have been a scary page-turner. I can’t put my finger on why, but I was not pulled in. Nonetheless, the tight lyrical quality of the prose was a nice literary change of pace compared to other YA paranormal reads.

Review: Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Here is Crazy Camper's review of  Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement Moore!


First of all, thank goodness for the Nook on this cover/ at the same time I totally selected this from the library webpage based on its cover...even though it has ZERO ZILTCH to do with the book. Maybe that white thing is the ghost?  But to me, Amy was way more spunky then that silly looking red-head on the cover.

From Good Reads: Amy Goodnight's family is far from normal. She comes from a line of witches, but tries her best to stay far outside the family business. Her summer gig? Ranch-sitting for her aunt with her wacky but beautiful sister. Only the Goodnight Ranch is even less normal than it normally is. Bodies are being discovered, a ghost is on the prowl, and everywhere she turns, the hot neighbor cowboy is in her face.

Hot neighbor cowboy? Witches? Ghosts? Don't mind if I do..

• Originality: 7 - It is not everyday that witches meet cowboys to face a ghost.  While the ghosts and witches are not super original, I loved the Goodnight family and how their powers fit into modern science and everyday life.  Shampoo that clears your head?  I could definitely use some of that in the mornings (maybe I wouldn't have missed the highway exit for work this morning, or left my headphones at home...)
• Absurdity: 6 - Amy manages, by mistake, to attach her self to a ghost who is less then pleasant and her and her sister work to figure it out.  Should this be absurd? Yes.  But for some reason, I had no problem with it, probably because I wish my family had these sorts of powers.  From page one, I was on board.
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 4 -Romance, yes, paranormal, not really.  There is a moment of fear that a love spell has been invoked, but SPOILER ALERT, don't worry, that hunky cowboy just really does like Amy.  phew.  Nothing better then many descriptions of hot cowboys sweating in the Texas sun, jumping on horses and pulling girls to their feet.  Who doesn't like cowboys, really.
• Level of Harry Potterness: 5. Pretty average all around.  I managed to read most of this on a rainy Saturday afternoon and happily cruised through easy reading.

All in all, one of my more favorite books in a while. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I think again it might be the cowboys...


ADDENDUM FROM GRAD STUDENT: I read this this week, too! LOVED IT. It was very funny I thought. I loved the sassy Nancy Drew references. We were big fans of the girl detective growing up. And the setting in Texas Hill Country makes me want to go there and find myself a cowboy. I would add 9.5 points to the level of romance grade here because Ben McCulloch makes an excellent swoon-worthy love interest.

Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Gosh, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris isn't really YAF either, but please indulge me - I'll be done soon. I just finished Partials!

Anyhooze, people who have more money than I do (or who are more willing to spend it on premium cable than I am) often rave about True Blood and how great the HBO series is. About 3 years ago, my friend lent me his DVD of the first season and I think I watched it over one weekend - it was great (albeit, not PG!).

In addition, Grad Student and Mama Pajama have also been crusin' through this series for a long time as new books become available, so I decided I needed to pick this up (let's be honest, there was no wait list at NPYL.org, so I snapped it up!). That, my friends, was a good choice!

• Originality: 8 - Based on the first book, there is a LOT that happens in this series - almost every paranormal instance (shapeshifters, vampires, mind reading - shall I go on?) is thrown in. And you know what? Why not - if you're going to paranormal, you may as well go all in!
• Absurdity: 8 - Gosh, there is a lot of absurdity that happens just in the first book (also, seeing all the story lines that weave their way in and out of the first season of True Blood helps reinforce this point!), so I'm ranking it pretty high. That being said, I think that within the the grand scheme of the series, this is probably the most normal book, so I may have to lower it once I read a few more!
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 7 - It's romantic, I guess, but not really PG. Sukkeh and Bielllll  - what's not to love (although I can't picture anyone but Anna Paquin and Steven Moyer in the role and I don't know if that's a good thing!)?!
• Level of Harry Potterness: 4.5 - Not the best or worst-written book I've ever read (how's that for vague??) but I liked it and was legitimately obsessed with reading it, so all in all, I'd recommend!

Don't worry - up next a bunch of actual YAF for the blog. Thanks for bearing with me!!

Waiting on Wednesday: In Two Parts, Global Edition

Happy Wednesday! First off, thanks to Breaking the Spine for hosting Waiting on Wednesday, a weekly meme devoted to upcoming releases we cannot wait to read. Today's edition is a joint project! But Crazy Camper really needs to find a friend across the globe...

Grad Student:
I love Evie from Kiersten White's paranormal series, but I have a feeling her new book Mind Games is going to be even more up my alley.


Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.


Crazy Camper:
This week's WoW follows YAF&WS's posts on the Iron Witch and The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney.  While the third book in this trilogy doesn't come till NEXT SPRING (womp womp), Mahoney's newest book Falling to Ash comes out this fall, and in the meantime, I will be happily reading this one, that is if someone from the UK, Australia or New Zealand sends it my way. WHY NO U.S .PUBLICATION, WORLD!?
You can’t choose your family... living or dead. Trapped between two very different worlds, newly made vampire Moth is struggling to find her place in either. Not only does she have to answer to her strict Irish-Catholic Dad, but her over-protective maker, Theo, is intent on making her the star attraction in his powerful Boston vampire clan. Moth will have to pull off the double-act of the century to please both of them...

Adding to her problems is the dangerously attractive Jason Murdoch, a trainee vampire hunter who loves to play cat and mouse in his spare time (Jace = cat; Moth = mouse). But when the teenagers of Boston’s wealthiest families start to disappear, it forces Moth and Jace into an uneasy truce. Will they be able to solve the mystery behind the disappearances—before someone winds up undead? (Good Reads)

Top Ten Tuesday: A Whole New World...

Today's TTT is dedicated to the top ten most vivid worlds/settings in books. This prompt meant that we had to explain to Goosie Mama what world building is. CLEARLY she did not read enough sci-fi as a young adult herself (cough cough, Crazy Camper and Grad Student certainly did, please see the epic-ness that is Ann McCaffery below).


1. Lani Taylor's alternate universe/portals with human/beasts in Daughter of Smoke and Bone

2. Diana Peterfreund's Luddite-explorer future in For Darkness Shows the Stars.

3 & 4. Anne McCaffery's singer/rock miner in space in The Crystal Singer AND the dragon-filled future world (which people got to on spaceships) of Pern where Thread falls from the sky like a terrible acid rain. There is also time travel. Whhaaatttttt. But it is all soooo intricate you can't help believe.

5. Rosemary Clement-Moore's Texas Gothic, a "world where good intentioned family magic over a long period of time builds a protective sphere around your house -- something about generations of family magic protection I love!" -Crazy Camper (review coming soon).

6. Ali Condi's dystopian world of Matched and Crossed. Not a world you would want to live in, BUT the whole 100 songs, 100 stories, 100 paintings culture control is a well thought-out dystopian.

7. Lisa Mantchev's Théâtre Illuminata  from her series by the same name. A theater where every character ever  written for the stage exists! A book that, when you write in it, shapes the world around you! The details really make this world, like when Ophelia always shows up in water sets (as we know, she drowns herself in Hamlet)

A big thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly meme. Share your TTT below! 

GET A LOAD OF THE CRYSTAL
 SINGER, FOLKS!

Review: 50 Shades of - No, seriously, how did this get a book deal?!

Well, awhile back Grad Student and I decided that although this blog is dedicated to YAF, we had to do a review of the epically over-hyped 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James.

There have been a few times in my book-reading career that I've started a book that everyone is talking about, didn't really get it, almost put it down, but ultimately pushed through and finished. In rare instances (I'm looking at you, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) I got into the books more and more as I continued on and by the end was certifiably obsessed. That being said, this experience is definitely the exception to the rule and most of the time, well, when you feel you have force yourself to read something, you should probably just cut your losses (and re-read Harry Potter).

One of those series where I was just plain stupified was the oft-pined about Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Truth be told, I never finished the last book because I was so bored and it was getting so weird. I'm sorry, but if I birth out a baby with a full set of chompers and then she has the audacity to "imprint" on a 20-year-old at age 2 or whatever, I don't know...you've just lost me, amiright??

So then, you take Twilight, a series that isn't very well done in the first place, and layer in some weird kink and now E.L. James is making $1.3 million a week? My goodness, there are no words!

Grad Student can attest, but I'm dug my way through this Grade A Waste-o-Time over Memorial Day weekend. I think I kept reading because I wanted to get to "the part" that could explain to me why people were so obsessed with this book. If you're wondering, there was no part, but I begrudgingly finished the book.

So with that I leave you with what I can only describe as exactly how I felt throughout the entire read:

Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity."Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of "them." The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters. Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike. But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

The best part of reading The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa was how much I liked the main character. She was never stupid, never all "oh, what me, I am special?” She was above that, trying to survive. PLUS her struggle between being a vampire and holding on to her humanity was riveting.

• Originality: 6. Outside the wall definitely made me think of The Road by Cormac McCarthy mashed with I Am Legend mashed with a general coming of age story. While the setup was derivative, this was not a deal breaker! The Immortal Rules comes out with a 6 for giving us a vamp’s POV.
• Absurdity: 2. I liked the world building a lot and bought the whole vampire-controlled world. The only thing that felt ridiculous was Allie’s evil vampire nemesis.
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 4. Hello, vampire and forbid human love! I have missed you as a trope in my YA fiction! I liked Zeke but didn’t feel like there was enough substance behind his feelings for Allie. Maybe he liked her most because she was the new girl? His little group wasn't exactly brimming with potential love interests.
• Level of Harry Potterness: 3. As Goosie Mama might say, I am not reading this for it’s literary sophistication. The Immortal Rules is completely plot driven--but it was a fun ride.

 Did I mention the cool final scene? Allie’s character might be a bit predictable but she is bad-ass nonetheless less. Kagawa leaves us wanting to know more on two plot lines while avoiding annoying cliffhangers. Yay! Bring on the sequel. 

Liebster love!

Young Adult Fiction and Whiskey Sours has been tagged with the Liebster Blog Award by Lil' Rae of Sunshine. (Full disclosure, Carissa Taylor, another great blog, tagged us earlier this spring, but we were too unhip to really get the gist of it!) So thanks to both blogs! We now understand that the Liebster Award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. Award winners share 11 facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who tagged them, come up with 11 of their own questions and tag 11 more bloggers with the award.

Questions For YAF and WS

1. How do you mark your place in a book? A real bookmark, scrap of paper, dog-earring the page?

Crazy Camper: Postcards, cards! Grad Student sends lots of mail.

Goosie Mama: I can usually tell by the amount of animal hair (I have a zoo) on the last read page :-X

2. Do you judge a book by it's cover?

Grad Student: YES, ABSOLUTELY, YES. 

Goosie Mama: Co-sign that!

3. Do you have any quirky reading habits?

Grad Student. I randomly skim through a book I am reading and 'read ahead" but usually it doesn't give me much, since I have no idea what is going on. Sometimes I am hoping to find a romance scene GAH! but its true

Goosie Mama: I "anxiety read" when I know I have a book that's about to expire and I Have. To. Finish. It's a combo of skimming, nail biting, re-reading because I've skimmed and I forgot what happens, and, finally, just skipping to the end.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? And why?
We are big, big fans of Newport, Rhode Island. Lots of history, beaches, and great bars!

5. Do you use any of the social networking sites for readers (like Goodreads or Shelfari)? Love it or hate it?

Just double the girl in green, and its like CC is here!

Goodreads! Like!

6. What's a book that you were really looking forward to, but it under delivered? 

Each and every Twilight book

What book surprised you with it's awesomeness? 

Goosie Mama: Divergent by Veronica Roth!

7. Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?

Crazy Camper: I have been Rock climbing for five years! I love camping, climbing, and anything that involves puffy coats.

Goosie Mama: I'm a founding member of the Big Apple Pittie Pack, a dog walking club that fosters controlled, pack-oriented, on-leash socialization for dogs of every kind!

Grad Student: I am working on my party dress collection. And making the most of all of the restaurants in the East Village (failing at the restaurants, doing great with party dresses) --NOTE, CC loves party dresses too, but has a harder time incorporating them in life as people seem to stare at formal wear in the backcountry.

O Hey girls! Love, from West VA

8. What is your fondest book memory? 

Goosie Mama: Buying the second Harry Potter at the Ithaca Barnes and Noble and smelling the brand new pages (creepy, I know!).

Grad Student: The fun I get out of this blog with these fine ladies is up there! Oh, and the emails I exchanged with Alysia Gray Painter. She is fabulous and funny in any written format.

9. What are you reading now?

Crazy Camper: Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Goosie Mama: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Grad Student: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

10. What's your favorite book genre?

Crazy Camper:  Paranormal romance! 

Goosie Mama: Child Psychic Romance!!

11. Pretend you meet a genie and he gives you three wishes (standard genie rule - you can't wish for more wishes): what would they be?

Crazy camper: Teleportation! 

Goosie Mama: Omg, such a good one! I would say disapporation a la Harry Potter too! A life of happiness and maybe a brainwashed Ryan Gosling who thinks I'm the Beatrice Prior to his Tobias? :)

Grad Student: telekinesis. It is not fair that Crazy Camper and I are twins and can't mind-meld.

Facts about YAF and WS:

1. We spend a lot of time telling each other how funny we think their reviews are

2. Crazy Camper and Grad Student are TWINS

3. Goosie Mama and Grad Student are sorority sisters

4. Crazy Camper likes to tease GM and GS about being sorority sisters, but she is excellent at the sorority squat in group photos

5. Crazy Camper lives in DC in what could be the cutest studio apartment ever and went through a serious head scarf phase (before coming to work in the corporate world, mind you)

6. Goosie Mama and Grad Student are members of the Preservation Society of Newport, RI 

7. Crazy Camper and Grad Student are members of a cooking club that shares recipes. Goosie Mama has refused to show interest and claims she is very happy eating eggs, veggies, and pasta on rotation.

8. Goosie Mama has a dog and two cats

9. Grad Student does not trust said cats (On principal, neither Does CC- blame their mother Mama Pajama)

10. Grad Student consistently breaks the library rules at school and eats in the stacks and makes notations in her books

11. None of use would ever say no to a bottle of Skinny Girl
11.5 Sweet Tea, the elusive 4th member of the blog, has never posted, always claims she will, but is still well loved by all involved

MORE LIEBSTER FUN AFTER THE JUMP- our picks and our questions-- read on!

Review: The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney

Last week I posted on the Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney and its page turning capabilities.  Well I threw myself headlong into the sequel, The Wood Queen.


Donna Underwood is in deep trouble. An ancient alchemical order is holding her accountable for destroying the last precious drops of the elixar of life. Never mind the fact that Donna was acting to free her friend, Navin, from the dangerous clutches of the Wood Queen at the time. But what the alchemists have in store is nothing compared to the wrath of the fey. The Wood Queen has been tricked and Donna must pay. Get ready for all hell - quite literally - to break loose... (Good Reads)


Originality - 4.5.  As for all sequels, originality lacks some, but the introduction of past relationship-ish half human girls, a trial, and continued sneakinh around in the woods, Donna kept me guessing.


Absurdity - 7. Again, things got WONKY, and the ending? Spring 2013 needs to come soon because things. got. real.


Level of Paranormal Romance -9.  Continued mushy high-school texting and hand holding soul mates, jazzed up with a serving of LUST.  It must be all my YA reading, but things got spicy, and I liked it. Goosie Mama, in about three pages I am willing to bet that Xan was hotter then anything that happened in Shades of Grey.....there is stroking of tousled hair, trembling knees and deep kisses.


Level of Harry Potter-ness - 6. Donna HAS the power, but there is so much more to her world of magic then she ever knew.  Things get more complicated, more mysterious, more magical and with more serious consequences, and all of a sudden, people are not who they seem..

Seriously, is it spring 2013 yet?

Review: Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I won't be ranking this one with our normal categories, because, my friends, I think this one is outlier - nothing paranormal or romantic, but a solid YAF read!

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald’s still would be open.

High school sophomore Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, the way “one marble hits another.” The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? As August turns dark and wintry in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in a year’s worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. 

I picked up this book as it had won numerous awards and was looking for a little break from zombies (sigh, Bram from Dearly Departed was still on my mind!). While it was definitely well-written it was one heck of a Debbie Downer! It was almost too real in the sense that there was nothing paranormal (besides an asteroid hitting the moon and throwing everything off-kilter) - this actually happening isn't likely, but definitely isn't outside the realm of possibility either.

As the synopsis suggests, the book is written in diary form with Miranda describing the year after the world irreparably changed. It's pretty dark, but I think any story about survival at the end of the world inevitably would be. 

Also, apparently this is a series (what isn't?!) so I couldn't help myself but to include the trailer, because, you know, all the cool kids are doing it! I don't know that I would read the other two books - like I said, it's scary at some points, but I think it is well-written enough to recommend to someone who wanted a more serious book.