Review: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

So here's the synopsis on this book from Amazon.com:


First there are nightmares. Then come the memories. Now she must hunt.

Ellie can’t shake the terrifying dreams about monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then she meets Will and feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. When they meet on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie’s power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Will holds the key to Ellie’s memories, whole lifetimes of them, and she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. In order to survive, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives, the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Angelfire is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

I don't know, this book was little odd (almost as odd as that cover?!), but I don't know if I felt that way because I read Fallen first.  It seems there is a distinct formula to these books, eh? Actually, there were so many cross-references to Fallen (fallen angels, forbidden love, reincarnation, the Grigori, etc.) that I think I learned more about Lauren Kate's series in this book, than within the pages of Fallen itself.

Anyways, I still ended up getting sucked into the story (despite some really terrible dialogue - the term "biffles" was used, I rest my case!). Within the first 10 pages, a high school teacher is mysteriously murdered and a hunky, equally mysteriously "college boy" is spotted following Ellie around. My ratings as follows:

1. Originality - It's hard to claim this book is totally unoriginal, but I'd give it about a 2 and that's probably generous. (I feel bad though, because it's a chicken and egg scenario - who was first to the angsty-love-triangle-fallen-angel-multiple-lives genre?!)
2. Absurdity - 5, although I should probably rate it higher due to the single scene depicting Ellie and her best friend, Kate, shopping for party dresses. Badgely Mischka is casually mentioned and a Valentino bag is purchased on the fly ... I. Just. Can't.
3. Level of Paranormal Romance - 7 - Gosh, the sexual tension between little ol' Ellie and her hunka hunka reaper love, Will, is soooooo angstttttty. At one point the heavy petting (and by that I literally mean heavy hands petting - er patting - Ellie's hair) is extra cringe-inducing, but hey they're supposed to have been in love for 600 years, so I can't ding them for letting the romance fade!
4. Level of Harry Potter-ness - 2 - the writing was WONKY, but I still read it because ultimately I get invested in the romantic lives of 17 year olds (anyone who's seen my DVR can attest to that fact ... 16&Pregnant and Teen Mom is all ovvver the place!)

On to the next!

I just requested Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Thanks Orca Books for making me feel ok about it. ( And thanks Sara Henni for letting me know!)

Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Gentle Reader- this book is divine. It is sweet and light and silly. It had me making little cooing noises on the couch (which my roommate, who is fab, put up with with quite good nature). I read it in a single evening of happy book bliss.

Sarah Addison Allen's The Girl Who Chased the Moon is about a northern girl  Emily who moves to tiny, magical Mullaby, North Carolina, after her mother's death. Mysteries about love and forgiveness delightfully intersect in Mullaby. She lives next door to Julia who has a pink streak in her hair and can bake feelings into cakes; befriends the once-cad (perhaps reformed?) and handsome Sawyer who pronounces things like 'very' as 'vera' (SWOON); meets a boy who enjoys a good linen suit/bow-tie combo and has a big secret; and lives with her Grandpa Vance, who is literally a giant, in an old home where special signs appear via the washing machine and the wallpaper in certain rooms shifts to match your mood. And of course, there are the Mullaby lights, moving ghost-like through the woods at night. But there are mysteries to unravel about why Emily's mother never mentioned Mullaby or her family there, and why Emily has received such a cold reception in her new home.  

NOW I know this might sound like smarmy Oprah book club book, but it is cute without being overly precious-- think Big Fish more than a girly-lady-who-loves-cats-the-color-pink-and-scrap-booking syndrome. I want Sweet Tea to read this so much (being a cute southern lady herself) that I seriously contemplated sending her a copy in the mail. But I am a poor grad student. So I just thought about it. That counts halfway, I think, as giving a present.

Originality: HELLO its at least a 6. See above.

Absurdity: 2. This exists in a lovely plain of magical-southern charm-ness, and coincidences feel happy and meant-to-be, not forced. 

Level of Paranormal Romance: 6. there are multiple stories about love flowing through this, and since this is not just for YA ( think insta-love and serious eye contact/feather petting) there is some well-deserved action. WOOT WOOT.

Level of Harry Potter-ness: 6. The magic is there and oh-so-charming, but it feels comfortable and worn in and a bit sleepy, like this little southern town. 

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

HELLO "Waiting on" Wednesday Friends!

It's Grad Student here, kinda MIA since I am away on a research trip, trying to read as much as I possibly can about matters of 1920s and 1930s history (and not the glamorous flapper part, sadly.) But here is another combo book review.

So first let me give a shout out to the great/creepiness that is Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. Cas moves from town to town tracking down murderous ghosts with his kitchen-witch mom and her cat. Cas can kill ghosts cause he inherited his fathers athame (note, the entire time I did not know what this was. its a kind of knife, but I wasn't inspired enough to google it, but the internet now tells me its a ceremonial /magic dagger). Following a lead, Cas heads to Canada (GASP THINGS ARE ALREADY GETTING WEIRD) to track down a ghost known as Anna Dressed in Blood (her dress is white, but when she gets angry/goes to kill you, it starts to saturate and drip blood. Yikes!). Since her murder over 50 years ago, she has killed every person to step inside her house. That is until Cas gets dumped there by the local high school's resident jerks. Cas lives to tell the tale, and discover that Anna is like no ghost he has ever met. Why? How will Cas kill her? And is Cas's past catching up with him?


Originality: 9-- the ghost stuff is cool and creepy and this book is a great change of pace because the narrator is a boy who is charming and sarcastic, knows what he is doing, and has ZERO complexes about his looks/abilities (so not a whispy thin girl who is pretty and clueless but magical -rejoice, gentle reader). I like Cas AND Anna, even though I am never not scared of her. I think that's a big feat.
Absurdity: 2. I bought this hook, line, and sinker (but I am still not going on any haunted house tours, Goosie Mama)
Level of Paranormal Romance: 5. The relationships are slow to grow (like the real world) but as the tagline of Blake's blog says, "Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story." So use your imagination.
Level of Harry-Potterness: solid 5. ghosts, mind-reading, and magic knives, oh my, but grounded in reality.

Moral of the story...READ THIS BOOK PEOPLE!...Which leads us to....

Waiting on Wednesday, brilliantly hosted by Breaking the Spine is dedicated here this week to Kendare Blake's Girl of Nightmares. We are left wanting more, and with lots of unanswered underworld questions with Anna, and I can't wait to find out more. But seriously, I hope that my roommates are home this time when I am reading it. Because I am a wimp and once you read the first of these, you are going to wonder what the creaking in the attic (or in my case on the 7th floor) is!

(ok, so the cover of Girl of Nightmares is not as awesome as Anna Dressed in Blood, but word is might change, but check out the greatness of Anna and her lovely hairline!)

IT'S HERE!!

Oh my gosh!!!

Reading like a Fiend!!

So before we started this YA-dedicated blog, I went on a bit of binge via www.nypl.org trying to read my way through NPR's Top Books of 2011 (yes, Grad Student, I'm going to be picking up Anna Dressed in Blood stat!). That being said, aside from the Fallen Series (okay, okay, that wasn't on the Best of 2011 list, but let's be honest it should've been), there wasn't a whole lot of YA fiction on my eHolds list. Now, these NPR picks are all coming up for check-out at the same time and none are quick reads ... so I'm a little stressed about my lack of posts!

So, just to give a little bit of a disclaimer: I promise, I'm not ignoring the blog, just trying to get through the following books concurrently: The Night Circus (amazing!), Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand (oh, hey, non-fiction!) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Kleenex, yes please).

Review: Veronica Roth's Divergent

Hello, dystopian YA people! Today's review is a combination review of Veronica Roth's Divergent and wishful lusting after it's sequel Insurgent, due out May 1, 2012.  A Double Whammy! I know, its rather impressive.

Divergent: Just in case you have been under a rock/are still discovering Hungers Games, in this book, set in a future dilapidated Chicago, society is divided into five factors each dedicated to certain virtues: Candor (honesty supposedly, but really about lacking a mental filter), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (double dare lifestyle), Amity (boring peaceful) and Erudite (smarty pants). Right before the day all 16-year-old pick their faction Beatrice discovers she is Divergent a very dangerous label she must keep secret, but that she knows very little about. In a "radical" OR IN THE WORLD OF YA SUPER BLATANT choice she decides to leave boring Abnegation and her family behind for the punk-rock world of Dauntless. Think tattoos, piercings, and jumping off trains/buildings. During the highly competitive initiation lots of people, including Tris, get the living daylights kicked out of them, and Tris slowly discovers that not everything is as hunky dory as it seems in their supposedly utopian faction society and she is at the center of it... dun dun dun.

1. Originality - after the first chapter, I was just whelmed by the society, but the more time spent in the Dauntless world of underground caves and punches, things got increasingly interesting. I give it a solid 6 (because this is not the first time I have been around the- having to leave one parents behind to find yourself/discover corruption/potentially start a revolution- block)


2. Absurdity -not that bad!I give it a 3. I mean, living in New York makes me suspicious of Chicago to begin with. Not surprised it could go downhill this fast (sorry Chicago)


3. Level of Paranormal Romance - everyone is human...SIGH. But a love interest named Four spices things up, and I was into his mysterious self. I give this a 6, cause the build-up was great! moon eyes, elbow touches, stopping people from killing you, the normal romance stuff....


4. Level of Harry Potter-ness -the writing was pretty good (and all the jumping off high buildings was crazy, if not magical) 5.

I don't know if this review does this book justice BECAUSE I couldn't put it down. Its biggest sell is that it draws you in and you must must must know what is going to happen next. Which leads up to....

Waiting on Wednesdays: Veronica Roth's Insurgent

A welcoming Whiskey Sour to Breaking the Spine's weekly feature "Waiting on" Wed where one divulges one's deepest hopes and dreams of upcoming releases...

I can't wait for Veronica Roth's Insurgent. It looks like the ante will be upped, and I can't wait to see those cute kids cuddle/share feelings between jumping on and off trains and threatening the bad guys! 

There is lots to learn about what it means to be Divergent, and I have high hopes for this sucker. If you want to read more, see the summary at Good Reads the epicenter of book summaries! (I am sorry in advance for stealing hours of your day on this site.)

the results of the apartment lockout

Ta da...... who doesn't love that plastic cover that comes around hardcover library books? I loved So Silver Bright and Anna Dressed in Blood is creeeeeeeepy. Goose will love it, she loves ghost hunters on TV.  One day soon they will be reviewed.

(and who doesn't love the fact that that may or may not be JFK in the background image, from everyone's favorite Camper)